Did the last 4 months even happen?

I think I ask myself that question every single day. Being back at home has been fabulous; sleeping in my own, comfortable bed, catching up with friends, being with family again...of course it has been great. But being back in this "normal" environment sometimes makes it feel that the past 4 months never actually happened. While telling stories, which I'm sure will continue to come up in conversation for quite a while (so I apologize in advance if you keeping hearing "while in Rome..." or "one time in Athens...") it just doesn't seem possible that I was in Italy, Germany, Greece and Ireland. I cannot be any more grateful for such an experience of a life time! I am honestly just completely flabbergasted every day, thinking that I had this chance!

It has been a bit on the tough side adjusting to life back at home, to be quite honest; just getting used to "normal" life has been interesting! One thing I know for sure is that I have put my mother MUCH more at ease since being back state side! haha! I am very "Rome" sick though...and I think my family abroad can all agree to that. It's weird not having them around all the time and I miss that, a lot. I cannot wait to see them all back on campus! I am truly enjoying being back home though, and it was especially nice during Christmas :)

This trip has really put some things into perspective for me. One thing is for sure, I have such a stronger passion for LIFE. I just want to experience all that I possibly can and as cliche as it sounds, live life to the fullest. I truly think being abroad has helped me realize this. I know sometimes where I don't do anything during the day except lounge around, (which, can I say, has been great to be able to do every now and then?!) it might not seem that I do, but it is quite the opposite!

It is going to be so weird, but exciting to be back on campus and back to "normal" school. I've noticed that I've used the word "normal" quite a bit in this one about home. Not that home is boring, but it is certainly not the lifestyle abroad! Again, I am so grateful for this experience and am sad to say that it is completely over...but thank goodness for my family of 30 to reminisce :)



The fam at Christmas, minus Andrew :(

 It has been a such a pleasure and so much fun to keep up with this blog. I hope those that read this had some fun as well :) (this is the final final blog, by the way)

Who knows, maybe I'll be out and about in Europe someday again soon. One can only hope :) Until then, enjoy!

Over and out,
Laura :)

"And I lost my heart to a Galway girl"

Well, I lied...that previous post is apparently not my last post. :) Although the Roman Greco program has come to an end, as sad as that is to say, I had one last Eupropean adventure before succombing to coming home to bleak Minnesota (that's another lie, I love Minnesota!) My final days in Europe were spent galvanting around the beautiful country that is Ireland. For the record, I am going back to Ireland as soon as I can, just to let you know. I fell in love with that country: the culture, the people, the pubs, the accents...everything!

Because of all the riots and protests happening in Athens, public transportation was conveniently experiencing yet another strike on friday, December 17th, the day of departure, so calling a taxi in advance was probably a smart thing to do. We arrived awfully early at the airport but better that than running through to your gate in hopes of not missing your plane. Kelsey, Meghan, Beth, Julie and I camped out in the airport for a few hours before we could even check in our luggage. We were all tired already but I pulled out my deck of cards to play a game of solitare. A few minutes later the cutest, most fashionable little boy comes up to me and asks if he can play cards with me while his mom waited in line to check their luggage. So he sat down and took the cards and dealt them out. We played something of some sort, but I have no idea what it was. I think he won though. He didn't speak the best English so we did our best and he seemed to enjoy himself for a few minutes! Glad I could help :)

It was eventually time to board our first plane of the first leg of our trip to Dublin. Athens to Barcelona! It was a beautifully smooth flight (except we were deprived of any sort of refreshments on the plane) But other than that, we had an on time flight into the amazing airport of Barcelona with plenty of time to spare before our next flight to Dublin!

This is Dublin! I'm in love already!

