La vita è bella!

Before I left for Greece every time I told an Italian that I was going there they would say "buona Grecia!" which means literally- "good Greece!" It's common in Italian to just stick this adjective in front of a noun or verb to make it into a statement of encouragement or a kind of blessing- in this case as if to say "have a good time in Greece!" Which is not a crazy difference from the English language but one I like- clear and succinct. Just saying so you aren't confused if I come back and yell "good study", "good run" or if you should opt for a vacation to Santorini "good Greece" to you. Here are some pictures of the trip- seriously one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!

the first salt water i'd seen in a long, long time-
can not tell you how ecstatic i was!

i had a 6 hour layover in Thessaloniki, Greece
before going to Athens where I met my friend Anja
and from there we joined our friend Amanda
in Milos- a lot of traveling but i'd take this
layover again in a heartbeat

grilled corn- sooo good! product of missing american barbecues

just some mini ponies hanging out in the park

The island of Milos was much smaller then Santorini, which was the next stop, but it was a great place to start. There was a sleepy downtown and some really nice locals, including the owner of the place we stayed in- Demetrius- who picked us up from the airport and gave us little bottles of wine when we left! Apparently the busy season doesn't start until the end of June so it was very crowded. We were among 5 people at the first beach we went to which was GORGEOUS, and it was so warm but not unbearably hot so it felt pretty perfect! Note: if you ever want to visit the Greek islands do it the first week of June

our mode of transportation in Milos- so fun!

first beach! after a 25 minute scooter/atv ride through hills
and feeling like we were in the middle of no where this
little gem popped up!

so happy!

making Greek salad for lunch, we ate A LOT of feta cheese
over the next 5 days!

so good to be reunited again, especially in Greece! Anja
(on the left) just finished studying for the year in Lyon, France and
Amanda was nearly done with her semester in Copenhagen, Denmark!

the balcony from our room! beautiful and
remarkably affordable! can i get an amen?

this beach was more happenin- families were out there, music
playing and a little beach shack with drinks

a sample of traditional Greek dishes- looks pretty
adventurous eh? it was all delicious!

So when we arrived in Santorini after taking the ferry we got slightly lost looking for our hotel... it consisted of several stops along a road carrying all our luggage in the heat, an iced mocha so that we could sit on these couches at a cafe, being so pumped we had finally found the place only to discover it was the wrong one, the owner of our place calling Anja and speaking in Greek to the woman of the wrong hotel in order to help figure out where we were and finally backtracking to meet her up the road at the police station so she could walk us to the place! The whole thing was quite comical in the end, probably because there were so many exasperating/nearly melting down moments along the way! But the place we stayed at was great and Santorini in general absolutely incredible! There were more people there and tons of beaches, as well as the beautiful white buildings and blue domes that you've seen in the movies- such a fun couple of days!

said mocha- really, really worth it

there is a little city called Oia where you go to watch the sunset
so we staked out a place on a cliff there- it was seriously breathtaking!

and brought a picnic! we are big fans of the picnic- cheap
college students

so wish these pictures captured it a little better but you get the idea!

swimming! we did a lot of that, and laying on the beach!

this beach was was called Kamari was also really fun because
there was a boardwalk above the shore that was lined with
booths and restaurants with shaded seating overlooking
the water!

most of the beaches didn't have sand but instead little stones
which made the ground warmer and though i like sand i was
actually a fan of the stones
note: all you opposed to the beach because of sand sticking
to you- find a beach like this and you'll love it!

love these girls!

how could i not?

we spelled CAL- can you tell??

there were all these big doors built out of the side of this
walkway that indicated outdoor cafes- kind of fun!

precious!

Anja and I took a boat to go beach hopping on our last full day
there after Amanda had to leave- we went to 5 beaches in 1 day!!

the water was SO clear

the tour of the beaches involved the trifecta of the Red beach,
White beach and Black beach- named for the color of the rocks
at each one; this would be the Red beach!

rock... near the white beach!

anja holding up a bag of nuts and prunes- we had that, a tomato
and a banana that we had to make last since when we got on
the boat to tour the red, black and white beaches we were under
the misimpression that these beaches would have places to buy
food... they did not. you also had to pay to rent the beach
chairs- a little guy popped out of the shack in the picture
below and tried to get us to give him 5 euro to use the chairs
on the mostly deserted beach- we opted for the rocks

the people he convinced to rent the chairs

another boat ride that brought us out to one of the main
beaches again- the crew was hilarious and called us back to take
pictures of steering the boat!

oh take me back

this guy was our FAV- he spoke about 5 words
in English so instead made a lot of hand gestures
and facial expressions to communicate-
made me laugh a ton!

this pic completely captures him

a fresh fig he brought out to share! everything they fed us
on the boat was grown in Santorini!

proud of that little rock tower i made

this is moussaka which is a traditional Greek dish
kind of like lasagna but also with potatoes and
eggplant- it was delicious!

baklava!!!

our last morning on the island!

this one's for you dad- coffee with a view, you would have
loved it. great way to go out!

I flew from Greece to Rome for a quick 24 hour trip in the ancient city that I hadn't had the chance to visit yet! It was also the first city I traveled by myself which was a cool experience to have. I literally felt like I should be taking a picture of something every 2 minutes while I walked around the city- there was so much to see! And I definitely didn't catch it all but I covered a lot of ground in the time that I had! I'm not going to caption all these because there are far too many pictures to begin with and I don't remember what all of them are... most of them are famous things which were highlights on my map but other things I'm sure just looked like they should be famous when I walked by so I took a picture.

the colosseum- beautiful at night, tied with the view from
the top of the basilica di San Pietro as my favorite thing I saw

this I do know- the Trevi Fountain, which was also awesome
I especially liked how you wind through these normal,
narrow streets on your way there and then you suddenly can
hear the water but the huge fountain just pops out when you turn
the corner- it feels like it's just in the middle of a normal
neighborhood