Hello and Goodbye

We made it back to France without any trouble. Greece was beautiful and my summer was wonderfully lazy but I am ready for it to end. I am going back to Iowa City for one more year of undergrad which I was not planning on but that's ok. I am going to retake the LSAT and aim for a score in the 170's.
On a side note it's an amazing time to be in France, perfect weather.
I may use this blog to post short stories that I have to write for an upcoming class but other than the occasional post this will be my last one.
These past nine months in Europe have been wonderful in so many ways and I am glad that I had the courage to come here. But I have reached the end of this adventure and I look forward to the next :)

Two yachts and a speedboat

I woke up this morning and said to myself I would like to travel the seven seas, drink champagne for breakfast at noon, lounge by the pool till 5, and go dancing every evening wearing diamonds. And I did, for just one day.
My friend Eftihia (I know that's misspelled) invited me to spend the day with her. She picked me up in the morning and we drove down to the square where a speedboat picked us up. We were dropped off by the nameless wordless driver on a yacht. An enormous sleek sexy yacht. I would like to emphasize the sheer magnitude of this boat. Please excuse my ignorance of correct nautical terms and allow me to guide you through this vast boat in laymen terms. We walked onto the first floor and we were greeted by some guy who took our bags and then promptly disappeared. Eftihia took me around front to see the pool. That's right a pool on the yacht. There were some girls lounging by the pool who said hello. We then went into the boat uum cabin whatever. We went inside and through a bunch of glitzy rooms and up a staircase to Eftihia's room, which was enormous. Our bags were there and swimsuits had been laid out for us on the bed. After a tour of the three floors, numerous rooms, and a movie theater we joined the other girls by the pool.
We spent the afternoon alternating between the pool and the sea. People brought us club sandwhiches and freshly squeezed fruit juices. I use the term 'people' vaguely because they showed up instantly when we needed something disappeared into nowhere and wouldn't talk to me. We changed for a late lunch/early dinner and crossed over to a yacht anchored nearby. Just as glamorous. Up until this point I had assumed that the yacht belonged to Efthia's father or uncle or I don't know. Anyway I was introduced to five older gentleman. One was Eftihia's 'boyfriend' another term that can only truly be loosely applied because he was also the boyfriend of about three other girls on the ship.
It was as if I had walked into a James Bond movie. Except that James Bond is always extremely good looking and trying to save the world from imminent disaster so his slutty beahvior is forgiven. This situation was more like the Playboy mansion I guess. Old men and beautiful young women brought together by money. We had a lovely four hour dinner in which I heard interesting stories ate fantastic food and just for a minute imagined myself in that lifestyle. Alas when midnight came my fairytale day was over I left, alone, driven back to shore by the same nameless wordless driver.
I was invited to spend the night of course by Eftihia and her boyfriend, I declined. I may be able to visit this glamorous lifestyle for a day, an evening, a week, but I could never be a participant it's just not me.

One of the greatest things about traveling is exposure to new situations. While this particular one left me staring with my mouth wide open I appreciated the chance to see how others live and though it may never be a lifestyle I can live it helps me to keep an open mind.

*The picture is the view from the family's house at sunset

Dignity

Today I am sitting in the same square at the same cafe pouring coke from a cool glass bottle into a warm glass filled to the brim with ice and topped with a lemon. The ice causes me great distress. You see I am not thirsty at this very moment and the ice is quickly melting leaving no room in the glass for the coke. But then of course the Greek man who served me will no doubt be quite happy to bring me a new glass without ice. I know this because he told me so and his unabashed staring confirms his faltering yet endearing English.
A child's screams reach my ears causing me to instinctively smile, I recognize this cry. It is the cry of one who has scraped his knee and the blood will soak the cobblestoned street today only to be bleached out by the sun tomorrow erasing his existence on the island forgetting he was ever here. His mother rushes towards him taking him in her arms and assuring him that it will be ok everything will be just as wonderful for this child as it was before his scraped knee. And perhaps for this LaCoste clad child it will be. His deepest proximity to sadness being a scraped knee. I mention the clothes because they strike me as absurd. This place strikes me as absurd. It is a place in which one is constantly slapped with the magnitude of nature. If I turn to my left I can stare off into the sea and not see land and am impressed with how insignificant my existence is. If I turn to the right I can listen to the clinking of European riches. I am acutely aware of the wealth of the people because I am acutely aware of the suffering of the poor. A handicapped man wheels through the chairs and table and places some rude toy on the tables accompanied by a card which explains in different languages how sad his life is and how the ability to sell even the meanest of trinkets brings a little dignity to his poverty. Of course I have seen this all over Europe the same prototypical sad man with the same trinket and the same protypical privileged people ignoring him myself included. Here however it makes my heart sink a little more.

