The Great Italian Backpacking Adventure

So I finally had an experience I've always been dying to have. (And this one's an even bigger thing than the skiing one) I went BACKPACKING through Italy.
7 people.
6 days.
5 towns.
Lehhh go.

Wednesday March 13 - Milan

Classes were as normal Wednesday morning, but after lunch we headed out to the airport to begin our spring break adventure. We flew from Athens to Malpensa Airport in Milan and caught a bus from the airport to the main train station in central Milan. From there we walked about 15 minutes to our hostel.

Milan at night

 Fun facts about hostels! You may just end up with random person in your room if you book one with an uneven number of people (we call them randos) This first night our group was put into two separate rooms, four in one room and three in the other with the rando. He was actually a pretty cool guy from Japan just traveling Italy by himself. You go, Glen Coco. We stuck the boys with him.
We asked our hostel owner for his reccomendation on where to eat - it was 8PM and we were starving. We wanted the BEST pizza, we told him. And he sent us to the right place.

The pizza was a different style than normal Italian pizza (as you'll soon see, typical Italian pizza is very flat) but this pizza was probably the best I had. Ever.

Thursday March 14 - Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore & Monterosso al Mare) and La Spezia

 We woke early the next day for our train to Cinque Terre, the most beautiful place in the world. I may be exaggerating but just look at this place.

 Cinque Terre is made up of 5 cute little towns (Cinque Terre literally means "Five Lands") built into the mountains right next to the sea. We started in the first one, Riomaggiore, and had the best time exploring and climbing to the church on the top. It's seriously the perfect Rachel town. All the people drive colorful cars and live in colorful houses and own colorful boats and are the nicest people in the world. I'm going to live there one day.



We accidentally got stuck in the first town much longer than we planned because of train timing (as you'll soon see trains are TRICKY) but once we got one we jumped the middle three towns and went to the 5th, Monterosso al Mare. It was divided into an old part and a new part, and we ate GELATO and wandered around the streets. (There's a recurring theme in my Italy trip: Pizza and gelato. Pretty much my diet there)

Our hostel was actually in La Spezia, near the Cinque Terra towns but outside of them, so we took another train and walked to the hostel. Our check in time wasn't until later, though, so we found a pizzeria to eat in first.

Did I eat that whole pizza by myself? Yes. Yes I did.

Then back to the hostel. It was THE BEST HOSTEL of our entire trip.We ended up checking in early still and the lady who was the previous hostel owner but still lived there let us in, chattering in English-Italian. "You never know where you're going to be and when," she smiled. "It is the beauty of your age." We loved her instantly.  The hostel felt like a real hotel. We got three rooms with cute decorations and towels (TOWELS. You really appreciate towels when you realize your first hostel doesn't provide them.)

Friday March 15 - Cinque Terre and the Train Station Adventure

The next morning our hostel included breakfast so they gave us passes to a cute cafe across the street to get pastries and tea or coffee. (Oh yeah, did I mention I like hot tea now? My mom's always been obsessed with it but I hated it. After tea time every night at the Artemis and traveling, I love the stuff. Albeit with a bunch of sugar in it.) Then we wandered around La Spezia, going to an Italian market, which was very similar to the Greek market.

 

 Next: Train back to Cinque Terre for the last three towns! We started in the 4th town (Vernazza) with plans of hiking to 3 and finishing in 2 because we consulted good ole guide Rick Steves (our loyal friend during the week) and he said 4 and 2 were the coolest. Our plans were foiled, however, with the hiking trails closed due to landslides. We consoled ourselves with more pizza and gelato.



 We took a train to town 3 (Corniglia) which was different than the other towns. First observation: Not as many cute bright buildings. Second Observation: Holy moly we have to climb that huge hill to even get to the town? Is this even worth it?

It was.  It took awhile to get to the top (so we did get our hike in afterall, ha ha) but the view was great and we found all kinds of fantastic back alleys and a precious dog that followed us around the whole time. So glad that we did do it. (*Note: If you are crammed for time, however, don't hesitate to skip Corniglia. You can get the whole experience from the other towns)





Then the next town: Manarola. In the end I couldn't decide whether I like this town or the first one, Riomaggiore better because they were both so beautiful.

In the center of town!

That night we left Cinque Terre and searched for dinner in La Spezia again. We found a little sandwich shop that looked good and relatively cheap. We stumbled on jackpot. The cute old Italian man saw the group of us and said, "Are you hungry? I give you peppercorn pig and Italian dishes!" and brought out this huge platter of meat and veggies and bread and pies. It was so good. We even got a pic with him :)

Then, are you ready for this? Here comes the mother of all crazy adventures that happened in Italy.

