Daily Journal

Sunday, May the 26th
I had gone to bed almost immediately after we returned from our excursion the night before so I got a very good nights sleep.  Today was absolutely beautiful; there was barely an wind and not a cloud in the sky.

Saturday, May the 25th

(Red Beach)

(Sunrise)

Today was by far the best day I have had thus far on my month long adventure.  We decided that we were going to rent four-wheelers and explore the island.  We woke up at 5:30 am, rode to the top of a mountain that overlooks the town of Kamari and watched the sunrise.  5:30 was a little early for me however so I decided to take a little nap afterwards.  When we all woke back up, we grabbed breakfast and continued with our excursion.  We drove the ATV's to the red beach.  It was a cove surrounded by giant red volcanic cliffs.  The sand was a mixture of the red rock, black volcanic rock, and white.  It was simply stunning. The water was also an unbelievable blue.  Erin and I bought bracelets from a local fisherman who was sitting on the beach selling them.  All of the "beads" were shells, coral, pearls, and many other things.  After the red beach we stopped at a local restaurant called "dolphin" to grab a snack.  It was literally right on the water.  Part of the restaurant was closed down because the waves were crashing up on it.  Our next destination was a beach that had a cave by it that you could swim through.  We stopped at one beach and asked a local where we could find it.  She told us that it hasn't been found for about 3 years because of the current weather conditions.  That was a bummer, but we did find the beach where it used to be.  After that we journeyed to the very tip of Santorini where the lighthouse is located.  It was absolutely breath taking.  It is my new favorite place on this earth.  Our next stop was Oia to watch the sunset.  One tip of the island to the next.  On our way we stopped to take pictures of the caldera which is the middle of the moon shaped island where the volcano is located.  You could literally see the coastline of the entire island. It looked like it was going to be a very long trip by four-wheeler but only ended up being about 25 minutes.  When we arrived, we claimed our spots on a ledge and went to explore another beach.  It was the beach that we were told was the "secret beach."  We had to hike down a cliffside to get to it and it was astonishing.  We were surrounded by cliffs of white ash.  The sand was also fine unlike Kamari beach where it is just rock.

(The "secret" beach)

(Sunset in Oia)

After our final beach experience of the day we went to a restaurant right by our ledge to get dinner.  The waitress was ridiculous.  Erin asked if she could get her burger without tomatoes and she said no. HAHA. We felt like rude tourists.  From there we sat at the bar of the restaurant that overlooked the sea, drank smoothies, and watched the sun approach the horizon.  When we finished we went back to our ledge, set up our cameras and just watched as the oranges began to fill the sky.  It got more and more incredible the closer the sun got to the horizon.  As it neared the horizon line, there was a mountain in the very far distance that began to appear.  You are only able to see it when the sun goes behind it because it is so far away.  It was the most peaceful, awe inspiring experience I have had in a long while.  By the time the sun was gone it was pretty chilly.  Luckily a group of people who came later had brought me a pair of sweatpants for the ride back to the hotel.  All in all, words can not describe how amazing my whole day was today.  It was an adventure of a lifetime and I will never in my life forget it. 

Friday, May the 24th

(Playing guitar at our feast)

We were supposed to go snorkeling today but the very windy weather prevented us from doing so.  Because our afternoon activity was cancelled, Peter offered a hike to the town of Perissa instead.  It was an optional hike so, regretfully, I decided to stay back.  I haven't been feeling very well so I decided it would be better to relax than to go on a 3 and a half hour hike.  I decided to do my relaxing by the pool here at the hotel.  It was extremely windy but still very hot, so I ended up getting a little burnt.  After I decided that I had had enough sun for the day, Marisa and I went to Mama Mia's to get ourselves a greek salad and then continue down the boardwalk to do some shopping.  We spent a little longer than we were expecting shopping. haha.  When we got back to the hotel it was already time to begin getting ready for our 2nd greek feast on the island.  We all got dressed up and walked over at 8 pm.  We started the feast of with a glass of wine and many many appetizers:  fried cheese, bread, olive oil and vinegar, greek salad, hummus, and sliced sausages.  All of the food here is absolutely delicious.  I ordered a stuffed pepper and tomato for dinner.  They were filled with a rice mixture and tasty sauce.  By the time the appetizers were done though I was barely hungry.  During all of the appetizers, throughout dinner, and afterwards there was lots of live greek music and greek dancing.  At one point, Tamara (my photography professor) and I went up in front of everyone and had a dance off.  I completely humiliated myself but it was a blast! Towards the end of our feast Bri went and asked the band if I could use the guitar and play some songs.  Everyone wanted to hear and sing wagon wheel, so thats what I played.  After I finished the guy asked if I would play another one.  We all decided that it would be fun to bring America to Greece, so I played 22 by Taylor Swift and everyone sang.  It was such a wonderful night.