Paxos

We are now on the tiny island of Paxos. It has less than 2,000 inhabitants and is too small to be found in the world atals, at least that's what S says I haven't actually checked. The island is like the town in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. Buildings surrounding the town center are old and half forgotten. The shutters bright green as if they have recently been painted contrast with the weather wearied salmon paint of the exterior. The windows are closed suggesting a deep slumber undisturbed by the children laughing in the square. The sea is a stone's throw away from the cafe where I am sitting. The boats are beginning to line the port, it's a Saturday night and the promise of festivities hangs in the air. I can see a Greek Orthodist priest in traditional garb of long black robes tall black hat and a big bushy beard talking on a cell phone in front of a group of bikini clad Italians on their way back from the beach. Their Italian words mixes with the stream of steady Greek from the women at the table next to me. They are wearing Prada sun glasses with flowing beack dresses over too tanned bodies. It is their children that are screaming in the square. This place is romantic and it makes me feel like I walked into a postcard. If someone were to snap a photo of me right here the eventual viewer would sigh and think "how sweet". Tourists are here of course but they are the more subtle type. The kind who own homes and yachts who have discovered this island in hopes of preventing others from doing the same.
Needless to say the house here is amazing, it's a seaside villa. There are three floors, three bedrooms, three bathrooms and amazing views. Every floor has a large balcony and we have a a pool as well. I feel overwhelmed here. I am a homegrown Iowa girl yet here I am on some Greek island sipping wine with millionaires and villagers, it's almost unsettling.

I went to Albania and all I got was this lousy...

-a pounding migraine
-12 very itchy huge red mosquito bites
-a very widespread heat rash
-diarrhea
-my period
-seasickness
-two stolen bags

We went to Albania for the weekend and it was a disaster. One of the family's old babysitters is Albanian and her sister's daughter was getting christened and D and Ir were the godmothers. We left Saturday morning and came back Sunday evening but it seemed like so much longer. E's parents came with us; we all got to the port of Corfu and were looking for passport control for our specific boat. We found it and there were about 200 people in front of us, they were mostly a tour group and they were loud and smelly. The smell was actually incredible and merits it's own specific sentence, I thought I was going to pass out from it and Ir puked because of it. No I am not kidding.
We made it through passport control, the boat was supposed to leave at 9 but it didn't leave until 10. This boat is called a dolphin it's very fast very small and gross. In front of us sat two prisoners being exported back to Albania. All very exciting. Ir threw up again (the smell combined with the rocking). We got to Albania in a half hour. We then discovered that the grandparents had taken a bag that wasn't ours. They thought it belonged to us so they just brought it along. So we had to go to the the port authorities in Albania and fill out forms which took forever so they could send it back to whomever. The old babysitter, Z, met us along with her brother in law and so we piled into that car and a taxi, not airconditioned. The heat was so oppressive I wanted to cry; D and Ir actually did cry, well cry and scream and fight the whole hour and a half it took to get to our destination. OOO yes that's also when my period came... oh mother nature, you're so funny.
We made it to our destination Gjyrokastra (I know I spelled that wrong) we stayed in the nicest hotel the city had. The electricity was out when we got there so the air conditioner was broken. Not that it really mattered at this point. We were basically fried anyway. After we found our rooms and everything we then discovered that the grandparents had taken ANOTHER bag from Corfu that wasn't ours. Why they didn't say anything at the Albanian port when we were taking care of the other bag is beyond me. Then Ir started to cry again, I guess it's more like she just continued to cry, because she thought her grandma was going to go to jail for stealing two bags.
At this point my body was breaking out in little red spots everywhere. We went somewhere for lunch which turned into a big mistake because almost immediately all of us got diarrhea. So we returned to our boiling hotel rooms. The rest of the weekend passed in a hazy furnace like blur. We left on Sunday and the boat ride back was not on a dolphin but on the oldest boat allowed to sail the seas. It was terrible and it took 2 hours and I was sick the whole time, well the whole boat was sick. It was pretty disgusting.

