Monday- March 20

When my alarm went off this morning at 9 I had planned to wake up, shower and get breakfast, but I was too tired to get up, so I reset my alarm for 9:45 while everyone else got up and ready for the day. I showered, got ready and double checked to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything. Jess was running behind schedule, so Kate went downstairs at 10:30 to turn in the keys, since that was the check out time. 

I was out of the apartment by 10:30 as well, and I went downstairs and sat outside with Kate to wait for Jess. Amy, Bethany and Lydia had already ventured out to do some last minute exploring before we had to catch our plane. While I was waiting, I went to a nick-nack shop real quick to get a post card because everywhere I go I send Kory one.

Around 11:30 our whole group met up in front of our hostel and we headed to the metro to catch the line to take us to the airport. We were a bit confused on where to go after we bought our ticket, but luckily a nice man stopped by us and told us where to go.

After we got off the first line to switch to the correct one, the man saw we were confused again and was nice enough to lead us to where we were supposed to go. We then waited for about 15 minutes for our metro to arrive and then once we were on it, it took about another 30 minutes because we had to go through 15 stops to get to the airport. We found our terminal a lot easier than Kate and I had found ours in Rome, so we went in and checked in our bags. 

Afterwards we walked toward security and a police officer-looking man checked our tickets and let us through. It was odd though because there was no security and it was just like a mall. We were all thinking, "That couldn't have been security." Eventually we found where the real security was and realized that what we had just walked through was something that just let us walk into the mall area. 

I got through security quickly and only set off the alarm once because I forgot to take off my watch. When we found our Gate Lydia, Bethany and I went to a small stand to get food and a drink since I hadn't eaten breakfast all day. 

We only had to wait for about 30 minutes until we boarded the shuttle to take us to our plane. When it pulled in front of the plane I giggled because it was such a tiny one and it even had propellers. The flight ended up only taking about 25 minutes, which was really nice. We even got a free drink and salted nuts, which I wasn't expecting! I'm so used to flying on cheap airlines where all you pay for is your flight to there. 

The landing was a little nerve racking though. When we started dropping, we dropped a little faster than I would have liked and I guess I jumped without realizing it. Kate didn't even have to look up from her Suduko game to say "Caitlin, you're okay." I laughed at this. 

When we landed it was a little bumpy and I flew forward. I don't know what happened, but I started laughing so hard I was crying and then Lydia, Bethany, Amy and Jess thought I was crying because I was scared which made me laugh even more. 

The skies were beautiful and the water was even more beautiful and it was only a few feet away from me when I stepped off the plane. The Santorini airport was incredibly small, so it was easy to find where our luggage was coming from. A man from our hostel picked us up at the airport and stood in the entrance with a sign saying "Villamanos," our hostel name. He was very welcoming and led us to the van. He took our suitcases and piled them up in the trunk for us. The drive was about 10 minutes to the hostel and the entire way I was all giddy and happy because all I saw was blue, blue water. 

When we pulled into our hostel I was even more giddy. The buildings were so bright and Greek and the pool looked so serene against the green grass and blue water background.

He led us inside to the lobby where his wife welcomed us and gave us a general overview of the island. We paid for our stay here and then she led us to where we would be staying. There was one queen bed, which Kate and Jess decided to sleep in and four twin beds in the other room. I was a bit bummed when I learned we didn't have a kitchen to use, but for €8 a night I figured I couldn't complain about much. Plus the view from my balcony is breath taking!

-view from our balcony-

We ventured around the hostel for a bit, got settled in and went to sit out by the pool. Kate and I were jumping around all excited and then laid on pool benches waiting for the others to come out. We all sat outside for a while, enjoying everything around us. I had another moment when I thought to myself, "is this real life?"

After lounging for a bit we decided to venture into Fira, the capital of the island, which was supposed to be a 7-8 minute walk from where we were staying. We were going to look into shopping for a bit and then do some grocery shopping for the week since we at least had a refridgerator. 

We were going to go back into the office to ask the woman for directions, but an older man was sitting outside and he told us she was napping. He couldn't speak very good English, so he used the sleeping motion with his head tilted on his hands to show she was sleeping. It was so cute. He pointed us in the right direction, which was quite helpful.

Fira ended up being a little farther than we had thought it was going to be and Bethany stopped in two gas stations to make sure we were still going in the right direction. We stopped and got ice cream along the way and finally made our way into Fira, which was rather small. A lot of stores were painting the outside of their buildings white, probably trying their best to get ready for tourist season in a few months. 

We found a mini-indoor mall that we decided to go in to. On my way down the stairs someone I managed to roll my ankle, which of course is my bad one. The woman inside must have seen it happen because she was very helpful and told me I could sit down. I decided to wait for Amy outside while she finished her ice cream and thankfully my ankle started feeling better. The last think I needed was a sprained or broken ankle!

I looked around for any cute dresses or floppy hats for the beach, but didn't have too much luck. Bethany and I found a sunglass and nick-nack store and decided to take a look at the sunglasses. I had luck with that and they were only €7! I was very pleased. 

On our way back home Bethany, Lydia and I got take out and I got spaghetti. I was too hungry to want to try something new — I wanted something I knew I would like. When we were talking to the woman she asked us a question and I said "si," because I'm so used to saying it around Italy. She paused and then asked where I was from because she said she thought I was speaking Spanish. I laughed because I probably really confused her by speaking English and then answering in Italian.

Afterwards we met Kate and Jess at the supermarket, and we did some grocery shopping for the week. When the cashier was ringing me out, I was nervous it was going to cost for than €20 because that's all I had on me. Talk about luck because it ended up costing €19.74...perfecto!

When we walked back to our hostel we relaxed and ate dinner. Kate had a spontaneous idea to watch Hercules since we were in Greece. When the music came on, it brought me back to my childhood because I remembered watching it all of the time. We unfortunately only got halfway through it because it wouldn't fully load on Amy's computer. 

Since it wouldn't work I decided to get caught up with my blogs or attempt to and then I watched the latest episode of The Good Wife. I didn't get to sleep until 2 a.m., but I figured I didn't have much to do the next day considering we were just going to a beach!