Greece

After Egypt I was sure that anything else I went to see after that would be a huge let down. So when our trip to the Peloponnese rolled around needless to say I wasn’t too thrilled. I still had horrible memories of our bus trip to Northern Greece.

We packed a sack lunch for later in the day and set off towards Southern Greece. We made a restroom stop near the Corinthian Canal. Most of us had already been there when we went bungee jumping but it was fun to look at again just the same.

Our tour guide’s name was Dionysus, which was highly intriguing because Dionysus was the god of sex, wine, and basically partying. I can’t imagine naming my child that! We started our sightseeing out at the city of Ancient Corinth. Paul spent a lot of time in this city and there were several interesting biblical references. The place smelled horrible though because it was near the sea. We saw the theater there that was built during the 5th century. The modern day remains are from the Romans. At the theater there was an inscription with the names Sostines and Erastus on them. These names are both found in the text of Paul and while they probably don’t refer to these specific people there’s always a possibility. Sostines is referenced in Acts 18:17 and was the leader of the Synagogue. Erastus is mentioned in Acts 19:22, II Timothy 4:20 and Romans 16: .
Once in the actual ancient city we saw the Temple to Apollo. This particular temple is famous because it houses the skin of Marcius and his flutes. Story goes that Apollo had a contest with a man named Marcius. Apollo was jealous of him because all the people of Corinth loved Marcius’ flute playing. Apollo won and as his prize he took Marcius’ skin. The other notable thing we saw was the bema. This is where the counsel of Corinth would meet and where Paul came before Galio to be tried.
The Museum at Corinth was full of states, pottery, and other items found in Corinth. I found this interesting…. One of the reasons so many of the statues are headless was because emperors used them to show their citizens what they looked like. So to conserve marble instead of making an entirely new statue they would just put a new head on it.
From there we wound our way up to AcroCorinth. Someone decided it would be a great idea to have lunch at the very top of this huge fortress so up we climbed. And we climbed and we climbed and we climbed… It was used as a fortress because of the great view and let me say from personal experience… It’s AMAZING! This was also the location of the Temple of Aphrodite. The priestesses had their temple at the top and were essentially prostitutes. Men would come to the temple to worship them through sex. I was trying to tell my mom about AcroCorinth and the prostitutes and she misunderstood me and thought I said they were still up there. I was about to correct her wrong impression but instead what came out of my mouth was, “Yeah. It’s a tourist attractions. It’s x amount of dollars for 30 minutes.” I had her going for a little bit. She would go, NO! And I would say, YES! It was an interesting couple of minutes. NO! YES! You’re kidding! No mom, completely serious. I came clean though and told her the truth.
Just when I thought the day was going to be over we packed up and headed off to another site. The theater we went to see is one of the best preserved from classical Greece. It is dedicated to the god Dionysus. Our tour guide stood in the center, ripped paper, whispered and did numerous other demonstrations to show how amazing the acoustics are. We sat at the very top of the theater and could hear him perfectly. It was pretty amazing!
We rounded out the day at a really cute hotel is a sea side town. After dinner a bunch of us walked down to the beach and walked along the sand, dipping our toes in the surf. Samantha and I got this really big urge for ice cream so we went in search for some but couldn’t find any. We checked about 5 different places but no, none! Even at the place that was called, Café Ice Cream. Personally I think it’s a crime to call a place Café Ice Cream and then not sell any.

