The End of Spring Break...Sort of...

So the second visit to Athens, right? I said it was a later story, so I'm finishing up on the epic two-week spring break. GLS is evil. The only way they could have made the trip home to Cyprus any longer and more inconvenient would have been if they flew us there via Australia (which would have been cool, so I probably wouldn't have even been as cranky).
Wake up: 6am phone call, which Meggie shushed instead of answering.
Long wait in the Barcelona airport, then a flight to Milan.
Milan would have been cool, but despite having a SEVEN HOUR LAYOVER we weren't allowed to explore the city, plus it was downpouring. Meg lost (and then had to take a bus to a different terminal to find again) her ipod, our checked luggage got soaked (so now all my stuff smells) and at least one girl's brand new Italian leather jacket got ruined, and I had to go buy a book in one of the overpriced airport stores, where I had to choose from about three shelves of English books, because while I can read Spanish or French, Italian just looks silly and nonsensical to me, but I had to have a book, or I'd have gone insane. Oh, and I scarfed down McDonald's fries and a burger like it was my job, because all the other American girls, with their lists of food they're craving, made me desperate for fast-food unhealthy grossness (and it was delicious, in that "mmm... I can HEAR my arteries clogging" sort of way). By the way, when I get home, I want pizza from the Newport place. And tortilla chips with salsa. And enough real maple syrup on pancakes to make me physically ill.
After one of the most boring waits ever, we boarded our second plane... to Athens... at 8pm... which I had not been prepared for. WORST FLIGHT EVER. I was tired, cranky, felt icky, and was seated next to two of the most dramatic girls EVER! They were convinced the plane was going to go down in flames the entire flight (there was really only a tiny bit of turbulance, but listening to them, you'd think we experianced 100 drops and did barrel rolls in an apocolyptic style thunderstorm), claimed they were being roasted alive (the temperature inside the plane was barely warmer than normal. I was in a sweatshirt and still fine) and they were threatening to sue.
I survived that without throwing anyone out of the plane or stabbing them with the plastic fork provided to us, and then had to sit in the Athens airport for another long layover, listening to EVERY SINGLE GIRL bitch about how tired and cranky they were. 25 irritable girls who have been in close quarters (and without boys) for two weeks who are up (and sober) past their bedtimes... Yes, not only did I find paradise in Barcelona, I found hell in the Athens airport.
Finally around 1am we boarded the flight back to Cyprus, where one of the checked suitcases had been lost, so we had to wait for that to be sorted out, then got yelled at in Greek by a busdriver in the parkinglot for a good 20 minutes, then the LOOOOOONG drive to the apartments, and bed... around 5am. I had to get up for class at 8:15. Which I couldn't miss.
I'd decided that all I could manage would be to get up and get dressed and get to class, but when my alarm went off in the morning, steps 1 and 2 were even starting to look optional.
I actually managed to attend BOTH my classes, although the professor in the second one sent me and the other American girl home during the break, because we looked like zombies. You know it's really bad when you actually start to LOOK like your passport photo. It was a bit scary.
However, I've slept and showered and look fairly human once again, so despite the papers still waiting to be written, I'm pretty content. It's weird how much my apartment in Cyprus feels like home now.

Barcelona

Barcelona was probably my favorite part of the trip. To start off with, we immediately saw the FCB bus as we were leaving the airport! (By the way, I now have a number 21 Hleb jersey :D)

I got to eat paella (Claire and I shared, and scarfed down enough so that we both looked 5 months pregnant. Oh, and the waiter didn't speak English. Francina, who is originally from the Dominican Republic, did most of the talking for us, but they made me go ask for the check), and eat at the fresh food market, which was one of my favorite things, and there was amazing (and pretty!) deserts as well.
Gaudi was prominently featured everywhere, with some of the coolest buildings I've ever seen, and I'm going to live in one (I'll give you a hint-- it's the one that looks like a gingerbread house. I'm going to dress like a witch and have black cats and run a daycare center. It'll be great.)


I discovered that Barcelona is either radioactive, or naturally produces gatorade beneath the streetsI found a tiny section of paradise


I spent a day with some friends at the famous park at the top of the city, where I took some of my favorite pictures, including the best one I've ever taken of my roomie Regina, and Claire, whom I got to know on this trip, and we spent a lot of the time wondering how we'd managed not to know each other beforehand, since we have a very similar sense of humor.





