Greece!

 For the second part of the trip we spent 5 nights in Santorini, Greece in a town called Oia. Rome was so fun, but there are absolutely no words to describe how amazing and perfect Greece was!

Greece has always been one of my number one places i wanted to visit. I decided on our location after watching "sisterhood of the travelling pants 2" and googling where it was filmed - simple as that. I got my expectations of Greece from that movie and i wanted to make sure they were met - and they were 100% exceeded! Oia is famous for having one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.

We rented a traditional cave style house from a company called old Oia houses - it was perfect! We had two double beds, our own bathroom, a kitchen, a patio and free breakfast (fresh baked bread delivered to our door every morning. Our house was perched right on the cliff and with all the of the other traditional Greek white cave houses.... Just like I've always pictured Greece to look. There were no roads through the town, only stairs and footpaths. Our patio overlooked the sea and the caldera (the volcano of the island) and the silence and peacefulness of it all was enough to catch your breath. One of the most lucky parts of our trip is that we were staying there at a time where the wi-fi was not working. For 5 days we were all completely disconnected from everyone but each other - it was so nice to have nothing distracting us from just relaxing and having a good time.. I loved it!

our patio

the view from our patio

other view from our patio :)

the kitchen

The days in Greece all blend together - the sign of a true vacation. The second night there we stumbled upon a restaurant in town called Strogili. It had a nice patio overlooking the water and reasonable prices so we decided to check it out. BEST DECISION EVER. It only took us a few bites to decide that there was no need to eat anywhere else the rest of the trip. It was one of the best meals I've ever had and everyone agreed! I got pasta salad el greco, and colleen got chicken in Vissanto (a sweet dessert wine famous in Santorini) cream sauce. The boys each got some kind of stuffed chicken and pork. The server loved us and we made sure to tell him it was the best meal we'd had in Europe. He seemed so genuinely happy to hear that and said thank you about a million times with the biggest smile. We went back each night after that and he was always so happy to see us and even saved a table for us! He also brought us free dessert each night and free wine for our last night as well (fun fact: the server who brought out the wine informed us that the wine was made by his old physics teacher - she quit her job and started making wine. The brand is Kastelli and it was the best red wine I've ever had!) On the last night he gave us all his card and said he hopes to see us on facebook. I cant wait to look them up and give them the best review!

dinner at Strogili

chicken in vissanto sauce

best server ever!

Phil in front of Strogili on our last night :(

 The best way to get around the island is on ATVs (you can drive the entire island in 1 hr round trip!), so we rented those every day. It was so much fun! Colleen and i let the boys drive most of the time (which they obviously loved) while we just got to enjoy the amazing views and the wind in our hair... It was a win-win. We woke up every day at 8:30 and had breakfast and changed into our bathing suits. The only decision we had to make/worry we had was what beach we were going to spend that day on. After the beach we would shower, watch the sunset, and get dinner. after dinner we spent the night with several bottles of wine, listening to music and playing cards. Some nights led to outrageous dance parties while others led to a massive Taylor Swift sing along piled into one of the double beds. We'd do this til around 2:00 am then go to sleep and do it all over again the next day. Couldn't be any more perfect.

breakfast time

a typical night in Santorini... making Ouzo punch

The two main beaches we went to were Peruvilous Beach and Red Beach - both made of of volcanic sand and rock! Red beach was a red sand beach tucked in between red cliffs. It was so neat to see the contrast between the clear blue water and the red sand underneath... One of coolest things I've ever seen! We spent our time on that beach swimming in caves, jumping off rocks into the water, and relaxing (obviously).

the red beach

us on red beach

 The other beach, Peruvilous, is a black sand beach and is considered the party beach of the island. It's lined with beach bars, cabanas and tiki huts. We spent a good amount of time at a beach bar called Jojo. It had a huge, perfect pool, fun music (this is where I first witnessed Phillip Sheppard's dance skills) and tons of lounging areas both inside the bar and out on the beach. Some of the lounge chairs were the size of queen beds and each umbrella had a call button you could push when you needed a new drink... Heaven on earth.

The rest of our time in Santorini was spent wandering through the town and it's many adorable shops. In most shops you would walk in and see the owner sitting at a table working on the products they were selling (making jewelery, carving wood sculptures, etc) so it made me want to buy everything in sight (I guess its good that my bank account is pretty much empty.. Kept me from shopping too much!) Santorini had some of the most beautiful jewelry I've seen in Europe... Cant wait to go back some day when i have more money!

I was a little nervous 5 nights would be too much time on the island and that we would get bored with it. Honestly I could have spent an entire month there with the same group of people and I think all of us would agree it still wouldn't be enough time. I have had some amazing experiences this semester but I can easily say this was the best trip of my life. I couldn't ask for a better, more fun group of friends to travel with. I have never felt so relaxed, happy and carefree - I was so sad to leave! CANNOT wait to get back there some day.. As soon as possible!

While I was dreading leaving my little slice of paradise, I am now just incredibly excited to get home! I am currently sitting in Rome Ciampino airport and I wish I could just fast-forward to tomorrow at 3:00 pm US time when I will land in the USA! Tonight I am staying in Madrid in a hotel near the airport and I leave at 12:30 pm tomorrow! It it such a weird feeling to know that tomorrow night I will be in my house and sleeping in my bed. I am so, so excited and cant wait to see my family and friends!


More random pictures from Santorini:

free dessert at strogili

Athens airport bar where we posted up for 5 hours and
taught the bartenders how to make orange crushes

about to board the plane

winery tour and wine tasting 

before another dinner at strogili

strolling through santorini

peruvilous beach

view from the house

more typical santorini nights..

Sunset beach.. a little secluded beach we found on the ATVs

the gravel road we took down to the beach

ROMA (it's about time!)