Day 1 Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004725&l=e4901&id=1523040053

Day 2:
The night before I had planned on getting up early and going down to walk along the beach again and watch the sunrise. Well guess what…. I didn’t want to get up. Luckily I caught the tail end of the sunrise from my balcony. It was so beautiful I decided I had to walk down by the beach again even if it was just for 20 minutes. It set a wonderful tone for the rest of the day.
First stop: Naphtilon where we saw the Castle Palamidi. This castle was sweet! It made me want to live in one. Well minus never getting to bathe and no central air or heating, and no deodorant and numerous other factors. It was built during the 2nd Venetian period and fortified by the Byzantines. You can see round stones that were used in trebuchets. When you walk through the gates there is a hole in the ceiling, which they used to pour hot olive oil on any intruders that got past the other defenses.
After Dionysus told us a little about the castle we got free time to climb all over the thing. I’ll give the people who lived in that thing this… They would have to be in pretty good shape. Luckily we got to climb down the set of 999 steps rather than up. I think I would have stopped half way up and said NO castle is worth this.
We followed this site up by Mycenae, one of the most ancient Greek cities. This city is famous for several reasons. One is because of its walls called “cyclopean walls”. The stones are so massive that later civilizations decided the wall could have only been built by Cyclops. The Lion Gate is another famous landmark of this city. Just inside this gate an archeologist named Schliemann discovered grave circle A. He discovered what is called the Mask of Agamemnon (you may recognize this name in connection to the city of Troy) even though the mask dates much earlier than Agamemnon. There were some amazing domed tombs here that make you just marvel at the technological advancement of the people during that time period.
That night we stayed in a hotel owned by Best Western. We had like a 6-course meal and AMAZING beds. If we stayed in that hotel every time we traveled my life would be complete!

Day 2 Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004724&l=30d9a&id=1523040053

Day 3:
Well it rained all night and into the morning. As we headed off to Olympia it was STILL raining. We started out in the museum… I won’t bore you with everything we saw expect 1 thing… The famous statue of Hermes by Praxiteles. It is a statue of 2 gods (Hermes and baby Dionysus). Zeus as usual was up to some of his old tricks and got some woman pregnant. Zeus’ wife Hera got jealous and told the woman in order to find out if Zeus really loved her she must ask him to promise to do whatever she wanted. The woman asked to see Zeus in his true form and as a result she was burned up. Zeus rescued her baby (Dionysus) and continued the pregnancy in his thigh. Hera went on a rampage looking for the baby so Zeus gave Dionysus to Hermes. The statue depicts Hermes carrying off the baby to be raised by the nymphs.
Olympia was BY FAR one of my favorite sites in ancient Greece. It was beautiful! The leaves were starting to turn golden and the air was nice and crisp. It made me feel like fall had finally come. It made me think of hayrides, roasting marshmallows by roaring fires, and hot apple cider. Have I mentioned I LOVE fall. I tried to get a picture of the leaves falling and failed miserably.
The boys raced at the stadium and now are 2008 Olympic Athletes. The “track” is 193 meters long. The first Olympics was held in 776 BC in honor of Zeus. The games were held every 4 years on the 2nd full moon after the summer solstice, a tradition that is carried on to this very day. Besides the stadium there were the buildings used for trainings, an ancient basilica, and the temple to Zeus and Hera.
Once we finished up at Olympia there was a fantastic 6-hour bus ride back to Porto-Rafti. The bus rides aren’t as bad if you sleep through most of it but sleeping on a bus is difficult and NEVER comfortable. More to come… So read up, look at the pictures, and enjoy!

Day 3 Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004722&l=aa812&id=1523040053

It's been a little while since I've written which is due to several things: 1) No one wants to hear about what I've been doing in school. Trust me... It's a little boring! 2) I've been sick (I will tell you about that one) and finally 3) I've been on my trip.

