My First Cruise!

HELLO EVERYONE!

WARNING: Make sure you have some time before you sit down to read this!

I’m back! I KNOW you’ve missed hearing from me. I have a lot to say. At least I think I do. If I can remember it all, that is. But first I have a few random things to catch you up on before I regale you with my Mediterranean Island adventures.

Let’s see: 1) The thing I will be most excited about when I get home will being able to flush toilet paper! The plumbing system over here is a little less than desirable. 2) I have issues. Well we’ve know that for years but I have new issues now. Electrical issues. I have managed to blow out 2 converters and right before I left for my cruise I exploded my blow-dryer. There was an element that was a little iffy but I wasn’t too worried until I smelled smoke, looked inside it and it was blazing red. Then it started to spark and spit flames and went out in a blaze of glory! 3) I have been learning how to speak greek which is pretty cool. It’s really neat being able to greet the people you meet in their native language. So if you are reading this in the morning Kalimera; in the evening Kalispera. That’s good morning and good evening. And hello is Ya Su. Of course those aren’t the greek letters but I have a hard enough time trying to figure out what words mean in when they’re written in English.

So… THE CRUISE! This was my first cruise ever. I had to get up at 5:45 to leave. We get up early A LOT here! Something I wasn’t bargaining on but I am becoming a big fan of coffee. We got to the ship and went through customs. There were 4 of us in a VERY tiny room. When they said they would send a wake-up call at 6 and we needed to be in the lounge by 7 we looked at each other and laughed. It’s a REAL good thing our ship didn’t go down like the Titanic because even though I went to lifeboat orientation I still have no clue how to get it on without help. There was a pretty snazzy whistle on it though.

Here are pictures from the start of the cruise and getting settled in:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004367&l=c4ea9&id=1523040053

That evening we landed at our first island, Mykonos. I think this was my favorite island! It was BEAUTIFUL! We wandered around the side streets, window shopping, making our way up to the famous windmills. Another famous thing about the island is the pelican called petros. He has a family and some of them are just plain MEAN! I saw one try to bite a man’s head off. Of course it wasn’t helping that the man was trying to have someone take a picture of it. The other major site at Mykonos was Little Venice. You can see a picture of it in my album. We got back to the ship and I got my first tastes of being waited on hand and foot! I LOVED it! I came back to my room, my clothes were folded, everything was picked up, and my bed was turned down. It was VERY hard to come back to civilization!

Mykonos Pictures:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004368&l=ce857&id=1523040053

Kathleen and I went to the floorshow and had a good time drooling over the photographer. Finally I went back to my room and started bonding with my cruise roommates. We mixed it up a little so we could get to know each other better. At first I was a little hesitant but now I think it was the best thing we could have done. I’ve grown to love Diane, Erica, and Sarah as much as the people I knew coming into the trip. 5:30 am, our wake-up call came and we disembarked into… TURKEY! So far on my trip I have been on 2 continents: Europe and Asia. We stopped at Ephesus. The preservation at the site was AMAZING! I was in awe that I was walking in places we know Paul was, where the letter of Ephesians was written to. The two highlights of that trip for me were: 1) The Library of Ephesus—3rd largest library in the world and 2) the ancient baptistery from the 6th-7th century. The detail in the architecture and the scale was astounding! We stopped by the amphitheater and sang together. I know 1st century Christians probably wouldn’t have been singing in the amphitheater but it was moving all the same. I can imagine Paul speaking out to the masses, preaching the love and truth of God to the world. What I marvel at is how I read through the books of the bible and picture these people skipping from one place to another. Even on our ship the journey seemed endless and I was traveling in “style” or at least comfortably. We had a little bit of time to go shopping in Turkey where I got some BEAUTIFUL hand-made ceramics! Merry Christmas MOM! The vendors there are VERY pushy. You walk down the street and they yell: Verdy Verdy good! Good price! And everyone is a Texas Lady, even if you aren’t from Texas. Cracks me up!

Turkey—Ephesus Pictures:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004369&l=64f27&id=1523040053

Our second stop for the day was at the island of Patmos. On the boat ride to the island the song, Ivory Palaces popped into my head… John saw it descending from heaven, when exile in Patmos he trod. Personally I think John had it pretty good being on that island. It was so peaceful and beautiful. We went to visit the cave where John supposedly received his Revelation. It has now been turned into a church. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures. Legend has it that when God spoke to John, giving him the book of Revelation the ceiling cracked into 3 sections representing the Trinity. The priests allowed us to sing in the cave and it was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had singing. I know there’s no place that makes you closer to God than another but at that moment surrounded by my brothers and sisters in Christ I felt the love of Christ flowing through all of us and surrounding us. From there we marched our way up to the Monastery. It was amazing! They have one of the oldest copies of Mark on display and numerous other manuscripts of the bible. I wanted to ring the bells REALLY bad but I restrained myself.

