Would you like to dance around the world with me?

Europe Part 1: The Islands

Prepare yourself for a long series of blogs...

First, to see pictures, check out ofoto.com, username = biffbabe@hotmail.com, and ask me for the password (I publicly put up the password, and someone put up dirty pictures - but I'm happy to share with you!).

GREECE
We arrived in Athens after a long day through Madrid (it's always nice to go through a Spanish speaking country and get some practice in). They didn't have the fact that I had asked for vegetarian meals on the flights, so that was annoying, but after giving us the cold shoulder, the stewardesses warmed up to us and gave us extras of the sides and some leftover first class food, so we didn't have to go hungry. When we got to Athens, we settled into the Hostel, which was tight and un-A/Ced, but oh well. We then explored some of the area, getting as close to the Acropolis as we could, and it was still gorgeous! It's amazing to think that people lived up on that hill from about 5000 BC and what they were able to achieve without our "modern technology."

Santorini
The next morning we left for Santorini through the port of Piraeus, and the ferries were amazingly nice! I was expecting a boat like we used to ride on whale watching trips, where there was little space to sit comfortably, but these ferries were huge and comfortable. It definitely beats flying to the islands since transit time is about the same (at least to the Cyclades). Arriving at Santorini, the port is on the cliff side of the island, where 1000 feet of cliif towers above the water, created by the massive volcanic explosion thousands of years ago. The pension we stayed in was really nice, with great owners and a nice location (not cliff side, but that's a LOT of $$!) That afternoon, we hiked along the cliff that leads from our town, Fira, to the end of the island. It was quite intense for just 6 miles - it took us about 4 hours because it was mostly up and down mountains and cliffs. The scenery was gorgeous though, and I had fun taking pictures of blue churches with the crazy settings on my new camera. We had dinner at a restaurant on the ledge - it was amazing to look over to the houses built in the cliffs, and the colors in the layers of the cliffs. The sunset wasn't all it was cracked up to be because it was a little hazy/cloudy, but it was still a great setting.

The next day, we rented ATVs and drove all over the island - to the archaeological site, a black sand beach (which is really hot!), and a red sand beach. The ATV was so fun! We could ride it anywhere on the roads or on the beach, and it was a great way to explore the entire island, on our own time. And for only $20 for a whole day! That night we went out, had a few drinks, and wanted to meet some boys, but there were only couples. Darn romantic island. The following day, we took out ATV to another beach, where we were literally the only people there. We spent a few hours there, then took a boat ride to the Nea Kameni, the volcano in the center of the bay of Santorini. We hiked around the volcano, following the trail of past eruptions and craters, to the stop, where the active center is. There was no lava spewing, but it reminded me of Mordor from Lord of The Rings. We then went to another small island where there is a hot springs, and we swam around there for a while.

Overall, I really liked Santorini, but it was hazier than I expected. However, the cliffs and the houses were beautiful!



Sifnos
We then went to Sifnos, which is a much smaller and less touristy island than Santorini. When we arrived here, the owner (Adonis) of the pension we were staying in immediately took a liking to us and invited us to his house. He then gave us stew made by his mother and proceeded to fawn over us. Adonis was the highlight of our trip to Sifnos and made it such a blast! He offered to show us around the island, and we happily agreed. After a little time on the beach, he took us around to have lunch on the other side of the island with some friends of his. Then he showed us a gorgeous church on a peninsula and took us to a cafe where we had baklava (or as he called it, "chocolate," because every dessert was called "chocolate" to him). Later that night, we went up a harrowing path to the top of a mountain where there is a monastery. You could see down to the villages below and up to the thousands of stars above. It was amazing what a lack of light pollution does - we could even see the Milky Way. Swati and I were the definite nerds, looking up more than looking down. The next day was more of the same, and it was very nice and relaxing. We also found out from some information I had printed from the web that Adonis is a very well-known potter!



