greece! and arriving home ..

so im currently wrapped up in a dressing gown and slippers writing this one, 

back home in perth winter!!

which, with the sun beaming into my bedroom window and today's forecast of 23C is just a beautiful danishh summers day.

i was fighting jetlag to write this blog as soon as i got home,

but i had to give in to sleep because my eyes could barely stay awake yesterday in the coffee shop where i edited all my photos.

but alas!

it's a beautiful saturday morning, 

i have a cup of coffee and a fresh mind.

i will begin with greece,

and then conclude with my post travel thoughts. 

Greece.

oh greece.

i left zurich on the 19th july for athens, 

because early on the 20th july i was taking a ferry from athens down to santorini island to start my sailing tour of the greek islands.  

we were to sail from santorini to ios, to amorgos, the small cyclades, then to naxos and then to finally end up in mykonos.

 enroute my flight to athens, 

i realised i'd been so busy sorting out the activation of my credit cards in zurich

that i'd forgotten to look up how to actually get to my hostel!

i was literally arriving into athens without any phone or internet and only a vague direction of where my hostel was located in an extremely largely sprawled city.

well on the flight into athens i met another aussie who was staying at a hotel near mine,
and she had an iphone with specific directions on how to get there  from a bus we were both supposed to catch.
:)

when i finally arrived into my hostel,
i noticed that i was the only one staying in the entire building.
that was weird. 
it was hot. dirty. without phones. without internet and had three flights of stairs which laughed at me and my 30 kilogram suitcase.
(my sister tells me i've lost weight. if only she knew the gruelling task of lugging around a 30 kilogram suitcase around on sand and up and down stairs with broken wheels).
but the scariest thing was that i needed to get up at 5.30am the next morning and i didn't have an alarm.
i hadn't eaten in over 7 hours but given the feeling i got from the streets outside, i wasn't hungry.
i was overwhelmed and tried to resist the temptation to cry.
and i think the receptionist could tell.
in his broken english, i think he had compassion on me and told me i could use his own personal phone.

i wasn't sure why, but i decided just to email my parents to tell them the situation i faced.
i wasn't sure why of that either.
ha!

so i literally stayed up for as long as i could just listening to my little broken orange ipod,
thanking God for everything i could possibly think of.
i finally fell asleep on top of my sheets with the light on around midnight,
and awoke at 4.30am boiling hot.
but in just enough time to continue praising and thanking God for everything.
thanking God for your dire situation is the best remedy against discouragement.
it literally defeats sadness, bitterness and discouragement; and i was instead filled with immense confidence, peace and joy in God.
 i then lugged my suitcase back down those stairs, over the streets and onto the ferry.



i was ready and excited for my tour.

good bye athens!

 

i finally arrived into santorini

and met my tour group.

(after my spain group, i was a bit nervous about meeting my greece group). 

BUT THESE GUYS WERE GREAT!!

there were two danes on this group!

marlena and jacob. 

i could tell they were danish straight away.

the accent, the body language.. that timid but friendly look as they met a whole bunch of new people.

ah!

i was so excited they were on the tour.

i think i literally bombarded them with stories of my danish life -

i showed them my palms which still had bikeriding blisters on them,

told them everything i loved and missed aboiut danish culture

and told them all about  my danish friends who i loved and missed.

they wouldn't have thought i was intense at all .. !!

but i was rooming in the yacht with an american social worker who was working on exchange with child protection in england,

and that was cool because social work child protection exchange is something i'd been considering.

but after talking with her,

i decided i'm not sure that's for me. 

and the others were girls from around the world who just wanted a relaxed and easy sailing trip.

fine. by. me!!

we docked every night at an island and went exploring, swimming

and ate the local cuisine.

one night, we climbed up the white cobble stone mountain face through all the houses to reach a church and watch the sunset over the island.

we would start our sailing early in the morning

and get out nibblies and wine to watch the sunset

one of the days, we weren't able to dock on the island because it was too windy

and we couldn't even swim to shore because the current was too strong!

it was so hot that day,

and we were all going a little stir crazy not being able to go anywhere or stretch our legs!

so kutte, our tour leader,

threw a rope into the water so that we could hold on and swim!

we mostly ate breakfast and lunch on the yacht,

and found a nice taviarna to eat at night.

i think that naxos was my favourite island.

pretty, good beaches, cheap, and we could go paddle boarding!

we found really ncie places to eat

and had loads of fun just wandering around the island

this was a greek speaking parrot!

so that was naxos!!











all the other islands were pretty too, but naxos was my favourite.

i think that this photo, is so unintentionally HILLARIOUS.

