Greetings from Olympia!
Hi everyone! I'm sure you have all by now figured out why you haven't seen me in so long, and that is because right now I am in Greece!
I've already been to Athens and Nafplion, and at the moment I'm in Olympia at an internet cafe with one of my friends from the trip. There's a balcony to my right, and I'm able to see an orange-roofed house with many potted plants, and I know that if I stood up, I'd be able to see a mountain. Actually, I think I'm on a mountain right now. At least, I had to walk considerably uphill to get to this place. I don't know, there are mountains everywhere. There are also stray animals everywhere, but they don't bother anyone.
You guys, this town is soooo tiny; it's way smaller than Luling. There are only 1,000 permanent residents! We got here yesterday, and we've already gotten to know people. Today at lunch we saw a bartender from a club that the group went to (where I learned how the Greeks dance and I will be more than happy to show you when I get back), and also the DJ drove by on a moped on our way to this cafe just a few minutes ago. The hotel here is fabulous; it's the first one we've stayed in with a pool.
I really love it here; the people are mostly very nice, except for those few anti-Americans, and it's SO safe here. On our last night in Athens, five of us girls were walking back to the hotel at about ten pm, and there was a little boy that couldn't have been more than eight years old playing the guitar and singing on the roadside by himself. And in Nafplion, the kids' playground was filled with children playing in the dark.
Nafplion was awesome; it's a seaside resort town with cobblestone streets and vendors that sell pastries and little Greek kids that try to get you to buy roses from them (and they're so cute that you sometimes just can't help but buy a few). I did almost all of my shopping there, and I found it an extremely friendly place, AND there, I was able to taste "the most famous gelato in Greece." I had hazelnut. *melts* I'm never eating ice cream in the US again.
For some reason though, Athens was my favorite. I guess because I love cities...if I lived there (which, now, of course, I plan to), I would not need a car, pepper spray, or an umbrella. Everything is right there, plus some. And I'm not quite sure why, but there are about 89 shoe stores on each street. And yes, in New Orleans everything is "right there" and I'm sure there is an abundance of shoe stores, but little kids can't walk home from school by themselves without worrying about being abducted or shot or something. And they talked to us...and in New Orleans, you can't talk to strangers.
It rained today, and instead of using an umbrella I put a hat on. It was sufficient. And there is no humidity. NONE. So although I walked in the rain for a while, my clothes are dry, my hair is not frizzy, and if I may, I think I smell quite nice.
I can't remember off of the top of my head where our next stop is, but there are internet cafes everywhere (even in this tiny town, there are two on one street), so I will do my best to update if I can! And that means that I'll be able to read your comments, so even though I haven't used livejournal in months, I hope you still think about me and will leave me a nice note to read when I return to the world wide web!
And I must reccommend Greece. It's so perfect; I don't want to come home, but I miss everyone, so I wish that everyone in Luling would move to Greece. Think about doing that; EVERYTHING is cheaper here. Actually, before I sign off let me just throw one more thing out there that I'm sure will convince you to buy your plane ticket and make your living accomodations immediately. Here it is: twenty ounces of water can be purchased for fifty cents. Taking into account the exchange rate, we'll call it sixty cents. One and one half LITERS of water can be purchased for -- hold on -- NINETY CENTS. So roughly one dollar. I had a lunch of souvlaki, two pieces of bread with lemon, and a bottled water for 1.50 euros. Think about THAT.
I'm saving so much money being here! Just don't buy American products.
Leave me a comment!
.:Sarah:.
I've already been to Athens and Nafplion, and at the moment I'm in Olympia at an internet cafe with one of my friends from the trip. There's a balcony to my right, and I'm able to see an orange-roofed house with many potted plants, and I know that if I stood up, I'd be able to see a mountain. Actually, I think I'm on a mountain right now. At least, I had to walk considerably uphill to get to this place. I don't know, there are mountains everywhere. There are also stray animals everywhere, but they don't bother anyone.
You guys, this town is soooo tiny; it's way smaller than Luling. There are only 1,000 permanent residents! We got here yesterday, and we've already gotten to know people. Today at lunch we saw a bartender from a club that the group went to (where I learned how the Greeks dance and I will be more than happy to show you when I get back), and also the DJ drove by on a moped on our way to this cafe just a few minutes ago. The hotel here is fabulous; it's the first one we've stayed in with a pool.
I really love it here; the people are mostly very nice, except for those few anti-Americans, and it's SO safe here. On our last night in Athens, five of us girls were walking back to the hotel at about ten pm, and there was a little boy that couldn't have been more than eight years old playing the guitar and singing on the roadside by himself. And in Nafplion, the kids' playground was filled with children playing in the dark.
Nafplion was awesome; it's a seaside resort town with cobblestone streets and vendors that sell pastries and little Greek kids that try to get you to buy roses from them (and they're so cute that you sometimes just can't help but buy a few). I did almost all of my shopping there, and I found it an extremely friendly place, AND there, I was able to taste "the most famous gelato in Greece." I had hazelnut. *melts* I'm never eating ice cream in the US again.
For some reason though, Athens was my favorite. I guess because I love cities...if I lived there (which, now, of course, I plan to), I would not need a car, pepper spray, or an umbrella. Everything is right there, plus some. And I'm not quite sure why, but there are about 89 shoe stores on each street. And yes, in New Orleans everything is "right there" and I'm sure there is an abundance of shoe stores, but little kids can't walk home from school by themselves without worrying about being abducted or shot or something. And they talked to us...and in New Orleans, you can't talk to strangers.
It rained today, and instead of using an umbrella I put a hat on. It was sufficient. And there is no humidity. NONE. So although I walked in the rain for a while, my clothes are dry, my hair is not frizzy, and if I may, I think I smell quite nice.
I can't remember off of the top of my head where our next stop is, but there are internet cafes everywhere (even in this tiny town, there are two on one street), so I will do my best to update if I can! And that means that I'll be able to read your comments, so even though I haven't used livejournal in months, I hope you still think about me and will leave me a nice note to read when I return to the world wide web!
And I must reccommend Greece. It's so perfect; I don't want to come home, but I miss everyone, so I wish that everyone in Luling would move to Greece. Think about doing that; EVERYTHING is cheaper here. Actually, before I sign off let me just throw one more thing out there that I'm sure will convince you to buy your plane ticket and make your living accomodations immediately. Here it is: twenty ounces of water can be purchased for fifty cents. Taking into account the exchange rate, we'll call it sixty cents. One and one half LITERS of water can be purchased for -- hold on -- NINETY CENTS. So roughly one dollar. I had a lunch of souvlaki, two pieces of bread with lemon, and a bottled water for 1.50 euros. Think about THAT.
I'm saving so much money being here! Just don't buy American products.
Leave me a comment!
.:Sarah:.