It's a Small World, after all....

Here's a picture of me and my friend Krisa sharing a drink in a cafe in Rome after we just happened to run into each other in our hostel hallway--neither of us had a clue that the other was in Rome, much less the same frickin building. I believe we simultaneously shouted, "Oh my GOD" before breaking into equally simultaneous laughter. I love coincidences.

EDIT: Also, check out Krisa's guns. I think she could kill me with her bare hands. Nice.

´´Should we be concerned that a man with a gun just told us to get back inside our room?´´

No? Super. Well, goodnight then.



(Sarah's explanation)
To our parents: We want to make it clear that we are unharmed and safe. HINT: you all should not worry. Since ¨the incident¨ we have been blessed by the Pope and are confident that his blessing will facilitate safe travel adventures in the future.

Now for the scoop: We arrived at our hostel, Hostel Zeus, in Athens. (Yes, Athens again. We had to take a bus from there to catch the ferry to Italy.) Anyways, we got to the hostel at around 10pm.

Once we arrived to our room, I noticed that the remote to the air conditioning unit was missing. So, to relieve ourselves from the heat, I proceeded to the reception to fetch the remote. I opened the door and standing there was a man with a gun (no, he was not a member of the police)- a handgun of some sorts. He motioned to get back in the room, so I did as he requested.

At that time, I quickly closed the door and turned around and told Christina about the gunman. She proceeded to seek refuge behind the twin bed. Mary was in the communial restroom and had no idea any of this had taken place. We decided it would be smart to plan an escape route, with the window as the best option, not the twin bed.

Basically, we think this guy was chasing someone on the street, maybe someone who owed him money or sold him bad drugs, and he just ran up into our hostel looking for his guy.

The bright side: The gunman was not a rampant murderer. He had a clear opportunity to shoot me, but he decided to pass it up.

The moral of the story: Always plan an escape route

Befriending the locals on Mykonos

I don't know if you can tell by the picture but the pelicans on Mykonos are pink, quite large and unafraid of people...and possibly rabid, but it was worth the picture.

Nice.....ash....

This is the three of us after we just finished climbing down Santorini's resident volcano. The island used to be a ring with water in the middle of it, but following an eruption thousands of years ago, the island was flooded with ash and debris is now shaped like a crescent moon with an additional island in the middle. That middle island hosts two active volcanos, one of which we hauled ourselves up today. It was actually worth the 1.5 km climb in the middle of the day with no shade, when we got to see the amazing view and see the sulfur yellow encrusted crater and watch the steam rise from it. For you geology buffs (Dad) check it out here.

Later in the day, we took a ferry to another part of the island, to a beautiful city called Ia (known for its fame as the city Alexis Bledel visits in the Sisterhood of the traveling pants, but i digress...) which is only accessible by way of 270 winding steps up the cliffs. I know that you must be thinking what great shape I am in to be able to climb that feat and still live to tell the tale, but I must defer all compliments to the donkey that had to carry my sorry ass up them (no pun intended). It actually might have been worth it to hike up the steps, because I think the donkey galloping around the bends of these steps that hug the cliffs shaved five years off my life: I arrived at the top of the mountain sweating as much as if I had actually made the climb (which I will claim in all future retellings of this story). I attempted to take a picture of the three of us on the donkey while actually riding, but I couldn't muster the coordination necessary to hang on for dear life, squeal like a little girl, say a novena, try to remember how to cuss out our guide in Greek AND take a picture. So this picture of me NEXT to the burro will have to suffice.

In the beginning...

there were three lovely ladies in Panna Maria, Texas just trying to make their way in the world and desperately hoping that their bags fit the United Airlines 70 pound weight limit. For some of us, it would be a first trip abroad; for some it would reunite us with cities visited long ago; for others, it wouldn't be the first time that we'd have to pay the airline fee for additional baggage.

This blog will hopefully follow Christina, Mary and Sarah through their semester at the University College London and their travels along the way. Although we are new to the blogging scene, it is our fervent hope that we won't be swept away by the desire to post asinine and inconsequential musings about the world and our lives. We guarantee that we will not use this blog to wax philosophical on current events, won't link to other blogs that utilize political farce, and will try to post as many pictures as we can as we travel. We welcome your comments, well wishes and invite you to keep in touch with us via email throughout the semester!