The End is Near

Well, it's sad to say, but tomorrow we are heading home =(

I can't even begin to explain how happy I am that I decided to come on this trip. I feel like I have grown so much as a person. I've tried lots of new things and opened up to new people. Best of all, I have experienced more in the past three weeks then most people will get the chance to in their life. This trip truly has been a once in a lifetime opportunity.

While Greece has been no Switzerland for me, I have had a lot of fun here. Seeing Olympia, the site of the Ancient Olympic Games was amazing. And even though there was just a bunch of fallen rocks and you had to use your imagination, it gave me the chills to walk through the tunnel into the ancient stadium and stand on the starting blocks.

Getting to spend the afternoon in the pool in Olympia was incredible despite everyone making fun of my swimming and Professor Ryan's cannonball made my trip!

The bus ride back to Athens was incredibly long, but much safer than the trip there. Robert made our driver, Hercules, take a flatter path than straight down the mountain!! Pulling into downtown Athens was interesting...we saw a giant protest going on and I was ready to leave before we got there!

During our stay in Athens, we have gotten to see the Zappion, named after Evangelis Zappas who created his own version of the Olympics before Coubertin. We also saw the 1896 and 2004 Olympic stadiums. It was really cool to see the contrast between the two.

My favorite part was definitely climbing up the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. The view was incredible. We even got to stand on the rock where St. Paul preached.

Tonight we had our last dinner together and it was a riot as usual. We ate so much and laughed even more. I'm really going to miss these three hour dinners...I guess I'm going to have to learn to eat slower at home!

Hoping for safe travels,
Ashley