October 22nd Delphi&Birthdays

Heya! So we went to Delphi last friday and it was pretty fun! We traveled on bus and it was about three hours there, and three hours back. Definitely not as bad as our northern greece trip, haha. Anyways, this site was really historical and it had the Gallio Inscription, which in case you didn't know...it is a non-biblical inscription that can prove that Paul was actually in Corinth at the time that Gallio was the pro-consul. So that was pretty cool :) I also got a rock for Matthew from there cause he said he wanted something from there haha! The view was so beautiful here are some pictures!

Also, today is my mom's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY :)

October 17th-28th Outlines and Papers

Ever since we got back from the Northern Greece trip, it has been homework homework, test, test, homework, homework, test, test. To say the least it's not been incredibly exciting. Although! There have been some exciting things that have happened this week. Such as, I have officially made up my mind about what I want to do in life and have picked out my classes for next semester! I am so excited to get back to the Harding campus and I am really excited about my classes! I decided to be an early education major and a math minor. Next semester I will be finishing up my gen eds and also taking an education class where I will be shadowing teachers at the academy across the street from Harding. I am suppppppppppppper excited for that! For once in my life, I can actually see where I want to be and see myself loving it! I am so excited. God has blessed me so much. That's also something else that I've been working on. I've been praying alot lately and trying to deepen my relationship for the Lord. Each day I just tell myself that it takes time to grow that relationship and that it's never going to stop growing. I've started a prayer journal and though I haven't written in it every.single.day, I've been praying more than I have ever before. Anddddddddd, other than that the little marathon is on sunday! Coming up! Woohoo! Also, I'm gonna update ya'll on our little day trip to Delphi in my next blog so look at that!

Love always,
Skye

October 13th- 16th And the Bus ride begins...Northern Greece!

So here goes the story of the longest time that I have ever spent in a traveling vehicle within four days in my whole entire life. Let's just say it was quite the adventure.

Day one: Thermopylae and Berea. The first place that we stopped was a random non-historical site (to our knowledge) where it had this HUGE statue of a lion. Ash and I took an appropriate picture of us by it trying to look scary.

You can only imagine how tall it was!

We then got back in the bus and went to Thermopylae. This is where the Battle of Thermopylae was. Elinor (a girl on the trip) gave us a detailed story of the battle and it was so crazy to be standing where they had that battle. It was a three day battle that was basically called a  "suicide mission." We stood where the gates were supposed to be and took pictures of the statues of the spartan warriers! Then we continued our travels to our first break stop where we had lunch and took a "technical break" meaning bathroom break. Then we were on the road again. Then we got to Berea! Berea was super pretty and the museum and ruins that we went to were one of my favorites. That day it started to sprinkle, and it reminded me of home. I even wore my rain jacket :) I loved this day...we got free time to just walk around the ruins and look at what we wanted. The main whole place was called Dion which was a whole sanctuary for Zues. Most of the ruins were from the 2nd century A.D. during the Roman times. What I found the most interesting was the fact that they had rules for coming to the sanctuary. Criminals were not allowed to enter it until 40 days after their crime, if someone died in your family, and also you also could not enter it within a certain amount of days. Those are just a few of the rules! I kinda find the last one a little extreme...but it's what they believed.

Day Two: Berea and Thessoloniki: So today was a lot of traveling. Basically, we left at 9 this morning from our hotel. We had to pack up all our things cause tonight we are staying in a different hotel. We spent the whole day traveling and the only historical thing that we really did was go to the Museum at Vergina. The actual location of the museum was a previous palace of Macedonia. This actually was my favorite museum that we have been to thus far but we weren't allowed to take pictures :( The museum was really dark inside and had a whole bunch of different places where they had the actual graves and burial sites of ancient leaders such as Phillip the 2nd. We were only like ten feet from where he was supposedly buried! That was pretty awesome and surreal. The musesum was very unique and instead of just looking at pictures or statues or countless peices of pottery, we were able to see more than that.

After the museum the rest of the day was just traveling. We stopped to have lunch in this little town that had one place to eat. Everything else was closed! It was interesting. So the sign said that it had pizza...but when we asked if we could have pizza the waitress looked at us as if we were crazy. So that was a fail. Instead I ordered a burger...which literally was just a burger, no buns or anything. Haha...but it was okay. I ate most of it. Then, Ashlee and I had to go to the bathroom. Well, we were in for a surprise. The toilets were holes in the floor. Therefore that was an interesting experience. I won't go into detail, but you can only imagine how difficult that was. I'll try to post a picture of the toilet haha :) Then later on we went to the museum in Thessoloniki I think...The part that I enjoyed was the marketplace that was reconstructed. It reminded me of our VBS that we do each year, so I liked that...I also liked the graves and skeletons (but I don't even know if I believe that they are real).

