Greetings from Greece: Greece has stolen my heart.

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, we are just always so busy and it's hard to find time to sit down and write. This past week was the absolute best way to end April, and also bring a close to my first of two months abroad. I cannot believe we are basically halfway done with this trip, and so far it has been the best thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. Other than the same old routine of classes, we also had two great field trips this week. The first was a trip to the Theater of Dodoni, which is ancient theater, located about fifteen minutes away from the University. I think a lot of us are getting a little burnt out on ruins, but I definitely don’t want to take for granted the fact that we are in one of the most historically rich places in the entire world. Here are some pictures from this trip, which happened on Wednesday of this week:

Shailee, Marissa, and I underneath a beautiful tree. I still can’t get over how lucky I am to have two girls from my sorority here with me otherwise I’d probably be a homesick mess!

A picture of Shailee and myself in front of the stage area. Off to the sides are the wings where all of the violence and costume changes occurred. We learned a lot about Ancient Greek Theater in my Drama 101 class fall quarter, so it has been interesting to see all of the theaters in person!

Here is a view of the theater seating. Many of the seats are still in tact, but they don’t let you climb up them because they want to keep it that way.

The best part of the week, by far, was our trip to Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, and it is a bit “younger” and “trendier” than Athens was. It is also located right on the water, which meant that we had to visit the beaches on Saturday to get the full experience. Friday we went out for the night on a random adventure, and Saturday was spent laying out all day enjoying the sunshine. Then Saturday night we went out on a Reggae Inspired cruise on the bay, which was a lot of fun. I’ve really enjoyed spending time with our group because they are all a lot of fun and we all get along fabulously! This weekend was a much-needed getaway that turned out great, but of course I spent more money that I probably should have, but oh well… life goes on! Here are some pictures from this fantastic weekend!

On the way to Thessaloniki we stopped in Vergina where the tomb of Phillip the Second is. He is Alexander the Great's father, and located under this hill is a great museum and four tombs that held members of the royal family. Including Alexander the Great's son.

Shailee and I on a children's toy at the park, we got some glares and were laughing hysterically if you couldn't already tell from her facial expression!