How Lucky You Are!

Hello from ATHENS!! It just so happens that my hostel here in Greece has free internet with free computer usage, so I can update you a little bit over my adventures from the past few days! :)

I left Madrid Thursday night and we arrived in the London Gatwick airport around 11ish. Since our flight to Athens did not leave until 6:30 the next morning, we spent the night in the airport. Sleeping on the ground is never easy for me, and this was no exception. But, my senora had given me Spain's version of Tylenol PM, so I got about 2-3 hours worth of sleep. Not great, but I at least was able to function until we got to our hostel the next day.

We arrived in Athens and quickly discovered that getting around would be a bit more difficult than we imagined...in Spain we all had a basic understanding of the native language, but being here has given everyone a whole new meaning to the phrase "it's all Greek to me!"...literally. Thankfully people at the airport were able to help us get directions to our hostel, and we all promptly proceeded to crash and nap for about 3 hours after arriving. After we woke up, we left to go get lunch/dinner (which ended up being a trip to the grocery store and the 7 of us splitting a loaf of break and sandwich meat, meaning we only had to pay about 3 euro.) :) We came back and hung out in the bar downstairs for awhile and then went to bed. We had to wake up at 5am the next morning to catch a ferry to Mykonos.

So, we woke up the next morning, walked to the metro stop and bought tickets for our ferry. I LOVED the ferry ride, mostly because I love being on big boats and it was about 5 hours long. :) When we finally got to the island, we were greeted by Maria, who owned the hostel we were staying at, Villa Viscilis. She might be one of the most adorable women I have ever met. Seriously. She gave us anything we wanted, and told us all the best restaurants to eat at and places to take pictures. She even offered to hire us if we wanted to come back for the summer and give us free rooming, food, and "a very nice Greek boy!" :)

Mykonos was beautiful...absolutely gorgeous. For those of you who have seen the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Mykonos looks just like the island where they filmed in Greece. Adorable white houses with blue roofs and windows everywhere. I took a bunch of pictures, but can't upload them onto this computer now so I'll put them up once I get back to Madrid. We hung out around the island yesterday, ate dinner, and just relaxed. It was so nice. I would love to return there some day.

We left Mykonos this morning, and got back to Athens at around 9:30 tonight and have just been hanging out in the bar downstairs again. Tomorrow we will be seeing all of the things that make Athens famous: the Parthenon, Acropolis, Olympic Stadium, etc. I am super excited and will be sure to take a lot of pictures for you all to see :)

love to all--