Day 9: Relay Saturday
Saturday, August 2nd
Today’s blog post is brought to you by Brianna in Ms. Amelio’s English class. Enjoy!
Travel Journal
This morning, I woke up to the sounds of cicadas instead of my alarm blaring. Today was the start of the first weekend of our trip, meaning that we had the whole day to ourselves to relax and enjoy. After a week of waking up for classes in the mornings, it was refreshing to sleep in late. We walked into breakfast without a worry of being late for a class check-in.
While some of us chose to sleep in, others woke up a little earlier to participate in a relay race around the hotel property. Starting at the chapel on the top of the hill, racers ran down to the boardwalk where their teammates were waiting to swim to shore. After racing through the waves, they swapped off with their teammates again and ran back up the hill. The winning team got a prize that made all of their hard work worth it—a six-pack of water bottles.
After lunch, a bunch of us headed down to the beach to hang out. The waves were inviting, a relief from the beaming hot sun. We talked and laughed in the glittering water, soaking in our freedom. Any worries about projects or assignments were washed away down the shore. Dylan, from the Photography class, enjoyed her day off. “It was nice to have a break from taking pictures for class to take pictures with my friends at the beach,” she shared. Callie, from the Ancient Civilizations class, shared a similar sentiment: “As much as I have fun in class, I’m definitely not disliking laying down by the ocean.”
Later, some of us chose to head into Ermoupolis, the town about a twenty-minute drive from the hotel. The Double Credit group had just completed their walking tour of the area, so we were able to meet up with them. We tried to make the most of the short amount of time that our paths overlapped in Syros.
Ermoupolis is a very small town, so it is easy to explore in a short period of time. After wandering around for a bit, we grabbed some gelato and sat down by the pier, watching the boats come in and out. We had fun pointing out our favourites and deciding which ones we would buy if we ever won the lottery. Even though we only really talked for a few hours, it felt like we had known everyone on the Double Credit Program for weeks. It truly was a shame that we only had one more full day together.
After we parted ways with the Double Credit group, it was time for the taxi ride back to the hotel. A group of us piled into a taxi piloted by the “one and only” Dominic. I can’t remember exactly how it started, whether someone said something, or someone else pulled up the song, but we ended up singing “Dancing Queen” at the top of our lungs as we drove through the streets of Syros. The driver didn’t mind. In fact, he was probably the loudest one out of all of us when it got to the chorus. We rolled in just in time for evening sign-in, then headed up to our rooms for the night.
Even though there were no classes today, I still feel like I’ve learned a lot. While walking the streets of Ermoupolis with my new friends, I realized that I had already grown a bit as a person on this trip. I also noticed how easy it was to bond with people during the simple moments, whether it be hanging out on the beach or eating gelato on the pier. This ties into one of the largest intended takeaways from the trip as a whole: preparing for life after graduation. Learning how to bond with new friends during seemingly mundane moments is very important in order to socialize and make new friends. At the end of the day, I felt accomplished, despite not completing any actual tasks for the course.
Tomorrow, the long-awaited beach volleyball tournament takes place. After having to be rescheduled because of high winds, anticipation is running high. From what I can tell, it seems to be a high-stakes competition: the winning team gets gelato, courtesy of Bertan. There will definitely be some intense games ahead of us.
