Okay..jokes over! I'll take my real room now!

I am finally in Greece! Yah! This has been my number 1 destination for so long and I was SO excited to finally be here. We got off the ship super early the first day as usual. Haha. I have seriously turned into such an early riser. There is just too much to see to sleep through it! So, the port here is really, really nice. It has free wi-fi which everyone on the ship is super excited about. As we walked out, we were literally ATTACKED by men. Not just any men though. CAB driving men. The most aggressive kind. We had already decided to ride the bus, but no one would tell us where it was because they wanted our business. TYPICAL. So, we figured it out, bought our tickets, and got on the bus. The ride into Athens from the port was like 30 minutes, but it wasn’t too bad. We got to see a lot of the city. When we were at one of the stops, there was this woman running to get on the bus, and she seriously LAYED out. I felt so bad. She like dropped all of her stuff and didn’t get up for a minute. Some man outside helped her, but it was really scary. I thought she was actually injured.

We got off the bus near the Acropolis and shopped a little while we tried to figure out how to get in. They had these really cool carved wooden slingshots, but we weren’t allowed to bring them back on the ship. BOO. We found the entrance to the Acropolis and waited to get our student discount tickets. Somehow Maggie slipped by undetected and didn’t have to pay which was super lucky. It was also SO hot. I didn’t realize the Acropolis was on the top of a huge mountain, but we climbed it of course. Seeing ruins is kind of a hard thing to appreciate because they are ruined and all, but it was still cool. The Parthenon was probably the coolest thing since it was the most recognizable and intact still. There were also a TON of tourists around which always makes things not quite as special, but it was still a cool experience. The view was really great and showed the size of the city of Athens. Also, just like everywhere we go, the stones were super slippery, so it was like walking up a hill covered in ice in 100 degree weather. We all had our share of slips, but no falls! We lost Maggie and Nicole for a little bit, but we eventually found them at the bottom of the hill. We were all pretty hungry by that point, so we stopped at a small café and grabbed some sandwiches. I got the chicken and feta croissant sandwich which ended up being straight feta cheese. Still delicious though. I tend to not get what I actually order on this trip, but it always seems to work out! I also ordered a frappuccino because I needed caffeine and proceeded to get corrected because it is a “frappe” not a “frappacino”. He seemed a little offended, but it was whatever. Kind of funny actually.

So, we headed back to the port on a bus after that because we had to catch our ferry to Mykonos. We stood in the accordion of the bus which was PRETTY funny. Haha. Mandice and I played jello, and I totally crushed her. Literally. She’s just not that good at it. So, we got on the ferry which I was picturing to be a ferry with like metal benches and such, but it was SO nice. It had a really nice bar and restaurant inside, and the seats were super comfortable. People also drove their mopeds and cars on board which was pretty interesting. Another interesting thing is that security does not exist at all. They didn’t check bags what-so-ever which was so different from the U.S. We listened to our Ipods and took naps during the ferry ride. It wasn’t long before we had arrived! The arrival was crazy though. All of the passengers walked down to where we boarded and where they kept the cars. Then, as the ferry approached the dock, they started opening up the back before we had even stopped! People were starting their mopeds and cars even! It was crazy. Definitely a liability in the states. So, as soon as it stopped we hopped off. And then all hell broke loose.

We walked off the ferry, and there were a TON of people with signs for hotels and hostels. We found our hostel name and followed the guy to the van along with two other guys who were on our ferry. We loaded into the van which had 13 seats and threw our stuff in the back. We waited for a few minutes and then a BUNCH more people got in this long van. There were definitely more people than there were seats. Also, the guy driving the van was a CRAZY driver. He thought the best way to ask people to get out of the way of the van was to flash his headlights at them. He also was playing this music that sounded like farting music. It was hilarious. We arrived when it was dark out, so I didn’t really know where we were. So, we finally arrived at our hostel. It was half a campsite, half a hostel. The facilities were really nice. They had a market, café, bar, pool, and beach access. Yet, as we walked to our room, we saw the communal bathrooms to our left which did not believe in soap or toilet paper. Needless to say, no one showered during our stay there. Super clean!! We follow the girl farther down the dirt path…yes..dirt..to our bungalow which consists of six beds, one light bulb, and a mini fan. Really high class. I can’t even tell you how hard we were laughing. Not to mention the fact that the beds were super close to each other.

So, since Mykonos is known to be the party island, we headed to the market to get some liquor and start the party! We were getting ready and drinking and singing which was a lot of fun. Every time someone had to change something that shouldn’t be seen by the group, we just turned out the light! Aren’t we so resourceful? It was hilarious. After a while, a few girls from next door came over, and we became friends. They were really nice, and we had a good time pregaming and singing to some music. After a while, it was time to leave, so we headed in to town to see what was going on. We just wandered around a bit, got some stuff to eat, and scoped out the bars. One bar gave us some free shots when we walked in but then we walked right back out. Some people were feeling a little under the weather, so we decided to head back to the bungalow.

When we got back, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, so Megan, Maggie, and I headed back out to Cava Paradiso which is a really popular nightclub near our place. We decided to walk, but we literally had to off road it to get there. We walked over this huge mountain and down along the beach where we ran into a group of people who said the cover was 30 euro to get in which is like $45. Crazy huh? But we decided to check it out for ourselves and kept walking. We then ran into a kid closer to the club that said the same thing, but also said he knew of another bar down the road and wouldn’t mind giving us a ride on his quad. So, since walking is all we ever do, we took him up on the offer. All 3 of us piled on with him and his friend, but the ride was only a few minutes long, so it was fine.

We arrived at this cute little beach bar with this CRAZY Greek waiter who was super welcoming. We realized that the guys who had given us a ride were a little creepy, so we started talking to these other guys who were from Australia. They were older than us, but they were really nice. One of them had the title of lord which was pretty hilarious. They were a fun group to hang out with, and they bought our drinks too which is never a bad thing. We hung out with them until about 5 a.m., and then decided to walk back. The walk was just as treacherous as the first time. We got back and Megan and I decided to walk down to the beach to see the sunrise. So, we start to walk down to the beach chairs, and guess what? We heard ROOSTERS crowing! ROOSTERS! Since it was dawn and all. It was seriously so funny. We waited until we saw the sun come up and then called it a night. It was a lot of fun!