Spetses

June 19, 2010

Started the day off by oversleeping. Woke up when Danielle knocked on our door at 6:30 because the taxis had arrived to take us to the port. Apparently I yelled “fuck” and she heard me… Brooke and Amelia were downstairs and they heard me too. Haha. Whoops. Luckily we’d packed things already and were out the door in three minutes. Alora’s alarm had gone off at 5:45 but I apparently told her I was getting up in 10 minutes (evening though I was actually going to get up before then, but had set my alarm wrong) haha.

Got to the port quickly and picked up our tickets for the hydrofoil ride to Spetses. Bought a delicious pastry and a Coke.

Alora and I each took a motion sickness pill at 7:30. Boarded around 7:50. Sway got to us. Took another pill. Adjusted to sway. Left at 8:30. Felt sick again, but adjusted. Some boy from a group of six talked to us. He’s going to Boston University next year and those kids were going to Spetses too.

Arived at 10:30. A man and his father met us at the port and each took one of us on their mopeds to our loding (the younger man owns the place and our coordinator arranged where we’d stay and knows him, etc). Danielle and I went first. I rode with the younger guy. It was fun.

Me, Alora, and Amelia roomed together. When we got there, I was in our bathroom and a cockroach came out. I screamed and Alora killed it when I ran out of the bathroom. Then, another one came out too!!!!! GROSS!

Went to the beach. There were some nasty, slimy, shelly things at the bottom in certain parts. Freakin sick. I got some cool rocks, 1 shelll, and some pieces of terra cotta.

Ate lunch at some seaside awning-covered place. Got the house special hunterfish with a marinara sauce, tomatoes, and herbs. Pretty good. Not quite warm enough, though.

Then we shopped around in harbor area. I bought a bracelet and a cool hat.

Went to a different beach. Water was beautiful and pretty warm. First beach water was warmer. Breeze off sea feels so nice.

Went back to room and showered. Drank some Smirnoff on balcony watching some neighbors on their balcony…. Pretty sure these were two swinging couples… kept coming out on the balcony and doing stuff like rubbing each other down with oil. I can’t really explain it all, but it was so weird. Haha.

Boys right next to us kept looking up at us and asked where we were from and our plans for the night. So annoying.

Walked to pizza place in harbor and got the Greek Special in regular and a super size. Very good. Demolished it fast.

Went to a bar called Socrates Club. It was awesome. Had a Spetses Summer and a Sex on the Beach (first time ever had that). It was Happy Hour there. Bar is way fun. We were challenged to a game of beer pong by the guys at a nearby table. We were going to play, but were tired and everyone in there was watching a World Cup—Cameroon and Denmark—game. And it still had 20 minutes left….plus set up for beer pong and we were exhausted, so we didn’t play.

Walking back and heard lou music. Walked to it (Danielle and I wanted to) and it seemed to be a restaurant/bar thing. The other walked away ad we started to walk up to it when I realized it was actually a wedding reception. Haha.

Went back to room then. Had lots of fun. Wish we could’ve had more time in Spetses…. Our program was originally supposed to be in Spetses, but it got moved to Athens.

Sunday June 20

Got up at 8:20. Got ready real fast and ate breakfast. Probably the best breakfast I’ve every had—yogurt with honey, a huge fresh croissant, freshly squeezed orange juice (oranges in Greece are amazing!), a frappe—iced coffee. Can have milk and sugar. I was obviously sans milk. You also choose level of sweetness. I had medium. So good.

Went to a store called Lollipops, bc Amelia and I both saw purses we wanted the day before. Purchased it. So cute.

Ran back to apartment/hotel place. Amelia called the man whose name we don’t know to come so we could pay him and return keys. We grabbed out stuff and ran out bc Alora, Amelai and I were taking a bus to the other side of the island. Danielle and Brooke were going to rent mopeds, but no one would rent one to them so they ended up getting bikes.

The other side of the island is so pretty. The beach we went to was great. Hardly anyone there, calmer water, prettier, the rocky beach was not as painful on our feet. It was about a 30 minute ride to the other side. Steep edges on a curvy road. Lots of trees on Spetses. Gorgeous water. Just a great place in general. We also keep hearing the other Greek islands are better. Whoa.

Bus left at 11:04. Spent time on beach. Had lunch at the one place there. Just got some tzaziki. Probably one of my new favorite dishes. I have a recipe and will have to make it for ppl when I get home. Got a lemonade to drink. When you order that, it’s actually a soda, like a Fanta or another similar brand. So good!! Very lemony and carbonated. We were given watermelon for dessert. I’m not a watermelon fan at all, but this was quite good. Fruit and vegetables here are just amazing.

Took the 3p.m. bus back. Picked up ferry tickets and got some icecream. Ferry left at 5:30. It was one of the so-called “cockroaches”….tiny, horrible little thing. Took two pills over an hour before 5:30…. Still felt so sick. The swaying was just so ridiculous. I about flipped out for a while. Alora and I tried to just talk a lot to keep our minds off of it… ended up having some good conversation. J

Got back around 7:30. Had a hell of a time getting back. Couldn’t buy bus tickets, were being sent everyone to try to buy a ticket….language barriers suck fyi. Had to take a train….. some creep kept putting his hand on mine and rubbing his arm against mine. Finally was able to move away from him a little bit and Brooke held onto my arm so I wouldn’t have to hold onto the pole… bless her soul. Then took a metro for just one stop to Syntagma and walked back to apartment. That was the Readers Digest version of our trip home… it took us two hours to get back from the port. O.M.G.

Stopped at a payphone and called Dad… no answer. Left a voicemail. Called my mom. No answer. Left a message. Then finally got internet access. Wonderful.