The Tour of Near-Death Experiences

Spring Break is almost officially over. Technically it ends tomorrow at 2 pm French time when I go to my oral French class, but I'm done with my travelling, so the fun part is over. Now I get to work on homework that I've been avoiding for the past two weeks.

Our last days in Greece were very fun. We finally made it to Oia, which is the part of the island where The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed. Katie's a big fan, so we spent a large amount of time trying to figure out which parts of the city were used in the movie.

One of the restaurants by us housed my new favorite food. It was a homemade waffle with chocolate and Baileys on top. I'm recreating this when I get home, and possibly marketing it for large sums of money. It can be one of the items for sale in the fabulous bakery I plan on opening.

The bar right next to it housed some of the largest margaritas I've ever seen. I had a mango one, and it was one of my favorite alcoholic beverages. It came with an umbrella, as all good drinks should. It was only seven euros in Greece, so it would be roughly 300 euros in France WITHOUT the umbrella. We actually didn't get drunk. Usually we were so tired from our rough days of laying on the beach that we just crashed. Even though we're all 21, I think our actual ages can be placed more at 90.

The final day was definitely the best one. We booked a tour. They took us to a dock where there were a bunch of ships that looked like they should be in Peter Pan. I think my childlike enthusiam scared some people. I'm sure my "I'm sorry, I've just never ridden on a pirate ship before" definitely didn't help.

Don't worry, I took pictures.

The pirate ship took us to an active volcano and we climbed up the side of it. I wasn't told it was an active volcano until I reached the top, so thoughts of "This is going to explode... this is going to explode... I'm going to die in a fiery pit of lava just like Gollum unless the Eagle king comes to save me from the side of the mountain like he did for Sam and Frodo... But I don't know the Eagle king! I'm screwed!" Yes, most of my episodes of fear somehow turn into commentaries on Lord of the Rings.

But anyway, so apparently the volcano wasn't going to explode that day, so I just have a lot of pictures of igneous rock formations.

Next they took us to hot springs. I thought we were going to go on a little hike and BAM! the springs would magically be there. Nope, you gotta work for things in Greece. Our boat was parked some distance away from shore and they said, "Okay, so see way over there? That's the hot springs. We can't park there because there are a lot of jagged rocks, so you have to swim through this really, really cold water right here and then you reach the hot springs. Well, not really HOT, more lukewarm. But they're good for your skin! So you get to stay there and prepare for when you have to go through the cold water again to get to the boat."

I turned to Molly and Katie and said, "I think I'll pass." To which Katie replied, "You're from Chicago. You'd better be able to swim in the Greek version of cold." So the three of us jumped in along with two girls from Canada, who also thought they could take the Greek version of cold.

The Greeks and I have very similar versions of cold. Of course, I have slightly more tolerance so I psuhed my way to those hot springs, and basked in their luke-warmness. While floating, I noticed a clear circle in the water that kind of looked like a jellyfish, so I told everyone about it. No one heard me because it was at this time that Molly screamed because a plastic bag had touched her. Understandable, as plastic bags are known for their vicious sting.

Therefore, it came more as a shock to everyone else than it came to me when we swam back and were completely surrounded by a school (is it a school if they're jellyfish? I'm not up on my fish lingo. We'll just call it a gang then... a huge biker gang) of jellyfish. Much screaming and freaking out ensued. I stayed calm and just kept saying things like, "Just keep swimming" and "Maybe they don't sting in Greece." I supposed it kind of worked, because I sort of managed to calm down one of the Canadian girls.

We made it safely back to the boat, and all acknowledged that it would have been nice to know about the killer jellyfish before venturing out into the water. Some of us didn't express it that eloquently, but the sentiment was basically the same.

We then made it to Oia. The boat dropped us off at the bottom of a large cliff that had a beautiful, windy staircase. The city was at the top. Molly and one of the Canadian girls decided to walk up it, but Katie, the other Canadian girl and I decided to go on donkeys, just like they do in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Also, the stairs were steep and at a 90 degree angle. After walking up about 10 of them I was winded, and I am in shape after carrying a 25 pound bag around Italy and Greece. A donkey doing the work for me sounded like a better idea.

Until I got on the donkey. My donkey and Katie's donkey were having the donkey version of a pissing-contest. They both wanted to be in the lead and would try to run past each other and bump into each other. If they had understood English I would have yelled, "Stop trying to figure out who's got bigger balls. We are on a CLIFF!" Except being Greek donkeys, they only understood Greek.

We made it to the top alive, and I vowed never to ride a donkey again. Though, now when I watch the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants I can go, "yeah, I did that" when they're all on the donkeys. Which really is all that matters, bragging rights. In life, it's not what you do that's important, it's what you did that you're allowed to brag about that's important.

