Kefalonia, Greece

And we're off!! What an adventure already... Our flight was supposed to be taking off right now as I'm typing this (6:30 pm) but instead we were delayed and are waiting to board at around 8:10 and in the air by 9 o'clock. While in the air we're hoping to make up some of the lost time because at this point we will be missing our connecting flight from Athens to Kefalonia in the morning by about 30 minutes. The airport was crazy today... A lot of people, but mostly was hectic because it seems everyone is short-staffed. Hoping the rest of the trip goes more smoothly! When we land, depending on the time, we'll either be staying in Athens for one night (07/05) and then flying out to Kef the following afternoon (07/06) and I will be joining up with my internship team and starting the program... OR if we miraculously make the connecting flight then we will be taking the ferry from Argostoli to Lixouri and staying the night in our Airbnb there. Reallly hoping for the latter but we'll see! I will write more tomorrow night, wherever we end up! Side note: My parents and I are flying over together tonight and then parting ways on July 6th. I will be doing my internship for the month and they will continue on exploring monasteries, churches, and beaches on their honeymoon.... 36 years late! Okay... I'll share more tomorrow. Hopefully I'll sleep through this flight, catch you on the flip side!

I don’t even know where to begin in describing the day we've just had. First, I'll start by mentioning that our (roughly) 12 hour travel day turned into a 30 hour travel day. Our original travel plan included flying from Newark to Athens and then flying from Athens to Kefalonia. As I mentioned in my last blog though, our flight was delayed and that did end up making us miss our connecting flight in Athens. From there, we found out that we were not going to get any refund for the missed flight, or accommodation (I won't bore you with the details) but long story short it was not worth staying in Athens and flying out the next day because it would cost an absolute arm and leg. My parents and I decided it was better to get as close to Kefalonia as we could today. So we set out to do just that. The most efficient way to break down our travels is as follows: 1 hr bus → 4.5 hr bus → 2 hr ferry → 1 hr bus → 30 min taxi. In the end, glory be to God, we did make it all the way to our 'maisonette' in Lixouri. Soooo, that is how I started my 22nd trip around the sun! A lot of highs and lows this past year but I'm so grateful to be starting a new year here in Greece. Hopefully, the rest of my year will go a little more to plan. I'll write again tomorrow after my first day in the internship!

P.S. My pictures will improve... It's hard to capture the beautiful moments in the midst of hectic traveling!!

Another long, but good day! Turns out my house does not have wifi, so I will have to go to a café on the water every day and use their wifi while sipping a frappés… ugh my life is so hard.. hahah. Anyways, my day started off absolutely perfect. As my mama and I had a chance to sleep in after our crazy day yesterday, my papa ran out and got frappes, fresh orange juice, and yummy pastries from the local bakery in the square. We all enjoyed it on the terrace in the front of our house overlooking Lixouri. We did not realize how beautiful the town was until we woke up this morning, because we got in so late last night. After our lovely breakfast, we made our way to the ‘villa’ that I will be staying in for the internship. It is a beautiful big light green house. There are many many rooms, all of which have 2 bunk beds, and then a kitchen on each floor. I am staying around the back of the house, in one of the two rooms down there. A few of us arrived at the same time. I met a group of three girls, Olivia from Switzerland, Amy from France, and Carmella who is also from Switzerland. They are really sweet and we ended up spending the afternoon together. Once we were settled in, we went to the beach and hung out there for a while. I've never seen such clear, beautiful water! After getting to know each other we grabbed a quick bite and then headed back to the house. I had some alone time to settle in, stretch, and get a quick workout in before showering. After showering we had orientation for an hour, and then we all headed down into the main square and strip of restaurants running parallel to the water for some dinner and drinks. I've met people from all over the place. Belgium, Canada, France, UK, and Switzerland to name a few. So many accents and backgrounds, I love it! Tomorrow is my first (of MANY) 5:45 am morning shifts. If you want a visual of me right now (last photo in the pics), I am sitting on a bench between the restaurants and the water (mooching off their wifi), and waiting for my parents to meet me here for some time together before I hit the hay. Very happy they're here, I'd be okay if they weren't, but it's fun knowing that they're close! They just walked up... such cuties. Okay signing off for tonight. Tomorrow will be another long day as I try to get into the swing of things here, but I'm looking forward to it! Feeling happy, and grateful!