     That night we had a train from La Spezia to Pisa Centrale, then from Pisa to Florence where we had a hostel booked for that night. Funny thing, we got on and we're feeling pretty good. Til we left the station, heard where the train was headed, and realized we were ON THE WRONG TRAIN.
     We weren't that worried at first. I asked a guy on the train, who told me it was headed to Riomaggiore in Cinque Terre  where we could get off and get on a train back to La Spezia. No big. But it took longer than we expected, and once we got back to La Spezia, our right train had left and the next one to Pisa wasn't for TWO HOURS. We debated staying another night in La Spezia, but decided to hunker down at the station, wait for the train, and hope for the best.
    It went downhill from there.
   We finally got to Pisa at midnight. The next train (which turned into a bus) to Florence didn't leave till 1AM. We couldn't get the payphones to work, and when we finally did our hostel told us that was too late to check in (we'd be getting in at 3AM), and told us they were still going to charge us for the room. And it was freezing cold. I don't recommend hanging out at a train station for several hours on a concrete floor. Our best shot, we decided, was to just get to Florence and figure out something from there.
     Hahahaha.

     We rode the sketchiest bus to Florence (Jacob was sure he was going to get stabbed) and we got off with no direction or plan. But wait! What was that, across the street? A big golden arch, hallelujah! I can tell you never in my life have I been happier to see a McDonald's. It meant warmth, a place to sit beside the cold ground, and no sketchy people hanging out.
    Well I was wrong about the last part. Once we were inside we soon discovered this was no ordinary McDonalds. It was CRAZY CROWDED inside. And it was huge, with a big eating area and even a downstairs. There was club music playing. I'm pretty sure the sobriety levels of most of the people in the room was questionable. And there was a girl across the room from us that looked like she had been shooting heroin all night and was now rocking back and forth in her chair with her eyes fluttering open and shut.
   Jacob and Allison decided to try their luck walking around trying to find an open hostel or somewhere we could stay. They were gone an hour, while the other 5 of us watched heroin girl and tried not to fall asleep. That's another thing. You can't fall asleep in this McDonalds. A huge black bouncer looking guy would walk around and shake you to wake you up if you nodded off. No cat naps for anyone. Over an hour had gone by when they returned. They went to 30 some odd places and they were all either 1.Closed 2. Full 3. Lying. (It was 3AM though, mind you, so I kind of understand them not wanting to deal with us.
   A glimmer of hope then: finally we called Dr. J in Greece who gave us the Harding University in Florence's number. Their assistant director, Kyle, gave us instructions to ride a tram for 20 minutes and he would pick us up. He took us to the HUF bible school where Kyle and his wife showed us rooms and showers. It was such a God thing and we were extremely grateful to catch sleep for even just 4 hours.
   So there's the great McDonald's escapade.

Saturday March 16 - FLORENCE

The rest of our time in Florence was lovely. We met up with some of the HUF kids and they showed us the highlights. In no matter of time at all I was in love with the city. We saw the Duomo and the David statue and wandered around the town square looking at shops and the old buildings and the bridges. We were also with another HUG group so we ate dinner with them that night. Pasta=heavenly. Unfortunately we only had that one day in Florence, and then we were headed on another train to ROME.

Sunday March 17 - ROME

Due to our lack of sleep the night before we slept in a bit and got a late start on Rome the next day. We were further slowed down by a MARATHON going on at the Colosseum. What! Come on, St. Patrick's Day!
We loved it and got a lot done though. We saw the Colosseum, ate more pizza, walked by the Roman Forum, took a metro to the Spanish Steps and walked to the Trevi Fountain.

 

At the Travi Fountain we ate the best gelato in the world (I'M NOT EVEN JOKING.) I had chocolate and caramel and it was divine. 

After that we walked around the shopping area, pretending we were rich and snooty and could afford all the expensive stuff in Louie Vuitton and Burberry. And then...I'm a little ashamed to admit this...but our first night in Rome we ate McDonald's. You'd think the previous night would have scarred us, but we had eaten Italian for every meal since getting there and we were all wanting some good old American greasy burgers and fries. No regret.

