relaxing weekend

Well everyone all is great in Greece. The last time I updated I was feeling pretty sick. Lucky the next day I woke up feeling almost completely better. The wonders of modern medicine I guess. So Friday morning I took a taxi to the other side of the island to meet up with the group. It was probably the prettiest drive I have ever taken in my life. I could see the Aegean sea the whole time on one side and on the other green. Everything was so lush and green and just pretty. Also everything is very hilly. The whole time it was up and down mountains. There were a few times I feared for my life because people are pretty crazy drivers here. We also drove through very cute and very small greek villages that I would have loved to stop at but maybe another time. Upon arriving it at the hotel in Molyvos it started to down pour. On the bright side the hotel was beautiful! It was on high ground over looking the sea with a nice pool and everything hear seems to be marble… on the island I mean. After the rain ended a few of us headed into town. Molyvos is the most touristy town on Lesbos. Its no wonder why. The town is very well….what you would see a small greek village like in the movies. All kinds of little shops and cafes and a beautiful view. Oh there is also a castle here which I checked out the next day of course. On Saturday it also rained so we went into town again and did a little shopping. I loved the jewelry stores and of course bought a nice evil eye bracelet. So that evening it got pretty nice out and good thing because we had a wedding to go to! Now this is quite the story so stay with me….
In greece it is very accepted for strangers to attend wedding ceremonies. It is actually a very nice thing to do I think. So Sophia (our leader) heard about a big wedding that was happening down the road from the hotel and thought we should go. Well the only requirement was we had to wear all white (for this wedding not all greek weddings) so we all get dressed in white and head to the wedding that was on the beach. Everything was going great we were talking to the guests waiting for everything to get started. Well this wedding was a little different than we thought…. It was between two gay men (which we already knew) and they were both pretty well know (ones a fashion guy and the other owns spas all over the world) also one was german and the other armanian. To makes things even better than are in a kind of cult on the island. Is a yoga group and they all live together… kinda strange. And to top off the weirdness they were have a native American ceremony….yep kinda crazy!! So long story short we went to the ceremony and then got kicked out because of the whole cult sacred ceremony thing….hahaha it was too funny!!
We all got back from molyvos on Sunday and just relaxed and got ready for a full week of classes. That’s what has been going on Monday and today. Just class and nice weather. There is another study abroad from msu here for a few days just stopping by on there way around Greece so that’s interesting. We also have acquired a dog friend that we named peanut and follows us everywhere. She is so cute! There are stray dogs everywhere on the island and if you feed one it kinda stays with you…. This time it wasn’t me who feed it lol.
So something interesting about Greece that we learned is the really don’t celebrate birthdays the celebrate name days. Yes its just what it sounds like. Everybody with the same names celebrates on a certain day. This is because its to individual to celebrate your birthday. With a name day its more collective. It was Kostas (our peer leader who is from here) name day on Saturday so we celebrated that and he loved it. I just looked mine up (my name in greek is Pavlina) and its June 29… so ill guess I’ll be having a party when I get back lol!
i wont be able to update for a while because tomorrow we sail away to athens and then onto our week off in santorini where i hope to go cliff jumping and see a volcano... and hopefully spend on a lot of time on the beach. i tried downloading some pictures but i just wouldnt do it. sorry. maybe next time. i do have some on facebook though....

just my luck

so monday and tuesday we have had class alllll daaaay looooong! its about a 15 min walk to the school building where we have it. its a near death experience every time we walk there. cars have no speed limit here and they do not swerve out of the way and there r no sidewalks. so this means very close calls!
so monday night we had the loudest storm i have ever heard!!! seriously extreme thunder and lightning and rain. more intense than i have ever experienced! i seriously woke up thinking the world was ending....so i woke up my roommate. i leaned over and whispered shannon.... twice thinking she was already awake. she wasnt....but woke up and i asked her if she heard that adn she was responded "I DO NOW!" hahah i was just scared and wanted someone awake with me!
wednesday after class a few of us went into town to do a little shopping and eating. i met up with some greek friends and had coffee which is a huge thing to do here. they have huge coffee places which turn into bars at night where tons of people lounge around on couches all day and talk and drink coffee. its mostly young people. it was pretty nice.
so now for the good stuff. last night i woke up shaking. my body hurt so i couldnt sleep and my throat was so swollen i could hardly breath much less swallow. i seriously thought i was dying. i called our leader sophia and she rushed me to the hospital. first nice thing about greece emergency rooms.... no waiting. second nice thing... it only cost 3 euro. so the doctor looked at me and new right away... tonsillitis. just my luck. i would get sick in greece lol. o well. i had to get an iv which i was not a fan of but it made me feel better almost instantly so that was good. so they whole day i have been sleeping and taking my meds. i feel much better but my throat is still really swollen so its hard to eat anything. hopefully i will feel much better tomorrow. there is a very nice german couple staying at the hotel that we have gotten to know since we have been here. well today we found out that he is a doctor! they have been so nice! he keeps checking on me and she translates lol. tomorrow they are going to take me to the pharmacy to get something for my throat but he said thats its already looking better. she said i should feel pretty good tomorrow so im banking on that. hopefully i can join the group tomorrow who left for a weekend on the other side of the island today. sorry no pictures im just too tired. i hope i can sleep through the night tonight!