It seems that every day becomes more of an adventure than the last. Today I woke up at 5:15 am (my first photo is a few moments after waking up… I wanted to capture a picture of the first time I woke up without hitting my snooze button six times). Anyways, the day began with a brutal uphill 5 mile bike ride to our beach surveying location. While there we found two sets of tracks. I learned how to decipher, measure, and document them. In our second pair of tracks there was a nest. This is where the adventure begins… We began digging, and digging, and digging in the sand for what felt like hours (it was probably 40-50 minutes). We found out about half way into it that the cafe owner who ran the cafe on the beach was less than pleased with us creating a giant hole in front of one of his many cabanas. I found out today that many beach cafe/restaurant owners don’t like when nests are found on their beach because it means blocking off an area of the property to protect the eggs. They are quite vocal about their annoyance. After some conversation, it was decided that moving the eggs away from the popular tourist cabanas (and farther from the water) would be a good move for these 89 sea turtle eggs (yes… 89 eggs in ONE nest). It was fascinating to watch the process of the eggs being relocated with such precision to a more isolated part of the beach. After that, it was a 5-mile bike ride back home. My friend Katie got bit by a dog on the ride home which was pretty scary to see. We handled it the best we could post-‘hot and long stressful morning’, and mid-bike ride home. I thankfully had a little emergency first aid kit in my backpack so we were able to clean it up well enough to get home. She went to the hospital and got all taken care of. When we got back from the surveying site we had an hour and a half long meeting discussing the technique in identifying mama turtle tracks coming up onto the sand to nest. It was fascinating. After the meeting I showered and headed down to the cafe by the water for some lunch, and a frappé. I caught up with my sister Photini for a while and chatted with my other sister Anna for a little while too. Photini made a frappé in Michigan and I had mine here, it was a cute little sister date! And then I spent some time sitting on stone steps that lead into the sea. I could’ve sat there for hours. I think I am really going to enjoy my time on this island. There are a lot of fun adventure things to do but it’s small enough to be able to have a routine and create a relationship with some of the locals. I already have a friend at the cafe that I’ve gone to the past two days. Her name is Christy and she is the sweetest woman! After enjoying some alone time I made my way to the grocery store to pick up some food for this upcoming week. I have very little fridge room so I am going to be going week by week, as to not spoil the produce. I carried a huge watermelon 3.5 blocks today… I definitely saw an entire group of papous' giggle at me struggling to carry it. Once I got home I quickly changed and met my parents over in the church that is one block away from my house for Paraklesis. It was beautiful, as always. Paraklesis is my favorite service and the chanters voices were very rich, and deep. It was so wonderful to listen to it. My parents and I then went for some dinner and dessert by the water, and then they walked me home. It has been a long day. One of those days that feels like a week-long, you know? Well, tomorrow I do it all over again. I’m so grateful to be here and to have found this opportunity. I think this program will suit me very well! I’ll write more tomorrow! I hope whoever is out there reading this has/had (depending on your timezone) a great day! :)

Today was a great day! It started out bright and early on a beach a few miles away doing our daily beach survey for turtle tracks and potential nests. Today we didn’t see any tracks on the beach we surveyed but I did get to see another relocating of a nest. It’s amazing to see how many eggs are in the little hole in the ground. This nest had 83 eggs in it! After our survey I came home and made a feta and watermelon salad, it was amazing. Then headed down to the beach with my friend Katie! I was in the water for about an hour and a half with my Frappé, chatting away and taking in the amazing sun. I then went back to the house for a meeting with one of the founders of this project. Her name is Chanel, she is a greek-american who lives here with her husband (the other co-founder) and their kids. She knew so much about sea turtles and it was incredible to learn so many new things!! After the meeting, I went back to the beach and this time I brought with me a floaty that I could lay on in the sea. Best. Decision. Ever. It was so relaxing to drift in the water. I could’ve stayed there all afternoon and evening but I had plans with my parents because it was their last night on the island! We went out for dinner and a swim on this BEAUTIFULLLL beach about 25 minutes out of town. Dinner was absolutely divine and the sunset was stunning. It was an amazing evening spent with them and I am so grateful that I got to spend some time with them while they were here. They are off to Xios tomorrow, and I will be staying put. I’ll shift gears tomorrow into more of a ‘work-mode’ I think, now with my parents being gone I’ll find more of a routine and stick with it! I’ve already made some amazing friends and I am so grateful to this organization for making everything so easy. I am so impressed with the program's ability to provide a balanced amount of structure vs. free time. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the month and getting to know people better. Above all, I can’t wait to potentially see some little baby sea turtles hatch. I think I’ll be here when hatching season begins and I would be so happy to witness such a cool thing! Thanks for keeping up with me and my little daily summaries! It’s amazing because I feel like I’ve been here for WEEKS yet it's only been a few days. I know that this month will fly by though, so I am trying to stay present and not worry about anything that is not right in front of me. Glory be to God for all things, I really am so blessed in my life in so many ways, and being here is just one of them!