The 5 of us arrive into Dublin pretty late at night and struggle to find some sort of transportation to get us into the city center so we can get to our hostels (which were conveniently all really pretty close to each other!) We finally find this huge tour bus the brings us right to our street (or so we thought) And it was our only option anyways. We head down to the city center and get off at O'connell's street. Well, now where to go. We start wandering and dragging all of our luggage down the streets, probably getting a few strange looks in hopes of finding our hostel. We at least know all of ours are in the general area. Well after I don't know how long, we find the Abraham house and finally get checked in. Little did we know we had to drag our bags up 3 flights of stairs and down through the skinniest hallways I have ever seen. We actually never got to see our room during the day because we'd always return after dark and the rest of our roommates were sleeping already. Oh well, it was at least a place to sleep, or try anyways...



Trinity College!



First full day in Dublin. I could not be happier. We all kept thinking "We are in Ireland right now." We all had to take a few reality checks and keep pinching ourselves. I had been anticipating Ireland for the longest time and to finally be here felt surreal! We had a lot on our list of things to see: Trinity College, Dublin castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral etc. First stop: Trinity College and the Book of Kells! Ok, for one, the campus is beautiful! It reminded me a bit of St. Ben's/St. John's (I can't wait to get back on campus again!) We go inside to see the book of Kells which is an ancient manuscript of the 4 gospels. Absolutely stunning! Each book is individually hand bound with a leather binding and looks exceptionally amazing! After going through the gallery, you go up a flight of stairs to the long room. Picture the library in Beauty and the Beast; the one in the castle. This is what the long room reminded me of, just on a bit of a smaller scale. Old, leather bound books from floor to ceiling and a spiral staircase to boot!



Kelsey and I got mittens!



We had a mission: to find ourselves some Irish knit sweaters (we heard they were the big thing there and wanted find them!) I think we all had a certain vision of what they were going to look like and fit like and unfortunately we didn't find those visions of ours. So instead I found some Aran knit mittens! They certainly served their purpose well over the trip. It was freezing!

Next thing you know, we stumbled upon St. Patrick's Cathedral and park. Such a gorgeous church; the largest in Ireland. And the fountain was still running! the pond was definitely frozen over though. We tried to go see the inside of the cathedral but conveniently provided us with an enterance fee so we decided to go to the service the following morning (which I might add was non existent: we tried to go to the service, but again, no go. No one was there)



St. Patrick's Cathedral!

 Christ's church was right down the road. Another beautiful church. And we went there are a very good time. There was a Christmas market happening in the basement of the church, so we decided to check it out.  It was so cool! Everyone had their vendors set up in what felt like the crpyt of the church. We found a vendor selling claddagh rings and of course we all got sucked into buying some. The couple we extremely generous. After buying our rings, they give us all a free Christmas CD of the Christ church choir. Sweet! It was a 10 euro CD we got for free! Now who doesn't like free stuff?! This couple also told us the legend behind the claddagh rings and how we should wear them: They are considered "loyalty rings." Those that are dating someone (or "have their heart taken") should wear it on their right ring finger with the crown facing outwards. (Inwards if "your heart is free") And if you are engaged or married, it goes on your left ring finger with the crown pointing outwards.



Dublin Castle!



Shortly afterward, we wandered to the Chester Beatty library where they had an incredible exhibit explaining and introducing different religions. From Christianity to Hinduism. Very interesting. Along the way we also were able to see the Dublin Castle!

Arlington beef and Guinness pot pie!

By this point we were all getting really hungry and rather cold. Pubs and restaurants are all over the place, so take your pick! We chose the Legends Pub. And I would definitely say it was a great choice! Picture this: It's cold, cloudy and windy. What better way to warm up then with Arlington beef and Guinness pot pie?! Holy guacamole! Out of this world! And it sure hit the spot!

Next stop: Guinness storehouse. We were all looking forward to this for the whole day, we couldn't have been anymore excited. We have heard nothing but fabulous things about the Guinness brewery! And I like Guinness, so even better! It was definitely one of my favorite things we did in Dublin! It was more of a self guided tour/museum taking you through the whole process of how this wonderful thing called Guinness is made!

