Sun Cream and Dramamine

Hello again from London.  I'm back... for the last time.  So sad!  Seriously, I should not be lamenting so.  I go to Germany on Saturday!  I know I should be excited - and I truly, truly am.  It will just be hard to leave London after using it as a homebase for the past two months.

Anywho, my friend Elizabeth arrived a little over two weeks ago.  [Oh, and by the way, Eurovision was just as good as it promised to be.  As it was the final, 25 countries competed to have the title of best song in Europe.  While my personal favorite was Sakis Rouvis from Greece, Norway ended up taking home the coveted prize.  And when I say coveted prize, I mean... title for the cheesiest pop song in the land.  Way to go Norway!]  We have been having an absolute blast.  Elizabeth is a friend from studying in London two years ago.  She lives in Illinois, and I am so lucky that she was able to come over yonder!  As soon as she got here I ditched my big backpack in a storage locker and we were on a flight to Venice.  After aimlessly walking around at midnight (no streets = no taxis) for an hour or so we finally found our hostel.  It was very nice - much more like a real hotel (!).  The next day we explored the city.  While it is extremely beautiful, Venice is not my favorite city.  I could not believe the number of tourist shops and items of every kind for sale.  It was really distracting.  After two and half hours of frantically trying to find the right dock (a story I will not bore you with.  But I will tell you that a watertaxi ride of approximately 100 yards is 40 Euro.  40 EURO.) we finally get to our ferry.  Our 36 hour ferry!  36 hours is a long time - truly - a time that we filled mostly with reading.  And discussing other passengers.  Like the two Croatians that shared our cabin, Anita and Mathos.  They were... interesting.

SO, we made it to Patras, Greece.  From there we had a four hour train and were then finally in ATHENS!  I had been warned against the city - many people had told me that it was dirty and way too busy - so I think that helped me appreciate it in my own way.  Elizabeth and I thought it was great!  It is in fact a bit dirty, but the combination of old and new is mesmerizing, and I really, REALLY like Greek people.  They are funny and welcoming.  We hit up most of the classic sites (Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Theatre of Dionysis, site of the first modern day Olympics) and made sure to take advantage of siesta and have a freddo cappucino - iced - just as the rest of the city does.  We also went to an outdoor theatre that had an amazing view of the Acropolis lit up at night, and the site of the 2004 Olympics.  The hostel we stayed at was really fun, and I met a girl there who is an art history major at Notre Dame and is moving to Berlin for the same reason as me (language for grad school)!  She's only going to be there a month, but I'm still excited. 

 

After four Athens-filled days we took another (8 hours this time) ferry to the island of Santorini.  Quite literally, the most beautiful place I have ever been.  We stayed at an incredibly cheap hostel that ended up being a gorgeous villa, with an amazing view.  We rented an ATV to explore.  I was scared out of my wits at first - Liz and I figured we were going 40 at our fastest - but I think it was one of the best things I've ever done.  We were there a total of two full days.  The second day we took the ATV to the northern tip of Oia to watch the sunset.  The entire place was like a fairy tale, with the white houses and deep blue water that are envisioned when thinking of Grecian Islands.  We were clearly not disappointed.

Our amazing hotel, Stavros Villas:

We then took the ferry back to Athens for our morning flight to London.  I am so lucky to have been able to go to Greece.  It's a place that Elizabeth had always wanted to go, and one that I would surely never say no to, so I sort of went along for the ride.  I will never, ever forget the places we were able to visit, the people we met, or the 52 total hours on a ferry.

OPA!

WWOOFing in Wales

Hello from the Cotswolds.  The past three weeks have been, well, interesting.  Upon my arrival to Haverfordwest (Christian Bale's hometown - a very important detail) I find a very empty parking lot, instead of my wwoofing hosts, Mandy and David, waiting to pick me up.  It is of course poring rain, and I am afraid to leave to find a phone should they arrive. After an hour or so I decide to wander aimlessly, in a hopelessly small town with little to offer.  Eventually, a phone is found and Mandy and David come to get me.  I fall into my bed without looking back.

Wwoofing was an experience I will never forget.  WWOOF is an acronym that stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.  It started in the UK in 1971 and now takes place all over the world. In return for volunteer help, wwoof hosts offer food and accomodation.  I would definitely do it again, as it is an organization that I believe in (and I have heard many positive experiences), by my situation was not quite perfect.  Without going into gruesome detail, my hosts were not very kind nor considerate, and never said thank you apart from an e-mail I received after it was over.  The husband didn't even come downstairs to say goodbye when we left.  But, I did meet two great people.  Sam was there almost the whole time with me.  He studied in London this past semester and had some time to pass while waiting for his family.  We talked about movies the whole time (a very effective way to mindlessly pass time while doing quite a bit of hard physical labor).  Leila came a week into my stay.  She brought with her a good attitude - and she got us our first day off.  We went on the most amazing eight mile walk along the coast of Wales.  It was gorgeous.  

The majority of the work we did in Wales involved weeding - whether it was in the nursery cleaning up potted plants, in the garden weeding or clearing out large areas of brambles and needles - if it needed weeding, we were there.  There was the occasional transport of manure but other than that it was all about weeding.  My hands have never been so constantly filthy.  

Leila and I hit it off and I am incredibly grateful for it - she invited me back to stay with her family near Stroud, England.  Her local village is called Nailsworth, and it is one of the most charming places I have ever been in my life.  I was there for four days and it was absolutely lovely.  Her family was so welcoming.  The second night I was there her father had a party for his birthday.  I felt like I was sitting in on a world that really wasn't mine.  It was fantastic.

While I started writing this post in the Cotswolds, I am now back in my dear, dear London.  I arrived yesterday by bus.  I'm staying in a hostel in Southwark, just two minutes walk from London Bridge.  It's a great location.  Last night I went to a screening of a film called How to Be (starring the guy from Twilight).  It was not very good, but there was a Q&A with the director and that was interesting.  This morning I went to the market for breakfast, and tonight is EUROVISION.  I can hardly contain my excitement.  I promise I will spare no details in telling all about it later.

Well, I must say, I miss everyone in the States greatly.  Hope you're all doing well!