Hello hello!! I am so sorry that I haven’t written in the past 3 days! It has been so busy but so fun! I’ve been spending my days working in the morning and then having the afternoon to relax and adventure and then I go to my evening shift starting at 6 and ending between 7-8:30! I have already made so many great friends and met such cool people! The first photo I’ve included is a picture of the top 7 eggs of a nest that we dug yesterday. To help you visualize what I mean when I say morning beach survey… here is a quick explanation. We wake up and are out of the house by 5:45 AM. We then bike/walk to our assigned beach that shift. When we arrive the sun is just rising and we begin walking the length of the beach looking for turtle tracks in the sand. If some tracks are found, we follow the route that the turtle took from the water to the sand, and then her return to the water, and decide where she may have potentially laid their nest. Once we’ve marked off that area, we start digging until we’ve uncovered the top 5 eggs. Once those are showing we do a bunch of measurements for research purposes and if we need to go back and relocate them, etc. After taking measurements, we cover it up again and put a perimeter around it in order to avoid people walking over it or animals getting to it. I have loved learning so much about the whole nesting process and hopefully, I will learn (and experience) the hatching process. Since being here I have averaged about 30,000 steps a day, so it has been amazing to be so active and in the sun all day. My first week here has been incredible and I can’t wait for three more. Everyone I have talked to has said they wished they had stayed 4 weeks or that staying for a month was a great decision! The food is great, the company is fun, the sun is hot, and the frappés are cold… does not get much better than that! Currently, I am sitting in the plateia (the town's central square) enjoying the sounds of children playing around me and the boos and cheers of everyone around me that is watching the Italy vs. England soccer game. I just got off of FaceTime with my family… I miss them (always) but am so happy that they all are doing well! I know my time here is going to fly by so it has been good filling my days so much because it makes the days seem much longer. I already know that it is going to be hard to leave this place and lifestyle behind. I am going to go join up my group now and watch the remainder of the soccer game with them! The pictures I've included are a little random, but a good look into what I see on a daily basis! I will try not to miss days again!! I hope everyone reading is happy and healthy!

And just like that, another day has flown by. Today was the best day so far, I think. Started out like all the others. By 5:45 we were headed to the beach. The location today is the one beach that we walk to instead of using the bikes to get to! The shift ends with about 19,000 steps walked by 9 am. After the shift, we were all so hot so we decided to go for a dip into the sea. It was so relaxing and fun. and the water early in the morning was perfect. On our way back to the villa we explored an abandoned hotel and WOW... the structure and mass size of that place is breathtaking. Almost every inch of the place was overgrown with wildflowers. While inside of it, looking at different rooms and seeing different views, we were listening to the Mamma Mia (1 and 2) soundtrack. As cheesy as this sounds... it really felt like we were in the movie, dancing and singing along to the songs overlooking the sea surrounded by wildflowers. like COME ON. it was perfect. After that, we walked home and relaxed for a while. Stopped at a grocery store and I got some fresh veggies and fruit for the week, as well as a frappé. In the afternoon we headed down to the beach and took some pictures all together because it was our friend Rosa's last night! This program works in a very specific way so that there is a rotation of new people coming and old volunteers leaving, so Rosa had already been here for 1 week before me and stayed one week with me, and now is headed out for some more travel of her own. It was been so fun to get to know her, and everyone here! After the beach, we went home, had some dinner, and I prepared for my shift at 7:30. I was helping to relocate a nest that had been laid that early morning. It is so amazing to see the number of eggs that fit into that tiny hole in the sand! Once we had finished that, it was dark so the walk back to the car with my two leaders (Alison and Skye) and my friend Millie was so beautiful at sunset. Since it was Rosa's last night we went out to a bar called Alobar for some cocktails! It was super fun but we were all tired so we headed back and went to bed. BUT before heading back to the house I went to a souvlaki store right off the plateia. First, I'll start off by saying that pork souvlaki is the juiciest and most AMAZING tasting souvlaki I've ever had. Second, I've gone there the past few days and the same man has served me every time (he probably owns the place) and last night I MADE IT. He said to me, as he handed me my two souvlaki, friends, and pita (for 3 euros), "See you tomorrow"!!! Ahhhh I guess I've found my spot! Now I'm committed to it, and I love it. Well anyways, I hope is going well for each of you! I just can't express my gratitude enough for this experience, these people, and this place! Glory to God, keep me in your prayers, please! And don't hesitate to reach out to me... I love hearing from people and I have access to wifi almost always!