 At the end of the tour we were given a glass and learned how to "taste" Guinness properly. I think it's safe to say that we are all pros at tasting Guinness! Then after that we climbed to the very top level to the Gravity bar that overlooks all of Dublin. It reminded me of the Radisson hotel with the rotating restaurant on the top. There we were complimented with a free pint of Guinness! So between enjoying each others company and enjoying the free pint of deliciousness, it was a fabulous evening. But the night was still young...

We were all full of Guinness, but we conveniently passed a milkshake bar. Nothing sounded better at the moment. We had been talking about ice cream and milkshakes earlier that day so we had to stop. Best decision ever. They had sooo many different varieites of milk shakes. I got myself a twix shake. oh yum!



Milkshakes!

By this time we were all full and exhausted. We had to sleep this off for a bit. What better way than with a nap?! We had to recuperate a bit before taking in the pub life which we were not going to pass up while in Ireland :)

The Celt is where we ended up for the remainder of the night. You definitely can't beat the pub life. Real, live Irish music, such interesting people to meet and talk to, good company with an Irish cider in hand. The music was so fun to listen to. You couldn't help but nod to the beat of it. Plus the young Irish guys playing fiddle and singing...come on! We all couldn't help but smile. I think we all wanted to explode with happiness. This is exactly how I pictured a pub in Ireland! We even had some Dutch guy buy us a round of ciders! Sweet!

The Musicians:)

The next morning we had planned to go to church at St. Patricks before Julie and I headed down to Galway for the last half of our Irish exploration. Well we tried but failed. No one was anywhere around or in that church. Who knows?! Well, A for effort, no? Instead we found a little cafe and enjoyed a real Irish breakfast with eggs, toast, bacon and black and white pudding. Aka: blood sausage (yea, definitely was not aware that's what it was until after the fact, which is probably a good thing) It was delicious though! Top that off with some tea and you got yourself a fabulous Irish breakfast!
Shortly after, Julie and I said our farewells to Meghan, Kelsey and Beth (they would be staying in Dublin) and we sadly parted ways. But we had a bus to Galway to catch! I was sooo excited to see the country side of Ireland! So we dragged our stupid suitcases to the bus station and hopped the bus. Unfortunately I slept a good portion of the way there. I was exhausted!


The litte town of Galway!

After a 3 hour bus ride we final arrived in Galway. What a beautiful town! Very quaint and small and again reminded  me of home. I definitely think Ireland was a great transistion before arriving at home home. The streets were decorated with lights and people were running around last minute Christmas shopping. After checking in to our co-ed hostel we explored more of Galway. There were some amazing Irish bands preforming along the streets so we had to stop and admire their music and their good looks as well! :) We found a Christmas market right by the bus station. Too cute! People selling their goods and crafts and delicious looking food all over the place! We passed a burger stand selling Kangaroo burgers?! yea, my thoughts exactly. I wasn't brave enough to try kangaroo, so I settled with a venison burger with fried onions on top. Wow... I know I've said this a million times but I have to say it again: there has not been one food item that I have tried and did not like! Same with the venison burger!

It was getting late enough to start checking out the pubs in Galway. Julie and I decided to have our own, unofficial pub crawl, checking out the different pubs in Galway. Our first stop: The Spanish Arch, seriously 2 doors down from our hostel! It was a very cozy atmosphere, fireplace in cluded! Started off the night with Bulmer's cider (I know, not Guinness!? I was lovin the cider though too!) I was getting hungry again (surprise, surprise haha) so we hiked all over creation in search of a restaurant to eat at. Most places only serve food to a certain time and by this time, most, if not all had quit serving. Finally, we randomly stumbled upon a little place called "Kettle of Fish" fish and chips? I think yes! And not surprising again, it was amazing! We got a mountain of chips and very delicious fish! I'm glad we found this place! Then we ended up at the Dail Pub and enjoyed some more live music and more Bulmers before calling it a night. We had an early day the next day.

