Welcome to my last post from Athens, my psuedo-home for the last 3 1/2 months. It was inevitable that my time here would come to an end, another event in my life has come and gone, as all seem to do. It has been a crazy time, especially when I think about how much travelling I have done this semester, I can’t believe how lucky I am to have been so many places. I’ll make some lists:

Things I will miss about Greece:

-Ease of travelling within and out of Greece - Fresh produce, that I know has been grown without the chemicals that are used in most of the US farms - Being in a country where I can’t understand every word the people around me are saying, it’s allowed me to be more observant - Learning to speak such a unique language and be in a country that is so proud of that language and their culture - I’ll miss those times when I’ve felt embraced in this culture, like when I went olive picking and genuinely felt the love that family embraced us with, there have been a few times like that with strangers and it is oddly comforting - the bakeries, this undoubtedly goes to the top of the list - the weather - the meditteranean, those are some of the best memories i’ll leave here with, swimming in the beautiful ocean with such amazing scenery around - incredible runs in crete and the peleponesse - gyros, cheap and filling :) -  having the Acropolis and Lykavittos as land markers whenever i am lost - the view from lykavittos, sitting on top of that hill after the climb up is pretty amazing - greek salads, and pretty much all greek food - friday open-air markets - seeing best friends since elementary school in foreign countries, never imagined that would happen - i’ll add to this list as it comes to me because i know theres a lot more im forgetting…but thats a start :)

There are things I won’t miss, this is for sure, but I don’t think I’ll make that list because I don’t need to remember those things. The list above is much more important. Just to give you an idea, though, I won’t miss the dog that constantly barks in the apartment across the street, the cars and motorcycles, and the bustle of this huge city.

Places I’ve travelled to this semester:

Athens - Aegina - Crete -  Mykonos - Peleponesse (Nafplion, Olympia, Sparta, etc) - Cairo, Egypt - Rome, Italy - London, England - And now, home to PORTLAND! and two weeks later, WALLA WALLA!

For those of you out there who have been on pins and needles as you read this post, anxiously waiting to hear the verdict of what will become of my blog, I will reassure your worries right now. I have loved blogging this semester. When I first made this blog I was weirded out by it and the idea of blogging, but as this semester has progressed I’ve become much more comfortable with it and really love being able to tell about what I’m doing and experiencing, as well as having a place to put up things I come across that I think are really cool, unique, important, and interesting. You may have noticed how I’ve been doing a lot more of that, like putting up videos, songs, pictures, etc. and I’m going to keep doing that when I get home, and I’ll keep writing posts, when I feel the urge to :) So, don’t forget about my blog if you’ve liked it so far, I’m excited to keep it going. Thanks to all the faithful readers out there, its because of you that this has been possible, haha jk but really thanks for reading and being interested. I hope some of my posts have in some way connected to your lives or past experiences and have allowed you to revisit those time or remember something you may have forgotten for a time. As I get older, I think about memories a lot more, maybe because I have more memories at any one moment in time than I did the moment before. I’m glad to know that I’ve made many memories this semester and I’ve also learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot about myself and what type of things I value in this life, and I like to think I’ll leave Greece with a different take on the world. Pacific Northwest, here I come :) Hronia polla (happy holidays), from Athens. And for one last time, just for kicks ya know, Yeia Sou and Pugs&Love, Megs