Semester nearly complete...

Today is reading day for ASU. What is "reading day" you ask? Well it is a day you don't have classes so you can focus on studying :) My day includes editing my final draft of my big 27 page paper (which I will do after this blog post) and the final draft of my religions paper (did that before this blog post)!! My religions paper is unsettling for me. This entire semester we have been working on a research project for the class. I chose the topic of Prayer in the Old Testament and what is said about the relationship between Yahweh and His people. We had to write a proposal and then a 5 page paper about the answer to our question as found in our textbook and then find 6 articles and write abstracts about 5 of them and a 3 page paper about the 6th. Now this topic was causing me a headache because I just had no desire to write on it as I got deeper into my research. I kept thinking that there was an ACTUAL paper looming in my future that I would have to compile all this research into... um... come to find out 2 weeks ago, there is NO FINAL PAPER!!! Basically we just have to RE-turn in all our little papers and abstracts online tomorrow edited and polished. No actual original paper from me on the topic. So some of you may be feeling an emotion of joy on my behalf at the discovery of 1 less assignment that I had been dreading. But as I said it is unsettling for me. I keep thinking that is TOO EASY! I keep having this feeling that I will turn it in tomorrow and discover that there is another assignment I forgot to do. Even though I have confirmed with my professor that there is no other assignment. I know, "Miranda, relax and breath." The end of the semester always drives me literally insane... all my neurotic tendencies come out full force right about now.

My big long 27 page paper is nearly complete. I am just gonna read through it a couple more times and make sure I clean up any messy spots and clarify any points I didn't make clear enough... should be cake.

In other life news...

I am getting into the Christmas Spirit slowly, but surely. I have my mom's gift, I know what I am getting Nicole, I have an idea of what I will be getting Shawn, and I know what I am getting Emolyn (I just have to go and get them all). I also need to figure out Tyler and my dad. Next week is my first week of freedom from school, so I'll be Christmas shopping during that time. Anything not to cause me to go stir crazy!!!

It also is looking like I will be moving out of my parents' house come January 1st. I found a girl from my church who is looking for another roommate for a house she and another girl live in just a couple miles from ASU. I looked at the house and talked with the two girls who I will be living with and the whole thing seems AMAZING!! More details will follow (along with eventual pictures) as it all becomes more final :)

I want to take a nap now...

Sorry this was a boring post. Here is a picture of when my life was fun and interesting...

I just did a cartwheel in the ASU Library...

Seriously, I did... I was feeling antsy from sitting my my cubical desk for the last 4 hours, that I had to get up and move around... I had an incredible urge to do a cartwheel and I did, and it was beautiful! Perfect 10!!!

I am trying to finish my BIG paper for my History 498 class tonight, because the rough draft is due tomorrow. Over the last several weeks I have written 8 pages of it and done outlines and research. The paper is required to be around 20 pages (no less than 10 and no more than 30), but as I began writing the paper, I realized it is not a matter of pages with me, it is a matter of content. I don't know why I do this... I always freak out that I won't have enough information to fill 20 pages! But low and behold, I am on page 17 and I have a good 5-10 pages of information left to write. Actually if I average a paragraph to be a page long, I have 12 pages left... not I may not end of writing on all the paragraph topics I have outlined. Luckily the paper is a rough draft, so I am simply writing information, I'll read through it to make sure it isn't sport any grammatical errors, and then I'll turn it in tomorrow and leave the major editing to my professor, and possibly me sometime next week. I am hoping I get it all done tonight so I have a whole month of editing and revising and not further research and lengthening.

But it is 8:30pm the night before my paper is due, as I said I am 12 pages away from completion, and what am I doing??? Updating my blog. I am a horrible procrastinator, but I just cant bring myself to break the binding of any more books for the next several minutes.

