Athens, Santorini, Florence & Rome..

Ciao Amici,
Thought I'd bring you all up-to-date on my adventures here in Italia. I should first tell you that it's been so long since I've written because my laptop pooped out on me here :( Believe me, this was probably the biggest issue since I've lived in Europe. So, I apologize for the delay in writing. Luckily, by the great skills of the Geek Squad in good ol' USofA, I have my laptop back here and ready to take on the world. Well, world-wide-web, at least.
Alright, where to beginnnn...
About a month ago, my cousin, Hillary, and her friend, Kristen, came out to visit me in Roma for 2 weeks! They came all the way from Oklahoma and camped out on my floor like the troopers they are. However, we didn't stay in Italy the whole time they were here. Our first trip was to Athens, Greece!
It was pretty awesome. We met two ladies from Greece while waiting for our plane in Rome and we are sooo lucky we ran into them. They helped us figure out the airport in Athens and took the subway with us to our hostel. I don't know if we would have made it without them, as we didn't realize how difficult it was to get around the city. But, we made it! And stayed in a decent hostel called "Easy Access" LOL Despite the name, it actually was a pretty nice place. They had free internet and breakfast for $15 euro a night! pretty amazing. After only one night in Athens, we left to travel to the Greek islands. We aren't exactly the richest girls so we decided to choose just one. Kristen had always wanted to go to Santorini (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants island), so we chose that one.
After an 8 hour ferry ride (which we'll never do again), we arrived in a rainy, cold Santorini. Not exactly the best time to go island hopping. However, we made the best of it, and met some more extremely nice Grecians who helped us find a cheap, beautiful hostel right in the capital of Santorini, called Fira. *word of advice: keep in mind when looking on hostelworld.com that some hostels may not be open due to off-season schedules... yeah we didn't think far enough ahead lol which is why we needed a recommendation as to where to stay when we realized we'd be stranded*
Anyways, we had a great time, enjoying the food, people, and scenery in Santorini. We hiked a few days up and down the cliff-side of the island, which was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Absolutely unreal. (I'll post pix)
After 3 or 4 days in Santorini, we went back to Athens to tour the Parthenon and the rest of Acropolis. Once we left "Easy Access" for the last time, we headed back to Rome.
Hillary and Kristen wanted to tour more of Italy, so we went to Florence for a day and then they continued on to Venice, as I headed back to Rome for school. Florence was amazing. It was like a smaller Rome with beautiful landscapes surrounding it. The only thing with Florence was the insane amount of Americans there. I honestly heard more English than Italian while there. Kinda crazy. Although, we met some nice American grad students there who were traveling throughout Europe for 100 days to study architecture. Sounded amazing, and expensive! But, they were pretty cool kids.
Once Hillary and Kristen made it back to Rome, they toured the city more in depth and actually ran into our Florence friends at the Vatican! Such a coincidence. But very cool.
My moms good friend from home was also visiting in Rome while Hillary was here, so we got to meet up with her (shout out to Tricia ;) It was great getting to meet up and have dinner/wine with family friends from Pittsburgh.
But before I knew it, Hillary and Kristen were on their way home :(
I had an unforgettable time with them and hope to visit them this summer or fall in Oklahoma! It may not be Rome, but doesn't matter where you are when you have your friends :)
Now, I am getting ready to head off to Pompeii (Naples, Italy) on Saturday with my school for a day trip. Should be fun! Just hope the weather holds up. Italy has been super rainy here. It actually snowed for the first time in 25 years in Rome last week! I was excited I got to experience that while here. All the Brazilians and south american students from my class ran outside immediately to play in the snow, as they've never seen it before! So, that was extra cool to witness. The weather is starting to get better. Still rainy, but definitely more warm. It felt like spring today and I absolutley LOVED it! Nothing puts me in a better mood than great weather.
Well, I'm sure I'll have stories to tell about Pompeii and many pictures to share. So, stay tuned and I'll talk to you soon!
Love,
-Kate