For me, spring break isn't about the beach, the sun, or big fruity cocktails- it's about near death experiences. Sure, relaxing can be fun, but if you've got the chance to go careening off of a 500 foot cliff, I think you've got to take it. That's what studying abroad is all about, right? Taking risks, being crazy, letting go. And, of course, riding donkeys.
In spite of all that, I'd say our trip started out normally enough. We took a ferry from Athens to Santorini, a little island in the middle of the Mediterranean. Coming in on the ferry, the island almost looks like snow-covered mountains, but in reality the “snow” is hundreds of white buildings. It's pretty incredible.
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| Coming into town |
The first thing we did (after eating, obviously) was hit the beach. It was only about 65 degrees, but we got in our swimsuits and began tanning. We didn't really stop until the sun went down the next day. Even though it wasn't that warm, that much sunlight after a few months in Prague shocked my system. I thought that after living in Arizona for three years I'd be immune to sunburn. I was wrong.
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| It's kind of pretty here. |
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| The beach. Nice. |
We would've kept tanning for the rest of the trip, but sadly this wasn't an option. The weather fell to 55 degrees, and it was windy and rainy. I was stuck with my reddish-orange two day tan, which I'm happy to report I'm still peeling off. It was worth it, though. Besides, it's fun to rub skin flakes on other people. They generally don't react positively.
Anyway, if we couldn't hang out at the beach as often, we had to do something else, right? Hey, how about we rent ATVs and zip around the island? Yeah, that sounds great to me!
I'll admit it- I've only ridden on an ATV once, and I don't feel safe on them at all. As in, I don't feel great about riding in a parking lot, with no one else around. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to be on the island's main road, cars whizzing by us every few seconds. And look, now it's raining! That only adds to the enjoyment one gets from flying around hairpin turns on incredibly steep cliffs. Not to mention, the roads are nice and narrow. That's because gigantic tour buses like a little challenge when they have to pass by an ATV. How close can you get without crushing the tourists and sending them hurtling over the ledge? Woops, Fred, looks like I lost! But watch that thing flying through the air- I bet it's a good hundred feet out from land! That's a real fine piece of work, right there.
Needless to say, there was no way in hell I was getting behind the wheel of one of these things. But the person driving me, who happened to be a bit of a farm girl, seemed not to have a care in the world. Her philosophy was to see how fast she could get the vehicle to go. The answer: fast enough to completely terrify me. This was one of those times where I didn't think I was going to die- I knew it. Here it is. My death. Not exactly how I envisioned it, but there could be worse ways to go. Look around- I'm going to perish on a picturesque Greek island. That's not so bad. What about the funeral? I bet a lot of people will show. They'll be devastated. Kids who I went to elementary school with will reappear just to say goodbye to me. I tried to think of last words that I could type into my phone, but nothing came to me. Besides, I couldn't bring myself to pry my hands away from the support bars. So there would be no last words if anyone went through my text messages. Just a grocery list.
I didn't just accept death, I was resigned to it. But somehow, miraculously, I didn't kick the bucket. We visited a few of the small towns on the island, looked at the shops, ate gelato and gyros. And I was still alive. Amazing. The way back was no better, but I made it. I promised I would never get on an ATV for the rest of my life. I had been spared, and I needed to be grateful. Plus, I absolutely hate ATVs. (Unsurprisingly, when my friends wanted to rent ATVs a couple days later, I went with them. I have no willpower. And I didn't want to be alone all day. Pathetic, I know.)
While one near death experience is nice, three are better. Near death experience #2 was on a boat ride in the Mediterranean. We got to go out to a volcanic island and walk around on it, which was very cool. But when we got back on our boat, suddenly the waters turned choppy. The boat would ride up a wave at a 45 degree angle, and then come crashing down over it, drenching everyone on deck. For some reason, I was less scared of this than the ATVs. It reminded me of one of those Splash Mountain type rides at an amusement park. I guess it was surreal enough not to be scary.
Next, the boat took us to a “hot springs” area. The only problem was that we had to stop a hundred meters before the springs, and then swim to them. I'm a fairly good swimmer, so no big deal. I got down to my swimsuit, prepared to jump off the boat with a few other brave souls, and I realize that it's freezing. This is before I jumped in. Well, it's now or never. I jumped and HOLY SHIT it's cold and my mouth is full of salt water. Christ, make it to the springs. Just make it there. I start swimming like crazy and have two revelations- 1) I haven't swam laps in years and 2) I am out of shape. This combination, along with the freezing water, did not bode well for me. I tried to keep my head above to prevent any more salt water from getting in my eyes and mouth, but eventually I gave up, and went full speed ahead. When I finally got to the hot springs, let me tell you- they were lukewarm at most. And that was fantastic. The fifteen minutes in there passed by way too quickly. Then, we had to swim back to the boat, and going from hot to cold might've been even worse. I got on the boat and toweled off, but I was shaking. I dressed, put a coat on, had my hood up and everything. And I could not get warm. The boat came back into the dock and my teeth were still chattering. It was a good two hours before my body temperature returned to normal.
After surviving ATVs and pneumonia, I was beginning to feel invincible. But I shouldn't have been so confident, because the next thing I knew, I was riding a donkey. I wouldn't normally have a problem with riding one, but again, I'm going along 500 foot cliffs with an unstable animal. We went higher and higher along this winding walkway, and I swear my donkey was drunk. He would swerve from one side of the walkway to the other, bringing me right up to the edge and threatening to throw me off. Then suddenly, he would break into a sprint up the stairs. He also liked to get us close to the wall (which was only a couple feet high in most places) so my leg would be crushed between the donkey and the stone. Ow.
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| Asses. |
Once the two hour ride up ended (slight exaggeration), I hopped off, still mostly intact. I walked up the last few stairs, dodging donkeys all the way. One donkey started walking directly towards me. I barely avoid it and BAM, I feel like I just got hit by Ray Lewis. I see stars. What the hell was that? “Oh sorry,” says some British person. I slowly put it together- I just took a knee to the temple. Christ.
But I even made it through the Grade 1 concussion. And yes, while Greece almost killed me, I had some fun times there, too. Our hostel was beautiful, more like a hotel or a resort than anything. There was a 24 hour bakery that served amazing bread and baklava and huge donuts the size of pies. I swear those donuts were crafted by the hands of God. I ate the most delicious lamb gyros I've ever had, and I ate a lot of them. I hung out at the beach, hiked a little, and got a nice tan. I drank Ouzo with the Greeks. I watched the sun rise and the moon hang over the sea.
And I even lived to tell the story.
