I Love The Sabbath.

I won’t have internet for almost another week, so I decided to squeeze in a quick update. I don’t have any pictures this time because I haven’t uploaded my camera yet. But I’m sure my next post will be packed full of some pictures. So stay tuned.
My study abroad program began on Friday morning when Mom and Dad dropped me off at the Hotel Pacific. It was really nice because I arrived just as the group from the airport arrived. So that eliminated some confusion as to where exactly I was supposed to go once I got there. We got settled into our hotel rooms for a little while and then headed off to Vatican City. We went in the museum and then to St. Peter’s Basilica. It was awesome to see things after I have taken art history. Although I can’t remember a fraction of what I learned in that class, I definitely had a better appreciation for everything.
The next day was Sunday. Oh my word, what an incredible day! I love that both of my favorite days on my trip thus far have been the Sabbath days :D It was such an incredible experience. It was frustrating at first because here I was, having a year of Italian under my belt, and I couldn’t understand hardly anything! But when I got past the frustration, I could feel the spirit so strong in the meeting. Though I couldn't translate in my head what they were saying, I could feel the spirit of what they were communicating. It was incredible. But the most amazing part was Relief Society. The lesson was on sisterhood. And again, I couldn’t understand them, but their lesson was not in their words. Their lesson was in the way they treated the sisters in the ward, and the way they treated us. They were so incredibly loving and kind to us. They treated us like old friends. We could all just feel their love. One sister at the end of the lesson came up and gave me the biggest hug and kissed me on the cheek. I couldn’t choke back the tears any longer. It was too powerful. I love the sisters of that ward. I will always have a special place in my heart for them.
Ok, I don’t have much time left on the internet here and my battery is about to die, so I have to wrap up. We head to the Amalfi Coast on Wednesday morning and we will be in Siena by Saturday night. I am SO excited to get settled in and not to be living out of a suitcase anymore. You have no idea how good that sounds. But I love you all and I am SO SO happy that people are actually reading this. I LOVE it! I should have something up in about a week. Hope this tides you over until then. Hope you’re all doing great! LOVE YOU!

My First Post From Out Of The USA

So my journey has officially begun. And this post will be a bit lengthy because it's my first one and a lot has happened. So we got to LAX at about 6:15-ish/6:20, not really sure, but we had to check in our bags. Of course my bag weighed about 75 lbs., so we had to transfer some things into another suitcase to make it all work without having to pay an extra 25 bones or whatever they make you pay now. So we flew from LAX to Atlanta and then from Atlanta on to Athens. Our plane to Athens was delayed about 2 hours because the A/C was broken in the Coach part of the plane. But of course we were all loaded on the plane for this delay. So here we all were, crammed in coach with no air conditioning. For the second time in my life, I felt extremely claustrophobic. I started to freak out a little but decided to try and close my eyes and fall asleep instead. Which I’m sure you could all guess was a successful attempt :D So 12 hours later, we arrived in Athens only to discover that my bag did not arrive with us. First, it would be at the hotel at 5 PM (it was about noon by the time we got there). Then at 5 when it wasn’t there, they said it would be there at midnight. Then in the morning when it still wasn’t there, they said it would be there at 9. Then at 9 when it wasn’t there, it got to us at about 2:30 all the way from Paris. So my bag has done the most traveling here. But that’s the story of my bag.

So without my suitcase, we loaded the other 3 into a taxi and off we went to the Marriott hotel. Our taxi driver was SUPER nice. He had a picture of his little boy on the dashboard, whose names was… can you guess it? That’s right. It was George. Like most people here. (I also saw a Kostas here. Unfortunately, he was an older man who was our waiter. Nothing like the Kostas in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I was disappointed, of course.) Anyways, that was an awesome cab ride. He was all over the road – lanes were a suggestion. But we got there safely and headed off to the Acropolis Museum. And here's a picture of me on the roof of our hotel in front of the Acropolis. But next we tried our best efforts to understand the streets of Greece. Mom's hairdresser Helen is from Greece and gave mom some tips on places to go and things to eat. So we knew that the name of the restaurant was Sissifos and that is was on this one street and the very top. But we had no idea how to get there. The streets make no sense and obviously everything is in Greek, so that makes it difficult. Luckily there was English translation below most of the street names. But of course not below the street we were looking for for an hour. But it made me really start to appreciate the grid streets in Utah. Well we finally made it, and believe me it was worth it. We were on the roof of the restaurant right below the Acropolis. It was so beautiful at night because it was all lit up. It was a wonderful day.

