Roma (August 27-August 31)

Well we finally arrived in Rome. We were absolutely exhausted from sleeping in
the Athens airport and Becca was feeling sick (she actually ended up having pink eye). We got to our hostel which was a massive cluster. Neither of us were in good spirits and we decided we needed to find a doctor and switch hostels. We stayed at our original hostel the first night though.

Ended up walking all over Rome trying to find a general eye doctor. We were finally able to find one and Becca was able to get her eye drops. After that we checked into our new hostel which was must nicer, our own room, clean, and quiet. I was able to see Emily and then Becca and I rested for the rest of the day. At this point I was feeling extremely discouraged about the upcoming months in Rome. Our bad mood, Becca being sick, both of us tired, and it being so dang hot all contributed to my low spirits.

Luckily, the next day we both felt better. We decided to do a little exploring. We walked over to the Colosseum and then saw where the Circus Maximum used to be. After that we walked over to the Bathes of Caracella, the public bathes the Romans used to use. Then we walked up to the Pantheon. I thought of Mr. Lambert and my high school humanities class! It was so incredible to see this perfectly constructed building. Later we walked to the Piazza di S. Lorenezo in Lucino and found a Baptist church that my missionary friends, the Halls, recommended to me. If I am able to figure out the bus system from my apartment, I hope to go to this church! It is right by the Spanish Steps. Very cool.

Becca left early morning on August 30th. After she left, I walked, by myself, back to my hostel from Termini. If you know me at all, you know this is a big deal because I hate to go ANYWHERE alone. But I knew Bruce (my international travel angel) was with me. Well I know he is with me always. Anyyyways..met up with Emily and her mom later in the day and we tried to find our way back to our apartment. There is literally one bus, the H, that can get us to Viale Trastevere, and apparently it doesn't run on Sundays. So we spent the entire day trying to figure out the buses. It was very frustrating.

Today was better though..We found the H bus and we were able to see the area that we would be living in for the next three and a half months. I move in tomorrow and I am very excited to start meeting new people, both from DU and from other schools.

I have yet to be homesick at all. I did miss my niece's first birthday which was a huge bummer, but I know I am going to be missing out on a lot of things over the next few months. I am feeling better about my time in Rome. I think I am going to learn a lot, see a lot, do a lot, and figure a lot out. I am enjoying being alone in my hostel and I look forward to being more comfortable with going on into the city and spending more time by myself or with Jesus. I know my heart needs a lot of dedicated Jesus time and I am really counting on Him meeting me in Rome. :)

That's all for now! I'll write more when more exciting things happen!

Much love,

~K

M.Y.K.O.N.O.S

August 24-August 26

1, 2, 3, 4...uno, dos, tres, quarto..MYKONOSSSSS

August 24:
George, our hostel guy, picked us up from the port. He told us he had to take a lady to the hospital yesterday after she got off the ferry! I am glad we were in better shape than that! The hostel we stayed in was ri

ght between Little Venice (dowtown area) and the bus station. George put us in a 6 person room because he did not have any 2 person privates like we reserved. No extra charge though so it was pretty sweet! George also told us to go to the Scandanavian Bar because his best friend, Stavros, was the owner and would give us free drinks!We settled into our hostel and then went hunting for some food. The streets of Mykonos were designed purposely to confuse pirates and mauraders...so if you put Becca and Kristen lose in those streets...getting lost was bound to happen! It was quite fun though trying to find places and such.
We ended up eating at an Italian restaraunt. We looked at pictures and laughed until we were crying about the ferry ride. It was not that late and people do not really start going out until after midnight so we went back to our hostel until 12:30.

Around 12:30, we went out to find the Scandanavian Bar. We made a little friend who led us up to the disco but no one was there dancing so we made friends with th

e bar tender! His name was Chris, 22, from Thessoloniki. We chatted with him for quite awhile and he gaves us drinks so it would great! ha. Soon the place got crowded and we started making all kinds of 1-minute friends.

First we met Andrew and his pals from Australia. They danced with us off and on all night. While Becca and I were dancing we made friends with a squirrley Italian..he was hilarious. During our trips to the bathroom we always made friends..3 Canadians, another Italian, and some girls because we gave them breath mints! It was great! During our dancing we made friends with Patrick and his sister, Christina, from South Africa. Good dancer

..and Becca met Andreas and Andreas (who later become Andrew 1 and Andrew 2). I also met Vincent, from Germany, and he was adamant that I visit him. ha Oh for random friends!

