GREEEECE!!

Today, like every other day on this voyage has been a whirlwind of craziness and insanity. We were in Greece the day before yesterday and today we had our only day “At Sea” where we can unwind, have class and study. I really wish we had more than one day before Turkey to get things done, sleep and catch up on my school work but it’s not really an option. Turkey will be here in less than 10 hours whether I’m ready or not so I wanted to make sure I wrote my blog and let everyone know how I’m doing. We arrived in Piraeus (the port city for Athens) on the 13th of June and the first day I spent at the Acropolis and the Parthenon which was fantastic. The first night we stayed close to the ship and in Piraeus and went out to a Karaoke bar which was the greatest thing ever. I started out singing “Killing Me Softly” and finished with Britney Spears, “Oops I Did It Again” and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”. All in all I feel like it was a night to remember. The next morning we all walked to the port together since all our friends were going to Mykonos with us. It was early and we realized that Heather and I were on a different ferry than the rest of the group. We figured since they left at the same time we would arrive at the same time. We were WRONG. Heather and I left Piraeus and like I normally do on travel days, I slept. When I awoke, we were three hours into the ferry ride and “supposedly” we were going to be in Mykonos any minute. Well, we found out we had another two hours to go and we were apparently on the “slow boat to China” while our friends were on the fast boat and already in Mykonos waiting for us at the port. This is one of the few times on the voyage that I wished we had cell phones because we had no way of communicating to them that we were going to be late. Fortunately after a lot of prayer, we got to the port and found our hotel and were checking in when the hotel phone called and it was our friend Caroline calling from the other side of the island! Totally a God thing, because I had casually said Heather and I were staying at the “Carrop Tree” hotel but I never wrote it down for her and she miraculously remembered. We met them at the beach and swam in the beautiful Greek water that is surrounding Mykonos. The water was so clear we could see all the way to the bottom of the ocean. After spending hours at the beach we had dinner at our hotel out on the terrace and took in the magnificent Greek sunset. The next day we saw the windmills and Little Venice, ate gyros and went shopping in town. After a fun night out at a dance club on the other side of the island, we woke up early and made it to the port to get back to Piraeus along with the other 300 Miers who were apparently on the island with us and thankfully we did not run into. It was like the last chopper out of Vietnam or something, I have never seen so many people show up out of nowhere like that. Some of the Miers started drinking at AM at the port while waiting for the ferry. I was horrified and embarrassed to be associated with them and I was especially horrified when one of the students on the boat with me got so belligerently drunk he lost his backpack, got in a fight with another student and scratched his body up from doing a backwards summer-salt on the concrete floor. I couldn’t believe how ridiculous the situation was and I have decided to put most of those people in my prayer journal because they need some serious Jesus-healing help. Other than the horrible shenanigans I witnessed on the ferry back to the port, I had an absolutely phenomenal time in Greece. I have really enjoyed doing adventurous independent trips with my friends I’ve made on the boat and it definitely makes me feel like a real “grown up” trying to figure out hotel reservations and ferry tickets. I am so excited about Turkey tomorrow. Turkey is my big independent trip to Cappadocia (as in the book of 1 Peter Cappadocia). Unfortunately I found out that one of the students going on the trip with me did not obtain a Turkey visa for his passport and he came to my room crying because one of the workers at the front desk of the ship said he wouldn’t be able to go with us to Cappadocia. I am asking for all of you to please pray for Tyler because it would be terrible if he wouldn’t be able to go with us, especially because he is going to have to pay for the trip whether he goes or not. I met with the head of the Field Office Department and the Deans tonight about the situation and I am really hoping they can help him out tomorrow morning when we dock at 8AM. I love you all so much and I’ll keep you updated on my adventures in Turkey!! XOXO....