First things first... Being sick! If you can avoid it DO NOT GET SICK OVERSEAS! And pray very hard that we never get socialized medicine in America. When I got back from the cruise, I and several other people had nasty coughs and colds. We attributed it to the amount of smoke we inhaled. I do NOT understand how this entire country is not dead from lung cancer. EVERYONE smokes! And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Well when everyone got better and I didn't I finally went to the doctor. When I walked into the room I was afraid I was going to leave more sick than when I walked in. Do you know the instruments they use to check in your ears, throat, and all that? Well typically they have plastic sanitary covers but these were metal and definitely did not. After using them the doctor would toss them into a rusted metal bucket. He only spoke a few words of english so everything had to be translated from Greek into English. Turns out I had a nasty case of bronchitis. Well I went on with life as normal and the next day went into Athens. Later that evening while I was singing my bronchi and lungs started to shut down on me and I hyperventilated. They took me to the hospital where at first they told me that I wasn't sick at all. Finally they decide that OH YEAH I really was sick with bronchitis and to top it off I have RAD (Reactive Airway Disease). Essentially it is sickness induced asthma which shuts down your breathing tubes when exposed to too much smoke, smog, etc. Of course the funniest part was that my doctor looked like a plumber and took about 8 smoke breaks while he was examining me. They gave me a relaxant with a sedative which made me a little loopy. Apparently I have an underlying fascination with humpty dumpty and duck tape when on medication-- This is a re-occurring theme.

Alright so I just finished up from trip to Northern Greece. We were gone from Thursday until late Sunday evening. Thursday we left early in the morning and headed towards Delphi. When we left it was warm with lots of sunshine. By the time we got to Delphi it was freezing cold and pouring rain. This location was the site of the Delphic oracle, considered the most important oracle in the Greek Classical world and was a major worship site for the god Apollo. The oracle was always a woman who only worked about 9 days out of the year. She sat over an area where gases seeped from the earth, most likely making her high, allowing her to give those "fantastic" predictions. Unlike the other tour groups who headed back to their buses when it started to rain, the stupid intrepid americans pressed ever onward. From there we headed towards the museum to look at lots of ancient statues and rocks. It was kind-of interesting but I was wet and slightly disgruntled.

That night we stayed at a spa hotel. The road out there was something a tour bus should never have been on. It was a dirt country road with sheep on the side of the road. Once we finally got there and made our way down to the room we all made a bee-line for the thermal mineral water. We looked really cute decked out in our shower caps they insisted we wear. It felt amazing! There were bubbly areas, waterfalls, and high powered jets. I think I'm getting really spoiled with these multi-course dinners. Mom, you have a lot to live up to when I get back. Here's the link for the pictures of Day 1.

Delphi and Museum: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004446&l=e098d&id=1523040053

I finally fell asleep at 1 am and had a 6:30 wake-up call. I have never been a big fan of coffee but since coming to Greece I have become a coffee-addict. It's all that holds me over on these trips. We got on the bus that morning and our tour guide tells us: "We've never stayed here before so we asked the people here if there was a short-cut through the mountains. So we are going to have an adventure together." The fog was so thick you couldn't see anything outside the windows. A couple hours later we came to a split in the road and Katerina, our guide said, "Well we are a little lost so let's take a vote which way we should go. Left or right?" We finally arrived at the monastery, ONLY 2 hours late. We were supposed to see two but settled for the one with the least steps. As soon as we stepped off the bus it began to pour AGAIN! One of the requirements to enter the monastery was to wear a skirt. I was fuming under my breath all the way up at the people who decided THAT was a good idea. As is evident by the pictures I got throughly soaked. The inside of the monasteries don't really interest me that much but the outsides make for awesome pictures. While we were there I felt like I had been transported to an alternate reality. There are not enough words to describe how beautiful this place was. The pictures don't do it justice. Standing on the balcony of the monastery I felt an inner sense of peace sweep over me. The hills were covered in lush green, water trickling down the mountains forming waterfalls crashing down towards the earth. The fog gave the place a mystical aura, nestling in around us, shielding us from the world. Honestly I could move there and be happy for the rest of my life. Back on the bus again... My theme song for this trip became on the road again. Our last stop for the day was at the modern day alter to Paul. I didn't enjoy this, thought it was a little pointless but there are still pictures of it. It's all part of documenting my journey.