So where have I been the last several months?? Well, not in England, that is for sure. I have been home, living the college student life, back home with the parents, and trying to work 2 jobs (only a total of 20 hours a week - it's not that bad). I feel like after 6 months of exciting adventures, exotic locations, and a plethora of pictorial memories, being back in Phoenix and living my daily life is nothing to write on a blog about. I actually don't know how many people are even reading this right now, seeming as I have nothing exciting to share that involves breathtaking architecture, historical significance, or my lovely face in front of some famous European Landmark... what use am I anymore to the blogging community?? (if you have made it this far into the blog, please comment on the post for me so I know I am loved still :))

As my lack of blogging wore on, I became increasingly daunted by the prospect of possibly bring you up to speed on my summer events, school dealings, and work tales. If you are wondering, I went to San Diego with Kendra, Wisconsin with my mom for my cousin Erica's wedding, my friend Teresa got married!!!, and my family went to Disneyland... those are the events that stick out as even half way fascinating, but I won't begin to go into detail about each of them, or post pictures from the events because it may cause me to stop blogging all together due to stress. If you really want to see pictures, they are on my facebook and I am sure I am facebook friends with all you readers.

So what do I share now?? School stuff? I am registering for the spring semester at ASU and it sucks because the classes I wanted filled up WAY TOO FAST so I am left a little stressed about what I am going to take and whether I will like it or not. I am writing this thesis paper of the Protestant effort to save the Jewish people in France during WWII... I am reading children's books in my children's lit class... we had a Harry Potter Party last week that was actually pretty fun!... I don't like my Old Testament Bible class because the professor is arrogant... My broadway musical class online makes me miss high school theater, and my Tudor Monarchy class has caused me to purchase more of Philippa Gregory's novels and watch Showtimes "The Tudors" all over again. Its been a good semester so far actually.

I am working as a Nanny two days a week for a 7 month old little girl named Olivia... and I am also working at Apartment Life as an admin assistant for 10 hours a week... I get to do the hours whenever I want and I am being sent to Dallas next week for 2 days to train, so you may get a post on that :) Work is nice :)

Well, back to writing my paper... wish me luck and pray for my sanity! And again, if you got this far in reading, please comment so I know I am writing for someone, or else I will probably not blog again for quite some time :)

Phoebe & Miranda's European Dance Party #2

This is it folks... the last video!! The end of an era!!! ENJOY!!!!!

Phoebe & Miranda's European Dance Party #1

update...

- Im house sitting for Terry and Nancy and am absolutely LOVING IT!!! Sat out by the pool today trying to even out awkward tan lines - now Im in my sweats watching Titanic on TV... bliss!
- finally found my dress for my cousin's wedding in a month - Hence the tan line debacle... the neck line is not forgiving to strap lines.
- I start ASU one week from Monday!!! I am different than most students I think because I CANNOT WAIT!!! I am SO excited for all my classes this semester! I am also actually looking forward to structure in my life... I am loving being able to relax and laze about most days, but I need something to occupy my mind now and am ready to have homework and reading and classes to go to.
- I started a job this last week. I am a nanny for a precious 5 month old little girl named Olivia! I am only there two days a week (mon and wed) but it is a great job and I think will really work out well with school. She sleeps for a good 3 hours while I'm there, so that is prime homework time! When she's awake she is so cute and funny!
- I want to die my hair red... I am trying to decide if I should wait a month until after my cousin's wedding, or before - ideas?
- I miss Greek Food! I had lunch at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and realized how much I need to incorporate more Greek Food into my regular meal rotation... mainly just the feta cheese - YUM!
- Terry and Nancy's cat Shredder keeps meowing at me. I will come out of the bathroom even and she is usually sitting outside the door waiting to meow at me. I don't think she likes me being here.
- Oldnavy jeans are on sale and I may head down there tomorrow to check them out!!
- It's my best friend Kendra's birthday tomorrow!!! She is turning 25!
- there are several movies in theaters I want to see right now!
- Did I tell you how excited I am to be starting school on the 24th!!! I have even gotten a couple required books under my belt because I am THAT excited!
- speaking of books, Half Priced books is just down the road from where I am staying and I think I will need to head down there to get some new reading material!
- Like I said, Im watching Titanic, and I wonder whatever happened to Bill Paxton... not that his acting talent (or lack there of) is greatly missed, I'm just wondering.
- Amy Schubert! You will be excited to learn that I am really into Mad Men right now... I'm half way through the first season and I am loving it. I wish people still dressed like that even today... the dresses are beyond fantastic!! and the hair!! and the make up!!
- I am excited to have my appetite fully restored! I love food and it makes me sad when I can't eat it!
- I am working on editing the last two videos of Phoebe and I dancing our way through Europe... so those should be coming in the next week or so :)

Read this today...

