Greece

There's been a bit of a delay since my last post mostly because I've been having way too much fun in Greece to even pump out any words, but here it goes haha! Needless to say, it's been quite a whirlwind  full of crazy partying, relaxation by the beach, great pita souvlakis, historical lessons in Athens, and most of all, definitely some super interesting people along the way. 

Starting with Mykonos, a pretty funny story is that I was so delirious when I landed (because of the whole Rome incident and little sleep i got at the airport) that I actually tried to walk the like 2 miles from the airport to the hostel. On the narrow roads with no side walks, I must have been a pretty funny sight with my pack at 8am, and eventually, the hostel airport shuttle ended up driving by and picking me up. Another story that I think truly epitomizes the welcoming, fun culture of the Greek islands is that I'm just sitting at the bar just waiting for my phone to charge (Jake hadn't gotten in yet at this point) and one of the waiters is like welcome welcome and he comes by a little later and gives me a big hug and loud kiss on the neck (he's probably around 50 years old so I let it pass for a Greek/fatherlyish thing), and then all of the sudden he's like you have to try this! and pours me and him the classic Greek liquor shot called Molarini. In the states that might have been quite a lot, but he was making a nice welcoming gesture in a My Big Fat Greek Wedding sort of way. Anyways, the real story from Mykonos is the amazing crew of friends Jake and I made (Blake, Marco, Jennifer, Danh and Fred). We had quite a fun time dancing on the bar of the paradise beach club (the funny part is everybody in the bar was dancing on the bar), and chilling at the hostel together. 

In Athens, we had a great time the first night we got there at the rooftop bar of the hostel celebrating the bartender Luka's 21st birthday. We ended up going out to the Gazi district with a bit of a strange crowd from the hostel, but never the less had a fun time. Over the next 2 days, we did the Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Athens War Museum, and walking around different parts of the city. I leaned a lot about all of the different empires that have ruled over modern day Greece (Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman) and about weapons at the war museum. We also found this amazing local place that had the best pita souvlaki's for 2.40 euro, and we went there everyday we were there.

From there, Jake went back to Israel, and I began my solo adventure to Ios. I won't go into too much about all of the details of my experiences, but what I can say is that I survived pretty much intact and had quite a crazy fun time. With all the trials and tribulations - almost signing up for a wet T-shirt contest (before I really knew what it was - good thing!), a 1.6 mile trek through the mountains back home from the bars at 7am, a gash in my foot from a rousing game of beach volleyball to name a few - it really was quite a feat. Same as Mykonos, the best part about Ios (other than the gorgeousness) is the awesome friends you make. I had a great crew here of 4 really stand up guys from San Diego and Oakland - definitely hope to see them again in the states!

With my new tan and continuous hangover from all the partying, I'm definitely looking forward to what should be a very chill time in Copenhagen 👌.