Thursday, May the 23rd

(portrait killashandra did of me)

(spa at the venus hotel)

Our Friday!  We had our decisive moments project due today, but were then surprised with another assignment.  We were given about 2 hours to go out with a partner that we were paired with, take 5 worthy portraits of them, grab lunch, have our assignment uploaded, and be back in class ready to present.  Some people think that we are here just for vacation, but we do actually have a lot of work to do.  I was paired with Killashandra who I have never really had the opportunity to talk to much.  It was fun to spend some time getting to know her.  Neither of us had ever really done portraits before, but we ended up getting some pretty quality pictures.  After we were done with class, we were supposed to go on a hike, but i got cancelled!  I know some people weren't very happy with this cancellation, but I was thrilled.  My throat has been hurting and it was supposed to be a very very long one.  It was Jamie's birthday today so we were planning a get together at one of the local bars for her.  We had the afternoon free so Marisa and I wanted to do something relaxing after a somewhat stressful day.  We went to this hotel where we had met one of the workers earlier this week for one of our projects.  In this hotel there is a beautiful spa where he got us a discount on pedicures.  We also convinced Spencer and Levi to come with us and get pedicures too! It took a lot longer than expected because there was only one girl working.  Erin was getting worried about us! She had gone on a run to find some puppies she discovered on one of her runs earlier in the week.  When we finally got back we got Gyros at the Gyro Stop for dinner.  

Sunday, May the 19th

Today was ridiculously hot.  I tried to lay out in the sun on the beach but could stay still because I kept getting way too hot.  A couple of us decided that we wanted to adventure to a white sand and red sand beach in a different town on Santorini.  This plan fell through when we realized we have no idea how public transportation works here.  We're going to save that for another day.  Instead, we went on a different adventure.  During our hike to the monastery ruins, we spotted a little cove that had water that was the purest blue I had ever seen.  It was just a little ways down from Kamari beach.  Erin and I went and bought inter-tubes, grabbed the rest of the gang, and went to explore.  We swam for about 15 minutes and discovered what we had set out to find.  The water was just as blue and clear as we remembered it from way up on the mountain.  It was so crazy deep, but also so clear that we could see all the way down to the bottom.  When we got there everyone was climbing up the walls of the cove and jumping in.  I absolutely hate water, and I absolutely hate falling, so naturally, I decided to join in.  I am so happy that I decided to do this.  It was so exhilarating and turned out being exactly what I needed today. After swimming around and relaxing in the cove for a little while, we swam back to the beach and met some of the locals that were jumping of the cliffs there.  Spencer and Levi joined in with them and let them show them new places to jump from.  We were attempting to communicate with them but it didn't end up being very successful.  After all this time outside, let's just say that my skin went from a light tan to a bright red.  I think I maybe should have re-applied my sunscreen more than....... never. woops.  To end the evening, Marisa, Erin, Levi, Spencer and I decided to cook dinner.  We made pasta and the boys cooked hot dogs.  It was very delicious.  After dinner we went down to the beach to relax and watch the waves.  A little greek boy who was about 5 years old came running up to us and wanted to play.  He kept handing us rocks and throwing them in the water.  He was SO adorable.  We were also trying to communicate with him in Greek but we don't know enough words yet.  We did however understand some words that he was saying: yes, no, and come here. haha.  I think I end every night saying that it was a wonderful day, but today was spectacular.  I don't ever want to leave this place.

Saturday, May the 18th
Our first completely free day!  My roommates and I woke up at about 10:30, put our suits on, went down to the pool, and that was pretty much what the whole day consisted of.  I got completely into the Aegean Sea for the first time. 