Overall, the islands were gorgeous. We got some sun, but not too much, and saw a lot of the islands thanks to our ATV and Adonis. Then, it was back to Athens, which will be the next blog.

posted by Biff @ 3:16 PM 1 comments

In Greece

I'm just going to write a quick note from Greece. We've been here about a week and have seen Delphi, Santorini, and Sifnos. Today we're going to see the Acropolis and the other ancient sites along with the archaeological museum tomorrow before we fly to Switzerland with a one night stay in Milan. Santorini was gorgeous on the rim of a crater created by a volcano, and it features my favorite color (blue, of course), so how could I not like it? There was a lot more climbing and hiking than I expected from the guide book, but our hikes gave us some spectacular views. It was hazy though, so the pictures might not be stellar. Sifnos was a much smaller and quieter island frequented by many Athenians. The hotel owner in Sifnos took a liking to Swati and I and played tour guide during our stay there, so we really had a great time with him. Delphi was also interesting because of the temples that were built there to honor Apollo and his oracles.

The food has been good, but I'm getting a tad sick of stuffed tomatoes and peppers, because that's their vegetarian staple. At least we're finding things to eat though! It's also hotter than I expected from what weather.com said, but we're managing. My Greek is getting a little better from what V taught me, and at least I can nor read it, even though I may not know what it means.

Tomorrow we're off to Switzerland, like I mentioned, where we'll visit Montreux on Lake Geneva, Lauterbrunnen (near Interlaken), and Zurich.

Yassas!

posted by Biff @ 1:31 AM 0 comments

Across the Pond

Now that I'm all graduated and done, I'm off to Europe tomorrow for 2 weeks with my friend Swati. We're going to Greece and Europe, so look out for a few updates while I'm there (hopefully), but lots of pictures when I return!

Ta leme argotera! (See you later)

posted by Biff @ 7:08 PM 0 comments

Religious Quiz

Taken from Katie - thanks!
Religious Views Quiz

What's your theological worldview?
You scored as a Emergent/Postmodern
You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

Emergent/Postmodern

71%

Neo orthodox

64%

Modern Liberal

61%

Classical Liberal

61%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

54%

Roman Catholic

46%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

43%

Reformed Evangelical

36%

Fundamentalist

18%

posted by Biff @ 11:01 PM 1 comments

Finally DONE!

...well almost, but 99.9% of the stress is over - there are just a few more things to wrap up. About two weeks ago, I turned in my thesis on Risk Management of Student-run Small Satellites, which included a study of the types of failures in small satellites and a new way for them to do risk management that makes it a lot easier and more intuitive.

Then, last Thursday and Friday we had our Preliminary Design Review for Mars Gravity, which involved 19 formal reviewers (Ames, Goddard, Orbital Research, etc.) here to scrutinize every part of our design. And did they. But they were also very supportive and generally had a very positive opinion of the team and the project. They also thought we gave good presentations, which is always nice feedback to hear. We'll get the formal report in a few weeks on whether we passed the review or not. I can't really explain how much hard work and the number of hours that went into this review, but it all came together really well, and even though there are some areas which we need to work on, all the reviewers (including the ones from which we need $$!) were impressed. I hate to blow my own horn, but one of the very picky and anal reviewers told me after "I was thinking through your presentation that whatever company gets you is really lucky." I was quite happy and confident then for the rest of the time. :-)

I spent most of the weekend with my grandparents, who came in from New York. It was nice to see them - we went to church, brunch, Pirates 3 (which was actually pretty good, btw), and ice cream. It's hard to think of activities sometimes with them because my grandmother can't walk a lot, but it's also nice to hang out with family.

It's kinda surreal that I'm done. I feel like I am forgetting to do something or that I should be working instead of finally making my picture albums (for which I have way too many pictures) and doing all those errands I've been putting off for months. And then I realize it really has been months. I can't believe we leave for Europe in 10 days - there's a lot to be done before then!

This post is all over the place - sorry! Time to go cut out more pictures. I should have just bought a normal scrapbook so I don't have to cut out pictures and glue them on these darn pages. Lesson learned. :-)

posted by Biff @ 5:13 PM 2 comments