I woke up the next day with the realization that we will be seeing the Cliffs of Mohr that day. I was so darn excited! These cliffs have been on my list of things to see for such a long time; ever since watching the Princess Bride (yup, the Cliffs of Mohr are the Princess Bride's Cliffs of Insanity!) There were others things to see as well of course! We had such a fabulous tour guide as well! Desmond. I think anyone who has been on the Galway Tour company tours probably has met Desmond. And he sure knows St. Ben's/St. John's. I have had multiple friends that have met him. He actually took out a list of names he's kept with him and asked if I recognized anyone's names. Well, I sure did of course! What a small world. He liked to call me and Julie "Da Bennies" or Minnesota girls! He is such a hilarious man. He would repeat everything multiple times! "The Cliffs of Mohr on your right. On your right are the Cliffs of Mohr if you look to your right." Too funny! And he can say "I Love you" in about 15 different languages and we were privledged to hear him recite every single one of them! He truly made this tour as fun as it was!


This is Desmond

We traveled through a good portion of County Cork, and the Burren which is the vast limestone landscape along the Atlantic coast line. We were able to see the Dungaire castle that overlooks the city of Galway,

the Corcomroe Abbey (we couldn't go inside though) as well as the Ballyalban fairy fort. According to Desmond, it is currently inhabited with leperchauns. So he brings out his too stuffed leperchauns that accompany his tours and puts them in the ring and proves this fact true I suppose. 

We also stopped at the Poulnabrone Dolmen or the Portal tomb, which is an ancient tomb that is dated to be older than the Egyptian pyramids! Cool! And it was set on the most beautiful landscape! Not to mention Irish cows were everywhere! Des said that the brown ones drank Heinenken and the black ones always drank Guinness. So they are referred to as the Heinenken and Guinness cows :)

We had such a beautiful day for this tour. It was freezing, but the sun was shining and the breeze was calm. Before heading up the the Cliffs of Mohr for sunset, we stopped for lunch at Gus O'connors pub where I had the most delicious vegetable soup and warm brown bread!

Well, let me just say the Cliffs of Mohr completely blew me away! (No pun intended, but it actually wasn't windy at all!) It was such a clear day and we could see for miles in all directions across the ocean! What a spectacular sight. I honestly don't think there are words to describe the beautiful sight that are these cliffs. You just have to put the camera away and just enjoy the pure sight of the majestic view! It could not have been anymore beautiful especially with the sunset across the water and the full moon rising on the other side. We had a gorgeous ride back to Galway, along the coast line watching the sun set and the full moon get higher and higher in the sky. I could not have asked for a better way to end this 4 month experience abroad!

Time to pack my life back up in my suticase and head to the Shannon airport. We actually had to bus it there after our day tour because there weren't buses early enough the next day since we had early flights to catch. So we spent our last night at the Park Inn right across from the airport which worked very nicely! I didn't exactly want to spend the night in the airport and could really use a nice shower and good night sleep before my more-than-24-hour traveling day I had ahead of me. I'm so glad we stayed at the hotel and not the airport! It was wonderful!

With all the weather delays most of the UK was experiencing I was hoping and praying that we could at least get out of Shannon without any delays. Luckily we did! Thank goodness! That was the only flight that was actually on time! It was a 7 hour flight but didn't actually feel that long. Maybe it was because I watched movies the entire time haha. But I finally arrived in Newirk, NJ where my flight to Chicago got delayed because of weather and even the last flight from Chicago toMinneapolis got delayed for numerous mechanical reasons, which is always comforting. The last leg of the trip was the longest, of course. It never felt more wonderful to finally land on home turf! I finally came to the sad realization that this trip is officially over and that I am HOME.

A Final Fond Farewell

Wow, where the heck has the past 4 months gone?! It only seems like yesterday that I was filling out the application and waiting in anticipation to hear the exciting news that I was going to live in Italy and Greece for 4 months! This is probably the last time you'll hear from me, but I've had so much fun keeping up with this blog!

