The story of Yossi (or, our trip to Ios) and then some

ok sooo i blogged a while ago but do to the status of the hostels we have been staying in, I have not had internet. Luckily I wouldn't have really had time to use it if I had it anyway.

So I'll recap a little on the various places I've been since my last blog.

Firstly, more on Ios. Unfortunately our night out in Ios started on a sad note. We bought 3E white wine at the market (whyyy isn't it this cheap in the states!?) and were gonna crack it open post-dinner. Our plans were foiled when we realized we had no bottle opener- rookie mistake. Though Allison tried to google ways to open it, we failed miserably. We decided instead of continuing on this miserable path, we would just go to Fun Pub to find our Australian 'friends' from our hostel. We got there and it was quite a scene (mostly of Australians), but then all of a sudden everyone left at like 12. Weird? Yes. We were very confused/ upset because 1. we had not seen our Australians, 2. we had not seen the giant Jenga set, and 3. we had not taken obligatory shots of ouzo.

LUCKILY when we were leaving the pub with the crowd, Allison essentially ran into oncoming traffic/ right into another Australian guy. He informed her that it would maybe be a good idea to look before she crossed the street...details... then we obvi started chatting it up with him (accent, enough said.) and he told us of the ATVs he and his 4 Aussie friends had rented, and the yacht that they also had rented. He proceeded to invite us onto said yacht after the night's festivities. This turn of events was a complete 180 from the cork mishap an hour earlier. We were very enthusiastic about this journey and continued to talk to our new friend. We got on the topic of our lack of experience with ouzo and he insisted on buying us shots. perfect. So we wandered back into Fun Pub (saw the giant Jenga but unfortuantely did not get to play- I trust that it was fun/ I'm jealous that you got to try it Becky... we should all return to Ios to play a round together) and us + Australians took shots together. Apparently you're not supposed to use your hands but the 3 of us failed at that. Oh well. Upon realizing that ouzo is absolutely vile (see ya later Owen, I agree with Suz), we left the bar (with Australians of course) and headed up the hill to go to the other bars/clubs.
There, we made a fatal mistake and wandered RIGHT INTO YOSSI'S ARMS. ugh. He semi-attacked us and dragged us into his (empty) bar. Needless to say, the Australians were not into Yossi's 'scene' and went on to bigger and better adventures. Allison appropriately dubbed this "yacht block". grr.
Still, Yossi bought us shots and made us drinks and we chatted with him for a little before he returned to working the crowds outside. So we left his bar and tried to look for our yacht-ing friends, to no avail. We bounced from club to club but ended up going home earlier than the typical 7am night in Ios because apparently the clubs were like shutting down the next day. Who knew that party season in Ios ended?! ...Return trip soon anybody??

So that's basically Ios (this blog is running long and I'm rambling so I'm going to consolidate more). Then Allison and I moved on to Santorini while Kristina left for Edinburgh. Nothing too bloggable happened in Santorini- we wished that we had had a couple more days there because it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we were sad to leave. We had dinner and breakfast with an amazing view, lounged on black beaches, and saw more donkeys (YESSS). When I upload pictures, I'll post some on here because the view was stunning.

Then onto Rome wheee! Allison flew out much earlier than I did, but when I finally got there around 5, I met up with her and Noah! Exciting to see another Penn face. We did all the normal touristy stuff, spent lots of time people watching, and ate some seriously tastey gelato. Unfortunately Julie we did not get to go out in Rome :( BUT when we all travel to Ios, we can fly to Rome after! Perhaps I'll start planning a summer trip...

That's all for now. We're waiting in the airport in Rome currently and moving on to Madrid. So the next time I write, I will have met my familia! !que emocionada! (check me out, I'm sooo good at spanish already)