We then ate dessert and had wine on the terrace of a resaurant while watching the sunset. THAT I will do again.

I probably made the tour sound terrfying, but it was actually a lot of fun when I wasn't about to have a heart attack. We made friends because there's no way you can swim through jellyfish-infested waters and ride killer donkeys with people and be enemies with them. It's just not possible.

It was a good Spring Break.

My Big, Fat, Greek Adventure

Trains, planes, buses, boats, and cars... I took one of each yesterday. Needless to say, today was a sleeping in day.

We're finally in Greece! Santorini is beautiful! We spent today at the beach. It was a little cold, but as Chicago girls we've had colder. We were the only people on the beach who actually braved the water. Molly did not listen to my many warnings about skin cancer, and now has a sunburn that makes her a lovely lobster color. Me and my SPF 30 worked quite well together. We plan on continuing our relationship for the next four days.

The ship to Santorini was a cruise-type ship. It took us to the island from Athens. They played My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding in English with Greek subtitles. It was strange to see, but it blended Greek with Chicago, so Katie and I were happy to be able to watch it. We both acknowledged while looking at the subtitles that we had no idea really what Greek sounded like... A little like Italian, but not really. I'm not sure what I was expecting. I've just never been in a country without the standard latin alphabet. It's really hard to guess what signs are trying to tell you, but thankfully some of them have English on the bottom.

Venice was just as beautiful as I remembered. Katie, Molly, and I went on a gondola ride and saw Marco Polo and Casanova's houses. I think that says a lot about the city: the famous people from it are an explorer and a man known for sleeping around.

I attempted to find Christine, but it sadly didn't work out. I'll have to wait until I get back to the States to see her.

We're going out tonight, so I have to go. Cross your fingers that Greek guys are less creepy than Italians!

What Happens on Spring Break Stays on Spring Break

I'll try to write an entry today AND tomorrow because I don't know when I'll be able to write again in the next two weeks. I'm sure I'll find some internet cafes, so be on the lookout! I'm leaving tomorrow for an Italian tour (Milan, Rome, and Venice) and Greece (Santorini). I'm going with Molly and our friend, Katie. We all have decided that we're going to have a ridiculous amount of fun and our motto will be "What Happens on Spring Break Stays on Spring Break."

With a motto like that, I hope we'll all still be talking when we get back. Imagine the damage that could be done...

Don't worry, Mom. I will make intelligent decisions. I'll also resist getting sold into white slavery.

I have a language exchange tonight, so I'm looking forward to that. I get to see all my friends one last time before going off on my grand Greecian and Italian adventures. Molly and I have decided to dress up for this one: her to convince Aurélien that he wants to have a torrid love affair with her and me... for no real reason. A girl doesn't need an excuse to look pretty.

Hugo was supposed to be there tonight, but he called me last night and said, "I can't come tomorrow, but I want to see you before you leave! Do you have time to go out for a drink tonight?" When I agreed, he said, "Ok, meet you at the train station in an hour."

I don't think the male gender understands sometimes how long it takes to get ready. An hour did not seem like a sufficient amount of time to make something to eat, eat it, put on makeup, straighten my hair, change my clothes, and walk to the station, but I am Superwoman. I did it all AND beat him to the train station. When he told me I looked really nice, I said, "You should have seen me an hour ago. My face alone would have made children run in fear."

Ok, so I didn't say that, but next time I will. Probably.

We went to his friend's appartment (his friend is also in the language exchange) and drank wine, listened to old French songs, and some people smoked cigarettes (I spared them my cancer speech, but it was so tempting... Hugo doesn't smoke, which I was happy to learn). It was all very French. The conversation was also mostly in French, so I understood only about half of it... or more like a fourth of it. But every so often Hugo would ask if I understood and then everyone would give me a group French lesson. Having French friends is so much more helpful than actually going to school. Too bad "hanging out with French people" isn't a class. I would ace that one.

I returned the favor by teaching them more American slang. They needed to have it expanded from "OMG" and "LOL." They proceeded to call each other "tools" for the rest of the night. I don't know that I'll ever teach them "pimp" as the last thing I need is to hear a large group of self-assured Frenchmen calling each other pimps. Though it would be fun to hear in a French accent. I'm teaching Arnaud all the ghetto terms I can think of for this purpose. So far he can say "What's up, homie g?" and calls me "shawtie" (shawtie=shorty=attractive girl).

Today Hugo sent me a text message that said, "Have a goodtime and dont pay attention to italian or greek guy's! French are the bests!!" (The grammar is his, not mine.) I told him I would say, "I'm sorry, you're not just not French enough" to any guy who tried to approach me. I'm sure this will work as the perfect repellant, because Greecian and Italian males are known world-wide for giving up easily when a woman turns them down.

And now I have to go do homework and prepare for tonight. Time to get pretty again...