Hello! I have done so much since last time I wrote. I know I say this every time but it's always true! I'll begin with the visit from the Afghanistan refugees. This was one of the most memorable days of the trip. There were 15-20 young refugee boys (ages 15-30) whom visited hotel Votsala for a night. We had two translators, one was Sophia translating from english to greek for the boys and then the 2nd was one of the boys translating from greek to arabic.

First, we drew a picture of how we saw each others countries and used words or phrases to describe how we pictured it. Us Americans tended to view Afghanistan as a sad, depressing place with lots of war and of course as a desert with lots of mountains. The boys said that this image was half right but not completely. Then the boys drew what they say America as. They pictured Obama, Hollywood, and busy streets, cowboys and Las Vegas. But lastly, they wrote the words BEAUTIFUL and FREEDOM. Now, of course America has and is all those things. But the thing that surprised me the most was that even though we are at a war with them they still picture America as a great place to be. They said that not all trees are the same in a forest, when asked what they think about us personally. They spoke very metaphorically and poetically. It was refreshing.

We then split into 4 teams to have a soccer tournament. I don't know how my team came in last place with my mad skills but we did :( It was a lot of fun and it helped to bring us together as friends and peers and to also lighten the mood.

One guy, who knew pretty good english, was telling me that he hasn't seen his family in years. He doesn't call them much because he doesn't have anything to tell them and they only have bad news of more and more friends and neighbors dying weekly. He had been in Mytinlini, Greece since 2007. They are kind of stuck there. They can't get a job, and they can't go somewhere else, at least not safely because they are illegal immigrants. He stated that he sat around most of the day with nothing to do.

The next exciting adventure was our trip to Turkey. For those of you whom are not aware, Turkey is in Asia and is 99% muslim although it is a secular nation. I LOVED TURKEY! The reason being is that unlike Greece, they don't take siestas, their shops remain open throughout the day so that you can shop, they have manners and good customer service. I got lots of gifts for people here. We got to bargain with the people which was fun. However, I'm not good at it.

Also while in Turkey we went to the ancient city of Ephisus and saw Virgin Marry's house. Ephisus was breath taking. It was a huge Roman Empire with the largest Library of its time. There was some turmoil with Sophia later that night and I finally had enough of being told what to do all the time and being lectured for no reason by the lady so she got a nasty commend by me when she told me and Tiana to "GO TO BED!" It was only 1:30am and we had gotten back to the hotel about 30-45 mins prior. We both apologized to each other later but she thought that I was wasted off one beer and thats why I needed to go to bed when really I was just trying to help Tiana find internet in the lobby. Long story short: I just hate being told what to do and being disrespected as she did to not only me but all my classmates. That weekend she made 4 girls cry! It really put a nasty vibe in the air even during our goodbye dinner.

The Goodbye dinner was on Tuesday and we decorated hotel Votsala, where we had stayed the 6 weeks of our trip, and hosted everyone from the town that helped us and/or was part of our program in any way. It went really nicely. The food was delicious, we humiliated ourselves attempting to preform greek dances to the guest and then ended the program with a nice little video of our time in Greece.

Lastly, I saw dolphines 2 1/2 times!!!! the first time I only think I saw them but can't be sure. But the 2nd time, on the boat home from Turkey, I saw two of them jump out of the water multiple times and the third time they decided to join us for the good bye dinner about 100yds from our hotel! My life is now fulfilled. hehe Jk, but I am marking a lot of things off my bucket list while I'm traveling.

I am really going to miss the calmness and the beauty of Greece, and of course all the great new friends that I made. Hopefully I'll come back to Greece sometime in the future. As for now, my next destination is LONDON!!!

Word of the day = Gule Gule: Turkish for goodbye!