Athens here we come!

Friday- March 16

Kate's alarm went off this morning at 5 a.m., but I was so confused when I heard that loud beeping noise. My alarm didn't go off for another 20 minutes, but when it did I was just as confused. I pried myself out of my very comfortable and warm bed to wash my face and brush my teeth. 

All I kept thinking to myself was, "Man, I really don't want to travel today. It just makes me so tired and takes everything out of me." Then I rethought about it. I was traveling to Greece, GREECE. The number one place on my bucket list to go to. My life must be really difficult if I'm traveling for spring break to Athens for three days and then to a Greek Island, Santorini for five days. Life is rough. 

After organizing everything and getting dressed, Kate and I successfully dragged our suitcase down a flight of stairs and made it to the bus station by 5:50. We went in to get our tickets validated and were told to wait inside until the bus came. I was starting to get hungry, but decided to wait until we got to the airport. 

Around 6 or five after we noticed people starting to walk over to the bus, so we followed suit. Kate put our shared suitcase under the bus and I hopped in line. We were able to snag two seats up front.

I listened to my ipod while we traveled for an hour to Rome Fiumicino, Rome's main airport. When we flew to Poland it was at Rome Ciampino, so I didn't know what to expect. When we pulled up to the airport I realized we were in for an adventure. It was huge! 

After we hopped off the bus we followed people walking toward the airport. We made it to terminal three, but we couldn't find terminal two, where Easy Jet was located. I asked a man at the information desk where T2 was and he pointed to our left. We walked all the way to the end of terminal three, thinking it was all in the same building, but we quickly learned we had to go to another building for our airline. 

Kate had a quick smoke and then we ventured down an escalator and voila! We found Easy Jet. We walked up to a long line to check in a bag and waited for about 15 minutes. Kate realized we were in the wrong line and that we could go to another one right next to where we were. We got out of the one we were in and walked right up to where we could check in our bag. It took less than five minutes! Much better than the ten more minutes we would have had to wait for if we had stayed in the line we were in. 

Our check-in bag ended up being a little bit over weight, but thankfully the woman was kind enough and let it go. 

We walked over to security and got through in less than five minutes. I feel like I'm a pro at flying now and getting through all of these security gates. I've been lucky the past few times because the security lines haven't been too long. 

We went to grab some food, and then we walked over to our gate and waited to board. I started my new book I bought on my Kindle for the trip. I was so excited when I learned my favorite author, Sarah Dessen had just released a new book. I figured I would have a lot of time on spring break to read it.

Soon enough we hopped in line to board, took a shuttle and were escorted on to the plane. The flight took a little under two hours, but before we knew it we landed safely in Athens! 

When we got off the plane we went in search for the luggage drop off and a bathroom. Then we went in search for some food because what we had earlier had already worn off. We couldn't find much because airport food is so expensive. Since we couldn't find much we decided to look at the map and figure out how to walk to our hostel because we were under the impression that it was a 7-8 minute walk to it. 

A man stopped by Kate and I and asked if we needed help with directions. Obviously we look confused. He was very helpful and said that we needed to take a metro or bus to the main square and then we'd probably need to change onto another metro or take a taxi to our hostel. We decided to get a bus. We walked outside and bought a ticket for €5. We were a bit bummed it was so expensive, but figured we didn't have much of a choice. 

We waited at the bus stop for about 10 minutes and then the bus X-95 picked us up. I was under the impression it would be a five to 10 minute ride, but it ended up taking about an hour for us to get off at the stop. During the bus ride I was starting to get nervous because I realized I had no idea where I was at, nor did I know if anyone would speak English if I got off at one stop. I saw that there were two American boys, but they didn't know where they were going either. I decided to follow them off the bus though at the one stop because a lot of other people got off at the stop as well. 

Also while I was on the bus I found on the map where the street was where our hostel was located, so when we got off the bus I went in to a coffee shop and asked the worker if he could show me on the map where we were. He spoke very good English and was such a pleasant person to talk with. 