For I do not believe God means us thus to divide life into two halves - to wear a grave face on Sunday, and to think it out-of-place to even so much as mention Him on a weekday. Do you think He cares to see only kneeling figures, and to hear only tones of prayer - and that He does not also love to see the lambs leaping in the sunlight, and to hear the merry voices of the children, as they roll among the hay? Surely their innocent laughter is as sweet in His ears as the grandest anthem that ever rolled up from the 'dim religious light' of the solemn cathedral? ... Sun will rise on you, dear child, feeling your 'life in every limb,' and eager to rush out into the fresh morning air - and many a [day] will come and go, before it finds you feeble and gray-headed, creeping wearily out to bask once more in the sunlight - but it is good, even now, to think sometimes of that great morning when the 'Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings.'
Surely your gladness need not be the less for the thought that you will one day see a brighter dawn than this - when lovelier sights will meet you eyes than any waving trees or rippling waters... and when all the sadness, and the sin, that darkened life on this little earth, shall be forgotten like the dreams of a night that is past.
- Lewis Carroll (Author of Alice in Wonderland)

AMAZING!!

My parents and I saw this live at Hillsong Church in London on Easter... it was beyond powerful! I have been waiting to find it online for months and I finally did!! Enjoy - it's amazing!

Easter 09 Hillsong London from Ugo Boff on Vimeo.

One month home...

I have been home for exactly 1 months today... here is stuff I have learned:

- Reality sucks!!! It was nice to escape the pain, hurt, sadness, stress, frustration, monotony, and difficulty of real life for 6 months. It would seem being away has made me less able to handle it well... then again, who ever handles those things well?
- American money is really weird. The bills are so thin and long... and the coins are so light and small. It is strange having single bills and not £1 or £2 coins.
- When I first got off the plane in America, I noticed the distinct smell of fried food... didn't realize that was missing so greatly in Europe, but it was.
- I love having my family and friends around. You have no idea the joy it gives me to be able to text and call any friend I want to at any time
- I have missed Open Door, I have missed my church family. It feels good to know that people know me there.
- I need a job. I had a lovely first 3 weeks of visiting friends and catching up with people, but now I need to fill my hours with something as I am getting bored... and stir crazy
- Not living alone is an adjustment. I have lived on my own for several years now and upon returning to the states, I moved in with my parents. It is strange not having my stuff filling the house and not having more space that is all my own.
- free food. I love grocery shopping and buying food, but it is nice not having to spend money... and home cooking is lovely!
- DRIVING!!! I have thoroughly missed driving and the joy I feel every time I slip into the drivers seat is indescribable! I love being able to just drive wherever I want to go - not have to wait for a train or walk - I love driving and I love my car.
- I miss walking. I actually do... I love driving, but there was such a feeling of accomplishment that came from walking around an entire European city. I felt so fit!
- I have loved eating all my favorite American foods again - sunflower seeds, gushers, QT 32 oz drinks, Wild Flower Bread Company, Whole Food's sushi, In & Out, Wendy's spicy chicken sandwiches, Burger King's Spicy Chicken Crisp, Ben & Jerry's Smores, Velveeta Shells & Cheese, Lucky Charms, and all the milk in the fridge I can handle - heaven
- Visiting my favorite stores - Forever21, Target (like 15 times now), Ross, Kohls, Payless, Old Navy, Teidemann's thrift store, Dollar Store, Apple Store, etc.
- Being able to see pictures, TV shows, Movies, advertisements and be able to say I have been to such place. Walking through Target I always use to look at their art pieces of France or London or Italy and dream about one day seeing them for myself. I walked through the other day and saw a big poster of the Eiffel Tower and got so excited that I had seen it in person, and also knew exactly where the photographer must have been standing to take the picture... small joys.
- Sharing with people about my experience. I keep telling everyone I meet that they need to drop everything and do what I did... even if just for a couple weeks - but to go on an adventure. People also always ask whether I feel like God revealed stuff about me that I didn't know before - stuff I was more capable of. And I answer "no". I think the thing that God taught me while I was away was not anything about me... but EVERYTHING about Him. I learned so much about who God is and how much he deeply deeply deeply loves me. I have said in posts before that God seemed so audible there, so tangible... returning here I would have to be honest and say that it is harder to hear him and feel him in my normal life... but the memory of what I experienced there reminds me of the reality of God.

