My Big Fat Greek Spring Break

I don't think I've fully recovered form Spring Break yet, all I want to do is sleep! But I'm so excited to share with you the fabulous week I spent on the beach in Corfu and exploring the historic beauty of Athens.

This is going to be pretty long but I hope it isn't too boring.

SATURDAY 3/15

I was up at 5 am, eventually made it to the train station for a 7:30 train ride with our guides across Italy to the port of Ancona.  Rebeka and I were the only two from Florence, the other people in the travel group were from Rome and we all met in Ancona. We got to Ancona for lunch, waited for the Rome group, and went to the overnight boat.

I hate boats. So much. They are literally one of my biggest fears. But when we got on the boat I went straight to me seat and just read my book trying to keep calm. It worked! The ride was chill, I had dinner and read some more. I was exhausted from getting up so early and was out by like, 11.

SUNDAY 3/16

I slept through the night and then grabbed breakfast with Rebeka in the ship's dining room. We docked in the Greek port of Igoumenista at maybe 9 am, where we had to transfer to a ferry to take us to Corfu. That ride took about 2 hours, and it was an okay ride. It was beautiful out, although I was quite tired of boats by that point.

From the port a bus from hotel picked us up and took us straight there. After we checked in, I went straight to the beach! I was there all afternoon, just lounging and walking up and down the beach. It was a little windy but the sun was shining.

That night at the hotel another travel group was there as well, and the hotel threw a big dinner and toga party. There a lot of food, a lot of drunk crazy people, and a lot of plate smashing. It was not quite my cup of tea, but it was okay. The food here was so good though.

MONDAY 3/17

Happy St. Paddy's! Today was literally the laziest day of my life. It was awesome.

I slept in, got breakfast and lounged for hours and hours by the pool. It was literally the most relaxing morning.

I grabbed some lunch, got a cocktail and transferred to the beach! more lounging.

After all the hours in the sun, I figured I should spend some time indoors. So I went back to my room and read on the balcony to watch the sunset before dinner. I'm pretty sure Greek sunsets are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life.

TUESDAY 3/18

Out last day in Corfu :(
I went to the beach in the morning, took a nice long walk along the water's edge. Then I lounged for another hour, writing and observing the beautiful coast! After lunch I went back to my room and packed and jus hang around. I ended up getting some pretty bad sunburn on my legs so I just sat not moving for a while, reading and watching the sunset. It was very relaxing :)

 

We were supposed to have dinner at 8 and then leave at 10 to catch an 11pm ferry before taking a bus overnight to Athens. BUT the 11pm ferry ended up being cancelled and we were forced to take the 9pm- keep in mind that we were told this at 7:45, dinner was being served at 8 and we ended up having to leave at 8:15 the catch the ferry. That was basically one of the most nerve wracking experiences. But we made it! A-ok!

WEDNESDAY 3/19

Because we had to leave Corfu 2 hours early, we got to Athens 2 hours early. Meaning we got there at 5 am. The hotel we were staying out wouldn't let us do early check in so they stuffed us in some lounge until 7 am. At 7 we were allowed into our rooms, and I crashed. We all did. It was just a nap really, because we had to be out at 11am for a walking tour.

and STARBUCKS. There was a Starbucks on our street and it literally made me so happy.

On the walking tour we saw the changing of the guard at the Parliament building, walked through the National Garden, ran around the Olympic stadium, stood under the Arch of Hadrian, and climbed the Acropolis!  It took all day but it so perfect and so beautiful I legitimately almost cried.

I got back to my room some time after 5, read and took a nap. We were having a huge group dinner at a wonderful family owned place in Monakstraki Square. For 18 Euro we had endless amounts of food and wine. There was live music, too! We danced with some locals, and did the OPA! Greek and Mediterranean food is literally my favorite kind, and the owner was so nice! It was literally one of the most fun nights I have ever had in my life. At this point I had gotten to know some of the other girls in the travel group, and they were great people to have a party with!

We walked around the square and hit a couple bars before I finally bowed out because they wanted to go dancing and I am just not a good dancer and do not life clubs. I'm much more of a bar person.