Meteora (Monastery) and Paul's Alter: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004447&l=180ef&id=1523040053

So what are we to... Second evening? That means I would have been staying at a 5 star hotel. The outside was very impressive but I still couldn't flush the toilet paper so I think I'm ranking Holiday Inn above them. We have a different idea about how to rank hotels in the states than they do over here. But seriously it was really nice. More multi-course meals and AMAZING pillows You come to value the small things in life and good pillows are one of them.

Click on this album to see pictures of me in both the hotels:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004454&l=e98b5&id=1523040053

Our third full day was probably the longest. For the first time it was actually sunny though! Our first stop was at the river which is believed to be the spot where Paul met Lydia and she was baptized. A monument has been built with a small "amphitheater" down by the river. Up from the river is a church which is a church dedicated solely to baptism. Our guide said that she believes it is the only church solely dedicated for that purpose in the world. As we were finishing our tour they were preparing to baptize a baby girl. The river was one of my favorite spots. It was beautiful and I got lots of pretty pictures. From there we headed to the ruins of Philippi. The only way to accurately describe the archeological site is LOTS AND LOTS of rocks. It was interesting but my favorite site thus far has definitely been Ephesus. After a while it all begins to look the same. A few notable points however were the baptistry shaped like a cross and the floor with all the elaborate designs that's still miraculously intact.

River and Philippi: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004448&l=a0f89&id=1523040053

From there we got back on the bus AGAIN... (Is anyone sensing a pattern here?) and started making our way towards Thessaloniki. I had always thought it was pronounced nika, but any disillusions I had were quickly corrected by the native Greeks. Of course no trip to Greece would be complete without a stop to take pictures on the Egnation Way. What was unique about walking on the remnants of this road was that we know Paul walked on it. There's no guessing, no maybes, we know. Now he may not have stood exactly where I did and I know he certainly wasn't posing for pictures but there is a special feeling knowing you are "walking in the footsteps of Paul." Since being here, hiking the terrain, walking the roads the ancients walked, and being hauled all over creation I have gained an ENORMOUS amount of respect for the determination and perseverance it took to spread the gospel to all the known world. Before I was like, that's cool. I didn't have an understanding of just how HUGE an undertaking that really was. For some reason I always thought of Jerusalem and Rome being next door to each other which they are most definitely NOT! Even by modern transportation it takes forever to get anywhere! We wrapped up the day with stopping in Thessaloniki to take pictures and relax a little down by the wharves.

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004449&l=a2128&id=1523040053

Next morning, Sunday, up early again. We got back on the bus and started in on our city tour of Thessaloniki. Major highlights of the tour were seeing the White Tower, a Greek Orthodox Church, and the Statue of Alexander the Great. The White Tower was former known as the bloody tower because so many people were killed there. It's name was changed when a prisoner was forced to white-wash the entire thing. I would NOT want that job. We stopped at the Orthodox Church because it has been built on the site where an ancient synagogue used to be. Historians and archeologists believe that Paul probably worshipped at it. Finally was the statue of Alexander. I have decided that it would be amazing to be called Rebecca the Great. So I made sure I took a picture with the statue and tagged myself as Rebecca the Great. While there I also managed to get a few pictures in of Mount Olympus. Unfortunatly we can't hike it otherwise I think most of us would.
We settled in for the next 10 hours, as we made our way back "home" from Macedonia. You better have REALLY liked who you were sitting next to. Luckily for me I did not have a seat-mate. Although, my entire body still hurts from sleeping in really awkward positions. That bus ride was longer than my trip from Detroit over to Europe. Our final stop for this trip was at Thermopylae Pass.... Can anyone say 300 Spartans? I think it was more of a stop for the guys but it was interesting just the same. Actually as I'm writing this I'm watching 300. It's pretty sweet to be watching the movie and go... HEY I've been THERE!

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004452&l=4bafb&id=1523040053

Let's see... Here are some other misc. things from the trip you might find a little amusing. As I've said numerous times... The drivers over here are HORRIBLE! Except for the bus drivers. As the guys on my trip would say-- They're PRO! Pretty much I would put them up against any driver in the states. They take us places in a tour bus that I would never want to take a car... Mountain roads in the fog, down streets that should be one way but are accommodating 2 cars, etc. They make turns that look impossible!