as you can imagine...this was difficult

Day three:  Also, we visited the place where Lydia was baptized in Acts 17! This was my most favorite place...it was so incredibly beautiful. We sang a few songs, and Dr. Manor read the bible to us and honestly it was one of my most favorite places that we have been to thus far. It was indescribably beautiful/stunning/gorgeous. And it was the most perfect fall day of my life. Perfect. Then later that night, Ashlee, Skylar, Kalie and I walked around the town and talked to some of the Greeks. It was a really fun night :)

me and ash at the creek of lydia's baptism :)

some ruins in pella

bridge at lydias baptism

look how beautiful it was...perfect right?

Day four: Today was the ride home! We stopped and looked at the ruins in Pella. In 168 B.C. Alexander the Great created a great empire here. The city was by the sea and actually was abandoned after Thessaloniki until the 20th century when it was excavated. The museum here was actually super boring.  The acropolis here was built to protect the citadel from the Sea during the Byzantine times. The Turks eventually came and occupied the city.

October 8th-10th! Barcelona :)

Hola! New country, new language! Yo muy emocionante y nerviosa! So apparently there were a lot of threats about traveling in Europe. So it was a little scary traveling...but we made it and had a blast! Let me tell ya :) So about 16 of from the whole group decided to go to Barcelona this weekend. The other people from HUG either went to Kalavrita (a ski island in greece), Santorini (the island we went to on our cruise), and the others went to Austria (to go on the Sound of Music tour). So, we had the biggest group going to Barcelona. Our flight went into Rome and we had a layover there for a few hours. Let me tell ya, airports here in Europe are not the same. First of all, there are not bathrooms every 100 feet...you have to search! It was slightly ridiculous, but we made it :p

Once we got to Barcelona, our group of 16 split in two. Six of us girls went one place, and the other ten went to another place. (We got different hostels in different parts of the city). So in my group was Lydia, Emily Woods (there are three emily's), Samantha Kiser (three samantha's), Kaitlyn, and Rachel. It was a pretty diverse but really good group! We finally figured out which train that would take us to the metro (very confusing). Then, when we got to the metro area, there are about four lines that you can catch, and within in that, different lines. So it was sooooooo confusing. So, we decided to work up the courage to ask someone. The two ladies that we asked literally walked us all the way to the other line so that we could get there. There was a bit of a language barrier because we soon found out that Barcelonians don't necessarily speak "spanish." Instead, they speak catalounian which is a mix of spanish and french. Therefore, it was a bit of a challenge. But after about fifteen minutes of them directing us, we figured it out. Then when we were on our way to the town of our hostel! Once we get to the town, we have to find our hostel. Which was another adventure in itself. So we start walking and somehow, we passed the street that we were supposed to turn on. After about ten minutes of wondering, we decided that since we lucked out last time, might as well ask someone again! So we saw these two older couples and approached them. We asked them if they spoke english but they said no, only catalounian and french. So we tried to communicate via spanish and ended up that they too led us to exactly where we needed to go! I don't know how we lucked out both times but us six girls must have looked very tired and confused enough for nice people to help us :) So finally we checked in, and grabbed some dinner (another interesting experience) and went to bed cause we were exhausted!

me, samantha, lydia, rachel, kaitlyn

me, lydia, and emily :)

in front of some gaudy work :)

a fountain :)

some structure in the park

some gaudy work !

park

park

park

park

park

park with the infamous aligator that everyone wanted a pic with

park

fountain where it was supposed to have a show but didn't

The next morning we woke up early (crazy...i know right?..um not my idea by the way). The group wanted to go on some of the free walking tours that they give in the city of Barcelona. So we grabbed some breakfast, walked to the metro and headed to Las Ramblas (the main street in Barcelona). We walked around for a bit, and saw some really pretty buildings! Once we were on Las Ramblas, I knew that we were in Spain!! Then we joined the walking tour and learned a lot about the Gaudy architecture all around the city. (By the way this was the first time we were on a tour that we didn't have to take notes, so of course i didn't! but i do remember some of it :) Anyways, the Gaudy tour was so beautiful and the buildings were astonishing. After the tour we spent the rest of the day walking around the rest of the city and window shopping and eating ice cream (of course).  We also went to the Gaudy park....which was so beautiful and amazing :) Then we went to what was supposed to be a fountain show that had lights...but apparently there was no water in it and so they didn't have the show. It was disappointing but instead we just sat on the steps and people watched for about an hour. It was really fun/funny :)

The next day we did another tour. This one was actually my favorite, however it got interupted with the fact that Lydia and I had to pee so badly! It was awful, so we had to skip out on the last half of the tour. Then the rest of the day we just walked around again and window shopped.  We went to the market, starbucks (yay), and saw the other group of students a few times. I also bought a scarf (as always haha). That night our group of six split into groups of threes and we all did something different. My group just walked to another part of town and ate dinner and relaxed for a few hours just sitting and talking. It was a really good night!

