where in the world.... sounio, greece

It's Wednesday and that means it's time the lovely Jess over at Classy in Philadelphia's , Where In The World Wednesday!

If you participate, please take the button the fabulous Feris made to use in your post!

The idea of WITWW is to post a picture of you in someplace in the world...it doesn't have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. Just a picture of you somewhere that you consider traveling.

this week i'm back to greece. one of my co-workers who i have lunch with is retiring this year and her and her husband are going to greece & egypt next fall, so we've been talking a lot about greece and it makes me miss it. so here are some of my favs from a little day trip from athens to sounio, a gorgeous little place on the tip of the attica peninsula overlooking the aegean sea where there is the temple to poseidon. my sister and i had a fun afternoon frolicking about the temple and taking a ton of pictures. plus it was extremely gorgeous!

temple and the sea

temple of poseidon

me & poseidon

another view of the temple

so participate with where in the world wednesday and go over to Jess's blog - Classy in Philadelphia and share your link :)

where in the world.... santorini, greece

It's Wednesday and that means it's time the lovely Jess over at Classy in Philadelphia's , Where In The World Wednesday!

If you participate, please take the button the fabulous Feris made to use in your post!

The idea of WITWW is to post a picture of you in someplace in the world...it doesn't have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. Just a picture of you somewhere that you consider traveling.

so i almost forgot it was wednesday until i saw jess's post this morning! so this week i'm in santorini, greece. or as i like to call it, the pants island. santorini is where lena goes in the sisterhood of the traveling pants. in april 2008 my sister and i went on an adventure to greece and santorini was absolutely gorgeous! it was a cute island, with the most amazing views, and great black sand beaches, which were sadly too cold to enjoy. but i saw one of the top 5 sunsets of my life in santorini. so for your viewing pleasure...

gorgeous view coming into the island from the ferry

black sand beaches of perissa

pretty sunset over the caldera night 1

view of the caldera on the last day

favorite picture of greece

gorgeous sunset over oia

so participate with where in the world wednesday and go over to Jess's blog - Classy in Philadelphia and share your link :)

2008 in review

Wow, 2008 was a pretty good year. I lived in Ireland for all of 2008, wrote a 21,000 word thesis, graduated with my Masters in History, traveled, showed my parents around Ireland and had two fabulous vacations home.

So here is 2008!

January: Ended 2007/started 2008 out right with the club up in Letterfrack, started up my second semester of classes and loved my new professor Cindy, also got to go to a lecture by one of my favourite historians - JJ Lee,  a few super wet hikes, had a few crazy Thursday nights out with Kara followed by slightly hungover Friday mornings at work and abseiled off the science building on campus for charity with the club.

February: started the month out with the Sex and the City Wine night..., counted out thousands of euros because it was Ball season at work, had a completely epic hike with the club on the Reeks with 2' of snow and Curve Gully, our slight obsession with Pat Fitz (Irish singer), had the hilarious good idea/bad idea Wicklow weekend and the cloud inversion on Lugnaquilla, went to Wales to see my sister and enjoyed seeing Swansea and I also made out with the Welsh guy, the post Birthday Ball phone call with my crew loves, finally reading my fav book of 2008 - Eat, Pray, Love.

March: started out the month with a friend from college visiting for a night, then Kara's friend from home was also over so that was a crazy few days, then a great hike up my favourite Irish mountain - Mt. Brandon, the hilariousness of the post-grad ball and law boy, my twin cousins being born, a super long but awesome Cloon Lake hike, the rediculousness of clubs&socs - quadruple double fisting, wayy too much wine, lots of dancing and laughing with the club, the totally hardcore Reeks Ridge hike, celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Ireland, Easter and our yummy dinner, and ending the month in Donegal with the club where it was a fabulous 5 days and had some incredible hikes on the Blue Stacks, Slieve League (with the most gorgeous cliffs and a swim in the N.Atlantic) and Errigal.

April: Started out the month meeting up with my sister and heading off to Greece! I had an AMAZING week in Athens and Santorini. Turning the corner in Athens and seeing the Acropolis, words can't even describe, the 9 hour ferry ride to Santorini was to totally worth it with the view of the cliffs and spending 3 days on the pants island. from the cliffs, the view of the caldera, black beaches, and the most gorgous sunset i've ever seen, I loved Santorini, back to Athens where we continued to take in the sites before heading back to Ireland, working on my term paper and really missing rowing, finally getting to meet Jenna (the other girl from the whole M. saga from my study abroad) and it was great! Megan coming over for another visit, being done with classes for the first time since I was 4, my ZTA weekend in London touring Parliament and Cambridge and seeing the bonds of sisterhood really are amazing.

