Santorini!

 Good news! We finally made it to Santorini! This past weekend I went with my roommates, taking a ferry to the island on Friday and returning late Sunday night. Ready for a Marathon Blog Post?!

The 8 hour ferry ride there on Friday was an experience. We bought economy tickets which meant you had no assigned seat... and since we arrived just on time for the ferry the only chairs left were outside! Unfortunately on a blustery October morning... sitting outside just wasn't going to happen. So we found ourselves on the floor inside. I found the perfect little spot tucked between an ATM and a newspaper rack. Oh well! At least it was warm!

....

 Since the strike kept us from going to Santorini two weekends ago, and getting refunds on all our reservations was such a pain, we decided this time to go with no reservations at all. That meant that we had to find someplace to stay upon arrival! A little scary to think about, but also kind of exciting! We were SO blessed, though, by what ended up happening.

Some other study abroad students were on the ferry with us, and had made reservations to stay at a hostel that they said would be 18 euros a night. Sounded like a great deal to us! AND to top it all off, the hostel owners would pick us up at the ferry for free. SWEET! When the woman arrived with her van she said "of course of course! 9 euros!" and shuffled us all into a big white van.

We were prepared for the worst, but we were SO surprised and thrilled to end up at this place and yes, it was really that cute and YES it was only 9 euros/night!

The rest of the weekend we spent exploring. The hostel owners connected us with a man who rented out ATVS for 15 euros/day and so with maps in hand, we decided just to explore! What a great way to see the island! No agenda or time limits or confusing bus schedules! We stumbled upon all the best things we did (including awesome crepes, and a beach-side restaurant in Kamari with great souvlaki!)

The only complaint I have is how freezing cold the weekend turned out to be. Santorini is VERY windy... after all... it's an island. And the late October weather didn't help. Many of the stores were closed and a lot of the restaurants had shut down for the season also. Any later in the semester and I think we would have shown up to a ghost town. Santorini is all about the sights though, and even with cold weather the Caldera never goes away! We could have done for better sunsets too, (since that's what Santorini is famous for!) but the clouds got in the way both nights.

It turned out to be a great trip though! And I'm SO glad we went. How can you come to Greece for  a semester and NOT!?

Thanks for all the reading! Now enjoy some pictures!

Elena and me on our ATV!

Kamari... the black sand beach.

Me with the caldera in Fira in the background... don't I look like such a cool tourist with my jacket tied around my waist!

The donkeys! Climbing up from the Old Port in Fira.

A blue roof! Whaawhooo!

The caldera in Oia (the town that is famous for its sunsets... what you see is the best it got for us. Kind of disappointing.)

Taylor went to the same crepe place as we did! Don't blame her! They were AWESOME. 

Off to Rome on Friday! Can't wait!