In the beginning...

Phew, where to start?! We just got back from our 5 day mini trip to an island called Rhodes, one of the farthest islands from mainland Greece (so far, that we were able to see the sunset along the mountains of Turkey!), and now we have some free time to unwind and unpack in or 4 person dorm here at Dereee. Anyways, Rhodes was one of the one of the most exhausting and rewarding trips I've every experienced, and it's just the beginning of our 40 day adventure!

We first arrived at Rhodes by an overnight ferry (aka lots of sleeeeeep), and directly loaded onto the bus and headed to Lindos, our first destination. Lindos is the Acropolis of Rhodes (aka the highest point of the island), I had my hiking shoes on and I was ready to go! We arrived in a group and started our trek up the hill. It was hot and sunny, but super worth it (especially since there was a nice breeze when you got to the top). Not only was the view of Rhodes spectacular, but the ancient history witnessed on this trip was quite impressive! There was lots to explore and most importantly ice cream at the bottom of the hill (yummm).

After crashing from a long day, we got up bright and early the next morning to meet with our professors (The Kaplans) and headed to old town (one of my favorite hikes around Rhodes). There was lots of tourist stores and tons of European travelers.
One thing I noticed in Rhodes that was different than the few minutes I had spent in Athens was that I felt a little bit more comfortable here. There are possible reasons for this: one, I wasn't the only tourist walking around looking a tad lost/tired/ or abnormally warm and second, most of the store owners could speak English. There were however, times when I was a bit skeptical about purchasing anything. Not only was I trying not to fall into the tourist trap and buy the cute trinky dinks but I was slighty uncomfortable with purchasing anything under unfamiliar circumstances in fear of the cashier taking advantage of my ignorance. So in cases when I did fall into the trap and buy some tourist items that you can find pretty much anywhere in Greece, I made sure to pay attention, and I also was able to converse with the owners on speaking Greek (for example, when ordering gelato, I know to say something along the lines of "plastico" in order to get a cup instead of cone, I know, I know, the cone is the best part, but sometimes I want my ice cream in a cup okay :P)

After sharing some ice cream, my friend Angela and I split from the group and decided to do some of our own exploring (including lunch!). Something that I'm not quite used to in Greece is nap time from 2-4. This is usually when the Greeks go home for lunch and take a nap, so most of the stores are closed and the streets are quite. We took advantage of people-less roads and did some further exploring on the back roads. This is the part were we found all the cool streets that you typically see in Greek themed movies and some really interesting looking doors like one with a random mailbox that had painted a penguin mailman on it :P

So you know how one of the most known Greek dishes is the gryo? Well, I had never had one before, so for lunch I had my first pita gyro, It was super yummy! It's basically a pita that wraps some meat, fries (kinda weird, I think), veggies, and tzatziki sauce aka...deliciousness wrapped in bread. The waiters there were very friendly and were pleasantly surprised when we thanked them in Greek. So here's your Greek lesson for today, in order to say "thank you" you say something along the lines of "ef-har-isto." The thing that challenges me the most about Greek is the written part for example thank you is written in Greek as"Ευχαριστώ."  That doesn't look anything like efharisto, what happens when I get hungry and I've got to read something off a menu!? I'm going to starve! Just kidding, I know a few words (like chicken) and can get some help, but in the mean time that's my main obstacle I need to overcome right now (so I figure out what's for dessert!).




So that was my attempt to sum up my first 5 breath taking days in Greece! I hit on some main points like exploring and omnom... but there were many more amazing experiences that I will never forget! Now it's time to hit the sack and wake up at 5 to take a hike up the mountain were on to see the sun rise during the summer solstice. Crazy? I think so! Expect some pictures tomorrow and thanks for reading! :)