So yeah, I can't really tell you anything about Albania except that if I ever go back I will be carrying an airconditioner with me

Days go by

My days are as follows:
10am wake up eat breakfast on the balcony with the family. Go to the beach. Eat lunch at a beachside restaurant. Lay on the beach. Come home rest for two hours. Dinner with friends of the family or at home. Sleep.

Yes that's right it's a hard life :) Well now that I am done making it sound like candy and roses the girls are driving me up the wall. I never ever get to be by myself and I am a person who values private time or at least I do now. There is an American family here, they come every summer, they have two girls that are D and Ir's age and they are spoiled rotten. D and Ir have a pretty easy time of things but E and S make a concentrated effort to raise them in a certain way which I find highly commendable given how easy it would be for them to just let the girls get everything they want all the time. Anyway, these American girls are brats. Yep, there is no nicer way to put it, several worse ways of course but you get the picture.
I was playing with all of them on the beach and we had an air mattress and one of the girls said "ok you can be my valet, feed me grapes" I said no ovbiously she said "you have to do what I say" and then I said no I don't and she said "you work for us, yes you do". I got out of the water before I slapped her. I feel sorry for their au pair. Really sorry. Thank god I picked the family that I did.
Also the American dad is a sleezy tool. We saw him in town with some hot girl about my age clearly not his wife clearly doing innappropriate things. Yep, thank you Americans for representing how nice. Call me oldfashioned, midwestern, naive, whatever you like but that's not ok by me.

We are going to Albania on Saturday for a family friend's christening. It should be interesting with plenty of food and merrymaking. I miss my family and I wish you were all here with me :/

Corfu the beginning

Well I made it to Corfu. Our flight left from Baden Baden, Germany at 6am so we left the house in Strasbourg at 4 am which means we woke up at 3am and I went to bed at 1am...so yes I was exhausted. I was delighted to discover that when the wheels of the plane hit the ground Greek people clap! You know Kudos to the pilot. Well we got all of our luggage and found taxis and finally made it to the country house. S has been teaching me all about the different categories of homes on Greece. The "country house" in literally on the side of a mountain with a view of the island of Corfu, Corfu Town, outher mountains, and the Sea which is breathtaking. The house has three bedrooms two bathrooms a big open kitchen and living room two balconies and a wrap around patio all facing the sea. It's beautiful. The yars has lemon trees, actual lemon trees. When I was little My auntie Keeka and Uncle Bruce would play Peter Paul and Mary's song, Lemon Tree and I would wonder what one actually looked like. Well they are everywhere here. For dinner we just pick some off the tree and squirt the juice over the salad.
The beach near the house is like the beach in Nice. It has smooth rocks and the water is clear. I can look down and see my toes. The heat is strong and the water is cool. We went to a beach in the south yesterday which was sandy with big waves.
The Greek people are so different from the French. The French are reserved and oftentimes considered very rude. The Greek people are loud and open and inviting, the contrast is striking. I love it here. The food is very good as well. Lots of oil and garlic, olives from the trees that are everywhere. S and E know so many people that wherever we go we are constantly being invited here and there.
The Greek women are stunning, olive skinned long dark hair and confident. I have never seen women so confident. They way they walk and speak, dress it's awesome.
Out of all the places I have been this is where I could see myself buying a home. A summer "country" home perhaps. I love it here!

On a side note the girls are driving me crazy. I don't have a moments peace they are constantly annoying me. Next summer I will drag Alex back here with me.
I would love to post pictures but I am at a dirty smoky internet cafe where the computers don't allow you to put your own information on it, or something like that.