end of week 1

as im typing this i am sitting in about 80 degree weather with the sun shinning on the beach looking out at the aegean sea with a slight breeze next to a pomegranate tree. hahaha thats right envy me! so its been a few days but things have finally been slowing down. good thing because i think everything was starting to "catch up to me". this was definitely evident yesterday morning. let me explain.....
we had to be at the bus stop (which is out front the hotel) at 10:40. not really early at all. the night before i went to bed at a reasonable time and set my alarm with enough time to get up and shower and eat breakfast. shannon (my roommate) did the same. well we both slept through them.... and at 10 something kostas (who is the greek guy who keeps track of us and is amazing at it) knocked on our door and says "ummmm the bus leaves at 11:25 instead. i roll back over because i am exhausted and shannon is like did you here him. i respond with a "ya so what" and she says thats in 12 min! all i could do was roll over and smile (a smile that meant i am so angry right now!) so i am like dilusional at this point adn i get out of bed and i am super hot. so i just kinda wonder out onto the balcony.... with just a little t-shirt on and andrew (one of the 2 boys from the trip) is below. he just looks up and me and starts laughing. then shannon let me brush 2 teeth because she was trying to rush me out the door. we made it to the bus stop with seconds to spare! so after that exciting morning we make it to another museum....more art....booo. it didnt take too long though and then we were free to do what we wanted the rest of the day. we ended up eating lunch at lesvos only fast food place. its called goodys and the have "western" burgers as they call them. it wasnt too bad actually but a little pricy. i also made a pit stop in a bakery finally. they are everywhere here and i couldnt help my self! i bought some really good chocolates. mid afternoon a few of us took the bus back. the busses arent too bad except when the greeks get on with dead fish in open bags....ya talk about stink! after we got back we couldnt lay out on the beach because it was the first bad day of weather we have had yet. it was kinda cloudy/windy/rainy all day so we all went to the super market a few minutes drive away. its kinda like a very very small walmart. like im talking waaaaaay small. not too many choices. we picked up some snacks (they dont have peanut butter) and i was hit on by a egyptian guy who works in greece....it was kinda awkward because his english wasnt the greatest. after that adventure it was a pretty lazy day which was really needed. at night we all went back into town for dinner and then dancing. i had a delicious pizza with feta, garlic, tomato and ham! it was a loooong night because we dont get done with dinner until 12!
today we all got to sleep in finally which was greatly appreciated. the whole day has since consisted of laying by the beach and paddle boating. it was wonderful.... we did have an incident with a few people suck the row boat type thing and had so swim it back in....hahahh.
so now its time for a few random things i have learned while here. first of all greece has freakishly large animals. seriously they have giant ducks that are bigger than swans, they have bugs that im pretty sure could eat you, and big pigeons and lemons and flowers. also every other person you meet is named kostas. i met a girl named tula which made me happy (because thats the girls name from my big fat greek wedding) . i have also learned that meals here take 2-3 hrs. the only things they sell in bulk is cheese and olive oil. the call their bathrooms water closets. haha well thats all for now it movie night time.... after nap time of course

a few days....