Thanks for enjoying the ride with me. I will continue to post on this blog of course, but it will soon return to the mundane adventures of a girl in her mid-twenties who is trusting God to help her figure out life, school, love, friendships, and her purpose...

Athens & Delphi (Day 12 & 13)

Phoebe and i had to get off the boat by 8am, so the day began rather early... miserably early to be honest!
When we got off the boat we grabbed a taxi to our hostel (which ended up costing an arm and a leg, but it was worth it to be dropped off right at our hostel). We were crossing our fingers in hopes we would be allowed to get into our room early (9am) and be able to take a nap, but alas it was not to be. Instead we put our luggage in the luggage room and enjoyed their free wireless internet and then at 10am we joined a walking tour of Athens.
Some of our destinations...
Temple of Zeus - where we learned that (in the words of our Greek tour guide) that the Greeks "like to destroy [their] heritage" and a lot of the columns were torn down to become part of the foundations of the surrounding buildings.

The original Olympic Stadium - which hold over 60,000 people. The original olympic games were performed in the nude, but they eventually switched to requiring clothes. At one of the games a woman disguised herself as a man and won one of the marathon races... promptly upon crossing the finish line all her clothes fell off and the secret was out. After this women's games were introduced for certain events.

Parliament of Greece - where we saw the "changing of the guards"... the Greek guards are ridiculous looking and their changing ceremony is silly as anything I have EVER seen



The guards' uniform is very specific in its meaning... the number of the pleats in the skirt is 400 to represent the 400 years of oppression of the Greeks. The puff balls in their shoes are to hide the daggers in the toes of their shoes... very clever to hide daggers with something so very subtle and inconspicuous... haha!
A main street in Athens... the good shopping street

After roaming for a bit around the city learning things about the Greek Royal Family which was not in fact originally Greek and therefore were not liked and when they fled the country in fear of a war, they were refused back into the country for all time it would seem. We also learned about how one of the Greek Prime Ministers introduced the potato into the country rather recently in its history and therefore changed the face of greek food. We then began our ascent up to the acropolis with fresh strawberries and bananas bought at a fruit stand in town. We walked up the hill and sat ourselves down on a hilltop just below the acropolis and took in the best view of Athens.
The Ancient Greek Agora - the ancient main market place in ancient Athens

Athens

As the story goes, the tale behind the name of Athens came from 2 propositions presented to the city elders from the Goddess Athena and the God Posidon. Athena offered the city in return for them naming the city after her, wisdom, education, art, culture, and justice. Posidon wanted the city named after him and in exchange he offered the city victory in war, ships, trade, and safety at sea. The elders went with Athena and as a result Posidon sent a great flood to destroy the city. Athens consequently built a lively temple to the god of the sea at the shore.
You also may be wondering the name of the hill on which we were sitting, or you aren't wondering at all, but I'll tell you anyways... the hill in Greek is called Areopagus and translates into English as "Mars Hill". So if you haven't caught on already Mars Hill is the mountaintop on which Paul preached to the men of Athens in Acts 17!! It was awesome to stand there and think on that passage.
It was there that our tour ended and Phoebe and I decided to continue on up to the acropolis from there.


The acropolis in Greek means "farthest point in the city" It is known to be the most significant ancient archaeological site in the world.

