Greece

This semester for our Education Field Trip the entire group went to Greece for a week. We stayed on the mainland in Athens and took a boat out to some of the small islands on one of the days. Greece was so awesome and crazy and fun. I love traveling with the whole group because you really get to make some close friendships and strengthen the ones you already have. Last semester I saw it happen in Corsica and I had been looking forward to it in Greece. We left Monday morning and split the group in half on two flights going over. We arrived at our hotel, threw our luggage on the bed and opened our curtains only to see the Acropolis and Parthenon sitting atop the hill right outside our window. It was one of the coolest things to see. The first thing they gave us when we got there was 8 hours of free time to explore the city. I chose to go with my professor to Mars Hill, the place where Paul gave his famous speech to the Athenians. We walked up to this mound made out of marble that had a steep staircase to get to the top of, so we all climbed up while holding on because it was so slippery and when we got to the top it was such a beautiful view. One direction was a clear view of the Acropolis and Parthenon, the other was the Agoura and on the other side was a complete panoramic view of Athens, Greece. Of course we stood up there taking pictures for quite some time and then finally we took a moment to let it set in that we were sitting atop the very hill that Paul had once preached from. Being the Christian group that we are, my friend Amy had a bible in her backpack and we sat on the hill as she read the passage of Paul preaching on that same hill. That was such a cool experience, especially since we read the passage at dusk and got to see the view at sunset.
The next few days it decided to rain on us but luckily we were in the shelter of tour busses driving us around Greece. We went to ancient cities and ruins and ate the best food of our lives. On the third day we took a boat out to the islands of which I was really excited for. Turns out, it was a little bit of a let down. Since it was winter many of the shops and stands were closed and the weather wasn’t all that great. Also, I was expecting the white houses with the blue tops and the glistening blue water that I’ve always seen in pictures of the Greek Isles, that is not at all what we got. Things were definitely white with blue accents, but it looked nothing like I had seen in all the pictures. They were still really cute and pleasant islands though. I just wish we had been able to go to Santorini or Mykonos (the famous Greek Isles).
At the end of the trip we strolled the morning markets and bartered with people and bought fresh strawberries and eventually headed to the airport. There is so much more to say about the trip but I don’t want to drag it on. I think I got the general gist of it out though. The pictures will tell all.