So much going on!

The last 48 hours have probably been my favorite days thus far on my trip to Greece. Yesterday I was finally able to catch up on some sleep. When I woke up I went to the beach by myself for some “me” time and to catch some sun. The beaches here are wonderful. There are so many shades of blue in the Aegean Sea. I was able to do a little bit of shopping too. Afterwards, I had my creative writing class with an hour break followed by my photography class.

I had my first car ride in over a week during my photography class. It was weird. I’ve been going everywhere by foot on the island since I’ve arrived. We piled into 2 cars and drove up to one of the higher points on the island to work on silhouette pictures right before the sunset. It was my first time seeing the island higher than sea level and it made me appreciate it even more. After working with the shadows and such, we stayed an hour past our normal class time just to watch the sunset on top of a church. Words can’t describe it. Here are a few of my shots.

Our teachers even go to extremes for us. Haha.

After watching the sunset, we had a rooftop potluck barbeque at our apartment building. It was awesome to have more of a home cooked meal and to just hang out with everyone. I also finally got to see my favorite guy’s face over Skype. Missin’ that boy.

Today we loaded up a charter bus around 10 am and headed out for an island tour. While Paros isn’t incredibly large, it surely has a lot more to it than I realized. Welive  in Paroikia. This is the main entry point for visitors to the island as it has the ferry port. The island is also home to multiple other village type areas. I wouldn’t call them cities, but they are distinctly separate. We explored a Montessori with an incredible view and adventured into Naoussa, Lefkes, & Pouda. We saw multiple churches, beaches, town areas, and even a Greek Orthodox memorial yard (cemetery type thing). 

Then we got dropped off on a dirt road. This is not exactly what I pictured when I was told we were going to a beach and a cave. We trecked down a steep dirt road trail until we found the opening to a secluded beach. Next to it were huge cliffs riding the coastline of the Aegean Sea. We climbed up and continued across the cliffs for a good 20 or 25 minutes. Holy crap. For someone who has terrible balance, that was quite a project! Once we reached the cave though it was totally worth it! I can’t even explain it. The rocks opened into a huge “punch bowl” and below water emerged inside. The wind wasn’t too strong, making the current swimmable. We jumped off the cliffs into the open sea and swam around the edge through an opening leading into the cave or “punch bowl.” It was such a rush. Normally I’d be scared out of my mind, which I was, but I am so happy I did it. How many people can say they’ve jumped off a cliff in Greece to swim into a cave?

Afterwards, we were able to spend a little time swimming at the beach we passed on our way to the cliffs. All of this took until about 7 pm. Needless to say, our day of travelling, hiking, and swimming left all of us super tired. We returned to our apartments and I went to dinner with a couple of the other girls. I was very happy to wash all of the salt water off! It was everywhere. All I did was taste salt all evening.

Now it’s time to relax and rest up for tomorrow’s excursion to one of the neighboring islands, Naxos. Two days without class? I can dig it.

Miss you guys. xox