greek cats are everywhere

finally, after 7 days of sailing the greek islands, we ended up in mykonos.



this was a really great island, and it was here i said goodbye to my tour group!

i had booked two extra nights on this island, because i wanted to spend some time relaxing before i went back to athens and prepared to fly home to perth.


and relaxed i did!
 

 freddocinoes are really popular in greece. they are pretty much like a coffee frappe.
SO refreshing when you are sweltering hot!

i also saw this italian cruise liner! the same line that ran aground the sandbanks a few years ago and the captain jumped ship.

sneaky shots of a sneaky cruise liner.

i booked into a hostel for my stay in myokonos, which was $30 australian dollars per night, the cheapest on the island.
it was an exotic pool and beachside hostel, but i was sleeping in something like army barracks.

forty degrees, mixed dorm, bed bug ridden, no windows and an overworked fan!

the bed next to mine belonged to a guy from cyprus who used to be a flight attendent for cyrpus airways before they went broke.
he was great and gave me all these tips on how to be a good passenger in a flight!!
you meet some funny people in hostels. 


 for most the day and night, i took to the beach or the village.

every morning, i ate rye bread which i found in a grocery store.
hooorahhh!!!!!!

and i met a korean girl on the bus back to our hostel one night, and we did tango and aerobic lessons on the pool deck!!

we were staying at the hostel for the same amount of time,
so we layed out under the stars one night on the beach and watched shooting stars,
and sunbaked out on the beach outside our hostelunder the ozone layer of europe.

i could even eat my lunch on the beach!

not having an ipad to write down all my thoughts,

nor being connected to the internet to talk to my friends whenever i wanted,

meant that i went back to writing letters.

i would find cafes

and i wrote page after page.

while looking out and watching the greek life.

i continued wandering around myokonos,

until the sun set on my last night there.

loosing your credit cards and euroes means that your parents have to wire you money from your australian account.
the conversion rate is SHOCKING, so i lost alot of money in having them transfer it to me in barcelona.
so when i was by myself, i would often enjoy the simpler meals of cheese and ham on bread or crackers.

and then early on the morning of the 29th july, i took the ferry back to athens.


when i first got to my hostel,
i thought "oh kate! where have you booked yourself into!!??"

 the area was worse than where we stayed in harlem in 2009.

 but over the next few days, i realised that most of the city was in the same condition.

athens is probably the most povery stricken city i saw on my travels.
jagged metal rods sticking out of unused buildings, disintergrated sidewalks, hundreds of dirty, deformed homeless people using drugs right in front of you, broken attractions...

 
you could really tell that greece is badly affected by the economic crisis.


it was 41 C that night and nowhere can afford air conditioning.
so i went out on to my balcony which was a bit cooler than my stuffy room and kicked back with a muesli bar and cold choc milk.
ha!

the most shocking thing i saw was a homeless man sitting on a broken side walk with his blackened leg sticking out, his blackened leg with a huge green gaping hole in it.
his leg was literally being eaten away - he was certainly going to die without any medical attention.
and he was just sitting there, causually, eyes half open, holding out his deformed hands for money.
and people were just stumbling over him trying to get where they were going.

and he was just one of the hundreds of mentally and physically ill that i saw on the street, begging for money.

athens was hot and athens was overwhelming.

so i got up early on the 30th july to see the sights before the sun and the social conditions got to me.

this was an old marketplace!

by 11am, the sun was so overbearing and hot i had to find a cafe for an iced drink.

but no cafe had air conditioning, except starbucks!

so starbucks became my safe haven.

thank you strawberry yoghurt frappacino!

and i also had some breakfast.
unfortunately, my cheese and ham had sweated out in the sun.

but sometimes as a traveller, if it doesn't make you sick, you just gotta swallow it.

i finally made the hike up to the acropilis only to find that they didn't take credit card.
i only had 4 euroes left and entry was 12.
i was so sad!!!!!!!!!!

i was so dissapointed, because the acropolis is a huge part of why i wanted to visit athens.
it is the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, and was a place where Paul from the bible would have wandered through and conversed with the teachers of that day.


but that meant that i wandered around the bottom of the acropolis and attempted to take pictures from almost every angle! ha!!

i also consoled myself with the fact that sometimes when you travel, you don't always get to see all the things you hoped to see.
i've been to new york four times and i still haven't been up to the empire state building.

self soothing mechanism ;)

i stumbled across a free ancient artifact museum though,

and it blew me away. 

in the bible, in the old testament,

God is forever telling the nation of israel to get rid of all their statues, idols and gods (which were supposed to give them health, field prosperity, fertility) so that He can be their God and so that He can bless and provide them.