I wouldn't not have traded anything about the past 4 months for anything in the world, even the challenging, most difficult times I will treasure (as cheesy as that sounds) I have learned so much and have recieved a much appreciated awareness of these amazing cultures and world. I have come to know and love my family of 29 here so well and I am so sad to leave them. It is going to be so strange to be going home and not having them around every single minute of the day. But on that note, I am so excited to be going home and seeing all of you, especially in time for all the snow and Christmas! Thank you so much for all your prayers, they are greatly appreciated. And defintiely will be needing them now with my travels home! :)

So, a final fond farewell! I'm am now Ireland bound for a few days and I'll see you all on the flip side!!

Much love,
Laura :)

"Spring Break!" Thanksgiving weekend, Greek style!

I think it's safe to say our theme for this weekend, and actually has been since then, was "spring break!" How? I have no idea. It kind of started on our climb up Mt. Parnassus in Delphi, but has pretty much stuck with our group. Haha, beats me! :)

We were off to Olympia for a 4 day weekend of excitement and a celebration of thanks! (and boy do I have plenty to be thankful for!)This has been the very first Thanksgiving I've celebrated away from my family and not to mention out of the country! Crazy! (Thanksgiving is certainly not celebrated in Greece!)



Canal in Corinth! (the picture doesn't do justice)



Our excursion started bright and early thursday, Thanksgiving morning (and we had a day free of classes!) Destination: Peloponnese Islands! And mom, no we did not take a boat at all or even ferried the bus across to the islands because they are connected to the mainland. haha. Just thought I'd let ya know ;) We had a number of stops to make before checking into our hotel for the evening in Nafplio (which they unfortunately had no shampoo. I know, sounds desperate, but I like my shampoo) First place was Corinth! Robert, our accompanying professor of history, wanted us to see the Corinth canal, saying it was absolutely huge. Well, he wasnt lying. We stood on the bridge the crosses it and boy was it quite high. During the tourist season/summer months, you can actually bungee jump off this bridge into the canal. How sweet would that be! Believe me, if we had the chance, I definitely would have given that a try! Bungee jumping in Greece?! Come on! (don't worry mom, I never got that chance) Anyways, this was more of a pit stop because we enjoyed the bathroom and eating ice cream before out next stop and you never know when that is going to be!



Who loves ice cream?!



Temple of Asklepios



Lunch!



Well, that next stop ended up being the site of the Temple of Asklepios (healing god). It was a beautiful setting actually for such ruins, but Robert pointed out a lot of restoration and reconstruction has been taking place making it look rather "disney-esque!" Robert is quite the character, I think his favorite quote to use is "Ta-Da, Jazz hands!" (imagine a very proper englishman saying that in a british accent! Too funny!) We enjoyed our bagged lunch that our school provided for us which was rather delicious! I love the fact that school makes us lunch everyday, even if we go on excursions! While eating our lunches of spinach pies and sandwiches, we had a dog begging from us. This is nothing new though, stray dogs and cats are seriously all over the place, everywhere in Greece! And it was also Kyle's 21st birthday, so Elaine brought some delicious treats to share in celebration! I think chocolate baklava has become a new favorite dessert (look out, I'll be making it for Christmas!)

Ancient Theater

After scarfing down our lunches (I don't know about anyone else, but I was starving) we headed to the ancient theater. This is known as the best preserved ancient theather were Greek tradegies were preformed. It was beautiful! Apparently if you drop a coin at the very center of the stage, you can hear it perfectly clear at the very top of the theater. Of course we had to put this to the test and it definitely was true! The acoustics were fabulous! Beth and I proceeded to be brave and sing in front of everyone. And when I say sing, I mean an attempt to sing happy birthday to Kyle! So I can now say that I have preformed in an ancient Greek theater! Brittany and I continued to quote Shakespeare our whole time there. I'm not sure why Shakespeare because he wasn't Greek at all, but we still did anyways! Robert even preformed a quote from Oedipus the King, which is much more fitting for this setting I'd say!