Monday March 18 - ROME Day 2 - Vatican City

We made up for lost time on Sunday by getting an early start Monday. We went straight to the Vatican City! (Fun fact: One of our HUG groups was there the night the new pope was chosen!) It was super crowded Monday because the Sistine chapel had been closed for the Pope election. It started raining for the hour and a half we waited in line for the Vatican Museum, but we had a great time playing dumb games in line that passed the time. We even got a student discount with our ISIC cards and got in for 8 euros.

The Museum was beautiful - it was completely filled with old paintings and tapestries and maps and sculptures. Room after room after room was covered. Amazing. Finally we got to the Sistine chapel. We were packed in there pretty tightly and there were lots of guards shushing the whole group, but it was incredible. The famous picture of The Creation of Adam wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be, but it was such a surreal moment to be in a room of such ancient wonders. (Also no pics allowed inside Sistine Chapel)

After the Museum we ate a really late lunch at 3PM at a cute Italian place decorated like Cinque Terre. Allison and I split the biggest calzone in the world.

  We then headed to St. Peter's Basilica - it was ginormous. I keep using the same adjectives, but it was just beautiful. There was some kind of service going on with singing that we listened to for a little bit.

The original plan was to take the metro back to the Spanish steps to see them and the Trevi fountain again, but we all really wanted to just walk around and see the city - so we did. We walked for awhile, over the bridge from Vatican City to the rest of Rome. We walked through the Piazza Navona to the Pantheon, with perfect timing because it closed shortly after we got there. Then we walked to the Trevi fountain again, threw more coins, and bought pizza and gelato from our favorite shop. Afterwards we took a metro to the northern part of the city where a park is with a beautiful view of the Rome cityscape was. It was the perfect ending to the day and our trip to Italy.

The next day we flew home with almost no trouble...if you don't consider leaving one of group members behind in Rome a problem. We thought we were problem free once we finally figured out which bus to take to the airport, but this trip has a funny way of throwing surprises at us. She forgot to buy her ticket and the flight had no extra spots so we had to board while she stayed behind for a flight the next day. We felt awful leaving her :(She made it home safe by herself though, and it was so nice to be back at the Artemis with the rest of the HUG gang and the same bed every night and not carrying my whole closet on my back everyday.

I loved my backpacking experience, however, and would jump on the opportunity to do it again. You learn so much traveling like that - there's no charter bus to pick you up after an attraction, no adult to take care of you when something goes wrong. It's all up to you and your group to figure it out. Girl Scouts prepared me well. Hahaha. It's also great though because you can go wherever you want, you make your own plans and agenda and have so much freedom and opportunity. AHHH I MISS IT ALREADY.

Anyways, this blog post has taken me forever to sit down and write.  And sorry it's so long! Leaving for Northern Greece in a few days, and then our cruise shortly after that. It's so sad how fast the end is coming...January 15 feels like yesterday. But at the same time it feels like ages ago. I feel like I've grown so much as a person here and learned so much - about myself, about other people, about the world. This experience has been one of the best things to ever happen to me. And I love my HUG family so much. We've all grown so close and being without them for 3 months is going to be really weird.

Okay I'm cutting this off or I'm going to write a novel.

xoxo,
Rachel

Walk like an Egyptian

I've returned from the Land of the Pharoahs!

 A little bit dustier, a little bit tanner, and a little bit more in love with another foreign country. Egypt, rough and tumble Egypt, has stolen my heart. Our guide, the magnificent Oswan, made this experience quite possibly my favorite trip we've taken so far.

February 27 - Arrival in Cairo

We left the Artemis after lunch for our 4:30 flight to CAIRO! I was in the window seat next to Kaleb and Megan and we just went crazy when we finally flew over the Nile delta and could see the desert beneath us. Once we arrived we went straight to our hotel, the Mövenpick Resort at Cairo Pyramids (website here) which was super nice. Along the way we could see THE PYRAMIDS sticking out on the Cairo horizon. We ate dinner, found our rooms, then just hung out until bedtime.

