This morning on the radio the DJ was talking about Christmas being 35 days away. Well, I've been wanting to do a blog for each day I was away so I can share, in depth, all of the things I learned and why they are significant, some even insignificant, to me and where I am headed in life. Where we are all headed in life. Also, it may help y'all understand why I NEVER shut up about Europe. : )
When I heard on the radio that Christmas was only 35 days away I figured I'd better start my European recounts today instead of at the beginning of the year like I considered since I will be far too busy blogging about all of my new adventures living in the Big Apple.
Also, I fear I may never get around to writing the book I hoped to so a blog will suffice.
Since all of my blogs have leaned toward inspirational-type blogs that is what I will stick to, and believe me every day in Europe was more than inspiring.
I want to do this 35-day recount not only for me, but for all of my fellow traveler's and new friends I met in Athens on that -is-this-really-happening-right-now- day we all experienced. Keeping in touch with all of these new friends is really important to me because 35 days, 24 hours a day, brings you closer than you could ever imagine. I also know that we are all pretty much in the same phases of life right now. We're all in the transition phase just trying to figure it all out. One day at a time.
These next 35 blogs are for you guys. Some will be our stories- the scary, ugly, beautiful, humorous and even the sweatiest, some just recaps of crazy tour guides and over indulgence of wine. I want us to NEVER, ever forget those 35 days and to always remember what Eirini taught us, "Nothing is permanent!" I know for me, and several others of y'all I still keep daily contact with, that Europe turned our worlds upside down and we wouldn't trade it for anything. We are no longer ordinary bartenders, nurses, speech therapists, college students, etc.,--- we are unstoppable! You all owe it to yourselves to never settle for ordinary. Europe was not as good as it gets for us.
Maybe this will only be a 34-day recount since day 1 and 2 are essentially the same, but here goes...
Tracking time with a six-eight hour time difference is a pain. I left Shreveport at 8:00 a.m. on a Monday and landed in Athens, Greece on Tuesday around 2:00 p.m. Being in a plane and airports for more than 24 hours only adds to the anticipation of the unknown.
However, when switching flights in Amsterdam to head to Athens I met a couple from Hattisburg, Mississippi. What are the odds? My favorite professor/mentor is from there and I took it as a sign that I was going to be OK and the world isn't as big as we think.
The couple lived in Miss for the last 40 years but had both grown up in Greece, where they were headed for five weeks to visit their families. The wife was wearing a Southern Miss T-shirt so I had to strike a conversation. Coincidence? Who knows... They bought me a drink in the airport while we waited for our next flight. I practically forced them to adopt me for the three hour wait. They didn't seem to mind showing off their children's wedding pictures and giving me their number in Greece in case I needed anything. It was a great start to my adventure and really helped calm the nerves!
So, I kid you not when I say it did not set in that I was leaving home, to go God-knows-where, for five weeks until I stepped off the plane in Athens. I made my way to luggage claim hoping to find someone with EF College Break (the tour I was signed up with). I had already asked every young person in the past 20 plus hours if any of them were with EF, but all I got were stares.
Luckily, I saw a group of three girls at the luggage claim in Athens and walked up to them and, in my classic, southern accent (as Bri so clearly remembers,) I asked, "Are y'all with EF?"
In that moment I met my three roommates for the remainder of the trip. I don't know if it was because we were all strangers who were equally freaked out about our foreign adventure, or destiny or what, but boy, we clicked instantly! And from the airport in Athens until we departed in Barcelona (33 days later,) we were inseparable.
Thank heavens we found each other because not one of us had a clue where to go from luggage claim. We finally found direction and headed toward our future- a tiny, olive-skinned, dark-haired wonder of a woman with the biggest smile I've ever seen holding a sign that read "EF College Break."
I've never fallen in love so quickly in all of my life. To all of us, Eirini, the dark-haired wonder woman (and our 35-day tour guide/travel partner), instantly became our rock, not our mother (she hated that one). Seriously, we would've all died by day three without her guidance. Personally speaking, anyway.
For the next hour or two we waited for the others to get off their flights. We came from all over the U.S.: Louisiana, Florida, Illinois, California, New Jersey, Colorado, New York, etc...
Probably around 4:00 p.m. we headed out of the airport for our first, but definitely not our last, tour bus ride. (Probably a quarter, or more, of our time was spent in a tour bus when traveling from place to place.)
Eirini got the ball rolling with her, what would become a routine, microphone talks : ) We set out to our first hotel in downtown Athens as we all quickly got acquainted with one another. I was nervous because when planning a trip overseas people make sure to always tell you their horror stories before they tell you the glories of traveling abroad. I was prepared for the worst.
The outside was cute and although the room was a tight squeeze, like most of our future rooms would be, especially with Nicole's suitcase (ha), it was clean and we all had an individual twin sized bed. The real trick of living in Europe is the shower situation. Apparently all Europeans are 4'11" and weigh no more than 100 pounds because the showers are definitely "fun-sized." Every time someone showered the bathroom flooded, and that was the case at 90% of our living quarters.
We hauled our suitcases up the stairs (this also became routine and lead to some pretty decent biceps) threw on a swimsuit and headed down the street to the beach. The water was freezing and gorgeous does not even begin to describe the color of the water.
We piddled around for an hour or two and found Nicole and Steph and attempted, for the first of many times, to find a Western Union. Along the way we met the first of what seems like 1,000 Australians. If you ever visit Australia and the population is zero, don't worry you didn't miss the rapture, they are all just on holiday in Europe somewhere : )
Our initial thoughts as we walked around in downtown Athens were, "Damn, I just spent a lot of money for this!"
Where our hotel was located was not the heart of Athens where the Acropolis and all its wonders were. We weren't in the slums, but it was by no means pretty. With our heads high in anticipation we continued on and met the rest of our soon-to-be new friends for our welcome dinner.
At the dinner, jet lag finally set in and of course, I was literally falling asleep at the dinner table. I tried my damnedest to keep my eyes open but the 24 hours of lost sleep finally caught up and I went with the other early birds back to our hotel.
We would be leaving for Mykonos via a five-hour ferry at 7:00 a.m. the following morning, which meant a 5:00 a.m. wake up call.
So that was my first night in Europe, my first time overseas and my introduction to Greece. I already had three super amazing friends and it wouldn't be much longer til we were all sharing our deepest darkest secrets.
Tomorrow is when the real fun begins so stay tuned for Mykonossssss :)
Top photo is courtesy of Nicole. This is a pit stop later on in our trip but it was the only bus picture I could locate. Plus, it gives a good idea of how comfortable we got with bus rides and how fun the drivers were. Or maybe he never knew about this pic...
Middle: The lovely Greek couple who reside in Hattisburg, MS :)
Bottom: Essentially what I did in February!
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