Becca and I stayed out until 5 am dancing and hanging out with our new friends. Andrew 1 walked us home where

we ironically found out that him and Andrew 2 were staying in the same hostel..in fact..the room right on the other side of the wall from ours! It was hilarious. It was quite the first night on Mykonos! But oh so much fun!

August 23:
After our long night of dancing, Becca and I did not get out of bed until around noon. Andrew 1 and Andrew 2 agreed to take us to the beach today so Andrew 1 came and woke us up and then they took us to breakfast. They thought it was hilarious that we ate eggs for breakfast. Andrew 1 spoke fairly good English but Andrew 2 only knew very little. After breakfast we all went to Paradise beach and hung out there for a few hours. Becca and I left around 4:30 because Chris was last night told us to meet us at 5 pm at the windmills to hang out. We did

not know if he would really be there or not so we thought we would see anyways! He did end up showing up and we all went out for gelato and just hung out and talked.

Later that evening, we went out to the Scandanavian again but it was not as fun as the first night..more creepers than fun people. A few Italians tried to kiss Becca and I but we adamantly prevented that. No, no no kissing from the Italians! We were tired so we went home around 3 am. Andrew 1 was in love with Becca..ha

August 24th:
Our flight back to Athens was not until 11 pm so we had another full day on Mykonos. Got up and ran into the Andrews so they took us to breakfast again (at 12:30 ha). Then we said goodbye to the Andrews because we did not really want to hang out with them again. We went to Paraga beach for the day and what do you know...the Andrews randomly picked that beach too. It was pretty funny. We left Paraga around 6 pm to go back and meet George to take us to the airport. We got some gelato and saw the Andrews yet again! They are both from Napels so they told me I could come visit sometime in the upcoming months!

As we left for the airport, it was very sad to say goodbye. I did not want to leave Mykonos or Greece. Our flight to Athens was late because our flight from Athens to Rome was early and we planned on just sleeping in the Athens airport. Yah..not fun. The stupid security people kept waking us up telling us we could not sleep there..or there..or there..well where the heck are we supposed to sleep then! It was very frustrating. But we finally checked in and were on our way to Roma!

Goodbye Greece...Hello Italy!

Ferry to Mykonos

Torture.

Pure torture.

I have never been one to think I would get sea sick...but man was this ferry ride awful! Becca and I got on thinking it would not be too too bad but once we pulled away from the port it was instant insanity.

Picture this: two sisters, one (me) sitting with my head down and eyes closed. Becca sitting next to me rambling on about the brain in order to distract me (cause I can not talk). She is rambling but has to pause more and more to take long, concentrated breaths. The crew walks up and down the aisles handing people puke bags. I start to have a headache and am super concentrated on now throwing up. Becca is doing the same. Soon both of us are plugging our ears (so we do not hear the puking) and humming. I am literally slumped in my seat, moving my body with the waves, humming every CRU worship song I can think of, eyes closed, and ears plugged. I think we both looked like mental patients.

However, we did not throw up! Though most everyone did...the crew walked by with bags and bags full of puke. It was sick. (sorry for the graphics).

So...if you are ever interested in an experience. Ride the ferry from Naxos to Mykonos.

It was by far the worst, most torturous thing I have ever done in my life thus far.

But now to Mykonos!

Naxos

August 22-August 24

August 22:
After checking into our hostel, we went down to the main center of town, along the port and had dinner. We were tired so after we just went to bed. Yah..not too exciting.

August 23:Got up this morning and had a big, much needed and desired breakfast. Afterwards, we decided toe xplore thw town and find this old castle. We walked around a ton until we realized we had been walking in and around the castle the entire time. After this, we walked down to the beach and had a very satifying, long, and relaxing afternoon working on our Greek tans :)

August 24:
Ferry to Mykonos today, so we woke up and had another long breakfast and then read and waiting for the ferry. There was a chance our ferry was going to be cancelled due to wind.. we did not really understand how the wind could affect the ferry until we got on the ferry...new blog post for the ferry alone..

Santorini

August 19-August 22

August 19:

Our flight to Santorini was short and easy. Got in about 8 pm and our hostel owner, Stavros picked us up from the airport. We had our own room that overlooked the sea and we could watch the sunrise. Stavros was so excited to know that we were sisters! He was great!

After settling in, Becca and I went to find some food and decided on a place close to our hostel. Nothing too exciting happened here until we asked our waiter what the good bars on the island were. After that he and his brother (his family owns the restaurant) starting bringing us more wine and gave us free dessert! Nikitas (our waiter) brought us a flyer for The Highlander bar and then told us that we could all go together. It was hilarious how excited they were. We ended up meeting up with them around 12:30 and danced the night away with them! It was quite entertaining because they didn't speak much English and of course, Becca and I know no Greek. Lucas gave us a ride on his moto back to our hostel and he informed Becca that she "was his love". What a great first night in Santorini!