Friday, May the 17th
Friday's are the beginning of our weekends here on Santorini; they are our "field trip" days.  Today we had we had to catch a bus at 8 in the morning.  There were 3 stops on our agenda.  Ancient Thira, Akrotiri, and the Minoean Museum in Fira.  It ended up being a long, somewhat boring day filled with hiking, freezing wind, and listening to greek tour guides tell us about rocks in broken english.  I mean, don't get me wrong, the history is cool, just not all day.  After we got to Fira, we had the rest of the day on our own to explore the city.  Fira is the capital of Santorini and the center for tourism.  I will be going back and visiting again while I'm here.  After we came back to Kamari, our "home" town for the month, everyone was exhausted and ended up taking 4 hour naps.  Finally, tonight was the night of our 3rd Greek Feast.  Our 2nd feast ended up being a disaster so I think everyone was a little skeptical.  This feast ended up lasting from 8pm - midnight.  It was an evening filled with lots of delicious food, wine, and greek dancing.  It was hosted by the owner of the hotel we are staying at; his name is Marios.  We are being completely submerged into the Greek culture.

Thursday, May the 16th

(Charlie's Angels in the cistern)

(On our hike to the Monastery.  The town of Kamari behind us)

Today was started out being somewhat stressful. First off, it was a cloudy, somewhat chilly day. But, you're thinking Santorini island life and stress doesn't really go together right?  I guess you could say its good stress.  I HAD to go to the beach today to finish a photography assignment.  I mean, if I had to choose any place to do my homework I would definitely choose the beach.  My perspective assignment was the one I was trying to finish (see the photography page of my blog).  I finally finished this assignment and was dreading the difficult hike we had in the afternoon.  Peter kept telling us to wear long pants; "it's straight uphill."  Lets just say i was a little nervous.  The hike started out being very difficult.  Up and around the gigantic mountain that stands right next to our hotel.  We were on our way to explore the ruins of an ancient monastery.  I haven't always been very interested in history and ruins and archeological types of things, but as we climbed higher and higher the view was getting me very excited.  The mountain is so gigantic that we were towering over the the rest of the island and the Aegean Sea.  I felt like I was on top of the world.  We finally reached the ruins and I was absolutely astonished.  we wandered around a little bit and were awestruck.  We reached this hole in the ground that looked like it was very deep.  We then found another hole and Peter told us they were just part of a huge system of cisterns to provide the monastery with water.  We saw what looked like stairs in one of the holes and attempted to climb down.  We went down the stairs and this hole opened up into a huge underground opening with stair structures to lead us down into it.  Being down there where people from the 19th century had been before was an eerie feeling.  I never wanted to leave this mountain.  We finally decided to begin our hike back down into civilization.  It took us about 45 minutes and by the time we arrived we were all starving.  Before food though, a shower was necessary. We ate dinner on the boardwalk right on the beach of the Aegean Sea.  And now I am at the hotel getting ready to go to bed.  We have an archeological field trip tomorrow and are leaving the hotel at 8:00 am.  Thats 11:00 pm for you guys in kalispell and midnight for those of you in Minnesota.  Most of you probably won't have even gone to bed yet.  I will post  pictures of this crazy excursion later. stay posted!    

Wednesday, May the 15th 

Today was probably the warmest of the days on the island.  If not in temperature, in the strength of the sun.  It seems as though no matter how much sunscreen I put on, I still get really burnt.  Today was the first day I really realized how burned I have been getting.  My right shoulder is covered with sun blisters; and this means I'm going to start peeling soon.

Tuesday, May the 14th

We have a project due on Thursday where we are supposed to photograph a subject in a situation from many different points of view and perspectives.  I decided I wanted to simulate a "message in a bottle" type situation on the beach.  I found a cool corked bottle of ouzo and threw it around to make the label look worn.  Tamara and I went down on the beach to begin the shoot.  This shoot was difficult and scary because to get the shots that I really wanted I needed to practically be in the water.  There were a couple close calls with the camera, but I sacrificed myself.  I was fully clothed during the shoot, and by the end I was completely dripping water.  I got many amazing shots.