(Insert quote here)

 Back on the bus and on to Nafplio, where we would be enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner, at the hotel. How classy! The entire bus ride was gorgeous as we weaved in and out of the mountains along the coast and Nafplio sits right along the coast as well. Nafplio reminds me a lot of Hawaii. Granted, I've never been there at all, but it's at least how I picture it! Palm trees line the walk way along the sea and the pier. Mountains surround this all ready gorgeous view of the sea!

The beauty that is Nafplio!

We immediately dropped our stuff off in our hotel and went on our walking tour of this small town. Robert pointed out the Acropolis (the highest point in the city) and mentioned that w can climb to the top. Then he added after climbing 860 stairs. Holy moly! Well, we at least gave it a try. We got to one point to admire the already spectacular view (not even half way up) and decided to hike back down and roam the quiet streets of Nafplio instead.



There the Acropolis!



I was fine with it because some people made it to the top, but said it was closed. A few os us enjoyed wandering around the streets window shopping. We would come across some high end jewlery stores and pick out what kind if engagement rings we like and bla bla bla, all that fun stuff! After viewing most of the town and its stores we went back to the pier and enjoyed the view while sitting by some heat lamps (which I think is a fabulous invention: you can sit outside even during the colder months and still stay warm!) Despite the fact that we were going to be eating our thanksgiving feast in less than two hours, some of the guys still got sandwiches and drinks as a "snack." Typical, I guess :)



Meghan and I :)



It is so fun to see everyone get dressed up in their fancy shmancy clothes! And boy did we look like a classy group if I do say so myself. Girls pulled out their finest dresses that they could throw in their backpacks and guys brought out their silk ties and dress pants! It was fabulous! We were shnazzy!

And the dinner was just as good. Different, but still pretty tasty. And thankfully, we had turkey! Apparently it is a bit of a chore to get turkey here in Greece. Who knew? But each table had their own turkey to carve and even stuffed with stuffing (not the typical stuffing though) We shared Greek potatoes, cabbage salad, bread and a Greek dessert. I have no idea what it's called but it is a caramely pudding almost, similar consistency to Spanish flan. It was pretty good once you get past the interesting texture. It was just great to share a thanksgiving meal with our entire family abroad!



Jordan carving the turkey!



Greek potatoes!

 But it still didn't feel quite like Thanksgiving. For one, it felt like I was in Hawaii and secondly, my family family was missing. I was able to call them, which made the night fun (I can tell they all had a bit to drink) but rather chaotic to be talking on speaker phone with 5 people! haha! Shortly after we stuffed ourselves with stuffing (no pun intended) and turkey, we returned to that same outdoor seating area on the pier to enjoy some drinks. I ordered a sangria. Hands down, best sangria I have ever had! absolutely delicious! the 5 of us who were at a table together (Sam K, Sam B, Mikala, Dan and myself) passed the night by playing one of our groups favorite games: hot tub (its much more fun than it sounds) We basically ask each other any sort of question which can reveal secrets, wishes, crazy stories...you name it. It is rather entertaining! It was such a relaxing, beautiful evening along the coast line with fabulous company! Cheers!

And on to Sparta we go! We first make two stops at  two different Mycanean Palaces. The first was called Tiryn. robert showed all around this, what was once, massive Palace ruins, pointing out all the different rooms and what kinds of rooms they were. He placed volunteers where pillars would have gone so we could get at least an elemantary glimpse of the past. We even threw in our knowledge of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian column types!



Our column volunteers! :)





Lions Gate



"Spring Break!"