Fun facts to know about Egypt:
★ DON'T DRINK THE WATER. We drank bottled water the entire time because it's unsafe for us. I guess it's kind of like when you go to Mexico. The people there are used to it and their bodies can take it, but we're used to filtered water so it would make us really sick. Consequently, we
★DON'T EAT THE FRUIT OR VEGETABLES OR JUICE. Unless it's has a peel, has been cooked or is not "tang" (tang means it was made with tap water)
★BRING TOILET PAPER. No joke. There isn't any in the public bathrooms. Oh, and they make you pay too. (Luckily Osman took care of this for us so we never worried about it)

February 28 - The Egyptian Museum, Giza Pyramids, Sphinx  

Because the morning was a bit hazy, we put off the Pyramids till the afternoon. So we started the day at the Egyptian Museum (the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities) and saw some pretty cool statues and paintings, and KING TUTS MASK. Unfortunately they don't let you take pictures inside but it was saweeeet. We also got to see MUMMIES in the Royal Mummies hall. 
We were there almost 3 hours before we breaked for lunch near the pyramids. All the food we ate in Egypt was yummmmm. Mostly chicken, beef, fish, rice, pasta, vegetables, and pita. Lots of pita. 

 Next: the highly anticipated Giza pyramids! They're HUGE. Like you don't even realize until you're right up next to them how big they are. ALSO. At the pyramids and big tourist sites Egyptians will hang out trying to sell their goods to visitors. And by trying I mean following you around throwing their items in your face. "Piranhas" as Osman calls them. They also like to look at the girls in your group and call after you "Hey beautiful" "Ooh spicy" and "Hello shakiraaaa". My favorite is when a guy came up to me and asked: "Are you married? 10,000 camels! I'll give you 10,000 camels for you!" 

Inside the Cheops museum - they made us wear slippers to protect the floors

Besides the marriage prospect, the Pyramids offered plenty of excitement. As most people know there are 3 big pyramids in Giza: Khufu (the biggest and oldest), Khafre (the second largest) and Menkaure (the smallest). We went inside Cheops boat Museum right next to Khufu, and went inside Khafre. Sadly we couldn't take pictures in there either, but it was really neat climbing down the small tunnel into it. 

THE PYRAMIDS

Making a pyramid at the pyramids haha.

Then we saw the Sphinx (and took pictures kissing it of course!)

Khalid, reading the Qu'ran in our train car.

 After that we stopped at a few shops in Cairo and headed to the train station for our first night train to Aswan! The coolest thing happened on the train. Our porter, the guy who gave us dinner and breakfast and pulled our bunks out to sleep in, was really nice. His name was Khalid and we started talking to him, asking how he was doing, where he lived, etc. Then we started talking about Christianity and he told us about his Muslim faith. We talked for 2 hours that night about the Bible and Qur'an, and it was just an amazing experience to witness to a Muslim and in turn learn more about another religion first hand. We prayed over him, and he prayed in Arabic over us. I'm not sure what he said, but he was such a nice guy. My heart really goes out to him and his family and his whole country. They need Jesus as badly as we do.

Cori and me in our room on the train. They're tiny!

March 1 - Aswan and CAMELS

 The next day we immediately went from the train station to a bus to our CRUISE SHIP. I've never been on a cruise ship before, so the next three days just blew me away! 

After relaxing on the boat and eating lunch, we rode a sailboat with the funniest Nubian men steering. They sang and beat drums for us and they taught us and echo and repeat song. We then switched onto a motorboat that took us up the Nile river for sometime. It was beautiful, with the sunlight reflecting on the water and reeds lining the shores. You really could just picture Moses sitting there in his basket.

 And then CAMEL RIDE. I am in love with camels. They're just precious and have these derpy little faces that you can't help but laugh at. We rode them along the Nile River while several Nubians drove them along (Nubia is a region in southern Egypt and what the people there are called) When we got off we stopped in one of the villagers houses for drinks and to enjoy the culture. It was called the Crocodile house. One guess why. Yes. I held a crocodile. And it sat on my shoulder. It was so cool. The people were just so lovely to us.


 


The local women also did henna tattoo for us - like LEGIT henna. It's black, not brown like most henna I've had before. 






 


Then we played with the precious Nubian children and sailed back on the Nile River to our Cruise ship. We ate dinner and had a dance party with the cruise staff. It was the perfect day <3 

March 2 - Aswan Dam and Abu Simbel


Our day started early with a quick stop at the Aswan Dam.

After that we made a 3 hour trek to Abu Simbel, which I'm sure you've seen in a history book somewhere. They're the two temples Pharoah Ramesses II built for himself and his queen Nefertari. it was IMPRESSIVE. Like, wow. How did these people build these things? And this site isn't even the original site. Because the dam was built, the Nile water levels were rising and the temples would eventually be flooded. It was moved starting in 1964 to higher ground where it is today. Once again, no pics inside. 

 3 hour bus ride back to the Cruise ship in Aswan and late dinner at the hotel and sleeeeeeep.

