Roommates are off!

At dinner. from the bottom left: Anita, Andrew, myself, Sam Bruni, Justine.

And then there was one. Last night was a great last night. We had dinner with Kate, Jill and Ann Marie from our class. Andrew came and so did Katie's friend from the Paros class Brie. Sam Bruni also joined us so we were a big happy group! It was delicious as always and we stayed for quite sometime. After dinner we decided to go to Mao one last time and say goodbye to Costas, the owner who loves us. He gave us all hugs and kisses (even Andrew) and sent us away with business cards.

We then walked back to our apartment and got in bed and talked about our favorite memories. There was a bit of tears and lots of hugging. I can't believe how unbelievably close I've gotten with these girls. I will miss them so much. But we changed our reunion to October 24th for Justine's birthday weekend! Turns our the day of the Illini game is Initiation for the house and since I'm VP I have to be there.

So the Sams and Justine left at about six this morning for their Turkey/Egypt/Island 10 day trip. Then Katie and Anita left about 8:45. So it wasn't a great night of sleep. After they all left I just sat in my bed for awhile processing. Then I made a solo trip for a frappe and croissant eating at a cafe. I explored a bit and came back to start packing.

I decided to go into Plaka, the square by the Acropolis and finish some shopping. I got my silver and mother of pearl bracelet I've wanted forever! It's beautiful and exactly what I pictured. Then I took the bus to Andrew's hotel for some pool time. I was so proud of myself navigating around this foreign city! Yes I've been here 2 whole months but I have a TERRIBLE sense of direction (it's backwards) and I've never gone anywhere alone before! I feel you can't truly know a city without some solo exploring.

The pool was beautiful! We laid around for about three hours before heading to his room so he could get some work done. He's an intern for a Greek/American shipping stock market thing? He tried to explain it to me today but it's confusing. He takes some work home and he was looking through the past two years worth of a specific kind of boat's money made. There were tables and graphs and things like that that I don't understand. I watched Greek MTV and occasionally helped him.

Then we went to his favorite gyros place in his neighborhood where they spoke no English! He knows how to say "one chicken gyros" so we were good. We walked around a bit and then parted ways so we could shower and he could finish more work. He's coming over soon and he's staying in one of the extra bedrooms because I feel a bit uneasy staying alone.

It's been a good day but a hard one. These girls I will love forever and will always have a special place in my heart. I know more about each of them than a good number of people I've known my whole life. This experience has been completely challenging and changing and it's bittersweet to see it end. Last day tomorrow :(/)