Regina found her perfect Vespa
Claire and I laid on the floor taking pictures of each other upside down, and of the ceiling, while listening to some guy play guitar
And we spend an afternoon at the beach, where Claire and I played in the icy waves and watched crazy people wind surf (or just regular surf) while the other girls tried to decide if we were crazy, or didn't have nerve endings anymore, or just didn't have the sense to get OUT OF THE WATER since we kept screaming that it was cold every time a wave came up and splashed us (I had my camera and was taking pictures, but we were only like knee deep, so it didn't get wet or sandy or anything bad like that)
Half our little crew waited outside in this little park area while the other half explored the inside of an unfinished Gaudi building and a couple guys on guitars played "Brown Eyed Girl" which made me really happy

I discovered why everyone in Barcelona is really happy and laid back

I had the coolest camera malfunction ever while taking a picture of fake people on a balcony dressed more fashionably than _I_ ever will be

And lots of other random things. I took over 850 pictures of Barcelona alone, in only two days, and feel like I could have continued at that rate for another three months straight and still not run out of interesting subjects. All in all, Barcelona was straight up incredible. Of all the places I've been on this trip, I think Barcelona was the one I'd love to live in. Everywhere else was a cool place to visit, but Barcelona could easily be home.

Fresh Food and Flowers in Barcelona

Italy part 3: Venice!

Venice was the most beautiful city in Italy. Hands down. Rome may have been the most interesting, but Venice was just gorgeous, despite the initial downpour and freezing wind. We spent the worst of it in a little coffee shop, and then wandered around. What can I say? We like wandering. And for someone who likes to photograph water and canals, Venice was a dream.

Gondola guys! Complete with awesome hats and little sailor suits. Yes, they really wear them, and they're EVERYWHERE. We didn't actually GO on one of the gondolas (well, some of the other girls did, but not the ones I was with), but I took a lot of pictures of them. And canals.
I don't know why, but I've lately been taking a lot of pictures of scummy shorelines and docks and ropes and all that lovely stuff that looks kinda cool in an "ewww... I dare you to touch it" kind of way.

Italy part 2: Florence!

An accidental photograph taken by my camera while I was photographing one of the canals that we were lost near (which is the picture below. We walked along that bridge, and it's all stores! Mostly jewelry.)




I'd been really looking forward to Florence, simply because the group that had gone before us had raved about it, saying it was the best part of Italy. It was pretty, but actually kind of boring. Other than shopping (which we all did too much of simply because there wasn't much else to do) we just walked around a lot. And got lost. A lot.
My destructive luck struck again when it finally became clear that my suitcase could make it no further. The wheel (and the whole corner that the wheel was attached to) had completely broken off, and the whole bottom seam was undone. At that point it would have been easier to simply make a new suitcase out of duct tape than it would have been to repair this one. Luckily, while Rachel and I were lost and wandering around, I found a new one! Which I bought, dragged back to the hotel, and am now in the process of destroying (although hopefully not before I make it back to the States).Florence was where we lost Emma. Our walking entertainment, she unfortunately was the victim of our trip (one person having been basically killed off on each trip) and was hospitalized with appendicitis, so she not only lost one her appendix, but one of her fallopian tubes as well, and had to stay behind in Florence, in the hospital. Luckily one of her parents flew in to stay with her, but we're very sad that she missed the rest of the trip and might not be able to return to Cyprus at all.

On a happier note, we also saw the David. Apparently he's known as the most beautiful man in the world. It figures: the most beautiful man in the world is made of rock. At least that means he's aged well, right?
Florence is where we basically got accosted by a bunch of Italian boys who barely spoke English, but were determined to flirt with us. One of them spoke Spanish though, which I could understand, so the entire time we were all talking, it was a confusing babbled combination of English, Italian and Spanish, which resulted in me NOT giving out my phone number, but smiling and assuring them we'd probably bump into each other again, which we did... five minutes later.
One of them wanted me to take a picture-- well, that's what he SAID, because his English wasn't very good, but what he wanted was a picture WITH me, which I conveniently misunderstood, instead staying firmly BEHIND the camera. Rachel obliged him though, and he didn't even seem to notice her lovely smile. Ah yes, Italian boys.
While the Italian boys are harmless little flirts, what you DO have to look out for are the statues. Living statues. Throw a coin in the box at their feet and take a picture with them: They're statues so they're not supposed to move, right? Apparently the coin makes them sentient, and they will then grope you slowly and awkwardly while your hysterically laughing companion/photographer tries not to wet their pants laughing long enough to take the picture so you can run away and feel a little dirty. Great fun.