Hello!! This blog won't be too long because I haven't done too much the past two days and I am preparing for my first 2 night surveys, starting tonight! I led my first morning beach survey yesterday! What that means is that I was in charge of writing down all of the information we find and the measurements we take. There is a lot to remember but I am getting the hang of it, I think! I haven't done much the past 48 hours besides work, eat, and sleep... and that is how my next two days will go as well due to the night shift! We leave the villa at 8:30 pm and don’t get home until 6:30 am. We spend the night walking the beach for 45 minutes and then taking a 15 minute break. The hope is to see a turtle come up onto the sand and lay her hatchlings. If we do then we will tag her (if she hasn't already been tagged) and then we mark her tracks so that the morning beach survey knows where to dig in order to protect the new eggs! I've been trying to nap all day because there's no sleeping allowed, but I am not very good at sleeping during the day. I just got up (@ 5:30 pm) to make some dinner. I made feta, tomato, cucumber, and oregano salad, and also some feta-pesto pasta for me and my friend Millie! It was yummmy. My photos this time are a pretty random selection but I like showing you all what I see every day! The next two days I am going to be pretty out of it, sleeping in the day and working at night, but I will try to blog at some point! I can't believe an entire week has already flown by, but thankfully I have three more. I've made such great friends here so far and I'm very grateful. I love meeting new people with all different backgrounds, It gives me such an appreciation for how big our world is and how fortunate I have been to see so much of it at such a young age! I'm thankful to God for that! Have a great rest of your week! P.S. the last photo seems a bit random... but it is VERY important. I got a fan to clip onto the bunk above me so I can have it on at night. This is a BIG DEAL and I've been sleeping so much better with it! (S/O Alison, one of our field leaders, for hooking me up with it!) P.P.S. The souvlaki place that my friend Millie and I have been going to is amazing but the man keeps saying see you tomorrow" (because I think it's all he knows how to say in English) and it's beginning to stress me out because I feel like I have to go to not disappoint him hahah, oh well. Souvlaki for 20 days straight isn't a problem I mind having.

It is incredible how fast time is flying by here. I can't believe it has already been 5 days since I have written. For anyone following regularly, I'm so sorrryyyy for the delay!!!! So much has happened and I am so looking forward to sharing these pictures and stories. I'll pick up where I left off... night shift. It was unlike any experience I've ever had. It was great, but really hard! We biked a few miles to the beach where we do the overnight survey, called Megas Lakkos. We arrived there at around 9:30 the first night. I brought along some snacks and candy hoping that would help keep me awake during breaks. The first night it was just me and two other girls! The schedule for the night is to walk the extent of the beach (which takes about 30 minutes) and then we had a 15 minute break at one end, and then walk back the extent of the beach again and take a break upon arriving at the other end. As we're walking we cant speak or use any lights as to not disturb any turtles if they are out of the water or considering coming on to the sand. We walk in a single file line in order to keep our shadows to a minimum because the stars and moon are very bright. Because of the little light pollution and rare, if any, clouds in the sky, the stars shine so incredibly bright it was breathtaking. It's even so dark that you can even vaguely see the milky way. On the first night we didn't see any turtles come up and nest so it was really hard to keep my energy up but I did and made it through! When I biked back in the morning, I got home and slept as much as I could before my second shift. If you know me, you know that napping during the day is not usually possible for me but when you stay up all night I guess it makes sense why I was able to. I got out of bed around 5:30 and headed down to the square to pick up a sandwich and some coffee and juice to bring with me on my second night of night shift. This time around I felt more rested and prepared for what I was heading into at 10pm. Luckily, I got to see two turtles while on shift the second time around!

The next morning I woke up refreshed and ready to enjoy my first day off with two of my friends, Millie and Katie!!! We went into town and grabbed a taxi to bring us to a beach about 15 minutes drive away. It was so fun there. We just laid out for a while and then we rented a little pedal boat that had a slide on it and we went out on the water in that for about an hour. After coming in we decided we wanted some lunch so we had yummy lunch at this cute little beach bar overlooking the sea. And then we went rafting in a huge float they called "the sofa". It was an enormous round floaty and there was a back on 1/3 of it for us to sit up against and a speed boat whipped us around for a good 15 minutes. It was SO FUN. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. After that, we made our way home and got an ice cream cone at the ice cream shop in the square called Iscream. I'll admit it, I go there daily at this point. When in Greece... right? After ice cream, we went home and showered, and got ready for dinner at the restaurant that I went to with my parents on the beach called Petani Beach. We saw the most stunning sunset there and just enjoyed each other's company and conversation, truly could not have had a better day off. And right back to it the next day (yesterday, Sunday 07/18) with 2 shifts a day. Today (Monday, 07/18) is the first time I have been able to sit down and write on my blog and catch up on some laundry and groceries. I just finished hanging up all of my laundry and enjoyed a fresh lunch of peppers, hummus, pita, olive tapenade, and cherry tomatoes. It was delicious. Tonight is the last night for all but two of the volunteers so we are going out for one last souvlaki all together tonight and then we will see them off tomorrow and a new crew of 14 volunteers will be coming in. This upcoming week I will be leading a lot of shifts to help the new volunteers get the swing of things and I'm looking forward to that. Crazy to think 14 days ago I was in their position. Glory be to God my trip could not be going any better than it is.

