sunshine & pink. GREECE

Hi everyone!

sooo much traveling

Goodness me! Everything is winding down so quickly, so of course I've gotten behind again. Over Easter, all of my roommates and I went on a Grecian adventure to the island of Corfu. It was so nice to have a trip all together, especially since it was our last trip of the semester. It was a loooooooong trip there, but definitely worth it once we finally made it to Greece. Here's the account of our time! :

Thursday morning at 8am we left the apartment to meet Bus2Alps (the program that we were traveling through) at Termini. Bus2Alps was taking 2 groups this weekend - one from Rome and one from Florence. So there was a HUGE group of people waiting at Termini, probably around 200 people. I was really tired, so I grabbed a coffee and some snacks for the bus ride. When I got back to my bags, someone called my name. I turned around and it was COURTNEY KUGEL - my roommate from Miami 1st semester of freshman year!! It was sooo crazy to see her! She was studying in Barcalona, but her semester ended a couple weeks before so she had just been traveling around with friends. I couldn't believe it!

ciao, italia!
on the ferry to greece

We checked in with Bus2Alps then headed out of Termini towards the buses. All the roomies and a bunch of our friends (we knew lots of people going on the trip from John Cabot and API) sat on the same bus together which was nice. The bus trip was 5 hours long (ugh) to the port for our ferry. We watched a couple movies which was good to keep us all entertained, and a stop for lunch. We got to the ferry in the early afternoon and boarded for our 14 hour overnight ferry ride. YUCK. Our beds? Airplane-like seating. We all put our bags and pillows on our "beds" and then explored the ferry. It was a cruise-like ferry with shops, restaurants, and even a dance floor and bar! We made some drinks to celebrate our travels and sat outside on the top deck for a few hours. It was such a sunny and pretty day!

view from our room

A few hours later we headed inside, and had some fun in the bars and club. We met some guys and taught them how to play Thumper - a favorite from high school. It was one of the girls on the trip's birthday, so we celebrated and danced the night away! After a few hours we headed back to sleep. I attempted the chair for a few hours, falling asleep to the playlist Zach made me, but that failed miserably. It was SO HOT in there and a headache was already coming on, so I went outside in the middle of the night and lay down on the ship's deck. There was no one else out there, so I'm sure I looked silly, but at least it cooled me off! It got too cold outside very quickly, so I went back inside but stuck to the floor as opposed to the chair - WAYY more comfy.

At 6am, a loudspeaker came on announcing breakfast. Ugh. No thanks. We all woke up anyways and headed upstairs to line up for the second ferry ride. We wanted to be sure that we got on the first one, so we wanted to be the first ones off of the boat in order to get it. We fell asleep waiting to get out, and woke up to a lady screaming in half Greek half English "THE PORT, THE PORT WE ARE HERE WAKE UP"!! Quite the morning of wake-ups.

We made our way to the final legs of the trip - 1.5 hour ferry, then a 30 minute bus ride to our hotel. YAY FINALLY WE MADE IT! 27 hours later. We got our rooms (I was with Debbie and Ashley), changed into our bathing suits, and headed straight for the beach. Our hotel was so cute! It's called the "Pink Palace" and is all painted bright pink. The rooms were really nice and we had a gorgeous view of the ocean. Magnifico.

a bunch of JCU/API girls at dinner!

The beach was gorgeous! It was rocky near the top, but sand and beautiful water everywhere else. There was a nice beach bar with really yummy food, too. Mmmm. We stayed on the beach allll day long, 2pm-6pm. I got a Greek Salad which was soooo yummy. I missed Feta cheese too much!!! I was sad when I asked for a milkshake (they had a sign for them) and they said they weren't in season. WHAT?? Lame. Being in the sun and on the beach made me miss Miami so so much! I can't wait to be tan again nonstop next year - especially with a pool right out of Raphi, Courtney, and my back door:)

Friday night we got ready for the night, then went to Happy Hour before dinner. We had some drinks then headed up to dinner. It was soooo good! Greek salad, chicken, potatoes, soup...mmmm yum. After dinner we went back downstairs to the bar/club area and danced the night away. It was a blast! Tara somehow ended up with the hotel's dog in her room, and had to call reception because it passed out on her floor and wouldn't budge haha. Crazy crazy. It was also really nice that everything was on site - the Pink Palace had their own personal restaurant, beach, dance club, bar, etc. so we never had to worry about transportation. A perfect relaxing and fun last trip together!

the roomies in our pink togas!

Saturday we got up early to hit the beach. Kaylie, Debbie, and some of our other friends went on a kayaking trip, but Tara, Ashley, and I decided to just soak up some rays and relax all day. And that's exactly what we did. It was a gorgeous day once again, we had the perfect weather! I spent the day napping, reading the Bhagavad Gita, and relaxing. We jumped in the water a couple times, but it was pretty chilly! For lunch I got the pita wrap with chicken. Once again, incredible. I miss Greek food already! Hopefully I won't miss the Greek Festival in Richmond this summer.

Saturday night was the Pink Palace Pink Toga Party. Oooh lala! We all got our pink sheets and the front desk and then headed to our rooms for some fashion designing. It was so fun! Everyone made their togas differently, but we all looked quite cute:) We took lots of pictures, had a yummy dinner, then danced the night away again. It was Kaylie's birthday at midnight, so we told the DJ and he played some special songs for her (I'm sure you can guess..). Wee! There was dancing, plate smashing, and ouzo galore.

Sunday we spent the morning on the beach once again. I got the Greek Plate for lunch, then headed to the market down the beach to stock up on snacks for our 27 hour trek home. It was Easter, yay!! (ps I hope you all had a fabulous Easter, I missed being with you!!). I headed back up to the hotel around 2 to shower and pack, then we checked out at 4. By 4:30/5 we were on the road for the long travel home. We took the same transportation, but this time no dance club on the boat for Kelsey. I slept as much as I could (I gave up on the airplane chair again and took to the floor), then read and rested the rest of Monday on the ferry. We got off around 2pm, then had our bus ride back to Rome. Finally we made it back, and got a good nights sleep in Roma after a long, fun, and relaxing weekend in the Greek sunshine.

kayakers heading out to sea

I definitely want to go back to Greece again to visit all the sites, and check out Athens and Santorini, but this was exactly what I needed after all my crazy, planned out travels of the past few months. Now I'm rested and rejuvinated for the last 9 days in Rome! AHH. I can't believe the next trip I go on will be to America. Insanity.

This week I've been working on my art, preparing for the exhibition that is tonight. Raphi is coming to visit (YAY!!) from today through Monday, so that'll make the days fly by even faster! I'm excited that she's coming 1)to see her duhh but 2) because I'll be able to visit all my favorite sites, restaurants, etc one last time before leaving.

Happy belated Easter! I can't believe I'll be home soooo soon ah! Missing you all tons and sending love and light always.