well i went to this museum and saw in the ancient part (before christ) of the museum

all these preserved ancient statues, idols and gods through the cabinets!!

i spent almost an hour gazing at them. 

so THIS is what the people trusted in instead of God.

we weren't allowed to take pictures,

but they were little monkey like stautes, or egpytian animal-man looking people.

then, as i wandered through the 'modern' museum (which was post christ)

i saw all these statues, paintings and crosses which were made in depiction of the early christians movements.

it sort of made me realise, though, in this part ..

that man everywhere objectifies the beauty of realtionship with God through Jesus into a statue or a figurine and keeps it for peace sake.

it's like that's what makes sense, or is easier, or something,

than letting him come into your heart and transform you from the inside out.

you don't need statues or figurines or laws written on your hallways wall then.

just something interesting i mused over.

but then i continued to wander around athens and take pictures of old sites that had just as much season to them.

it was funny to see some old cites in very modern and built up areas...

the reception guy from my hostel (i met several really nice ones, come to think of it!!) gave me tips on how to be street smart.
he said that despite the look of the area i was in, nobody would hurt me but they would try to pickpocket me. and don't eat the food sold in the local stalls or markets.
don't give my camera to anybody to take photos of me - they might just walk away with it.
i didn't begin to mention my previous experiences in spain.

but when a nice looking man with a nice looking wife and a nice looking son saw me trying to take a photo of myself and offered to take one of me instead, i sussed them out and let them. 



haha.

one of the most annoying things was not being able to pay to see the original olympic stadium.
but that didn't stop me sneaking through bushes to the fence to take a sneaky shot!

haha :)

i was browsing the shops when i stumbled into a refreshinly nice looking coffee house.
i was looking at their selections, when the waiters offered me free samples of traditional greek pie and biscuit!

i felt embaressed taking them for free when everyone around me was paying, so i ordered a fredoccino and sat down to enjoy the view.

it was delicous!!

about 7 hours later of wandering athens, i collapsed into the air conditioned starbucks and resumed letter writing.

i was also trying to avoid my scary looking shower and hot bedroom.

on the morning of the 31st, i rose ( i didn't actually sleep) to watch the sun rise through the buildings.
one given to nostalgia, i wanted to see the sun rise to my last european morning.

i ventured to stabucks for my last european drink and ordered a proper breakfast too.

and did the good deed of investing into athens (ok, i went shopping) until lunch time.

lunch time came around and i found a rooftop cafe 

where i could see the acropolis! my zoom was so good on my camera that i could actually see people walking around!

i pretty much went to the acropolis. 

i finnnalllllly made my way to the airport

and took one last photo!!

i watched in shock my plane be prepped for its passengers

and took the flight to doha.

my half broken little orange ipod breathed its last breath and so i spent the 4 hour flight over to doha trying to hear airplane music through bad airplane headphones over the brr of the plane's engine.
it might be a long flight home.


it was surreal - on the way to denmark i had also a  layover in doha.

the airport and waiting lounge felt so familiar - like i was just there yesterday!!

while waiting for my flight to perth, i wandered into the bookstore and found this little nugget!!!

as if i needed any more encouragement to psycho-analyse people around me, i now know how to better read unconcious body language!! haha!!!
(please don't be scared to be friends with me)
;)

ok. so.
the coolest thing ever.

i didn't realise that you could check in 36 hours before your flight.

so 12 hours before my flight, i checked in online at my hostel.

i saw that the flight from doha to perth was full,

but i got the very last window seat at the back of the plane. 

when i gave the lady my boarding pass at the gate,

the boarding pass kept beeping and declining.

she walked away without saying anything,

and i held my breath wracking my brain for what i could possibly need to show her.

i had my student visa, my documents to prove my credible living in denmark,

my return e ticket ...

the lady came back and said 

"i'm sorry miss murray, this flight has been overbooked.

we are moving you to business class."

WHAT.

"oh, ok."

i replied timidly.

i didn't let myself think about it.

it was probably the middle section of the plane, 

the one with a bit bigger leg room.

that was cool in itself.

i didn't let my head run away with the 3E number on the ticket. 

but when i got onto the plane,

i was IN THE MOST FANCY SEAT I HAVE EVER SEEN ON A PLANE.

i don't need to go into detail boasting about what it was like,

but all i will say i reclined on a massage bed for 11 hours, listening with sound cancelling head phones to the latest mumford and sons, taylor swift and alanis morisette album.

i don't really get hungry on planes either

so i also spent 11 hours nibbling on cheese, crackers and fruit while sipping wine, tonic water and expressoes!!

oh my soul!

i was trying to stay so composed - with my personal stewardess watching me if i looked like i needed anything and calling me miss murray.

