Monday, April 10, 2006

So, to continue with the Spring Break story...

We got on the ferry (a huge, old cruise chip) and realized that we were definitely in the lower-class. If we sat on any bench with our luggage, we would get asked to move but not directed to a specific location. We found our uncomfortable airplane-like seats but decided we wanted to get drunk. So we found the commoner's bar/restaurant and bought cheap wine. We drank, played cards and played drinking card games. When we were good and tipsy, we left the bar and went on the deck. For some reason, we felt the need to run around the deck like banshees, reenacting the infamous scene from Titanic, and screaming, "We are in the Mediterranean Sea!!!" After we tired ourselves out, we couldn't find our way back into the cabin. We finally found a door leading into the first-class bar. As soon as we walked in, we knew we weren't welcome, so we headed back to the deck. Jess was the last to leave the bar and she ran after us. "Hey, these guys just asked us if we wanted to have a drink with them. Wanna do it?" Dyani, Abby and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. WHY NOT? So we sat down with two Greek boys, named Nikidos and Manos. We all had a beer and started talking about ourselves. We found out that Nikidos and Manos were returning to their hometown, Chania, and were in a metal band that was playing in Rethymno (our final destination) that Friday. Nikidos spoke fantastic English, and Manos (who was 18, but did not look like it) spoke medicre English. We started translating phrases from English into Czech (like zdravy=good health, which is used instead of "cheers"), and they started teaching us Greek. After we finished our drinks, we took the guys outside to run around with us. Jess decided to teach them how to pole-dance. After we got tired (and cold), we went to another bar. Abby and I started to fade and decided to sleep on the couch next to where Manos, Nikidos, Jess and Dyani were writing on each other, writing bad poetry and flirting. Apparently after Abby and I passed out, the boys returned to their private cabin and the other two went to sleep on two other couches in the bar.

I was awoken by an evil bartender at the butt-crack on dawn. We all bought chips and drank water in the wake of our hang-overs. We started wandering around the ship, waiting for it to dock (it was supposed to dock at 6:30am but was delayed by an hour and fifteen minutes). We ran into Nikidos and Manos in a bar, where they were with an older woman. After observing them for a few minutes, we determined that she was Nikidos' mother, and boy, did that change everything. No wonder why they didn't invite any of us to their cabin. Mommy didn't seem to happy about us sitting with them, so as soon as the ship docked, we bid adieu to our new friends.

At the dock, we took a bus to the bus station. There we waited for a bus to Rethymno, which was about an hour away from Chania. Crete is absolutely the most beautiful place I have ever been, with the sea on one side of the bus and snow-tipped mountains on the other side. Of course, I fell asleep on the drive. When we made it to Rethymno, we decided to spend 6 Euro and take a cab to our hotel. When we got there, we had a little problem because we got the room on a discount voucher that belongs to another guy in our program (well, his mother, the real estate agent) but we finally arrived in our final destination, the beautiful Leoniki Resort in Rethymno, Crete. Pool, hot tub, kitchenette, etc. for only 37 Euro a person, for five nights. So how I spent $600 that week, not including airfare, I have no idea.

The rest of week involved tanning, the beach, eating a ridiculous amount of feta, lamb, tomatoes, gyros, and olives, drinking (and getting sick from) a ridiculous amount of wine, listening to dance music, a potluck with the boys, Dyani's 21st at a bar down the street, free shots before and after dinner everywhere, friendly Greek people, and more musing about Nikidos and Manos.

On Saturday, we checked out of the hotel and took the bus back to Chania. After bumming around the town for a while, we got on the ferry back to Athens. We knew how to work the system this time...find a bar and park there for the whole trip. We chose this completely red velvet bar that had a rather loud television. But the television was not what kept me up all night...it was the high schoolers with bangos who were celebrating Greek Independence Day. As much fun as I had on the first ferry, I just wanted to sleep on this one. And that did not happen. But we arrived in Athens and had breakfast. We browsed the vendors at the Acropolis for the last time and then Jess and I headed for the airport. When we arrived in Prague (with the boys), we were greeted with a bus purposefully leaving us behind and nobody smiling at us. Welcome back to the Czech Republic. Thankfully, it was warm enough for me to not wear my winter coat (something I had yet to experience in Prague), so my return was not as depressing as I had anticipated.

But after such a reinvigorating holiday, all I wanted to do was go home. Home in California. That has since shifted but Europe had begun to tire me. Again, what good is experiencing new things when you can't share them with people you love? I'm meeting new people now that I like a lot more than my initial group of friends here, and I have no desire to leave Prague. When my parents come to visit, everything I could ever ask for will be here. Prague and the people I love.