Then in the morning we had to leave and that was another experience. We were able to get to the metro (by this time we were experts) but once we got to the main line, we had no idea where we were supposed to go to get to the airport. We got to the right place after about 30 minutes of looking. Then we had to wait another twenty minutes for our train to get there. However, the train we got on was the WRONG train! I was so scared cause I thought we would for sure miss our flight. The train we were on apparently was going to another city and we were not sure if it was going to stop before it got there! But thankfully it did, so we got off ASAP. Then we caught the right one, and made it to the airport on time. This plane ride seemed to be longer than the last...but we finally got there with Dr. James ready to take us back "home." It was a long and tiring trip, but well worth it :)

October 4th-7th...Lazy relaxing days.

There is really nothing to say about these days other than the fact that we are going to classes, as usual. Other than that, I am just getting ready to go to Barcelona, Spain for our long weekend of travel! I am super excited, and hopefully gonna be able to use some of my spanish that I took four years of in highschool :) Other than that, it is the same ole' same ole'. Missing people from home and excited to see them in ten weeks and share my stories :) Love you all!

October 3rd Cruise: Crete and Santorini!

Again we woke up early this morning (last night i didn't stay up as late, so it was a little easier). Now we were on the island of Crete! This was the home of the Minoan civilization in 3000-1100 B.C. On this island, we visited Knossos and the Labyrinth. This was probably my least favorite only because of our tour guide. She went super fast and I couldn't really understand her. Plus I wasn't feeling very good, but I tried to just enjoy the scenery while I was there instead of listening to her as much as I could...Anyways.The palace of Knossos was discovered by Arthur Evans. It was one of three palaces in the area, but none were as great as Knossos. It was destroyed twice by fire and earthquake, but the civilization still remained! The Labyrinth was in the palace of Knossos where the Minotaur lived (so goes mythology). Anyways, at this place I liked the scenery and the coolest thing that was there were the HUGE pots! Like they were HUGEEE! I took a picture of them. I don't know how people crafted those...it's just crazy! I also liked the frescos here...and that's about it for the history part. We were able to go into the city for only about 40 minutes. So of course, we got ice cream (like we do on every island). And we walked around just window shopping. It was fun :)

me and ash at the palace :)

shopping...what a candid shot!

part of the palace of knossos

huge bowls!!!

cool fresco with bad refelction...

 

me in the city of crete :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you can see the numbers on the steps...they never end!

NEXT & LAST STOP: SANTORINI!! Ah, this island was so much crazy fun and the most beautiful island I HAVE EVER SEEN! Seriously...you would die. Okay. A little history on it. So apparently there was this huge volcano explosion, and so therefore in order to actually get to the island, we had to take a boat from the ship, and then once we got to the land, we had to either take a cable car, walk over 500 steps, or ride a donkey up the steps to get to where the actual community is! So of course for cultural experience, I rode the donkey :) That was the best part of the trip :) There is no real historical significance to the island so we didn't have to take notes which was awesome! So while I was on the donkey, it was interesting. First of all, I had shorts on so and my donkey was hooked to the donkey in front of me who was being led by about a 15 year old boy who worked there...he kept yelling at the donkeys in front of him if they didn't move. And, it took probably at least 20 minutes to get to the top. As I said, I had shorts on, and my knee kept bumping the butt of the donkey in front of me...I was so worried that it was going to poop on my knee! But I kept trying to keep my knee out of the way...haha. I was successful...but barely...eek! Haha. So once we got to the top, Ash and I started taking pictures, then we looked at the shops, and I got something there for each of my girl friends :) I was super excited about that! Also, we got icecream (of course..) This was my favorite ice cream that I have had...but honestly I don't remember the name of it. I think it had caramel or something. Anyways so we just walked around and it was beautiful :) I'll let the pictures tell the rest!

me in a cute lil street :)

AMAZING sunset :)

i told you it was beautiful beyond words...

right???

oh, the donkey ride!! hahahah

:)

me and ash in front of the beautiful view :)

ice cream as always :)

just admiring the view :)

again :)

this is the boat we had to take in order to get on the island...that is conor and kari by me :)

October 2nd Cruise: Turkey and Patmos!