I ended my semester abroad on a good note with what was by far the best trip of the semester! One of my best friends, Colleen, her boyfriend Phil, and his best friend Mark met me in Rome on May 21st.

I left Alicante on the May 20th and after a tearful bus ride to the airport I snapped out of my sadness and instead started looking forward to this last trip! Colleen and I had been planning this trip since last May so I really couldn't believe it was finally here!

My flight to Rome was supposed to include an overnight layover in the Liverpool airport, but my awesome dad sprung for a hotel room for me last minute so I didn't have to sleep at the airport alone. It was great! I stayed at the airport hotel that was right across the street. I checked in and went right to sleep and enjoyed the free breakfast in the morning. I caught my flight to Rome without a hitch and when I arrived in the Ciampino airport I began what was supposed to be my 15 minute journey to the hostel. I was told by both the bus driver and the information desk which bus to get on. I followed their instructions and for the first time in my 5 month adventure abroad I got completely, miserably, hopelessly LOST! The bus I was told to get on dropped me off at a random bus station in the middle of no where, where almost no one spoke English. I got some help from the extremely nice police officers but there was only so much they could do with the language barrier. Finally they got me to a bus stop. The bus ended up not being the right one (AGAIN) but the bus driver must have felt sorry for me because he went off of his route to get me where I needed to go and DIDN'T EVEN CHARGE ME (gotta love having restored faith in humanity!) Finally, after 2 and a half hours of being lost, I found the hostel. All of this wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for my miserable baggage situation. I sent my huge rolling suitcase home with my parents, thinking that my big back pack would comfortably fit all of my stuff. My over-optimistic mindset combined with Ryanair baggage weight restrictions led me to have one 40 pound checked bag and one 20 pound carry on. The only bag I had to use as a carry on was another backpack, so I was carrying an awkward 60 pounds of added weight the entire time I was lost... And it was hot! It was the closest I had come to breaking down and completely losing it all semester! When I got to the hostel I expected to find an annoyed and worried group of friends... I had told Phil if I wasn't there by 11:30am that I had probably been kidnapped by gypsies.. and by the time I got there it was almost 2:00! Luckily they had trouble getting the the hostel also and ended up getting there 20 minutes after I did. Everything worked out perfectly in the end. 

For our first night we were all pretty exhausted so we went to the Trevi Fountain first and grabbed dinner. This is when I knew this trip was going to be perfect. We had the best first meal in Italy and everyone in the group was willing to try everything ... We started what would become our nightly routine - get a bottle of wine and then pass everyone a taste of whatever dish we ordered. We all got something different and everyone's meals were amazing! Afterwards we wandered over to the Colosseum (beautiful at night!) and caught the metro back to the hostel so we could get a good nights sleep and everyone else could get over their jet lag.

Me, Mark, Phil and Colleen after we tossed in our coins!

beautiful!

 The next day we did the Colosseum, the Forum and the Pantheon. The Coliseum was just as impressive as I remembered!

The Roman Forum

We got lucky with the Pantheon because right after we walked out, they stopped letting people in because it was closing for a private event! 

in front of the pantheon

the pantheon

us and our server from the restaurant!

 After the pantheon we set out to find a restaurant that Phils friend had recommended. She had studied in Rome and ate at this place 4 times a week and became friends with the servers. She sent Phil a picture with them and he printed it out. The directions she gave us were extremely confusing but after an hour of search and almost giving up, we found it! Phil gave the picture to the server and it was so awesome seeing his face lit up - absolutely priceless and so worth the search! All the servers just had the biggest smile on their faces and couldn't believe we came all the way to Rome and found their restaurant. They brought us out a round of champagne to celebrate. As we enjoyed our meal in the street under the canopy, an unexpected thunderstorm started dumping on us. We were lucky to be under cover - there are few things I love more than watching a good thunderstorm under a porch... It was awesome. The rain stopped just as we finished our meal (this was the trend for the whole weekend, so here's a shoutout to mother nature for that!)

After dinner we headed back to the hostel. Phil and Mark went out to get some bottles of wine and instead found the only bar open in our little town of Ciampino - Buddha Bar. Colleen and I had already changed into our pajamas but were convinced by the boys to just go as we were. We headed across the street and posted up at a table outside. Luckily we were the only ones there so we had no one to impress. After a few rounds of drinks we were joined by a group of 8 people who pulled up tables near us. We got talking and one of the guys asked me how I feel about Ryanair. I thought it was a random question but I obviously was honest and gave him 2 thumbs way down and said "it SUCKS!" this is when he informed me that they were all pilots or flight attendants for Ryanair.... oopsies! We got a huge laugh about that and luckily he didn't take offense and said "don't worry, we hate it too!" Next thing you know we were at the bar until 3 am drinking and talking to a bunch of Ryanair employees. It was the most awesome and random thing ever and ended up being one of the greatest nights of the trip.

me and leen with the ryanair flight attendants and pilots!

me and the boys enjoying our drinks at buddha bar

The next day we went to Trastavere, a small area in Rome with really narrow streets and lots of cute little shops. That afternoon we went to the Vatican, which was just as awesome as I had remembered. Afterwards we had dinner and made our way to the Spanish steps as the sun was starting to go down... Absolutely perfect! We spent that night drinking wine and watching youtube videos for hours in the hostel.

delicious lunch in trastavere - i got carbonara (traditional roman dish)

Me and leen at the Vatican

climbing the spanish steps

the storm cleared just in time for some perfect pictures!

in piazza de espagna

gelato on our last day in rome

Rome was so much better the second time around. I went in high school but didn't like it very much because it rained the whole time and was at the end of my trip. This was the perfect group to travel with and the good weather helped make it an awesome trip this time around! Ill never get over the Trevi Fountain... So beautiful!


Next stop... Greece!