this is of a cross from the old village we visited. the tiny cross in the middle is from the 800's!!!
so again the weather here is wonderful....but it is getting hotter every day. its going to be smokin by the time we leave...and there is almost no AC here....lots of deodorant i guess lol. wednesday was the first day of classes. i am taking sociology of the family and an ISS class which stands for integrated social science and is required by the university. we have to walk along the beach to get to our school building...... which is super small but cute...and hot! in between class i went to the market in town... its kinda like a walmart...but not at all lol. they sell cheese by the ton i swear. and u have to pay a euro for a cart and they make you pay for bags!! also they dont have near as much crap as we do but greeks are very loud and move very quickly and are kinda rude.... at least in the grocery store. but i bought some greek pop and other little things i forgot like notebooks....
so after classes got done we had a class to try and teach us a little greek...which i can not remember to save my life. i dont think i will ever b able to learn another language. then we had dinner at a cute little restaurant that has gyros. the were 2.40 which is soo cheap. im not sure what meat was in mine but it was really good. it took us longer to order than to get our food because there was a little um language issue hahaha. anyways apparently we dont eat gyros right in america. they put french fries and mustard and ketchup on them along with everthing we usually have. it was really good though! the rest of the night we finally got to relax.

yesterday was probably one of the best days so far! we got up super early but it was worth it. i had a nice relaxing breakfast of all sorts of crazy food on the beach. we then loaded the bus to head for an old mill. we learned how the make olive oil with the old presses and how virgin olive oil is a lie! they also had a flour mill from the 1800s that is still in use. we then learned how to make greek food and we made sooooooo much! things like baklava (the dessert) and grilled feta, stuffed peppers, that white sauce, and a ton of other things i have no idea what they are called. while our food was cooking we we went to a small village in the mountains. it has been around since the 1100's! we got to visit the really old church and see some museums with some really old stuff related to the church. we also had real turkish coffee that they make on hot sand....it tastes nothing like coffee but was really good. we got to go around the town a little. everywhere on the island there are beautiful flowers. roses everywhere that are bigger than any i have ever seen! the village had really pretty gardens. i learned they have their own dialect and music and art style and the pass it down to the children through a school class they take. its pretty interesting. the town was also known for its wood furniture which it makes out of cyprus trees! people come form all over the world to get it. after town we ate are feast and then had dance lessons in traditional greek/turkish dances. they were super easy and really funny! so as i said before it is hot here! they told us today that this is how it usually is at the end of june so it wont get much hotter luckily. well by the end of the day we were pretty hot and dirty so we ended the day with a visit to the thermal bath. this is what the town (thermi) that we stay in is known for. rich people have been coming here from athens and rome for thousands of years. they are supposed to have healing powers. i guess they really are good for you though....i think there is sulfer and other stuff in the water. traditionally people go in naked. well us being prude americans we were not okay with this! there was a girls and guy side and it was like a big underground swimming pool....a little cooler than a hot tub. well at the last minute a few of us said hey we will go naked....we have to get the whole greek experience lol. so we did...and then everyone else decided to also. so there were 19 naked girls in a hot tub.......then sofia (the leader of the group) came in and made us get together to take a picture.....talk about awkward!! hahaha tooo funny! so after a long day we all relaxed for a while then headed into town at about 11 to have dinner and then went out dancing....except no one really dances here. its kinda weird. but we all danced!! and man am i sore today.......

today was an early morning following a late late night! we headed on the bus for a nice long ride through the island to a very wealthy new town with a few (boring) art museums. i mean im all for museums but not so into the art..... we then went to make our own pottery. i quickly discovered that this is not my calling. we used a wheel and my "pot" did not turn out to be a pot....not even close. after that we had a real gyros again at a little restaurant and i learned that in greece the usually have pork or chicken not lamb. middle eastern countries are the ones with lamb. no we are all back at the hotel. i took the paddle boat out for a bit. its really cool because the water is so clear that you can see everything! well the bugs are eating us all alive and its starting to get a little chilly....

