Elias is here for a few days. He rented a van & drove us around the island yesterday, it was really beautiful. The drive there reminded me of ocean drive. We went to this old castle overlooking the ocean and a couple of islands; then had dinner at a restaurant in the town where he was born. He also took us by a winery and we got to sample wine, [the best I've had since I've been here], and watch them bottle it.

The weather has been really strange. Usually there will be a thunderstorm in the morning, then it'll be sort of sunny for awhile, but as soon as the sun goes down, sporadic thunderstorms come back. We have what seems like a lot of work due in the upcoming 2 weeks or so-but I know it's just because they've hardly given us any all semester. I won't say how much I have to do in case Danielle is reading this, because her skull would probably explode in jealousy. My dad is painting my room right now, and apparently I'm getting a new carpet too. Probably gray, so it won't show very much dirt [and because Dad tells me it's impossible to match blue walls with a blue carpet].
Pictures! From the castle we went to, me sitting on the wall, Nick at the top, a guy bottling wine

Charlotte's sister comes tomorrow, so we'll probably take her to the usual places [the wine bar, the margarita club, the beach, Rhodes City]. Charlotte is thinking about renting a car too, so maybe we'll drive around the island. Margot is also coming to visit us the week after that. Somewhere in there I will have to find time to write my 2 papers. I can't believe I'm in the final stretch of my stay. I got a card from my mom today, with some pictures of the Ya-Ya christmas card photo shoot, that was nice :) Last night we had a white trash/country western party, that was pretty fun. Jen and Becky have a theme party every Wednesday. So far we've had a gangster party, halloween party, a pirate party & this last one. I got to take a hot shower today! That was nice.
Oh! And I ate an apple with peanut butter the other day. I didn't even gag!
Some more pictures: me & charlotte after being so bored we drew all over each other with marker, a boat in turkey, me on a turkish playground, me on a random moped annnnd me with the kitty we sort of adopted. Charlotte and I call her Peanut Butter.

I am thinking I should have brought some more winter clothes. I've adjusted to the heat so much that 60 degrees feels frigid to me! Charlotte and I booked our flight to Paris today, so I'm pretty excited about that. We leave on November 28th and come back early Sunday morning, so we'll be there for her birthday instead of Thessaloniki. I'm disappointed we can't see Margot and Jenna on her birthday, but the prices to fly within Greece are insane. For that much money, I feel like I should be seeing another country. So now I will be! :) Not too much else to report. Charlotte's sister is coming to stay with us over her Thanksgiving break. See you all in 40 days.

this is charlotte as me on halloween, our street going towards the beach, some really old jewelry and me [as hermione granger] and april [an OC girl] on halloween

These are some more pictures of my room, the view from my balcony and a battleship I saw in Kos that made me think of Dad.

random pictures!

this is me jumping off a cliff in lindos, me in front of a lighthouse in turkey, and part of my room. I'm trying to add more.

I guess it's about time I updated this again. I finally went to Old Town to buy some Christmas presents, and booked my flight to Italy. Then found out I have $950 in my account. Which means I can't spend more than 10 euro a day, for the next 50 days. Oi. Actually it's more like 13 euro, but I'm trying to account for ridiculous ATM charges. I haven't booked my trip to Paris yet, and was planning on going to Thessaloniki for Charlotte and Jenna's birthday, but it looks like my bank account is going to bottom out before I get a chance to do either of those things. That really sucks.
I can't believe it's finally November. October felt like it was going to last forever. Although it still doesn't even feel like fall here. We had about a week of chilly/windy/rainy weather, and then it stopped. Now it's just a little hazy, and back to mid-70s. I'm missing New England fall, especially Halloween. Last night we dressed up and hung out in Jen & Becky's room. Costumes included: Medusa, Bob Dylan, 50s woman, Jackie O, a mummy, an m&m, an OC girl, Hermione Granger [me] and Maggie Sullivan-Charlotte dressed up as me. We got souvlaki, came back and ate candy corn and watched Harry Potter.
I can't believe we really booked the flight to Italy. I'm going to see Da Vinci's Last Supper in person. I'm a little disappointed we aren't going to make it to Rome though, but at least I'll see some of the country. It's ridiculous how expensive it is to get off of this island.
I haven't really been doing too much. Mostly watching a lot of movies and trying to look up cheap flights out of here.
I feel like I'm doing better in Modern Greek, but my Minoan and Mycenaean history and Hellenistic Rhodes feel like a lot of stuff I'm never going to use. I'm a little nervous about the papers I'm supposed to write, because some of the kids have background in this [History majors or general interest] but I don't at all.
I found out my guinea pig Stella died the day my mom flew home, that was really sad. But I'm almost glad I wasn't there for it, I hate watching them when they're sick or dying, it's awful. My dad wants to get a girl, since "Dora" is actually a boy. I hope they do, 2 babies would be so cute and I'd actually be home in time to see them be born.

Charlotte and I went to Kos and Turkey a few weeks ago. Kos is really pretty, and very tiny. It's only a 3 or 4 hour ferry ride away, depending on which kind of boat you take. We stayed in a nice, and pretty cheap hotel which actually had a tv with a channel in English! We caught the end of the Da Vinci Code. We got up the next morning, took a taxi down to where our ferry got in and bought a ticket for a boat that said it was going to Bodrum. Somehow, we ended up in Turgutreis, which is about 45 minutes from Bodrum. We couldn't figure out if the boat company made a mistake taking us there, or if they just lied to us, which happens sometimes in Greece. Some of them will do anything to get a sale.
So we walk over to one group of people, and some man with a clipboard is telling them that the bus to Bodrum is coming at 11:30 and if they want to come, to wait at a nearby restaurant. Charlotte and I decide we're going to crash this party, so we wait, and hop on these tiny busses. Our bus is full of people that I think are speaking German, but I'm not catching even small phrases of what they're saying. They drive us up to a point overlooking a harbor and we take some pictures, still not having any idea where we are or when we're getting to Bodrum. Our tour guide gets on the bus and starts speaking in what I think is German, but I can't understand him either. Charlotte is baffled that I took 3 years of German and can't decipher a word these people are saying. I try to explain Rogers and Frau Daly to her.
They take us to a Gold Center, which is basically a bizarre, super expensive jewelry store. We held $8,000 necklaces and they served us orange juice. There was a ball pit that I wanted to go in, but Charlotte told me I was too big. Killjoy. There we found out that we were actually in a Dutch tour group. They realized we spoke English, and we lied & said we were Canadien. We drank some Turkish tea, which is good at first but has a very bitter aftertaste, and then they took us to Bodrum and gave us a few hours to shop. It's got a huge harbor, there were literally hundreds of boats lined up. I didn't buy much, but it was a pretty entertaining day. We came back to Kos and walked around, ate awesome pesto pasta for really cheap, and went back to the hotel.
It was nice to get a weekend away from Soroni and from everyone in the house. I like everyone, but having time away gives us something new to talk about. A couple other people went to Kos last weekend, and Megan and Lauren are leaving tomorrow.
That's pretty much all that's new with me here. Oh, I washed my sheets. Ok, that's really it.