Then I ship myself off to Rome. Smashed once again.
Now I want to travel. I have been exploring and learning my whole life, but only in the small little bubble of southern New England. Do you know how cool it would be to jump off a canyon in Interlaken? Or ride a camel in Cairo? In my eyes, there are waaaaay more than seven wonders of the world. I want to see everything earth has to offer, and experience every culture I can find. I want to visit every state and every continent. Actually, I want to visit every country. This dream, while quite unfeasible, has been taking shape mostly since my return from my spring break in Greece.
My roommates and I booked our spring break trip to Greece back in January. Spring break in Greece with my roommates? What could be better? Then I found out that smelly little Mor was coming along- JUST KIDDING!!! I promised I'd make a verbal shrine to her, so I better talk her up, huh? Well my darling friend Mor bought one of my roommates tickets who couldn't go, so you can imagine how pumped I was to find out she would be joining. (I was indeed very excited, this isn't sarcasm here.) You could probably also imagine my screams over seeing Hillary after I found out she was the surprise Mor had for me. I mean, c'mon, the trip was already off to a great start. Not to mention Greg was also along for the ride as well. As a matter of fact, he is sitting right next to me, writing in his journal about Greece which made me kinda jealous that I wasn't blogging. You can thank him for this new post. Anywho, as I mentioned before, I am in love with my Italian class and to have THREE of them with me really made my whole spring break. I even loved the 16 hour ferry ride! ...not. Well, I did love Mor, Hillary and I toasting the spring break with a bottle of wine. And I loved the dinner. Ferry food is actually delicious... but highly overpriced.
Once we finally arrived in Greece, we had to take yet another ferry to Corfu. But let me tell you, watching the sunset that night over the Ionian Sea was absolutely worth it. And that food, oh dear Lord the food was well worth the ferry rides. We were staying at this hostel called the Pink Palace. It was painted completely blue. No, just kidding. It was completely decked out in Stephanie Martone pink. Everywhere. My sister would LOVE it there. But anywho, back to the food. That night for dinner we went down to the banquet hall area for one of the best chicken, potato and green bean dinner's I've ever had. Greek food, you ask? Well... not exactly, but it was still heaven on a plate. The next day we walked out of our room and were greeted by shiny helmets and keys to a four wheeler. We spent the whole day riding around Corfu, finding scenery that pictures couldn't do justice, tasting one-of-a-kind liquor, and pulling Mor out of a ditch. Yup, that's right. Faith and I were waiting for Hillary and Mor to catch up to us, but when they weren't coming, we turned around to look for them. Well, I saw Hillary, and she just pointed down... off the road, where low and behold we found Mor!! All she did was shrug and giggle. We managed to get her out of there, and continued along our journey. We stopped at this cafe where we found this liquor only distilled in Corfu. Its made with the branch of a Kum Kwat tree, and one you're finish drinking the bottle, you pour vodka back into the bottle (because the branch is still in there) wait 10 days, and poof! You have the same liquor again. You can refill the bottle 3-4 times. Coolest thing ever? I think so. Of course I bought some. All I need to hear for my wallet to come flying out is, "There is no where else in the world you can get this." We drove around for a few more hours until we realized that we needed to head back soon. Except we were half way across the island. With no idea how to get back. I admit, I have a good sense of direction, but not good enough to get us back to the Pink Palace. But somehow - I don't know how - we took EVERY right turn. And shortly enough, we were face to face with our barbie pink buildings once again. That night was the toga party where we wrapped ourselves up in shiny pink fabric and hit the dance floor. Faith, Mor and Hillary were thoroughly jealous of my sweet dance moves. Why else would they be pointing, staring and laughing, right? The next day - and our last day - at the Pink Palace we went on the booze cruise. It's pretty self explanatory. You go out on this rickety old boat and drink all day long. Let me back up for a second, though. At the Pink Palace, every day you have three options of things you can do: rent ATV's, go kayaking, or go on the booze cruise. The ATV's were a must, kayaking was pretty interesting, but the booze cruise offered jumping off a 50 foot cliff. So, we hiked into the ice cold water to reach a ladder leading us up to a pink (a little overplayed if you ask me) boat. The first stop we made was to the cliff jumping. Very smart, considering most people probably arn't too drunk that early into the ride. After we jumped off the boat into the colder than ice cold water, we climbed up the cliff. All the way up I was thinking, 'Ok, I'm gonna turn around, just one more step and then I have to turn around.' But I got to the top and realized there was literally no way I could get back down. In fact, no one has ever turned around because it is impossible to climb back down the cliff. You would slip and fall trying to get through the cracks and crevaces you jsut limbed up. So, I watched Hillary jump, Faith jump, Mor jump, and then came my turn. I was scared out of my mind, so much so that I couldn't even enjoy the view of the island. But all of a sudden, I was falling. How I got to falling, I don't even know. But when I tried to begin to think of what made me jump (or really walk off the cliff), I hit the water. Genius me didn't have time to think to tuck in my arm so I had a nice big water welt on my left arm for the rest of the day. But to begin to describe the jump would be impossible, so I'll just leave my recommendation for all of you to one day, jump off a cliff. Don't think, just do it.
Then, came the final goodbye dinner and we were off on an overnight bus to beautiful Athens!!!! I mean, one would think Athens would be beautiful... right? Hmm... well either someone lied to me or I ended up in a different town... that happened to have the Acropolis in it. Let me just start by saying Athens is not worth the hype. Unless you're a history major who loves not feeling safe and loves being constantly surrounded by sketchy people, you won't like Athens. It's good for a day trip. Actually no, it's good for a few hours in the day, and thats it. But you know what is worse than walking around Athens? Walking around Athens after just having had the worst night sleep of your life on a bus and waking up with a cold on top of it all. Hillary was in the same boat as me. So we were two grumpy gills that day. Well, two sick grumpy gills. My favorite part of the day though, was when we finally got a chance to sit down at the Acropolis. Hillary and I were lounging when I asked her what the building was in front of us. Neither of us knew. It wasn't until we left and were walking to lunch that Mor told us it was the Parthenon. Just goes to show how non-exciting it was. Then again I will always and forever find the ruins of Rome ten thousand times more interesting than the ruins of Greece. One thing about Athens, however, that I give an A+ to would be the food. We went to this unbelievable dinner that night where we had traditional greek food complete with taziki, greek salad, baked feta and moussaka. How do you say delicious in Greek? That night Mor, Hillary and I walked home because we didn't feel like going out. It was the greatest 20 minute walk ever - largely thanks to Mor. But it was also the scariest. In Rome, there are sketchy guys left and right. They give you the I'm-undressing-you-with-my-eyes look, but never anything more. The guys in Greece gave us the look of I'm-gonna-follow-you-down-a-dark-alley-where-there-will-be-no-witnesses look. I never thought I would actually prefer the skeezy Italian creeps.
The next day was significantly better. I felt a little better, and we were going to Aegina!!! Off we sailed on another ferry (surprise, surprise). Mor, Hillary and I spent the day eating Greek food, laying on the beach - well, actually THEY laid on the beach while I searched for pina coladas. Anywho, we then got some baklava, and departed back for Athens. That night, we spent in the bar of the hostel and ordered dinner and ate over a lovely chat. Friday morning we got up and left for Rome. Saturday night we arrived back home. Travel fail.
The moral of the story is that Mor, Faith and Hillary are the loves of my life. And I want to travel to every country. Il fine.
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