March 3 - Kom Ombo and Edfu Temples and the Galabiya Party

Our cruise finally set sail at 4:30 in the morning and let us off at Kom Ombo at 7AM. 

  

They mummified CROCODILES too

  

We explored for an hour, got back on the bus and set sail again. We stopped at the Edfu temple, and had to take a horse carriage through town to get to it. It was fantastic. 

Riding through town

Edfu!

After Edfu we had a late lunch on the boat and then had a lesson in hieroglyphics from Oswan. We drank tea and hung out on top of the cruise ship. As we were sailing through a system of locks, several Egyptians on smaller boats attached themselves to our larger cruise ship and tried to sell us the items. They would hold up what they had and toss it up to us on the roof, then negotiate prices with us. It was the strangest thing and really tugged at our hearts. These poor things had to chase down cruise ships and desperately and quickly sell their things before the ships made it through the locks in order to make a living.
Oswan talked to us afterwards and told us a little bit about his testimony and how HUG helped him come to Christ 12 years ago. We all sang and cried together until evening. Wow. Just wow. The group just bonded so well while we were in Egypt. It was one of those moments I'll never forget. Osman had become like a father to us all, even though we had only known him for a few days.

Then: DINNER AND THE GALABIYA!!! 
We all bought Egyptian outfits and dressed up for dinner! It was so fun - we took pictures and had a dance party . The ship's crew had the best time teaching us Egyptian dances and playing foreign songs for us. (I know the pics are small, just click to make them bigger)

The whole group!

The girls and Dr. J

March 4 -LUXOR -The Colossi of Memnon, Kings Valley and Alabaster

The next day we packed up from the cruise ship and and went to the Colossi of Memnon, two
massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III.

We then visited the Valley of the Kings where many Pharaohs were buried during the New Kingdom and where King Tut was discovered. 

 Afterwards we escaped the heat in an alabaster shop. Luxor is one of the only places in the world you can get this alabaster. It was B-E-A-utiful.

Egyptian pounds!

Alabaster jars

 We visited even more temples after that. (We did A LOT of temples if you couldn't tell) Karnak, the biggest ancient religion site in the world, and then the Luxor temple.

Of course, we had to go to a Mcdonalds for lunch. Still good no matter what country you're in.

If you walk around 3 times you'll be rich, 5 times you'll get married, 7 times you'll have a family

I was so upset my camera died when we went to Luxor. We went at night and it was magnificent with lights everywhere. We sang in the temple and people would stop and watch us and take pictures and clap in between songs. It was amazing. Then 2 security guards pulled Osman aside and we all thought we were in huge trouble. Ironic enough, they just wanted to make sure we weren't worshiping the Egyptian god Horus.

The night we went to the Luxor train station for our night train back to Cairo!

March 5 - Coptic Cairo, Memphis, Oswan's House

The train was came an hour late at 11:30 instead of 10:30pm, and was delayed several hours in the morning so we were able to sleep in till 10 and finally got off around 12.

Trying to regain lost time we went through Coptic Cairo pretty fast, seeing the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church and the surrounding area. This is the place the Holy Family supposedly was when they were in Egypt.

 We then went to MEMPHIS. No, not Memphis, Tennessee. The original Memphis. There we went and saw a statue of Rameses II lying on his back. He was huge.

Our group looking down at him

After that we ate a late lunch of Egyptian falafels (which we all loved much better than Israel falafels. No weird vegetables in them)

 Next we drove to the Saqqara to see Djoser's Step Pyramid. I've seen this so many times before and loved getting to see it up close!

The funniest old man who rode his donkey around wanting to take pictures with us and offering rides.

The coolest thing next. We went to a PAPYRUS shop and saw how it was made. They cut the papyrus into strips and mash it and roll it out then soak it in water for a week. Papyrus has a lot of sugar in it that allows them to lay the strips on each other (weaving basket style) in however big of a canvas they want and they set it under a press for another week. The sugars hold the papyrus strips together and then they let it dry for a day. So amazing.
I love collecting maps of different places and so I bought one of Egypt on this papyrus. It's beautiful and I can't wait to hang it when I'm home.
We also went to a perfume place after this. The guy there had the best nose in the world. He could tell you what practically any scent was, and could recreate most mainline perfumes and colognes but without the alcohol so you got a purer product. I bought some that smelled like the lotus flower.  

