Focus People!

Out of Focus
So, one new thing I have learned is that signs don't always what they appear to be. Nice, white signs with a film strip on it do not mean a film festival is coming into town on the 17th. We found out that it means there is a demonstration starting at 11am. Today was our free day and we were all really excited to take the 30 minute ferry to Aegina, an island right off the coast of Greece. Apparently the island is almost untouched by tourists and that sounded perfect to us. Since there is demonstrations all over the city, a majority of the shops and forms of transportation were shut down. There was no chance to take the ferry or take any cruises, which was our back up plan. We could have given up and focused on the bad. We could have blamed and cursed our ruined plan. Everyones moods could have spiraled down. But I love our troop and we didn't lose focus on what really mattered. Christine suggested we head south to Sounion where we could hike up to the Temple of Poseidon. Everyone decided this is what we would do and Dr. Finitsis quickly began planning our hour and a half route. We should try get out of the city before 11am so we went to the bus stop at 10:30am and waited...and waited. Our bus was no where in sight for a very long time. We all started walking to the little kiosk and buying random snacks out of boredom. A police car parked next to us and began blocking off the area for the demonstration. By the time our bus hadn't shown up at 11 we started losing hope, but the police saved us. They noticed how long we had been waiting and assured us the bus would be there soon. Sure enough, the bright orange bus stopped for us and we were off to Sounion. The round trip ticket cost us each 13 dollars which was another downfall, but we kept our spirits high. When we got there we hike up to a little cliff with the group and then Austin and I went exploring. We found a bunch of slanted boulders and decided to try and make it all the way down to the water. We succeeded and we were so excited with hurried back and told everyone. We all sat and ate lunch together than we gathered a group and headed back down to our new spot. We all trekked around the rocks and found little caves and pools of water. When we headed back up we decided to head to the beach several minutes away. The beach was really pretty and the sand was soft. Khadijah and I took off our shoes and waded a ways into the water. It wasn't as cold as the first beach but it still numbed our feet. Then we sat in the sand for an hour and just listened to the ocean. After we were all chilled to the bone, we headed into a little cafe for some toasty coffee. Around 5:30 we went to the bus stop to wait for our bright orange bus to drive by. Sadly that bus was also 30 mins late and we were freezing! But we all snuggled for warmth and waited it out. When it finally arrived with piled in and started our favorite time passing activity, the question game! The question game has really helped everyone learn a lot about each other and I'm really happy we play it. Back in Athens we got off in a place we were unfamiliar with but we were set on eating dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We asked a couple people for directions and were on our way. The moral of my story is that I am thankful that our group is so flexible and adaptable. Despite numerous, numerous let downs we kept our hopes and spirits high and persevered through our day and mad it the best day it could be!
In Focus