Last thing and then I think I'll finally get this published. I've been working on it for the past 3 days. This one just hasn't come together as easily as some of the others have. When I get back home the first thing I will do is go use a toilet, regardless of whether I need to use one or not. Everyone you go into flushes a different way, most don't have toilet seats, and some there is no toilet at all. These are called squatty potties. Essentially you squat down and pee in a hole in the ground. I have discovered I have a "shy" bladder and there are just some conditions that it refuses to go in. Luckily at the majority of the rest stops the restrooms were really nice. The only problem was that we weren't the only bus having to use the restroom. Greek women would get off and shove to the front of the line. They get up really close to you and the second a stall door opens elbows start flying and it's a knock-down-drag-out to see who will beat the other one out. We were getting increasingly aggravated when our professors wife, Tish (who is one of the most AMAZING people I know), tells us to try and block them out, saying, "Stand strong girls!" Moments later one of our girls came out of the bathroom and said there's no toilet paper in here. So Tish promptly motions to one of the Greek women and tells them to use that one. She then proceeds to send several more into it and tells the rest of our girls to do the same. Who knew going to the restroom could get so down right dirty and turn into an all out war.

I do have a interesting story about how I spent my recovery day on Monday but that is for another blog and for when I have a little more time. In the meantime here is one more album, my flower album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004453&l=05b14&id=1523040053
The flowers over here are SO beautiful I've decided just to create an album dedicated to them. I'll re-post this link at different points when I've added more pictures to the album. I leave for Egypt on Tuesday so look forward to hearing about my impressions and seeing LOTS of pictures. I'm pretty sure I get to ride a camel and I'm SO excited! Hopefully there will be one more blog entry before I leave... We shall see. While I'm not actually in school a whole lot the time I am is very intense.

I miss everyone and pray God's blessings on you.

Love, Rebecca

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

I have officially seen ALL of Athens. I mean quite literally. OK... Maybe not quite all but it sure felt like it. We had to be on the bus at 8 that morning which was a bit of a struggle having only gotten 4 hours of sleep the night before. I woke up at 2 and couldn't go back to sleep till about 5.

Anyway we picked up our tour guide and the first thing out of the guy's mouth's was... She's HOT! Is she married. Unfortunately for them she was. But they all paid very good attention through out the day. We started out at the Olympic Stadium which was built back in 1896 to host the first modern Olympic Games. It was built on the exact same location as the Ancient Stadium. From there we headed to the Acropolis. Saw the Parthenon and NUMEROUS other temples. I think I'm beginning to understand what they said when we would get VERY sick of temples by the end of the semester. The Parthenon was AMAZING! I've seen pictures and read about it all my life but to see it in person was... words fail me. Which is a rare occasion! Then we went to Mars Hill which was pretty cool. It's amazing to think that we were sitting where Paul and others from the bible sat, walked, and lived.

FINALLY... I think it was about 1 or 2 we got to head out for lunch. As we walked through the bustling streets of Athens for the first time I really felt like I wasn't a tourist, more a part of their culture. There are shops everywhere and vendors with items laid out on sheets. As soon as the police come around they yank up their wares and make a run for it. I felt a little sorry for our waiter because every time he turned around we needed more water. It was incredibly hot, muggy, humid and all around slightly miserable. Usually the breeze helps to keep things cool but there wasn't one of course! Yes mom I wore sunscreen. No sunburn

From there we walked some more to see the Roman Agora, then to see the Ancient Agora, a couple other temples, and finally the Agora Museum. By this time I think we were all about ready to fall over. Not only were our feet hurting but our hands were hurting too because we had to take notes over everything. We have these journals which we call our MoleSkines in which we write notes about everything we go to see-- Justifying the education value of it I guess and then write Journal entries about the place. We were given free time and told to meet back at the Starbucks. I think we all just stayed there. Ryan Anne-- You wouldn't do well over here with your coffee addiction. Mine was about 8 US dollars. But I forked it over anyway because this was an EMERGENCY. We all went to church together. The services are offered in 4 different languages, starting at the beginning of the day. English is the last and almost identical to our services back at home. I may go to a greek one for fun sometime. We ended the evening with lots of laughs and more good memories. It's amazing to watch how close everyone has grown over the past couple days.