May: I booked my flight home for my vacation in July, started seriously working on thesis, enjoyed a few days of good weather, bbq's, a great night climbing at Kinsale, realizing I've done a lot more work on the thesis than I though after seeing I read 105 books and notes on 62, going to the gym again, finally moving out of the house from hell,  celebrating a year post-wac and my rowers getting a NCAA bid, cheering on Munster as they won the Heinekin Cup, the fabulousness of seeing Sex and the City opening night (2 days before the US)!

June: I was in quite a funk in June, I blame it on the lack of summer weather, being disappointed when it looked like Hillary lost the primaries, summer housemate Brenda and I being crazy, being excited that I actually had 5,000 words of thesis written by the 13th, a few fun 21st parties, a fun rainy afternoon shopping with the girls, ending the month with 12,500 words on thesis, getting really excited about my trip home and a great hike in the Eastern Reeks.

July: soooo much rain, seriously even for Ireland, pub quiz fun, thank god for 3 weeks of real summer weather in the States! 3 absolutely crazy weeks with my DC trip, seeing my Worch girls, Coop's wedding and seeing some of my crew loves, meeting up with little, a relaxing week at the shore with the fam, the most incredible camping weekend on the Cape with my lovers, who I missed soo much, my 23rd birthday, the silly lionkitty breaking his leg, seeing jerz, becca and twin and getting back in touch with holly.

August: Back to wet Ireland, where I started working full time at the office, and getting serious on the thesis, so it wasn't a very fun month. by the middle of the month having the 4 chapters in draft, the OLYMPICS and watching my women's 8 win gold!!! the boys winning bronze, Michael Phelps, more fun with lawboy, work hitting the busy season but having a lot of laughs with the girls and not being soo stressed about the thesis.

September: I moved again, handed in a rough draft of thesis to my adviser, lots and lots of hours at work,  the whole Sarah Palin rediculousness, deciding to stay in Ireland until March, a fabulous day in Youghal, and computer breaking, 1 year in Ireland,  spent lots of time editing the thesis, finished the thesis, had her bound and handed her in 1 week early!! She came in at 106 pages and 20,995 words, and a gorgeous hike in sunshine to brough na binne, the financial mess and the first official hike of the year with the club.

October: uggggh sick, voted by absentee ballot for Obama, the hilarious night out lots of free beer, a fun hike in Gougane Barra, being a film festival volunteer, the wettest hike possible on Coumsaharan, a fabulous weekend in N. Ireland going to Belfast and the Antrim Coast, getting a postcard from Mary Whipple (my coxing idol), booking my flight home for Christmas, and a funny Halloween as Sarah Palin!

November: Was sooooooo ready for November 4th and the election. I stayed up until 5.30am to watch the coverage and was sooo excited and overjoyed at Obama being elected President, a fun but super wet Dingle weekend, my baking obsession started, the amazing Munster-All Blacks rugby match, finding out I was graduating with and thesis recieved 1st class honours!!, two very yummy Thanksgivings and a great snowy hike in the Reeks. 

December: A fun night out with the girls from work and the socs Christmas party, meeting my parents in London! and showing them all around one of my favourite cities, stepping over the Prime Meridian, lots of pictures with Big Ben and Parliament, a few crazy days traveling around Ireland - the Ring of Kerry, Killarney, Blarney, and all around Cork, my MA graduation and back to the states for a few weeks, where it has snowed way too much for me, a great few days in CT seeing my roomie, some crazy family times, getting to see Chelsea, the wonderfulness of NYC at Christmas, a great reunion with Holly in NYC, and yet again working on New Year's Eve. 

So some goals for 2009

-be happy

-work on a more healthy lifestyle

-enjoy my last 3 months in Ireland 

-travel as much as possible

-find a teaching job for September

-find a fun summer job

-start my 'big girl' life

- keep in better touch with family and friends

- become more crafty (knitting, scrapbooking)

- continue reading history books

- edit thesis for journal publication

- save money

2008 was pretty fabulous, 2009 is a year of endings and beginings. I'm getting a few more months in a country I love and then I'm starting my job search for both a fun summer and a teaching job starting in September, so who knows where I'll be next year? I'm ready for the adventure and crazyness that 2009 is about to bring!

first of the month...

so i've been doing this for a few years now and i love it. the first things posted every month for 2008 :)

january: 4th - edinburgh and letterfrack

back to reality... 

(written after my christmas holiday to edinburgh and then new years in connemara with the club)

february: 1st - crazy weather

ireland has the weirdest weather today...