This is the theater where Yanni played his "live at the acropolis" concert

Theater of Dionysus

The erechtheum also on site



After the acropolis Phoebe and I walked down to the Ancient Agora to explore the site



For lunch we went into the market and got a gyro - SO DELICIOUS!!! We then set about shopping... we had pretty much seen everything in Athens we wanted to as far as historical sites. Surprisingly a lot of the famous sites can easily just be walked by and you don't have to pay to get in. So Phoebe and I shopped YAY!
Along the way through the market Phoebe and I were joined by a stray dog... Athens has TONS! of stray dogs everywhere! This dog we named Raul and he was awesome.


By this time it was close to 3:30pm and we were exhausted, so we headed back to the hostel for a nap before dinner. Our room wasn't air conditioned and it happened to be 94 degrees out, so it wasn't the most comfortable, but it was restful. After our nap we headed to the roof bar to check it out... had a drink, met some people, and then we ventured out for dinner.
Our hostel was literally down the street from the acropolis, so I caught this picture on the way to dinner

We also had a chance to walk by the new Acropolis museum which was going to open the following day! Currently most of the Parthenon interior and other big statues are housed in the British Museum (which I had seen of course), but Greece is hoping this museum opening will be a step in the direction of Britain returning the pieces... I am not seeing that happening soon.

So with our incredibly productive day in Athens, we found ourselves with little left to do in the city and so we decided our second day would be spent on a day trip to Delphi in the north. Delphi is of course known as the hope of the Oracle of Delphi.
The bus ride was 3 hours and I was able to doze for a little bit... accept there was this painfully loud minnesota man who I don't think truly grasped the volume of his voice. haha.
We finally arrived at Delphi and it became apparent we were in for a VERY hot day.


Delphi was at one point thought to be the center of the universe because Zeus sent out two eagles in opposite directions around the world and they collided at Delphi. (As you may have guessed the line between mythology and Greek history is very blurred). So at the center of the universe they placed a stone with magical powers and called it "the navel" basically just like your belly button which is essentially the center of your body. The rock is believed to give you strange dreams when you touch it... this is interesting for me since my dreams are always weird

hugging a column

This is foundation of the Temple of Apollo which is where the Oracle was housed. The Oracle was basically some young girl strung out on Laurel leaves who had spies everywhere who fed her information to make her predictions somewhat accurate.

So basically the Oracle was just an ancient flower child hippie

Delphi was a full fledged city and therefore had a theater

and a stadium - which you cant run in anymore cause someone tripped and subsequently sued the site for their injuries... stupid people

Delphi also has a museum with some smaller artifacts in it. It's not a very popular place and appeared to have more people working there than people visiting. They also had a rule that fully allowed you to take pictures of the artifacts as long as you didn't have people in them... strange. Our tour guide let us go in alone because she is banned from the museum. She doesn't exactly have her tour guide license, which you need by law in Greece, and so all throughout the site we had to act as though we were just friends and she wasn't allowed to explain things to us very loudly. She was awesome though!
Before we headed back to the bus we had a lovely picnic provided by the tour. We sat in the shade which was nice.

After Delphi we headed to a small town to do some shopping. I forget the name of the town, but it was small and charming and nice to roam through. Some rain clouds also came in and drizzled on us a bit which was really nice after the heat.



We boarded the bus on the other side of the town and were ready to set off back to athens (after of course we found a missing member of our group who was lost for a good 20 minutes).