We headed back to the hotel after this to drop our things off before heading to Osman's house for dinner. Osman is the best tour guide in the whole world (I'm probably biased) He was like my 2nd daddy. He made sure we were always taken care of, protected us from the piranhas, and just loved loved loved on us.  He really was like a father figure to us all, buying us all scarves and ice cream and giving so generously. You could definitely see Christ in him. His family was beautiful too, a wife who was raised in Greece and 3 sons. (She was happy I promise haha, she just didn't smile in the pics we took of her.)


March 6 -Journey to Sinai

Today: SINAI!!! We left at 7 AM and us students definitely underestimated the amount of time it would take us to get there. We were on the bus 12 hours. TWELVE HOURS. The most direct route to take has a road that is closed so we had to go a longer way around. Plus side: we got to see the Suez Canal and the RED SEA. The one and the same that Moses parted. We also left the continent of Africa and crossed back over to Asia (it's weird. Sinai is part of Egypt but it's in Asia) 

We stopped a few times on the way, mostly for bathroom breaks and coffee stops, but we also stopped once to look around at some jewelry stands women had set up it what seemed like the middle of the desert. 

We finally got to our hotel in St. Catherine's around 7-7:30ish PM, ate dinner, then went for a quick nap for a few hours before our HIKE UP SINAI.

March 7 -Climbing Mt. Sinai

Before the hike up!

The ideal time to climb Mt. Sinai is early in the morning so you can catch the sunrise, so that's what we did. We got up at 12:30 and started our hike at ONE IN THE MORNING. Bleary eyed and tired, we were excited all the same. It was hard though. Like, one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Oh my goodness, Moses must have been in the best shape ever for an old man. It took us almost 4 hours to get to the top (albeit, our group stopped several times to stay together and not get run over by camels) but we did it. The path up Mt. Sinai is 60% uphill path and 40% steps (700 of them). It was amazing how many people were there though in the wee hours of the morning, all going to experience the mountain. It had to be hundreds of people, all there for because of the same beliefs and desire to see where Moses got the 10 Commandments. 
 

At the top of Mt. Sinai

Once we got to the top though, it was worth it. Although it was still dark out, the moon was out and the energy was amazing. We sang "We shall assemble on the mountain" and prayed and ran into a group of Malaysian Christians who wanted to sing with us too. We sang Silent Night, them in their language, us in ours, and it was so beautiful.  I tried imagining what it must have looked like to him and the Israelites when God enveloped this mountain in a cloud of smoke and fire. Wow. Just wow. 

Mt. Sinai once the sun rose!

Sunrise at the camel stop!

It took 2 hours ish to climb down, and we were exhausted at the end of it. Someone told me it was 8 miles round trip, I'm not sure if that's true but it felt like it. The bus picked us up at 7:30AM and we went down the road to the hotel to eat breakfast and shower before going to St. Catherine's Monastery (where the burning bush was) No pictures allowed inside, but I got some of the outside.

Supposedly the original burning bush

After the Monastery we loaded back onto the bus for another 12 hour drive back to Cairo. It was a grueling day, but definitely worth it. We stopped for lunch at an outdoor restaurant called Ali Baba in a cute little town by the Red Sea called Dahab. I also bought some bracelets from a local girl there, 2 for 10 pounds. Dinner when we got back to the Mövenpick, then bed!

March 8 - Return to Athens

Saying goodbye to him at the airport :(

 We left for the airport at 7 in the morning, all of us really sad to be leaving not only this amazing country, but also to be leaving Osman. I know I didn't want to leave. The trip was such a different experience than the Israel one. I feel like our group bonded so much more on this one, and the relationship with Osman made is that much more special.




Now we're back to Greece. And while I loved every minute in Egypt (yes, even those desperate hours climbing that ridiculous mountain) Greece feels like home now. The Artemis was such a welcome site, a place with wifi (I was off the internet for 9 days. I was pretty impressed with myself.) and with water we could drink ;) But I would love to go back to Egypt again. There's so much to see and do, so much history and hidden wonders. I just know I left out things that we did and I wish I had a novel to write about it.

The next adventure begins in 3 DAYS. Get ready Italy!!! Time is flying by and I have only about a month left here. Still can't believe it. Anyways, I'm sure I've said this before, but I'm so blessed to be here. To go to Egypt, to Israel, to Italy. To feel at home in Greece. My eyes have been opened to the world and nothing can replace these experiences and encounters with these cultures and people. In the midst of so much turmoil and sadness in the world I have been shown so much joy by people who have nothing compared to the United States. We can learn so much from them.

xoxo
Rachel