(it the span of about 30 minutes it was sunny, pouring rain, huge wet snowflakes and sun)

march: 3rd - kinsale, mt. brandon, sangria

 busy. busy weekend :)

(a friend from wac spent thursday night with me, then kara's friend from home visited and then mt. brandon on sunday)

april: 2nd - going greek!

 off to greece for the week!!

may: 1st - may day!

 happy may day!!

(reminisced about may day at wac... ohhh the crazyness!)

june: 3rd - avoiding the thesis

 this weekend i completely avoided the thesis. and it was fabulous!

(bank holiday weekend fun of enjoying the sunshine and having fun!)

july: 2nd - life to do list

so amy and i were talking about our life to-do lists the other day and i realized the last time i wrote mine down was summer 2006, when becca and i were setting goals for our senior year of college.

august: 1st - already august?

 i can't believe it is already august. gah, where is time going? it has been a good last week in the states.

september: 2nd - gossip girl, thesis, new house, political rant

so i have started updating like 4 times this week, but never had gotten around to actutally finishing what i had to say.

(randomness about work, thesis, moving house, kara and politics)

october: 5th - random...

it is a gorgeous sunny day and i am not on a mountain :(

(silly being sick)

november: 3rd - i can see russia from my house... halloween fun.

 halloween this year was quite fun...

(all about the antics from halloween)

december: 2nd - turkey, snowy hikes, december.

i've started writing this about 5 times now and hopefully i'll be able to actually write it. i open blogger and then get distracted by a gchat, someone at work, or something...

so there you have it, my first of the months aren't that exciting this year.. oh well.

and now back to reality after a fabulous week in greece

back to reality.

greece was amazing. i had a spectacular time. it is an amazing country and so many interesting things to do. i really enjoyed athens, there was just something special about it. and santorini was just ammmmmazing. honestly. so awesome.

wednesday was a long day. i left my house at 8 to catch the bus to the airport, my flight was at 10 (i love the flight to dub, it only takes 30 minutes) met up with kel and then waited for our 2.30 flight to athens. the flight was long - 4 hours.. lol most of my flights recently have been like an hour and a half tops. i guess thats what i get for only flying to GB the whole time i've been here. so with the 2 hours we gained, it was about 8.30 when we landed in athens. i was so amazed with the greek everywhere, it made me very happy. i dont know why, but i loved it. we easily found the metro and made our way to the hotel. it was funny while trying to find the hotel we turned the corner and there was the acropolis, it was just sooo amazing and i just stopped and took it in. made a few wrong turns trying to find the hotel but found it pretty easily, the streets aren't labeled so well, and most of them are just small little alley's anyway.

thursday was the acropolis. i liked it, a lot! i loved looking up and seeing the acropolis from like everywhere around the city, and it was pretty cool. the acropolis is a huge part of the city and it is kinda in the centre, which is nice. there are sooo many things there, like about 10 major ancient places (such as theatre's, temples and such) and i thought they were just so cool. we took the most round about way there but it was a fun walk, from the stuff i had it said from the plaka just walk up... so we did, along these little cobble streets and there were some gorgeous views of the city as we walked up until we go there. so we walked around, it seemed pretty crowded, so i dont even want to imagine what it must be like in the summer! i just found the acropolis so amazing. i think the reason i liked it so much was because these are some of the oldest things in the world and they are so well preserved. we also walked around the syngmata area, which is where parliament is - we saw the changing of the guards, which was hilarious, they have the funniest uniforms. we also walked throught the national gardens and around the commerical centre of the city.

friday was a looong day. we were up early to get to the port to catch our 7.25 ferry to santorini, which was going to take 9 hours. it wasn't too bad, a gorgeous sunrise from the port and saw a few pretty island, slept a little, mostly read and just relaxed. but the ferry was worth it for the view coming into santorini. honestly. breathtaking. santorini is the island from the sisterhood of the traveling pants. the island is super unique. so in 1600 BC, a volcano erupted, and they think this was one of the worst natural disasters (the whole atlantis thing is said to be about santorini)

