we don't have computers in our tents....

sorry that its been a few days since i've blogged. we were basically traveling for 2days straight, which i'll talk more about in a minute, and then haven't really had much access to the internet seeing as we've been camping this week :) so now that i have that out of the way let me tell you what we've been up to.... we are in paros, greece right now. when we left rome we took a train to bari, italy which is on the other side of italy. that was a 5 hr ride where this beautiful guy named salvatore totally was digging sarah. but he only spoken italian and like 5 english words. it was funny though because i was able to understand most of what he was saying thru his hand gestures and stuff like that. so he would say something and then i would basically translate to sarah :) but he was a soccer player for a 2nd division professional italian team (or so he said) and his team name was brindisi coucha (i don't know if thats spelled right, but i'm just sounding it out) so that was kind of fun. so once we landed in bari in the afternoon we waited for a few hours and then boarded a gigantic ferry boat to head to patros, greece. this boat ride was 14.5 hours and we had a "deck" seat which meant we literally slept on the deck and our seat was a plastic deck chair. so sarah and i bunked down straight up on the dirty floor in our sleep sheet. but it was soooo loud and the vibration from the engine made my nose itch all night (random i know) so i didn't fall asleep till after 3am sometime..... so it was an experience to say the least ;)

we met a guy named stephen from edwardsville, IL which was fun. and he was headed to the train station just like us once we got off the boat. so we just followed him. and as he was at the ticket gate asking for trains to athens the lady told himi that the train right outside was headed there and it was free so he should run to it. so we started running after him and he jumped on the train and it CLOSED!!! i kept hitting the open button but it started pulling away. so we waved by and thought we'd have to weight hours for the next train. but then a lady that works in the office started yelling at the training conductor and told us to start running to catch the train. so picture me with my huge pack on my back and my small backpack on my front, in flip flops running to catch a moving train..... yeah, quality :) but they stopped the train and we were able to hop on. it was seriously histarical!!!! so that was a 5 hour ride...... i hope you're keeping track of how much we are traveling in a row b/c it was insane.

so we arrive in athens and all 3 of us head to the port because sarah and i need to get another ferry ticket from patros to paros which is one of the little greek islands. stephen was heading to crete so we parted ways. so we were actually able to get a ferry ticket for that night, so we had a couple hours to waste and eat dinner since the only thing i'd eaten all day was some oregano flavored chips.... yum. so then this boat ride was another 5 hrs. but we weren't out on the deck this time. we were on 2 little red swivel chairs in a 50's looking dinner inside the ferry. very random..... but whatev, it got us to where we needed to go :)

we landed in paros, greece at about 2:30am without a place to stay.... but sarah has a friend from chicago who is from paros and he used to work at this camping place called Camping Koula. and he said people would be standing outside the port with signs. and low and behold there were!!! so we stayed there the first night we arrived (which was the 15th - sarah's bday!!). so my first time EVER camping was in greece, which is pretty cool :) and it soooooo cheap to stay in tents. and not to shabby at all. i mean, its just a tent and since we have our sleep sacks we are all set. and we just padlock the zippers when we leave. its just that easy :) so basically the last few days we've just been sleeping in and then heading to the beach for a few hours (but i don't seem to be getting any more color so i think my freckley bod-ay has maxed out on darkness. hahaha. and i'm not even that tan.... oh well). then last night we headed into town to eat. the food in soooo great and i eat a greek salad at just about every meal b/c i'm so excited for vegetables!!!! and i also had a lamb kebab pita last night and i really liked it. it was my first time eating lamb so i'm trying to try new things and i'm loving it all. so the dinner was going great and then all of a sudden sarah goes, "oh my gosh there's a cat!!" so i dramatically get out of my chair (b/c its outdoor seating) and hop down the steps to get away. and the cat is straight up in my spot!!!!! and sarah is just laughing, as she continues to eat mind you, and i'm like "i'm done. i don't cerrrr, i'm not going back up there!!!" so after having other greek people laugh at me as they leave the place, i finally went and asked the waitress to move the cat because i was scared. lame i know, but i can't help it!!! so she tried but the cat came right back. so then this other guy came over and kicked the chair and it scurried away but ANOTHER freaking cat also popped out of another chair!! i was like, what the flip!?!?!?! so i basically just scarfed down my food to get the stink out of there. so gross!!!!! but i figured everyone who has experience my cat phobia before will get a kick out of that one :)

sorry, i realize this is getting long..... but there is more to tell :)

so then after the cat place we met up with these 2 guys. the guy that sarah is friends with back in chicago has family who still lives in paros. so we went out with his brother billy, and cousin abi. it was nice of them to show us around and whatnot, but the language barrier got a little old. b/c abi spoke pretty good english, but after him or billy said anything i would basically have to translate it to sarah, who couldn't seem to understand anything ;) it was pretty stinking funny! and yesterday was sarah's 24th birthday, whoop whoop! so they wanted to party..... and partying really isn't my scene. but i took one for the team b/c sarah LOVES to go dancing. so i went along, with a smile on my face the whole time. but i didn't dance. the place was full of 14 year olds and i just can't do it.... hahah! but it was ridicuously fun to watch sarah and the guys! but towards the end of the night the guys didn't really seem to understand why i didn't want to dance.... so that got a little old. plus it was 3:30 and i was super tired. so we headed home. and thankfully a bus was willing to take us close to our camping site b/c the next scheduled bus was 5:15am...... so all in all it worked out and sarah had a good time which is all that matters! :)

soooooo, i think those are the highlights from the last few days. tonight we are getting crepes for a treat because we didn't have any dessert yesterday to celebrate sarah's bday so i'm super pumped for that!!!!

we're not sure how long we are going to stay here.... maybe a few more days. or we might go to another island. but for me, a beach is a beach. so i'd rather just stay here but we'll see :)

oh yeah, i decided that i'm coming home on september 17th!!!! so i'll be back in one month from tomorrow. WHOOP WHOOP!!!! :)

i hope this blog makes sense...... i've kind of been typing fast. :)