i had to go to the large toilets and do a little dance.

i alsogot a onsie and my own socks!

and then i arrived home to a family who were very ready for me.

and then i was ready to see them too.

it feels great to be back home.

yesterday, i got out my bike and rode to a strip of my favourite coffee shops.
i'd always groaned about riding the 25 minute ride  - it was too far. let's just drive.

but i realised yesterday that i did that same distance up to three times per day into the city in aarhus!
and i also remembered that a few years ago, i got into bike riding and did up my bike!
so it was smooth sailing all the way there.

it's definately a strange transition to be home again.

i went from living this crazy fun independent student traveler life in europe,
to being a sister and daughter amongst a household again
all in the space of one day.

being very intentional about living in the "present" moment, i don't let myself live in the future.
and so i didn't actually mentally prepare myself for this change.

so it's taking me some time to readjust,
particuarly when other parts of my personality flourished while i was away.

as always,

travelling shapes you.

my experiences have shaped me considerably,

and it's going to be fun to see how i can retain that shape,

and what things i am to acknowledge as wonderful but to let go of. 

i loved being in denmark.

i loved the people. as one of the more introverted type, i feel like i understood and respected their unwillingness to lay out all their cards straight away to people they didn't know yet. 

and once i gained their trust, they were the most sincere and kind hearted nationality i'd met.

i loved that.

i loved bike riding everywhere, and that there was a fat and sugar tax on everything.

i loved the diet and the love of hygge. 

i loved the natural appearance everybody had

and especially that everyone had messy wind swept hair from their bikes.

i loved the portion sizes in spain and listening to them talk their language like a song.

i would love to learn spanish as a foundation to learning french and italian.

i loved the class in france in which most take for snobbery.

i love their fine wining and dining and the breadsticks to each meal.

i love the big hearts in italy and their warm welcomes.

i love their healthy appreciation for the moderate use of food and wine 

and that they use their hands to talk.

i loved that people in all 8 countries i visited had different body and facial shapes,

and what was considered beautiful and desireable differed accordinly.

it reminded me that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder,

and since i find my beuaty in the fact God made me,

i don't have to ever achieve or strive to be something or someone i'm naturally not.

i love that universally, people are captivated by sunsets.

sunsets i see to be glimpses of the glory of God.

rich or poor, young or old, ill or healthy, party animal or nanna 

- man everywhere can be humbled by the beauty of  a sunset. 

if only they knew they were being captivated by a glimpse of God's glory.

i've learnt that locals everywhere live in their own bubble,

and that it's fun to enter into their world with them and see the world from their eyes. 

i just don't want to stay in a bubble. 

i've learnt to trust my initial reaction to things.

i can sometimes be so paralysed by indecision and the fear of missing out or making the wrong decision,

that i backtrack or take back what i say or do.

and then things get complicated. 

but travelling by myself i often just had to make decisions based on my first thoughts and then stick with it.

and it always. always. always turned out for the best. 

my perspective to accidents and mishaps due to circumstances beyond my control

is that they were ways in n which i saw God pick up the slack

and cause everything to work together for my own good.

nothing harmed me while i was away, 

nothing went wrong that we couldn't fix. 

my perspective to accidents and mishaps that were due to my lack of planning and organising skills

is that they were ways in which i experienced God's gracious gifts.

gifts of peace and confidence.

i was made confident when i felt scared,

i was reassured of his sovereignty when i felt out of my depth in what lay ahead.

i was given a peaceful mind in the moment i had to make last minute logical decisions,

and complete perfect peace as the consequences of my mistakes unfolded.

throughout my exchange experience and all my travels,

it was always tempting to be give in to pride and say

"my own hands have done this"

but it is God who gave me a scholarship that wasn't originally mine.

it is God who gave me the health and ability to travel,

the ability to write,

the ability, mind and desire to study,

it is God who worked and aligned all my friendships before I even arrived into europe,

it is God who laid out daily plans i didn't even mean to walk in that ended up bringing me so much joy.

it was something beyond my control,

it was the greatest, most unexpercted gift i've recieved.

and so i finish my last european blog by giving God all the credit,

all the thanks,

all the glory

for an incredible european adventure.

and on that note,

i officially sign off. 

i think i'm off to bike ride to the shops to see what danish food i can find. 

Psalms 66:

"shout with joy to God, all the earth!

sing the glory of His name..

come and see what God has done

how awesome his works in man's behalf..

He has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.

for you O God tested us and refined us like silver,

you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water,

but you brought us to a place of abundance..

let me tell you what he has done for me...

praise be to God who hasn't rejected my prayers

or withheld his love from me!"

:))