I followed the map and finally found our way to the street our hostel was off of. We ended up being on the wrong side of the street and an Australian man waved at us to come over to where he was at, which was where we thought Athens Studios was at. We must have looked lost, dragging our 40 pound suitcase around. 

It ended up being the right place and, when we walked in he was very welcoming and the place was so nice looking. There was the cutest dog named Terry running around the place too. The man told us to leave our bags in the lobby and we walked upstairs to check in and pay. I learned he and his friend or brother grew up in Australia and decided to move here to work and open up a business. I thought that was very commendable, leaving your comfort zone and starting somewhere completely new with a new language. 

After we were all checked in, he led us outside and down the street a little to where we were staying. He told us what room number and left us at the elevator. Kate took the elevator with the suitcase and I hiked it up the stairs with my book bag. I was so confused when I reached where our floor was. We were on floor three, but in reality it was floor five because the first floor is 0 or ground and the second floor didn't count as a floor because it was maintenance rooms. I thought Italian floors were confusing. 

When I walked in it was like a breath of fresh air. After three hours of trying to find our hostel, it was relieving to sit on a couch. It was a cute little apartment with one bedroom that had three bunk beds. It was nice to have a kitchen and a living room in a hostel in our own place for a change. 

 -view from our hostel-

The bathroom was another situation. The shower head was not attached to the wall, so in order to shower I was going to have to hold it above me myself. Interesting, I thought to myself. 

After we got all settled in we ventured out to find food, since we hadn't eaten since morning, and it was already 3. We stumbled upon this cute outdoor restaurant on the street our hostel was off of and decided to eat there. We ordered garlic bread and I got Moussaka, which was eggplant, meat, potatoes and a type of cheese. It was very different in the beginning, but very, very good! (Yes, Gina I enjoyed it very much, as I do everything else!)

The waiter was very friendly too and asked us where we were from and what we were doing. It was funny when he asked what were studying because when we answered journalism he kind of laughed and I said "I don't think he likes that." He was just kidding around and walked away. It was kind of ironic though because I'm sure people living here don't care for the media since it's been blowing up how the riots are in Athens. 

Our waiter ended up giving us a free dessert too after we finished our meals. I don't remember what it was called, but it was different. I thought it was all right, but Kate didn't like it at all. While we were eating it these sparrows started flocking around us and were legit landing on our table. Kate and I were belly laughing because they seriously kept coming toward us and we kept shrieking. At one point I was shooing them away and then I heard something drop and I immediately turned towards the noise. Kate started laughing so hard because she said I looked like I was protecting a fort. A manager came over and said the birds wouldn't hurt us and that they actually just really liked the dessert.

At one point a sparrow landed on our table and we decided not to shoo him away. He just started eating the crumbs off the table right in front of us! So after he left I pounded down the rest of my dessert so they would leave us alone!

We walked back to the hostel and waited for the other girls to get there. Bethany, Lydia, Jess and Amy were flying a different way than us because when I tried booking with them a month ago my debit card didn't work for some reason. Hence why Kate and I took another way. 

I showered and got all squeaky clean and laid on the couch and blogged a bit, trying to catch up on Madrid, since I had fallen quite behind on my blogs. 

Around 7 the girls finally showed up. They said it took them about 45 minutes on the metro to get to where we were staying, but at least they were finally here. They made much better time than Kate and I did. 

All of us, minus Kate, went downstairs to the restaurant Fish and Chips, which was a part of the hostel. All of their meals were good enough for my budget and the people working there were so friendly. All of the people I had encountered so far in Greece were just so pleasant to be around. 

I ordered a burger and chips — which actually mean french fries here — and we sat outside waiting for our meals. It was delicious to bite into. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I started eating. I told Jess, since she had never had a burger in her life, that she needed to have her first burger at this place because it was so good!

After dinner we went back up to our room and relaxed for the rest of the night and decided to wait to conquer the day tomorrow.