The past 5 days have been such a whirlwind! The old group of volunteers left and a new group came in on Tuesday (the 20th). I was so sad to see the other group leave! They were the ones that I came in with two weeks ago so it was weird to be staying and everyone else (besides Millie) leaving. Because Millie and I were the only ones left, we’ve led so many shifts the past few days. The new group has been great, mostly all from around the UK. I’ve found that almost all of the volunteers come from the UK and its been so fun learning their ‘lingo’. It’s actually amazing how different the vocabulary is compared to the American vocabulary. I led my first dig the other day!! I’ve dug up plenty of nests these past three weeks but this last one was extra special because I was the shift lead on it and all of the other volunteers with me were brand new so they looked to me to direct them. I honestly surprised myself with how much I knew and how confident I was in doing all of it. I’m really starting to enjoy my shifts… not that I wasn’t before but I think I’m just starting to appreciate my time more now that I’m almost to my last week. I’ve learned so much and still felt like I’ve had so much time to relax and take care of myself. The hatchlings are starting to hatch and I am PRAYINGGG that I get to see some before I go. Two nests have already hatched so I’m hopeful! I have a night shift next week where I will be sleeping on the beach next to the nest and waking up every hour to check on them, I’m SO excited! I had my day off yesterday with my two friends Millie and Skye. It was sooooo much fun! One of the volunteers from the last group stayed for a few days in Argostoli, the city right across the water from us. She had a hotel room and invited us to go over the night before our day off and sleep over. We could not refuse an offer to have a normal bed (not a squeaky twin bunk bed) and a hotel shower (one that we don’t have to hold the water handle up for ourselves). We headed over on the 9 pm ferry and arrived at 9:30. We met up with Maddy to go to her hotel room but turns out because of Covid and other restrictions we weren’t allowed up to her room so we had a moment of pure panic and nervous laughter and then pulled ourselves together and all decided to book a room at another place.

I can't believe my time here is coming to an end so quickly. It feels like just yesterday I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to wake up in time for my morning shift, or that I might accidentally miss a track on a morning survey. Today is a Saturday and I'll be catching my flight to Chios this Tuesday afternoon. I have one more shift this evening and then a day off tomorrow. My last full day of work is Monday and then all I'll have left is a morning shift on Tuesday, when I leave. These last 6 days have been filled with the little memories I hope to never forget. For example, we had our last few days with one of our field assistants Skye before she headed home and so we filled her last days here with ice cream, long talks, and the making of potential future plans to meet up. I was so sad to see her go, but hope to see her in October! We are currently going through a heatwave which has been crazy. The temperature every day has been over 103 degrees Fahrenheit at some point in the day. But, thankfully and in perfect timing, the hotel across from our accommodation opened up its pool and gave all those who are fully vaccinated volunteers access to it which has been a lifesaver the past few days. The lady at the kafenio there makes the best frappé I've had yet. Just yesterday she let my friend millie and I in on her secret to make a perfect frappé. I was honored hahaha. Last night was my first (and last) Hatchling Rescue night shift! During a hatchling rescue shift, our job is to sleep near a nest that has passed its 45-day mark of being laid, and monitor it every hour to see if any hatchlings have made their way out of the nest. It was my friend Millie and I on the shift so it was really fun to sleep on the beach and have that experience together. Unfortunately, we did not see any hatchlings, but they have been hatching on other nests so I am very hopeful that in the next 2 days I may see at least one. My exhaustion has finally caught up with me though, after 4 weeks of early shifts and late nights... and this heatwave is brutal. I am so sad to be going but I am looking forward to spending some time with my godmother and god-siblings in Chios relaxing and enjoying the last of my Grecian sun for the summer. I hope to come back again, sooner than later! My time here has been amazing. I will write more before I leave but thank you for following along this far!