so the island used to be a circle, but the volcano, formed the caldera, which the island is famous for. so now the main island is a large crescent, with a few small islands in the center- volcano, and then another one along the other side. so the main island on the caldera side has these magnificent cliffs, and the cities of oia and fira are built into the cliffs. so coming into the port is just awesome.
so santorini was unbelievable. i took some videos at places, because pictures just didn't do any justice. the island is just amazing, the geography of it and how unique it is. the night we got there we just walked around and saw the sunset from fira (the town we were staying in), saturday was kinda cloudy and rainy, so we walked around fira more, where in one of the shops i bough a few paintings. they are super awesome oil paintings, i bought one about the size of a poster of oia, and then 3 small 4x6s of the sunset over oia. i can't wait to have my own place and get them framed. they were super cheap too :) walking around fira was fun, so many little streets, walking only, along the caldera with the cutest shops, sooo many jewelry stores, cafes.. it was fab :) later that afternoon kelly didn't feel well and the weather was icky, so we just relaxed.
monday was nice and sunny, but windy, so we went to the black sand beaches of perissa, soo cool black sand. it is like that from the volcano apparently. it got your feet realllllly dirty.but it was sooo neat. the aegean sea was sooo pretty, and i could imagine the beaches full in the summer, even though they were empty.the beaches are on the non-caldera side of the island. that night we went to oia (the northernmost part of the island) for the sunset, - most of the pants book takes places in oia - which they say is the prettiest in greece for sunsets, and they were totally right. even though it was kinda cloudy, it was still unbelievable. there were so many people there all along the little streets along the cliffs with the sunset, it goes down as one of the top 5 sunsets i've seen. it was super windy, i got so many amazing sunset photos :)

monday we had a few hours before we caught the ferry back to athens so we just walked around and sat in a cafe along the caldera. the ferry back was ok, just soooo long. 9 hours really is a killer. we pretty much stayed on the top deck (i felt sick below, it moved too much and gave me a headache) but where we were was kinda enclosed, at least with glass on top and most of the sides, but it got pretty chillyat night. got back to athens around 12.30 am and was exhausted. seriously tired.

slept in tuesday and took a bus to sounion (about an hour and a half, along the coast) where at the end of the attica peninsula is a temple to poseidon. and it was awesome, it is there all by itself, with some islands in the distance and just so quiet. it is still pretty intact, and lord byron (british admiral, who during the greek independence in 1821, went and helped greece) pretty much said it was the prettiest place on earth. so it was cool and fun :) our last day wednesday we went to kermeikos. to get there we walked around the streets and markets of montastraki and it was fun to see the different random things people were selling. kerameikos was a cemetary, but also where the main road to athens went through, as well as where the gates to heaven were and a ton of other things in its history. so it was pretty awesome. then we walked back along the road along the acropolis, stopping at a few of the things we missed the other day, 2 theatres and something else., i can't remember, but it was awesome :) we walked around the plaka (the area where were were staying) again and then headed to the airport.

the flight back to dublin, was bad. i just couldn't get comfortable and was really restless. kelly slept the whole time. we got in around 12 and found a place to crash in the airport and got back to cork around 10. took a small nap, met kara for lunch and grocery shopped and gossiped about the last 2 weeks of traveling for the 2 of us and then did some readings.

so now i am in paper mode. after work today i spent most of the day in the library, not as productive as i would have liked to, but i had a few good distractions from chats with twin and amy. so i'm off to the library all day tomorrow and sunday to write my bloody historiography. my goal is to have a rough draft by wednesday so i can talk with cindy about it. and then a few days to revise/edit before it is due. plus i'm having people staying at my house from the 16-24th... so i would like to be slightly social, rather than chained to my laptop.

acropolis

guards at parliament

on the ferry
oia at sunset, my favourite picture from greece
more oia at sunset
panoramic of the sunset along oia
more sunset


more pictures on facebook.

greetings from santorini

just a quick update, we are in an internet cafe in santorini while waiting for our ferry back to athens. greece is amazing :)

athens is awesome, a big mix between ancient, old and modern. it is really hard to describe, but like walking down the road on one side of you is taxis, and a major road - then on the other side is some ancient pillar or statue and a view of the acropolis. i think they have done a great job of preserving a lot of the history. a lot of the streets are small and narrow and mainly walking only, which is awesome. lots of fun, unique little shops. the acropolis was unbelieveable, seriously amazing. a gorgeous view of the city as well :)

santorini is like a paradise. coming into the island from the ferry there are no words, these gorgeous cliffs and white buildings all carved into the cliffs and just gorgeous. simply gorgeous. the island is amazing, we saw an amazing sunset from oia last night, went to the black sand beaches of perissa and have walked all around the caldera.

we are headed back to athens, where tomorrow we are going to walk around the markets in the plaka and montastraki and then also the sunset from the biggest hill. wednesday we are going to the temple of poseidon and then catching our fight back to dublin.

lots of amazing pictures, i can't wait to upload them :)

sending love from greece!

going greek!

i'm off to greece for the week!

i am soooo excited to play in athens and look at all parthenon and the acropolis and just see everything. and then go to what i have been told is the most gorgeous of the greek islands - santorini!


eeeeeee!!!


off to catch my plane and meet my sister!