The second palace felt even more massive. It was on a towering hill over looking the valley. You walk right under the lion (or griffin, we're not too sure) gates and you can only imagine what this place was like thousands of years ago bustling with royalty. Towards the end of the tour with Robert, we found this narrow, rather dark tunnel. There was a sign that read something to the fact that it was dangerous to venture in there. As usual, we paid no attention to this sign and went down into the deep chasm. It continued to go deeper and deeper underground. The walls became even more narrow the farther down we went. Eventually, it became so pitch black that there was no way to see your hand if you put it right in front of your face! Needless to say, our cameras were clicking right and left. The flashes were our only means of some sort of momentary light! It was so cool!So adventurous we were! We thought maybe it would lead us to some underground burial site or something of that interesting sort. However, we were just a little dissapointed when it finally ended with just a huge mud puddle. Oh well, the anticipation was the fun part. If you ever venture down into this tunnel, be aware of random posts in the middle of the stair well. I learned the hard way and ran right into it. Let's just say it was not the most pleasant feeling to have you're head hit metal in the pitch black darkness....

Deep, dark chasm



"We just went spelunking..again!"

After this deep tunnel and darkness, the Treasury of Atremis was next. It was a huge and built right into the hill! These treasuries are basically to store all the belongings or treasures and riches of the person that dies. It was absolutely massive!! 

After checking out all these palaces and treasuries, our most anticipated destination was next. THIS. IS. SPARTA!!! (It's not everyday you have a reason to shout that!) First of all, the bus ride there was quite interesting. We weaved in and out of the mountain sides, switch back roads, lots of hills...a lot of us were getting car sick I think. The queeziness was contagious. But we finally arrived in the little town of Sparta. (And when I say small, I mean smaller than St. Joe small, which is saying a lot...) BUT we got our first glimpse of Christmas lights! We were all too excited to see them! Straight from the bus to the hotel and onto Ancient Sparta (or at least what is left of it) There Robert taught us all about the Spartan warriors (women warriors as well, and they were tough)! (Ask me about the Spartan warriors when I get home, there are some interesting stories about them) And of course, there was no way that we could leave until Zeus (Kayla's camcorder) caught out battle scenes and our own shouting duel of "THIS. IS. SPARTA!"

 

Spartan women were tough, and so are we!



There's Leonidas (aka Gerard Butler from 300)





So that is Sparta. It definitely seems cool being able to say I've been there, but it was acutally really interesting to see! It all put us in a warrior type of mood! haha Let's go conquer the world!

What better caption than "THIS. IS. SPARTA!"

Later that evening, the hotel again supplied us with another fantastic dinner! After which some us passed our down time playing card games!! What you might ask? Old maid and Mafia. What can bet that?! Our mafia stories were hilarious! Death by mcdonalds and death by eyelashes...But what a fun night playing some card games!

The next morning came all too quickly. Olympia was another bus ride away. Again, it was another very small town, filled with a lot of closed souvenir shops (an jewelry shops!) It was a very relaxing afternoon actually. We enjoyed some gyros (pronounced like "euros"...dad. haha) and shopped around the little town of Olympia! There are some beautiful hand crafted jewelry stores, so naturally we had to peek in those stores! There was a little dessert cafe on the corner of the town with the most delicious looking desserts. I'll jsut say "slave to yogurt." (yogurt with Greek honey and fruit is phenomenal!) Some of us actually returned to this same place later that night, after our dinner at the hotel to enjoy some drinks! Like, stawberry daquaris and milkshakes! What a combination, no?! So delicious! I don't know what it is with our group, but we sure like to play the hot seat/tub game and thats exactly what Meghan, Kelsey, Mike, Sam, Kristin and I played for hours that night enjoying our daquaris! I will say that this game is a great way to know people though! :) 

It was our last day of our 4 day Thanksgiving weekend. What better to go out with a bang than with a legit sprinting race on one of history's very first Olympic stadiums of ancient Olympia?! We definitely did so! Olympia was absolutely incredible. Here are just a few pictures for you to take a look. We also toured the museum containing artifacts from this same site. What a "spring break" it has been! :)



On your mark, get set, GO!

Ready to run!

These are ruins of a Christian Basilica!