THURSDAY 3/20

Our last day in Athens :(
I spent the day walking around the squares and market places, buying some souvenirs and taking in all the Greek life and things. It was fabulous! I felt so at home walking around Athens. It's just so historical and so beautiful.

There really wasn't anything special or important about today, I was just really content with being in Athens.

I was hanging arounf the hotel before dinner, but I thought I would go to the roof bar and hang around to write and watch the sunset. I was there for about an hour, literally watching the sun finally disappear and the sky fade into this beautiful twilight. I couldn't have asked for a more picturesque view on my last night in Athens.

There were no plans for dinner, so Rebeka and grabbed some gyros at this little place we stopped at the day before for a snack. OM NOM ALL THE FOOD, it was so good!

I spent the night packing for the whole trip back to Italy and watched some American shows I found on TV before it switched to all Greek stuff.

FRIDAY 3/21

After breakfast we met in the lobby at 10am, gathered all of our stuff and waited for the bus to drive us across Greece to the port.

We drove for 2 hours, stopped for lunch, and drove another 2 hours. We had to wait in the port office for over an hour because they needed our passports for our tickets. We got to get on the big overnight boat at 3:30pm, although it wouldn't depart until 5:30pm. We all spent some time hanging out around the deck, just waiting. After we finally left the port, I didn't want to freak out so I sat in my seat and read, just like last time. Once I was comfortable enough being on the boat I found the other girls from our group. One of the girls in the group had bought some small game of Clue from the boat's shop, but it was obviously all in Greek and took a while figure it out, haha. The night was really chill since we were all pretty exhausted. Instead of sleeping in out seats this time, a group of us went upstairs the empty discoteca where there were some very comfortable couches. It one of the best night's sleep I had on this vacation!

SATURDAY 3/22

Literally the most uneventful yet stressful day ever.

Good god this day did not want to seem to end. I got breakfast from the dining room, and then there was literally nothing to do. Everyone else was still sleeping, and I was so dreadfully bored. I sat and read, again (I got through 3 books on this trip, by the way). And then just sat and chatted with the other girls as they were waking up.

We were going to be on this boat until at least 5pm, and I think I was going insane. I ended up just walking around the ship at one point because I was tired of sitting.
If I ever do this kind of trip again, NO MORE BOATS. It was a 25 hour boat ride and I was miserable. I would much rather pay to fly.

But we got to Ancona at 5:30, and we all boarded a bus. The bus dropped Rebeka and I, plus our guides, at the train station since we all had to go back to Florence and them to Rome. We had to wait about half an hour for our train, and the ride was about an hour and half to Bologna. In Bologna we had to change trains, but there was about a 45 minute wait so I ran and grabbed a sandwich for dinner. From Bologna the train ride was only 30 minutes, and we got back to Florence at 9:30pm. FINALLY BACK IN FLORENCE. I never thought I would be so happy to be back. The travel took quite a toll on my emotional state, haha. It was just too much.

We had to walk from the train station about 12-15 minutes to our bus stop to get back to campus. But we had to wait 20 minutes for our bus. GOOD GOD I JUST WANT TO SHOWER AND BE BACK IN MY OWN BED.

It was 10:30 before we got back to campus. I don't even know what happened after that. I was just so glad to be back after such a hard 36+ hours of travel.

THE END

Let me tell y'all, overall Greece was absolutely FABULOUS. I loved every minute I spent there. The sights, the history, the beach. It was perfect! But the travel, not so much. I can't wait to go back, I will go back. And if you haven't had the chance to go, you should find one!

Carnevale Viareggio

On Sunday NYU went to Viareggio to Carnevale! The Viareggio celebrations are known world wide and is geared toward locals. I had the absolute best time.

Rebeka and I made it to the train station to meet our group just before 11 at the train station. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, and we basically just got to go out on our own and explore and hang out on the pier, etc (because Viareggio is on the beach!)
We walked up and down the street, bought some masks and soaked up as much of the Carnevale culture as we could. We even got to spend the sunset on the beach! It was just the best day.

It one was one of the most remarkably Italian things I could have ever experienced and I absolutely loved it.