Patmos Pictures:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004370&l=0e0c3&id=1523040053

So second night… This was GREEK NIGHT! Everyone wore some form of blue and white. We got really fond of yelling OPA! I think we drove everyone on that boat insane. We all went to the show after dinner and watched the dances of Greece. One of my favorite things about Greece is their passion for life. Their vitality flows through their music! This night was especially a fun night because there was a STORM! I have a bad since of balance to begin with and the boat rocking was not helping any. There were a bunch of us sitting in the Disco lounge on bar stools and I was laughing especially hard and went off backwards into the floor. The second time around I fell forward on an especially big wave and took a couple people with me. So this time there was someone on top of me and I was tangled up in the stools. The bar tenders cut me off the drinks I was NOT drinking. I now know what it must feel like to be drunk and all I have to say is—It’s a good thing I don’t!

Next morning… ANOTHER early morning and I wanted to kill the phone when it rang! We went to the island of Crete to see the Archeological remains of Konosko. This is where the minotar legend came from and the first civilization of Greece, the Minoans, originated. It was raining and it was slightly miserable. Crete was a little disappointing and I think my least favorite place. I had seen lots of pictures in the text book of the original ruins and when we got there they had rebuilt large portions of it and it didn’t feel as “authentic.”

Crete Pictures:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004373&l=4748a&id=1523040053

The second half of the day was spent in the beautiful island of santorini. The town is position on top of the island. There are 3 forms of transportation that will get you to the top: 1) Cable Car 2) Walk 600 STEEP steps up to the top or 3) Ride a donkey! I’ll give you 3 guesses which one I picked. First 2 don’t count. If you’ve already looked at the pictures you aren’t allowed to guess! Alright do you have your answer? Obviously it’s not the steps. I RODE a donkey! On a greek island! It was SO exciting! But me being the dumb blonde I am wore a dress. I really wanted to ride side saddle but they wouldn’t let me. Two thoughts went through my head on the way up other than don’t flash anyone and don’t fall off! 1) This give new meaning to stubborn as a mule and I thought of Baalam and the donkey every time mine stopped and wouldn’t go again. I think mine was in love with Kathleen’s donkey because it did the EXACT same thing hers did and slammed me up against hers all the way up! They are messy, stinky animals! So we FINALLY get to the top and realize that all the blue roofs we’ve seen so many pictures of are on another part of the island we don’t have time to go see! But there is 1 blue dome. We hiked ALL OVER that island trying to get a picture of it. I finally bought myself something on this excursion. Matching necklace and earrings made from pumice from the active volcano on the island and a beautiful black and gold greek dress. You can see pictures of it in the Formal Night album. It was a little see-through so I wore a tank-top and leggings. Mom—Job for you when I get home: I need a liner sewn into it. I don’t know how many of you have seen sisterhood of the traveling pants but one of the girls goes to Greece and finds a cute boy named Kostos. So we’ve all been looking for our own Kostos. We found a couple and took pictures of them I posted one of them. They knew I was taking the picture but what made it really funny was that they started following us. Some of guys got greek shirts and I have to say they were looking pretty good1

Santorini Pictures:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004374&l=989ac&id=1523040053

Last night on the cruise was Captain’s Night or formal night. We all dressed up and everyone looked fantastic. I got a little brave and wore my Greek dress. We had a mini-photo shoot around the boat. Out of at least 50 pictures we took I think I kept about 4 of them. Lol That night we didn’t have a curfew and we all got together in the “theater” on the boat and sang. This is what I love SO much about this group and Harding that we’re college students without a curfew and instead of going crazy we gather together to encourage each other and praise God!

Formal Pictures:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004375&l=a1b6d&id=1523040053

So now I’m back “home”! Feels weird to call a hotel in Athens, Greece home but after all the moving around I’ve done in the past year I have become a firm believer in home is where your stuff is! I have uploaded who knows how many hundreds of photos so you better enjoy them! What I really wish now more than anything is that I could “get off the boat!” The room keeps rocking. I went to take a nap today and had to resort to the hammock so I could get to sleep. Well I’m sure I’ve forgotten some things but I think I remembered all the highlights. If I think of something later I’ll be sure to let you know!

You all get brownie points if you read the whole thing!

I love all of you and pray that God watches over you and blesses you!

Love, Rebecca