Unless something really interesting happens or I post another album of pictures I probably won't write again until I get back from my cruise this weekend. We will be going to Turkey, Cyprus, and a bunch other islands.

Here's the link for the pictures from my Athens Tour yesterday. There are 2 albums. Enjoy
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004314&l=ab0b3&id=1523040053

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004315&l=6460e&id=1523040053

God Bless!

Love, Rebecca

Well I've been here for 3 days and I'm growing more in love with this place everyday. It will be hard to come home. I guess I'll have to managesomehow

Yesterday we lounged around, relaxing, catching up on some much needed rest. I went swimming in the Aegean Sea which was AMAZING! How many people can say they've done that? Show of hands? Just kidding. A whole bunch of us walked down to the peninsula and jumped in off the rocks. I'm not the strongest swimmer in the world but the water is so salty that it's hard to sink. You can just sit there and bob along in the water. Floating on your back was NEVER easier!

Quick story about my shower... It's AWFUL! There's a bath tub and the shower head is on a hose and should be attached to the wall but it's come off. I'm trying to take a shower my first night here and get covered in plaster. I can't fix it so I have to hold this tiny shower head in one hand and wash my hair with the other. In the mean time I might as well have a water hose. I think it would have better water pressure. Where the shower head is supposed to attach is a little messed up so some water comes out in the right place but the rest sprays out all over the place and soaks everything. So yeah... GREAT experience. Oh and PS... Be VERY glad for the plumbing in the US. We cannot put our toilet paper in the toilets over here because it will back EVERYTHING up. Good times! Lol

It's a unique feeling living with 40 people and seeing them all the time. I've loved every minute of it so far. It reminds me in some ways how it must have been to live at Hogwarts. Being on a small campus you still see lots of people but it's a completely different feeling here.

Today we started class. Yes I KNOW... on SATURDAY! Haha. But since we actually only go to formal class for 36 days we have to grab a day whenever we can. But before you get TOO jealous I have a TON of reading to do in a very short amount of time. Luckily we take all of our tests before we travel anywhere.

We went to see the Temple of Poseidon today. My mother is very concerned that she sent me to a christian school to go see pagan temples. It was amazing! We think of these people as backwards sometimes or at least not being as intelligent as us and here they have constructed these structures that have been standing longer than our country has been in existence. I was really hoping for some better sunset pictures but the fog was so thick that it made taking pictures a little difficult. The Athenians used to go to the temple of Poseidon before they set out to sea to ask for protection. Very close by you could see the remains of a temple to Athena. We also heard the story about how the Aegean Sea got it's name. The Athenians used to have to send 6 girls and 6 boys to the Island of Crete to feed the Minotaur. So King Aegean's son said he would go and kill the Minotaur. The king said he would let him go on 1 condition. If it was good news change the sails to white, if bad keep them as black. The son killed the minotaur but forgot to change the sails so the King jumped from the temple into the sea, killing himself. I know, GREAT story!

On the way back we were on a real small windy road and our tour bus went head to head with another. It took us forever to navigate around the other bus and cars and get down... Good times. At least there was no wreck and no one got hurt but all we can see is the tour bus going over the mountain.

So go check out my pictures!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004292&l=c67ea&id=1523040053

Enjoy!

I'm going on a 3 day cruise next weekend! I'm sure I'll have pictures and more to write before then but def. be on the watch out for more after next Sunday!

Love, Rebecca