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Greece Journal
June 5-6, 2007
Lady with a Mustache
By: Holland and Kamryn, Ponte Vedra, FL (JJVA)
DAY 1
The first day all the “tourees” enjoyed a long day of travel. Some with only one stop, others with many stops. The first flight walked around downtown Athens and looked through the shops. Some enjoyed a yummy Greek salad, and to our dismay there was no lettuce to be found. After not sleeping for twenty-six hours we either stopped for a nap in starbucks or walked around “sleep drunk”. Athens was a blast, but the bus ride to Loutraki not so much. As we got to the camp we only dreamed of showers, toothbrushes, and beds. But as excited as we were, we were ready to hit the sack! With a dinner of lasagna, bread, broccoli, and melon we hit the showers and slept.
DAY 2
We awoke to the sound of Jodie’s hand hitting our door at seven thirty. Falling asleep was easy, however waking was not. Tired, cold (turns out our air conditioning does work after all) and hungry, we changed into practice clothes to be abused at the gym once more. Playing was extremely awkward. It seemed we were playing in slow motion. After we practiced for an hour, we loaded the bus back to camp and got ready to look our best. We got to tour the Acropolis where we saw the Parthenon, Propalaia, and Erechtheon. We were encouraged by a lady with a mustache to buy her post cards and tour books. Mariah was handed a book to look at. Then, the lady with the mustache said ‘uh oh police!’ and ran off. Mariah was left holding the book. About fifteen minutes later the lady with the mustache returned wanting to know where was the person who took her book? Mariah quickly handed over the book as everyone laughed. After our Acropolis adventure we toured another landmark, the Theatre of Dionyssus, where we were reminded every ten seconds of the rules. We finished our day with a bus ride and a yummy dinner, too.
Attack of the squirrel blankets and the power outage!
By: Makayla and Hailey, Jacksonville, FL (JJVA)
When we arrived at the Sport Camp in Loutraki, we became excited. There were 5 girls, 16 beds, and 1 bathroom in our cabin. There are many types of cabins, the parents have a house, some coaches have small rooms that resemble a jail cell and still others have large rooms with many beds. We got in and got comfortable, but had a few bumps in the road. Gabby, one of my cabin mates decided to see if her flatiron would work in my outlit. She plugged it in and waited for a second . It started getting hotter and hotter. Then two seconds later a huge pop went off and all the electricity went out. Coach CJ had warned us NOT to bring flatirons and bother with them as they always pop out the electricity—ummm, maybe she knows what she is talking about!! After everyone was done screaming we got up and got the people in to front office to fix it. So far since then the trip has been nice. I have traveled on two other tours to Europe in the winter. I liked the trips but something is different about this one. Everything is much nicer and cleaner. They use solar panels to heat up the water and when there are 5 girls and 1 bathroom, it’s a good thing they don’t use water heaters like we do because at least 2 of the girls would have to take cold showers or go jump in the pool. But so far everything has been great and today we are going to the beach!!! WE ARE SOOO EXCITED!!! I love you mom!
HAILEY
Coming to Europe was a new experience for me. The fights were nice and long and the people were interesting. When we first moved into the cabins we noticed there was a bunch of bunk beds and on them were strange brown or blue fuzzy blankets. We assumed that it is “squirrel fur” (Janae). The first day we arrived in Europe we changed at the airport and hit the streets of Greece. The architecture is very pretty and the food is delicious. Yesterday (day 2) we went to go play in the gym which was very charming. The facility is better than I expected. Nice lighting and a great wood floor. After we took showers and ate lunch, we then hopped onto the bus for our first tour of Greece. A few of the girls decided to get some food, most of us ordered Greek salads (tomatoes, olives and cucumbers) but was exceptionally fresh. We can’t wait for the journey ahead!
What a Trip!
By: Stacey, Roanoke, VA (Seton Hall)
DAY 1
The first day started for me in Roanoke, Virginia. I drove to Washington D.C. to catch my flight to JFK to meet the group before heading over to Paris and then to Athens. My first flight was very quick and we ended up landing in New York 40 minutes early. The bad news was that because we were early they did not have a gate for us to pull into so we had to sit on the runway for an hour. When they finally did have a gate, it was ‘rush hour’ on the New York runway so there was a traffic jam and once again missed our chance to pull into a gate. Now, instead of getting off the plane at 5:30pm and catching a 7:05pm flight, it was 6:20 when I had to run to the next terminal to try to find my group. Once I got inside the right terminal I had to get tickets and go through security again. Needless to say, I was a little nervous that I was going to miss my flight. I made it through and almost as soon as I got to the group we started boarding for our flight to Paris. The 7+ hour flight was not too bad. I could only sleep a little, but we did have our own personal televisions on the headrest in front of us, so we could watch anything we wanted from the list. Once we landed we rushed to find our gate for Athens. We were allotted the perfect amount of time for each layover! We were finally on our way to Athens! Once we landed, I found out that my luggage was left behind in New York. Thank goodness I followed my packing list instructions as per CJ’s endless emails and had a change of clothes and everything I needed in my carry-on.
We headed for downtown Athens for an hour just to look around. The culture is amazing. It is beautiful over here. We saw the changing of the guards at the Parliament building as soon as we arrived. After walking around, we loaded the bus and headed to Loutraki.
DAY TWO
We started the day practicing volleyball with our new teams. It was interesting for all of us to play since none of us had ever played together before. There are 10 girls on this team (Meghan (University of Tampa) and Taelor (Florida State University) had still not arrived from Venice, Italy as they were in Europe prior to the tour): Sarah (University of Montevallo), Janice (Jacksonville-former college player), Megan (University of West GA), Lauren (University of South Carolina Aiken), Megan (Mountain Brook HS-AL), Erin (Berry College), Jen (University of Florida) and me (Seton Hall). Practice was short, but we did get a lot accomplished. After practice we showered and loaded the bus to head back to Athens. We were supposed to see the ancient Olympic Stadium, but the driver was confused (he didn’t speak English too well) and took us to the modern Olympic Stadium that was used in 2004. It was still cool to see. So, we’re going to see the ancient one on Monday. We then went to tour the Acropolis and it was amazing. Our tour guide had so much to tell us about the site that it was very interesting. You can see the entire city from the top! It was a very hot day so we were all sweating, but the scenery was amazing. It’s definitely something everyone should see. After walking back down the mountain, we climbed a huge rock where Saint Paul once preached. The group then split, and some of us went down to the Plaka (marketplace). I walked down a street that seemed similar to 5th Avenue in New York City. There were guys selling fake sunglasses and everything! The other group visited and relaxed on the steps of the Theatre of Dionysus. After we walked back to the base of the Acropolis we met back up with the other half of our group and loaded the bus to head back. Everyone was wiped out so a lot of us slept on the hour long bus ride back. We finally made it back, had a delicious dinner, and crashed in our beds for the night.
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