First week in Europe

Hi everyone! I still can't believe I'm writing this from a different country! Miss you all!

The first week in Europe has been unbelievable and very unpredictable. I'm traveling this week with my friend Tony and so far we have seen 5 cities. We met up in Pittsburgh and flew to Dublin on Tuesday. We had a long layover in Chicago so we went into the city to get lunch, because Tony had never been there. We flew over night and landed in Dublin Wednesday morning.

We only stayed one night in Dublin, but we had a blast!!! We toured the guiness factory, which is shaped like a giant beer mug. The tour ends at a bar on the top floor, which is the highest point in the city so we saw amazing views of Ireland. We went to the dance clubs at night and met people from all over the world. The Irish were a lot of fun!

On Thursday we made our way to Greece. I had a 7 hour layover in Switzerland, but luckily, the airport had a mall so I did a lot of shopping and hung out at the starbucks for about 4 hours. I met a missions trip group and we exchanged stories about our travelling. I landed in Greece late Thursday night and realized I booked my hotel for the wrong day lol. We jumped on a bus and followed a family from California to a Marriott in Athens. Unfortunately it was 200 Euro a night, so we met an Austrailian girl and she took us to her hostel down the street. We ended up sharing her hostel dorm and got breakfast with her. She told us all about their culture and introduced us to some Greek people she knew. It was fascinating meeting people our age and learning about their lifestyles. We're actually very similar!

We spent Friday in Athens and saw some of the ancient architechture. I was very culture shocked by the language barrier but we found our way around pretty well. We rode the train in the evening to the port city of Piraeus. We had trouble finding our hotel between all of the winding streets and street names written in Greek. We were pleased with the hotel and hung out with some people who had sailed there from Seattle and wrecked their boat along the way. One of the guys that is our age joined us as we shuffled to the local bars and experienced a more laid back culture than Athens.

We left early this morning and boarded a ferry to a Greek Island called Ios. The boat was the size of a cruise ship and everyone sat in rows similar to a plane. We got lost and missed our ferry so we boarded another one and slept the entire 5 hour trip along the Mediteranean Sea. The island is beautiful!!!!! It looks like the movies and post cards with the white and blue buildings. It is also a common destination for students because it is cheaper than the other Greek Islands. Our hotel is lcoated within an apartment building so we have met some locals and learned of some popular restaurants and shopping. We are getting ready right now to head to the beach to a seafood restaurant.

I leave for Italy on Monday so I will update and add pictures after I get settled in my apartment! I really do miss everyone and wish you guys were here!