mitilini

so day was a loooooong day! we had perfect weather again like always! it started off with a bus ride into the bigger city near thermi called mitilini. ooo wait first we had coffee...turkish coffee actually. strongest stuff ever!! i seriously couldnt even finish my cup hahaha. well after the bus ride we went to the museum where we learned all kinds of crazy history....which i loved of course. after that we headed to the castle.....so beautiful. (i am going to tryp and post pictures but it takes a really long time beacuse the internet here is kinda slow). so this castle is where the whole city lived at once. i think they said 12 thousand people of something crazy like that. the whole thing is not still standing but the part we got to see we incredible. it was built in the 2nd century i believe. it was soo pretty. thats what the pictures are of.
after that we went to the town and looked at a few shops where we were almost hit by motor bikes multiple times! then we ate at another tavern in the town where the food was sooo good! we had olive tree leaves stuffed with meat and rice in a lemon sauce. also fried cauliflower in cheese. greek salad of course and bread. also fried cheese that they light on fire but i cant remember the name but it is going to make me fat by the end of this trip for sure! for the main course they brought out calamari which is my favorite! lots of people were afraid to try it! i couldnt believe it. it was probably the best i have ever had. everyone freaked out when i ate the tentacles hahah. i tried telling them they were the best part but they didnt believe me.
next i went back to the hotel and had a nice relaxing swim in th agean right over an ancient ruin lol. it was so relaxing. the a cat nap on the beach followed by a 45 min class. we then headed to a local restaurant for a dinner. i had a greek style burger. this is not a hamburger at all......but still very good. we sat around and talked for hours as greeks have shown us already thats what you are supposed to do. i love it here!!! we have class and relaxing tomorrow......just another great day in a greek paradise.
ps. this island is where pompeii vacationed. also where the first women rights stared in the roman times. just an fyi lol.

day one

so i have to say that i am in love. seriously most amazing first day ever. imagine how awesome u think it is here and then times that by ten and you might be close. haha okay im going to start with yesterday when i arrived.
i got here by myself because i was the only one from the trip on the plane. i stayed awake until the others came a few hours later because i was too excited to sleep even though i was going on about 5 hrs of sleep in 2 days. so after everyone got here (minus the 2 stuck in london and 5 stuck in france that all got here this morning) we had a dinner with amazing greek food (olives, salad, bean stuff and pasta) i unpacked and the crashed.....for 14 hours!! i didnt wake up till 1:30 today. i even missed breakfast which they keep open till 11:30 hahah. anyways we had a long meeting telling us all about the island and the rules of the study abroad and what we have in store for the next week. then the amazing part started.....no that sitting on the beach looking at the agean sea in 75 degree weather wasnt nice haha but this was super cool. Oh and i can see turkey super clear...but anyways
we went on an archeological walk right next to the hotel on the beach. we saw ruins from roman times and many others from thousands of years ago!! seriously this town has been around for 5 thousand year and people were living here before that even! it is super crazy!! we walked all over the place and she saw churches and walls and road and stuff that is super old. people have pottery that is thousands of years old just chillin in their front yards as decoration. its nuts and i love it being the super history freak i am! oh and the whole island is covered with super old olive trees and they have almond trees and orange, lemon and pomegranate too! then we walked into the town town part which was up on a hill and super pretty. i will post some pictures but i didnt take many today because i didnt have the good camera with me. once in the town we had dinner at a greek tavern which was litterally in the street and the food was again amazing. we had lamb and other things i have no idea what the names are. but its getting really late here and we have a full day tomorrow so ill post a few pics and video and type more tomorrow hopefully.
the picture at the top is of one of many churches. this is the oldest in thermi (the small town we r staying in). its form the 9th century. the other picture is of part of the town.

the journey

So i safely made it to athens airport! it has been a long trip and i still have a while to go before i get to the island Lesvos where i will be most of the trip. let me recap....
Woke at 4:30 to head for the infamous Detroit. Mom and dad drove and it was just about the worst weather ever, cold rainy windy, i am not going to miss michigan weather! made it to the airport in plenty of time, which is new for my family lol. so no problems getting on the plane and i met up with 3 other girls from the trip.
At our layover in NY we had lunch at a very overpriced Chilis and did a little shopping. i enjoyed watching the many "fashions" of new yorkers walk by.
so far so good. everything is going well. we load the plane for greece which is about a 10 hr flight. Im in first class which to say the least was out of this world! i actually had a bed with a tv. The plane ride went by really fast! woke up at 2 am our time but 9 in greece. on the flight in i got really excited. the landscape is like nothing i have seen before. so many hills and mountains and water and it was amazing. hundreds of small towns hidden away in the mountains.....i am already in love. 2 things i have already learned about greeks.
1. dont make them angry because they yell really loud and a lot and then fall on the floor
2. they think americans r dumb
and i have been spoken to in spanish multiple times already.... and greek
so thats really about all so far. nothing too exciting. everything has gone really well thankfully but now i have a 6 hour layover in a pretty uneventful airport. then a short flight to the island and then sleep....im going on about 3 hrs in 2 days so please excuse the typos lol.
love from greece
pauline