The next day was Sunday. And what an incredible sabbath it was. We went to church in this beautifully humble building in between some other church and some graffiti-ed abandoned store. We arrived a few minutes late because we couldn't find it (it was a bit hidden). But when we got there, the missionaries were there, ready with our own little ear-pieces for the translator in the back. Half the congregation, including the branch president, was African. The other half were the visitors and the missionaries, and only a few Greeks. The first speaker was a beautiful African woman who was just married the week before. Her husband spoke after her. He was from London and he actually spoke in English. She was the branch president's daughter. She actually lived in Sierra Leone when she was younger and then moved to Greece 12 years ago. She served her mission in Washington, D.C. and actually knew Andrew Goulding. Her husband was from London and served his mission in Greece. Then in the English Sunday School, there was quite a sight. Here are the places all the people were from: Finland, Nigeria, Albania, Iran, England, Philippines, and from the US: California, Maryland, Connecticut, and Idaho. All these countries brought together in this little church building because we all spoke English. The spirit was incredible there. It was an amazing experience. After church we went to the actual Acropolis and walked around there. It was beautiful because it is situated right in the middle of the city on a hill. So the view from there is breathtaking. It's also interesting to see all the kinds of people that go there to see it. We heard tons of languages being spoken. It was really cool. After that we sat on top of Mars Hill for about 45 minutes just looking at the city at night. Again. Just beautiful. We then ate dinner and walked home. Which ended up being just a bit farther than we thought. It took us about an hour and a half to walk home. Dad and I kept going "oh, it's just up here." But "here" didn't come for while. I guess the scale on the map was a bit different than what we thought it was.
But today I write to you all from Mykonos, Greece. It is absolutely beautiful here - you wouldn't believe it. And the food is incredible! We decided to keep a little food diary of all the amazing meals we've had since we got here. I decided that since I'm here, I have to try all these traditional Greek dishes. So I had Moussaka for lunch the other day - it was SO good. It's minced meat and other yummy stuff with some kind of egg mixture on top. We've also had baklava a couple times and gyros and lamb. Oh my word, we had the best lamb the other night. And last night was veal. The chef at our hotel is amazing! Everything we ate for dinner last night and the night before was... well... amazing. Except for when he brought Mom's shrimp out. It was still whole. Yes, the head and all its legs and even its eyes. UGH!!! It was so nasty, I wanted to vomit. And you all know about my fear of sea creatures. So no, this did not help. Eww, ok I have to be done thinking about it. But anyways, everything was good. I should probably stop talking about the food now. But here's me in our hotel room. Behind me is the view from where I sleep :D

Yesterday we went to the beach below our hotel. The water is so incredibly clear, holy cow, it's beautiful. And the beach is just lined with all these beach chairs with the umbrellas and the palm tree branches hanging down. Straight out of a movie/commercial. Well as we're on our way to the boat to come to the island from Athens our taxi driver starts telling us how Mykonos isn't even that great, and how it's nothing special, and everything is expensive, and how there's tons a gays there, and la la la. So of course Dad's looking at Mom going, "Great job, Teresa." Well today we confirmed the claim of there being a lot of gay people. Throughout the whole day there were gay couples walking up and down the beach. All in speedos. Awesome. I've never seen so many speedos in all my life. I've also never seen so many topless women. They're everywhere! Just walking around without a care in the world. It got to be a little awkward when one topless lady just changed her bikini bottoms right there on the beach. For everyone to see. I guess that's just Europe. But I'm just not used to it. Well I've enjoyed our time here so far. I just think that the taxi driver is just so used to everything looking so beautiful. Because it is wonderful here. It's really dry and REALLY windy, but it's still beautiful. The winds yesterday got up to 56 MPH. But I mean, come on. Here's our view: Not bad.

Well today we're off to go into Mykonos Town. I'm hoping to find some really cute sandals and some really pretty postcards to send. I'm sure we'll find some good stuff. So we have today and tomorrow to explore the island and enjoy the beach a bit more, minus the topless women. Friday we fly into Rome and then Saturday I meet up with my group and then begins that journey. It's been an amazing trip so far. But there's still 3 months to go. I can't believe I'm here. And yes everyone. I KNOW I'm lucky. I love you all and miss you so much already. Hope this finds you well!