Once we were back in Athens Phoebe and I went out for some food and one last shopping trip. It was our last night in Greece, our last night in Europe and our last night together! Once we returned to London the following day we would go our separate ways only to meet up on monday at heathrow before I boarded my plane home to America. We ate at this lovely restaurant right below the acropolis. It was great food and we totally splurged. There were two guitar players serenading the restaurant, which was almost empty but for us. The host, who was awesome, asked for them to play a song especially for us and they began to play "Let it Be" by the Beatles... It was one of those moments where everything hit me... the amazing trip, the perfectness of this spot, this moment, and to have experienced it all with my dearest friend Phoebe!! I totally burst out crying. It was just such a perfect moment!
This is me and Phoebe trying not to completely lose it


Our guitar players

It was a delicious meal and then for dessert we got watermelon on the house... AWESOME!!
Afterwards we went to look through the stores. One such store I went into I began flipping through their shirts and all of a sudden the lady who owned the store starts following me. When I finish flipping through a rack of tshirts, she promptly shoves in between me and the rack to begin to fix it... she begins muttering under her breath how I am a "stupid American chicken!" EXCUSE ME!!! I had no idea what happened... I promptly left the shop thoroughly confused and only after I had left did I realize how angry that made me... I had NO IDEA what I did to deserve that!
We shopped some more and we even walked by the Museum to catch some of the grand opening festivities. They were projecting cartoons of mythological tales on one of the outside walls so we stopped and enjoyed the show for a moment.
Back at the hostel we packed for our return to england and had quite a fun time throwing out clothes, shoes and toiletries we would not be using again... I love throwing out unneeded things.
One last picture before bed of Phoebe and I... post showers


So this is Goodbye Greece... this is goodbye continental Europe... the adventure comes to an end and I return home wiser and in more awe of your amazingness. Thanks Europe for being awesome!!!

Rhodes, Crete, Santorini (Day 10 &11)

The day we anchored in Rhodes was a very lovely day! We are scheduled to be at the island of Rhodes the entire day unlike previous days where we hit up 2 islands in one day. So since we didn't have to rush off and on the boat, it was a very easy and lazy day. Phoebe and I loved the fact that our room on the boat had no windows, so the only light to stream within our walls at night was the crack at the bottom of the door. So come morning time we were completely oblivious to the hour. We slept in this day and it was heavenly!! We actually slept so late that housekeeping almost walked into our room to clean.
When we finally disembarked we were met with the lovely medieval island.

Rhodes island holds the Knights Palace... the town is very medieval in style and has ruins scattering it's landscape

Phoebe and mine's first stop before exploring and shopping was lunch. I LOVE greek food and we were so excited to order greek salad and calamari

These restaurants are rather tricky for you see they put out bread on your table that you would assume is complimentary, but instead you are charged for it. Also Coke in the bottle is twice as expensive than if you had them pour it into glass... LAME!
Phoebe and I discovered on Rhodes a rather interesting feeling, which we affectionately termed "boating." It is when you are NOT on the boat and yet feel like you are swaying back and forth, this can also lead to you swaying when you stand and swerving slightly as you walk. It is awful and greatly affects your appetite.
Phoebe and I had a lovely time shopping and exploring though. The markets were so pretty


Lots of medieval photo ops at the knights palace



The mediterranean is the most gorgeous color blue! In fact Phoebe found a ring with a blue opal in it that was the exact color of the water... SO gorgeous!


As we wondered around the island we became rather lost in the wandering side streets and medieval passage ways... luckily we weren't lost long and it was kind of fun straying into the less touristy parts of the town.
That night back on the ship, it was the formal dinner. Since Phoebe and I were in the middle of backpacking through Europe, we were without super formal attire, luckily Phoebe had brought a dress by accident, but I was without. So I bought a cute summer dress on Rhodes to wear. At the dinner some people were rather fancy (satin, cocktail dresses, etc), while some were less elegant (polo shirt and kakis), Phoebe and I fell somewhere in the middle.
A photo of our reflections in the dining room ceiling

Sadly we didn't a better picture of our outfits - ah well.
The dinner was rather fun and for a surprise at the end our serving staff sang songs and ran around with our dessert - baked Alaskan lit on fire! They sang traditional greek songs and we all waved our napkins in the air and many of the drunk American teenagers on the ship started a conga line. Good times.
Our day ended with us in our room listening to the gossip through the wall coming from some teenage boys. I had really no idea that boys were no better than girls when it came to gossip and "girl talk". It was thoroughly entertaining to get all the dirt on Emma (who would seem to have a questionable reputation) and Brent (who we actually didn't learn much about, but they all seemed to keep yelling out his name).

