Santorini? Yes Please.

Slack much on the blog, Pete?  I guess you could say that.  I received a funny email this weekend from one Peter Maag with the subject line "more blogging, less not blogging."  And nothing else was written.  Classic Maag right there.  So, alas, here I am cramming my rambling thoughts onto this computer screen with no regard for proper grammar or concern about any of those writing conventions I was taught when I was younger.

Let's just jump right into Santorini and go from there.  I mean, I guess if the picture doesn't do it for you, well then you just have really high standards.  That being said, go check out the rest of my Facebook album if you want to see the rest of the beauty that is Santorini.  I highly recommend it.  So we left Friday night at midnight and boarded a massive ferry that took 9 hours, yes you read that correctly 9 #^@*#&!#@&*@! HOURS, to reach Santorini.  We rolled off the boat and a bus picked us up and took us to our hotel where Sean and I promptly passed out for the next two hours.  After that part of the group wandered into town, Fira, and checked out the local shops.  Ate some good Greek food and perused all the knockoffs that they had there.  Bought a bitchin pair of Ray Bans for 10 euros.  I think I will be able to get all of my Christmas shopping done here real easily.  Then our entire group met back up and we were picked up in two vans and taken to a different port where we did a 5 1/2 hour boat ride.  We stopped at the Red Beach and swam in the water for a while which was again incredibly blue and salty.  Then we rode in the gorgeous sun for a while and anchored just outside the volcanic rock part of Santorini where we swam about a 1/4 of a mile to a hot springs.  The water was insanely warm, but it was an interesting juxtaposition when a wave of cold water hit the lower part of your legs and the top half was in hot tub like water.  They then cooked us dinner on the boat and as we finished up food, the winds REALLY began to pick up.  Our boat ride quickly turned into a roller coaster and then people's smiles and colored faces rapidly vanished and were replaced with whiteish green faces and unhappy looks.  Gotta love seasickness!  Mercifully the ride ended with only a few people getting sick, but a few more looking like had the ride been about 10 minutes longer and they would've been donezo.  We returned to the hotel and went out to a bar called Murphy's where we celebrated one of the girl's 21st birthdays.  But more importantly, I got to watch Arkansas and Alabama play in the bar.  I forgot how much I missed college football.  I really would be using this blog as a chance to talk about sports as well, but frankly it is almost impossible when I am reading up on everything a few days after it happens.  Fear not though, when I return to BC and am on a real time zone again, my sports thoughts will be shared with the world!

Sunday was a nice, relaxing, and stunningly beautiful day as Sean and I walked around the island for 4 hours by ourselves.  Enjoyed some truly wonderful moussaka for dinner and boarded the ferry to return back to Athens.  Let me tell you, two Advil PM will make a 9 hour ferry ride pass in the blink of an eye.  We rolled off the ferry, caught the metro, caught a bus and still made it to Greek class at 10.

Phew.  Brevity, Pete, brevity.  I just don't think I will ever learn it.  Believe me, I left out alot of stories and things that I wanted to say only because this damn post is so long.  I guess this just means that I will have to post again tomorrow with all the thoughts that I have remaining!  So make sure you tune back in tomorrow and tell your friends (as long as they are my friends too)!

Coming tomorrow: more U.S. vs Greece differences culturally and a report on my first practice with the basketball team here.

I'll leave you all with this.  I've been rocking out to this for about the past week here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpLXQorSQe8