Greece

     So we had originally tried to make a plan to do all of these really exciting things while we were in Greece.  We obviously had to go see the Acropolis and the surrounding ruins, explore Athens a bit, and then go jet off to an island for an over night stay.  Well it seemed like a really good plan, until we realized how much of a bum we all were.  Things did eventually work out, and we did get to do all of the things we wanted to, just in a slightly different time frame and order.
        On the first day Kati and I decided to go see the Acropolis.  We waited to go with Julia and Gabe because they were going too.  We finally got off the ship and walked to get the bus, which went to the metro.  We got off the wrong stop on the bus and had to walk back to the metro, which kind of defeated the entire purpose of taking the bus.  Well its always an adventure with Julia and Gabe.  We got on the metro and got situated and figured out where we had to get off.  Kati and I met up with Austin and his friend Andrew, who were actually going to the Acropolis.  We decided that we had to get lunch first, which was amazing.  We had some really traditional Greek food, and Ouzo, which happens to be the most disgusting thing that I have ever tasted.  After lunch, we finally walked over to the Acropolis and bought tickets.  Before going in, we saw this really huge rock that everyone was climbing, so we decided to do that.  Of course, because I was wearing flip flops, the climb was that much harder and slipperier, but I finally got to the top, and the view was breath taking.  You could see all of Athens, plus some, and it was amazing.  I hadn't really pictured it to look like that, but we stayed at the top of the rock to take it all in.  After, we climbed down, and I fell flat on my ass, because of the sharp incline and how slippery it was, even despite the boys trying to help me get down.  We ventured over to the entrance of the Acropolis and walked up the hill to get in. At the top we ran into Fransisco and his friend Billy, who we actually continued to walk around with.  The Acropolis was really pretty, but a bit disappointing.  It had TONS of scaffolding around it and you could barely even see it.  We walked around taking a ton of pictures as usual.  When we were finally done, we walked out and got a slush drink and waited for Fransisco and Billy to come back from the rock.  While we were waiting, Gabe and Alyssa showed up, they had left us to go check into their hotel room, so we decided to continue venturing Athens with them.  We wanted to go find the Temple of Zeus, although I do not think that is the proper name for it.  While looking for it, we obviously had to do a bit of shopping.  Kati and I bought cherries on the way, which has become the staple of our trip.  We finally found where the Temple was, after walking in a complete circle.  There was no one there, which was cool.  The temple was really beautiful.  We took some really fun pictures, and then decided to walk to the Olympic stadium.  When we were done, we walked back to the shopping area to get the Metro home, because we were supposed to meet Jess and Kate at 8 to go out that night.
        Well the night was something special.  Kati and I got back and showered really quickly and basically got ready in record time.  The girls told us that we were leaving in 15 minutes to go to a bar crawl in Athens.  After everyone had congregated in Tyminz square, there were about 25 of us ready to go out.  The only problem? We had no idea where the bar crawl was or how to get there.  We frantically tried to call people we thought would have their phones on them, but it all failed.  We decided to wing it and walk to the metro, despite our already being late.  25 minutes of walking later, we were at the metro, we got on, and it was a big mess trying to figure out where to get off.  Finally we figured it all out and got to our destination, Syntagma Square.  We found out later that the bar crawl we were looking for had been canceled and that the people running it were in Germany.  Of course we weren't going to go home, so we found a cute little lounge place to get a few drinks.  After a while, the bartender told us that there was a club down the street which opened at 12, and that we should go because they were closing.  Well, we never did find that club, but we did find a strip of bars, and a hookah place.  Everyone was interested in getting some more drinks, but Kati and I thought it would be fun to just sit and chill out with some hookah.  We went to the bathroom, and when we came back, I guess everyone had figured out it would be fun to smoke some hookah.  It was such a hilarious night, people were getting drunk, and there was this little Pakistani man who kept bringing us free shots and and coals for the hookah.  I'm not sure where he came from, but he was absolutely crazy.  There were some boys next to us, who were from Belgium, who were celebrating one of their 18th birthdays.  We talked to them a lot because they were really cool.  It was getting closer to 3am and we had to get home, especially because our friend Jess was being very silly :)  Kate, Kati, Jess, Harry and I all got in a cab back to the port.  The guy dropped us really really far from our boat, despite my asking him to please drop us closer.  So we walked back slowly from that point to the boat.
        Well the next morning slash afternoon, when we all got up, Kati and I decided to go shopping because we had seen all the really pretty shops in Syntagma Square.  Jess and Kate were still sleeping, so we decided to venture alone.  We got some really cute things and spend a good amount of money.  After at about 6 we got the train back to the boat to see if we could get some dinner in Piraeus.  We ended up finding an Irish pub that had some really good fried food.  We got chicken wings, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, ribs and it was so good to eat something from home.  We stayed there for a while, and then decided to go back to the ship to get our computers because there was free wifi right on that strip.  We stayed out for a few hours and I got to talk to a bunch of friends on the phone, which was really good. I also tried to upload my Barcelona pictures for the 27th time but it took forever and then failed, so I am just going to try to do it when I get back.  It was a chilled out day, so we went to sleep pretty early.
        In the morning, Kati and I really had wanted to go to a Greek Island.  We got up early and got the bus to the other side of the port where they sold all the tickets for the ferries.  We crossed our fingers hoping that it would all work out, but with us, things always do tend to work out.  We walked into the first ticket office and told the girl that we wanted to go to an island.  She told us that the closest one was Aegina, which is where we planned to go anyway, and that the tickets were only 19 euros round trip.  We were really excited, because the next boat left in a half an hour.  We go our tickets, and found the ferry.  After an hour nap, we were finally there, and all we wanted to do was find a pretty beach and stay there.  It was a short walk to the beach, we set up our towels, laid out for a while until we were hot, and then got in the water.  I brought my water camera, so we played around with that, and joked about staying on the island for the rest of our lives.  The water was perfect, and we were surrounded by the most beautiful scenery.  There were several islands in the background and it was amazing.  For lunch, I had been talking about eating a gyro since we got there, so we went on a walk to find one.  We got to a place and ordered gyros and a Greek salad.  Well apparently there is no lettuce in a Greek salad, it consists entirely of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and peppers, with a huge chunk of feta on top.  Any one who knows me well, knows that I do not eat cucumbers or tomatoes, so I was a bit skeptical of this salad.  I pretty much ate all of the onions and peppers with feta, which was the best feta I have ever had, along with some of the cucumbers.  It was weird because they were actually pretty good.  Our gyros were even better, but kind of a mess, because we had to put them together on our own.  After lunch, we walked across the street to the fruit vendor and bought some more cherries and peaches and headed back to the beach.  We laid out some more and played in the water, and it was a really relaxing day.  About an hour before our ferry was supposed to head back, we grabbed some dinner, which actually consisted of my bakalava and Kati's ice cream and some ridiculously strong cocktails.  We got on the ferry, a bit tipsy and headed back to our home.
        That night we went back to the Irish pub because we were tired and that was where all of our friends were going.  We had a few drinks, and a good time and of course got back home around 3 am.  Well that was the precursor to our last day.  We didn't really have any plans so we decided to be really lazy and sleep all day.  It's one of those things that we don't really ever have time to do.  It was such a good thing to sleep.  We finally got up for lunch, and then watched three movies for the rest of the day.  It was a waste of time, but its so hard to explain how fast paced our lives have been for the last month.  Its crazy to think that we have been on this ship for a month already, and that our trip is half way over.  I feel like I have known these people for years and years, which is crazy, but I am still continuing to have the time of my life.