Our last day on the cruise began with a stop in Crete... there is absolutely nothing to share about Crete as it was not at all exciting. We were at the city of Heraklion and it is the supposed birthplace of Zeus himself. Unfortunately the notable sites of the city were a rather long walk uphill and the map was thoroughly confusing as it was in English, but the street signs were in Greek. So Phoebe and I began our walk to the center of the city only to have to turn around before reaching our destination in order to make it back to the ship on time. Granted, we had a late start because we slept in a little bit more than we should have.
Once we returned to the ship we just relaxed and chilled on the boat. We had a fancy 3-course meal in the formal dining hall - have I shared with you the delicious cheese plate that I absolutely could not get enough of and as a result ordered it EVERY MEAL! Phoebe and I also enjoyed a LOVELY nap before we were to reach Santorini.
Santorini was very awesome! Phoebe and I bought an excursion to explore the volcano of Santorini and a sailboat ride around the island with a dip in the hot springs. So excited!
The first part of our tour/excursion was a walk around the volcano. Sadly, the description of this said "walk" was rather a strenuous hike! Non of us on the tour were well prepared with our flip flops and swimsuits with light swim suit covers. It was also incredibly hot and really not fun. However, Santorini is a rather fascinating place. It is in fact a collection of about five islands. It all use to be connected, but the multiple eruptions of the volcano at the center have broken them all apart. Also of note: the legend of Atlantis was inspired by Santorini's volcano.


Interesting facts about the volcano:
1. it erupts every 50 years or so... it has been expected to erupt since 2005... so any time now.
2. we came upon a hole dug about a foot deep into the ground and when you stuck your hand in it you discovered that it was approx 95 degrees Centigrade.
3. You are not allowed to take rocks from the volcano, but I did... and I don't feel bad
View of Fira on the Santorini's main island

After a miserable hike we boarded a cute sailboat to sail around the island


We sailed until we reached the hot springs. This is a section of the sea where lava and sulphur is bubbling up under the water therefore making the water quite warm and lovely to swim in. The mud is also said to have healing properties and of course great for the skin. In order to get to the actual hot springs we had to jump off the boat into the Aegean and swim a little ways to the springs.
Me swimming in the Aegean!

The above picture was taken right after I swallowed a lot of the sulphur/salt water and so the excitement on my face is shielding my strong urge to throw up. While we were in the springs we enjoyed the tiny bubbles coming from beneath our feet, the wild goats roaming the mountainside, and the entertaining graffiti on the surrounding rocks. One such message read "Call my mobile if you need help - ###" It was great.
After our swim we sailed back to the main island and took a bus up the hill to Fira - the main city in Santorini.
We had a very short time to explore the city, but I was able to find a necklace of the blue opal that was almost identical to Phoebe's ring!!! SO PRETTY!
The views from the city were breathtaking



Phoebe and I then joined the queue for the cable car down to the tender boats to take us back to the ship. Unfortunately it was INCREDIBLY long and there were high tension amongst those in line that they wouldn't make the last of the boats. It wasn't helped though when a HUGE tour group of French people joined their tour guide who was ahead of us in line making up 50 more people back in line!!! A bunch of people started arguing with the group... everyone started yelling at them - even us, but the argument afforded enough of a distraction to allow Phoebe and I to bypass the entire group and move up in line. Victory!!
The cable car was quite an experience because you are basically sitting in a glass box dropping quite swiftly straight down the side of a cliff. It freaked Phoebe and I out considerably!

Phoebe's face is priceless

We happened to make the last boat to our ship luckily and we quickly made it to the buffet for dinner.
To celebrate our last evening on the ship Phoebe and I headed up to the dance club at the top level, ordered some cocktails and attempted to enjoy the dance floor... unfortunately it was already inhabited by silly 15/16 year olds and them grinding on each other... ugh! We did get in a couple dances and a couple drinks and then called it a night.

The cruise was the absolute BEST thing I did in all of my Adventures on the European continent!!