August 20:

Slept in this morning..er..afternoon and got up and went to the beach, Perissa, the black sand beach. We enjoyed a nice long day in the sun but ended up paying for an umbrella because it was so hot. After the beach we went exploring around the main cent of town, Fira. The streets here are amazing; all cobblestone and hidden. Ate a late dinner and turned in early.

August 21:

Another beach day today. Went back to Perissa but we were too hot so we ended up going back to our hostel and layed out by the pool. Met an Australian, Charlie. Did some more exploring around Fira and decided to ride a donkey down and up the crazy stairs that lead all the way to the port. It was the most hilarious, awkward thing I have ever done! That evening we rode the bus to Oia to watch the sunset. Everyone needs to put on their bucket list to see the sunset at Oia because it is, without a doubt, the most beautiful sunset you could possibly see in the world. We explored Oia and found the house and pier that are Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. After some time, we rode back to Fira and ate dinner and decided to hit up the bars. All the bars have people outside trying to entice people in. We decided to take advantage of each one and convinced people to let us in free or give us free drinks. It was quite entertaining!

August 22:

Went to the beach again briefly today. We had a 4 o'clock ferry to Naxos so we didn't do much. The ferry to Naxos was nice; it took about 3 hours and I slept the whole way. Arrived in Naxos around 8 ish and got checked into our hostel...

Athens

August 17-August 19

August 17:

After a long, long flight to Athens, we finally arrived! I think I was up for over 24 hours but Becca and I decided to jump right into exploring the city! We arrived around 10 am, checked in our hostel (which was located right by the Acropolis), and got some food. After walking around some we ended up finding ourselves at the base of the Acropolis and decided to see it then. I can't even begin to describe it's wonder! It's beautiful. Though there is scaffolding and such, it is such a beautiful, huge, impressive architectural feat. I was so excited to finally be standing there and seeing it with my own eyes. After a long, hot day of hiking around the Acropolis we took a siesta and then woke up and had dinner at 9 (which began our habit of eating that late every day).

August 18:

The next day we finished seeing the Acropolis and explored the Agora. It was so incredible to think about it being the center of life during the ancient times and just thinking about all the history there gave me goosebumps. Later this day we went to Montastiraki and had lunch and then later that evening dinner.

August 19:

Today we flied to Santorini. Our flight wasn't until later so we went back to Montastiraki to the flea market and bought some "evil eyes" and worry beads. After we killed time at a cafe and had some gelato and read...

The start of an Adventure!

Wow. I leave for Europe in four days. I know this is going to be the best and most efficient way to keep everyone posted so I hope everyone enjoys reading my updates! I will try my hardest to keep this up to date with my upcoming adventures and experiences.

For those that don't know, I am spending two weeks traveling through Greece with my sister and then spending a little over four months studying at the American University of Rome in well..Rome of course!

My sister and I fly out of Denver Sunday morning and fly into Athens. We will be spending 3 days in Athens and then flying to Santorini. We are spending four days there and then ferrying over to Naxos and spending two days at this island (apparently this island is known for it's homosexuality so I was warned that I may be hit on by many women!). After Naxos we are going to Mycanos and spending a few days there after which we will fly to Athens and then to Rome! My sister will leave Rome on August 30th and I start my program on September 1st!

Thankfully, my best friend Emily is doing the same program as I am and we are living together in a student apartment with 4 other girls (1 from DU, 2 from the University of New Jersey and 1 from Seton Hall). I am taking four classes at AUR (American University of Rome); Italian, Archeology of Rome, Renaissance and Baroque , and Italian Sketchbook.

I know I am about to embark on a huge adventure. Every day I have moments where I am so scared I could throw up. Then I am moments of complete excitement where I wish I were just there now! This summer, God has taught me a lot. I know He has huge plans for me for my time abroad. And I look forward to Him meeting me in Rome, romancing me, and showing me His ultimate grace and love.

As for ya'll, keep in touch! I'll post my address soon. Facebook me, email me, post comments here. I'll periodically post prayer requests. For starters, you could pray for protection while I am abroad. Pray that my heart is completely open to God and pray that I embrace every new experience that is given to me. I know I'm going to miss people a lot so pray that I am comforted in my fears, apprehensions, and longing for people.

That's all for now!

Talk to ya'll soon

Love.

~K