Back to the Beach

Today was a typical Thursday.  Class, lunch, naptime, the usual.  The most exciting thing about today meant that it was time to head back to the beach!

This weekend, a group was supposed to go on a climbing trip to Mount Olympus, but it ended up being cancelled because not enough people signed up.  I may not be the most athletic and can honestly say that I wasn't looking forward to the hiking part, but how cool would it have been to say "I climbed Mount Olympus"?  Needless to say, I was very disappointed it was cancelled.  Those who hadn't originally signed up for the Mount Olympus trip had all planned other trips to places in and around Greece:  Santorini, Rome, Barcelona, Istanbul.  As much as I would have loved to go to all of those places, I was planning on doing the Mount Olympus trip, meaning by the time that trip was cancelled, it was too late to make big plans to go with some of those other groups.

The few of us who weren't going anywhere this weekend got invited by Alex to go to his family's beach place down in Halkidiki.  (Alex is a Greek student at ACT and also works for them.  He basically shows us around, helps us out, and makes sure we all have a good time!  He's awesome and we all love him.)  Alex picked up the girls (Casey, Megan, Jade, and myself) at 6:45pm and we hit the road.  It was only about an hour trip, and it was through the gorgeous countryside with a view of the water almost the entire way.  The other three boys rode the bus and met us there.  When the girls + Alex arrived, we took a stroll through town and just relaxed at home while we waited for the others.  Everyone was starving by the time they got there, so we immediately left to get some food.  There was a little Italian place still open, so we got some fabulous pasta there.  We were all exhausted and it was super late when we finished dinner, so we went back and went straight to bed, knowing it would be a long day at the beach tomorrow!

This weekend, I learned that Halkidiki is the beach we go to, not necessarily the name of the town we stay in.  I'm not sure of the name of it, but this town may be my favorite beach town so far.  It was absolutely tiny, but it was just bustling with life.  Apparently Alex and his family have lived there for years, so he knew most everyone around town.  It was gorgeous and quaint and the people were so friendly and I absolutely fell in love.