So we had to wake up super early today once we arrived to Turkey! Therefore, since staying up late the night before (of course, we are on a cruise!!), I didn't even shower. Thank goodness before we left for the cruise, I had bought a hat, so therefore I wore my Greece hat to Turkey! Hahah. So I can basically say that I am in LOVE with Turkey. It was a blast! Our tour guide was so cute and funny. She would spell out words that she didn't think we knew in a cute little accent. Like the word cotton. "C-O-double T-O-N." Haha...we loved her. 

We learned that Turkey is composed of 99% Muslim people, and there is 1% that is either Christian or Jewish. Honestly, after my trip here, I feel like it is a place where I would love to do some mission work some day. We will see what God has in store for me, but I would love to go back someday and help make a difference in those crazy percentages :)

So the first place that we go to here is the ancient city of Ephesus from the 2nd century A.D. Which was amazing. First of all, it was really early in the morning, so the morning air, and sun just peaking out made the scenery beautiful! We walked through the whole ancient city. It was marvelous. I will talk about some of the things that stick out to me the most. First of all, the temple of Hadrian. He was a Roman Emperor who dedicated the temple to his lover (who was a man...yikes!). I also loved the ancient gates that we saw...I couldn't believe that they were still there. Wooden ones were beautiful! The Library was so huge, I couldn't even believe that that much of the ruins had been left of it! This is also where Paul would have been, which was amazing! Paul was standing where I was...wow. The library was the most important structure that was there in this city. One of my favorite parts here was when we sang in the theater of Ephesus. It is the biggest in Asia Minor and could sit 25,000 people. We sang some church songs, and Dr. Manor read some of the bible to us...the sound was amazing.

After we got done touring the ancient city, we went off to go to the city in Turkey. I don't remember the name of the city (sorry...i will try to figure it out). When we got there we went to a carpet shop. In case you do not know, Turkey is very famous for it's carpets and they are super expensive! We went to the upstairs of the store, the turkish owners and workers of the store had a whole presentation for us! That was really cool. Also, a tradition in Turkey is when you visit someone, they have to offer you a drink. So they gave us some warm Apple Tea...it was so delicious :) They talked about all their carpets. Apparently women work on them in their homes, and takes them MONTHS! just to make one carpet...and they barely get paid sqaut for it...it's crazy. Some people bought some carpets...and the people were really pushy for us too..but they were way to expensive. Like, $100 for just a really small one. Also, how the heck would you get it home? So I said no to that. 

All the girls at the Hadrian Temple :)

Kalie, Skylar, Ashlee and I in front of the Library at Ancient Ephesus

Ash and I shopping in Turkey :)

But after that we were free to travel around the city as we pleased until we were supposed to get back on the ship. So that gave us about a little over an hour to tour. This was my favorite part! The city was crazy. As you walk down the street, everyone is yelling at you (not meanly) but in order to get your attention to come into their store! Haha... so we went to a few. Ash and I bought some super pretty scarves for only 5 euros! Then, we went to this one shop and totally bargained! It was such a fun experience. We got a jersey (for her friend) that was originally 48 euros for only 10 euros....hahahah. She is good at bargaining. Also, all the men on the streets were saying how pretty we are and one said that I looked like Brittany Spears. (Uhm, I didn't really take that as a compliment...but yeah). Also! There was a Starbucks! Yes! Starbucks in Turkey :) Haha...but we didn't go. Then on the way back to the boat, we ran into this guy who was trying to sell us perfume. We didn't even want perfume but he kept insisting and we kept saying no. He wanted 25 euro for each bottle. Okay, so for something that we don't even want, we are NOT going to pay that much. So we kept saying no, but then he kept trying to put it in our bags. So we kept handing it back. We kept saying that we didn't have enough money and that we only had 5 euro each. So finally he was so ticked that he just handed us the bottle and I just gave him a 5 euro. He was ticked but hey....we didn't even want it in the first place :P Ah...that was one of my most favorite experiences. I LOVE BARGAINING! If only I could do that in the states...haha :)

Then we got back on to the ship, and sailed to the island of Patmos! This was also a very pretty island. In 95 A.D. St. John was in Ephesus during the Christian Persecution, and came to the island of Patmos as a prisoner. He stayed  here for 18 months and wasn't allowed to leave. He came to this cave that we were able to visit to worship and pray everyday. This is also where he had the vision of the seven letters. I thought this was really cool and I loved the designs and frescos (paintings) that were there. They were from the 17th and 18th centuries and were so pretty. Also, we saw a monk just outside the cave, and my friend Mandy talked to him for a while haha :)

Me and ash with our scarves from Turkey :)

some architecture

cute little window :)

this is one of the awesome frescos :)

me in front of some bells :) ahaha