Well this is my last posting. I'm HOME...haha and it took a couple of mishaps to get here. Basically the night before my departure me and chelsea headed out of the hostel and to the airport only to find that somewhere along the way between walking, taking a taxi, and taking a bus my passport had gone missing! WORST THING POSSIBLE. But for some reason I was actually really calm about the whole situation. I feel like I was so blessed to have such an amazing trip that maybe I needed a mishap to make it feel real. So there I was kind of shocked standing in the airport with chelsea with absolutely no possibility of being able to board my flight! This turned into quite the ordeal. First I had to go to the police and get a police report about my lost/stolen passport. Then I had to talk to the check in lady and the ticket sales and get myself on the next flight possible which happened to be the next day and then I had to trek it down to the embassy. After saying a weary goodbye to chelsea I realized that I was on my own and would have to figure things out for myself. So I figured out the bus that would drop me off and I headed down to the embassy. The embassy was really cool and exactly like the movies. It was basically this HUGE brick building surrounded on all sides by towering gates that were being watched carefully by the greek guards. After walking up to practically every single gate I finally found the one entrance that actually took in people haha. I was frisked and had my bag checked and had to take out all electronics and have my bag checked again and then go through a dectector before I could finally enter the actual building. When I walked in I was shocked to see a waiting room full of about 1oo people, how was i possibly going to get through it in time???? Fortunately because I am an american citizen I was quickly directed to a side room where I was relieved to find about five people in line. It was here that I explained my situation, gave my police report, filled out some paper work and took new passport pictures. It was actually all very simple and within two hours I had a brand new passport. Although I had remained calm throughout this whole situation my parents back home where suffering from insomnia,high blood pressure and I'm sure increased heart palpitations after I told them about my little discovery. I felt so bad for causing them so much worry but at the same time it was really hard for me to grasp the part that made this such a BIG deal. Things like this happen, and the world keeps moving, everything will eventually work out with patience. So for the rest of the day I was patient. I waited,hoping that they could get me on the second flight from heathrow to denver. It was out of my hands and all I could do was hope that my karma points had been tallying up enough to get me home. I rested up ate food and tried my best to relax until it was time to go back to the airport. I arrived at the airport around 6ish and went to the ticket counter in hopes that maybe one person had cancelled their flight and that I would have two boarding passes in my hand....no such luck. Unfortunately they still could not confirm a seat for me so I would be left to check again in Heathrow for the possibility of a miracle. I slept quite soundly through my flight from Athens to Heathrow and awoke right before the plane landed. I had to go through customs, where my new passport was scrutinized for a couple of minutes before they would let me collect my bag. Finally I was reaching the ticket counter, I was soo nervous! What if there wasn't any room? Where would I stay? What would I tell my parents?? I quickly explained my situation and was greeted with the sympathy of the BA lady. She immediately made a few phone calls and within minutes I had a shiny white boarding pass in my hand!!!! AHHH SUCCESS I was so relieved and so thankful and couldn't believe my luck!!! 9 hours later I was greeted by my father outside of the International Arrivals with my backpack on and a smile on my face full of relief to be standing on solid ground in the beautiful state of Colorado. I had made it.

Coming back home has been surreal. Walking through my front door I realized that my trip had come to an end I was home. Only hours ago I had been thousands of miles away in a beautiful country that housed me for six weeks, gave me wonderful friends, and left me with adventures that I will always cherish. Its weird adjusting back to reality. For the past month and a half me and Chelsea had been living in our own world. Doing exactly what we wanted when we wanted. Being completely in charge of our own destiny, we had the ability to do exactly as we pleased with nothing holding us back. People have asked me about my trip and when I try to explain I simply can't. Chelsea and I had a unique greek experience, I will never be able to do justice in explaining just exactly what we underwent during our travels. It was unique to our personalities and was a perfect fit for the type of travelers we wanted to be. To all the other backpackers we were the young crazy girls who had lived on hippie commune, had made life long friends with our village boys, and somehow managed to roam around Greece without any serious complications. We were some of the youngest travelers at the hostels and that made me feel soooo HAPPY.

On this trip I experienced a type of independence and freedom that made me feel like I could do anything. This trip has been the most liberating experience I could have ever hoped for and I am so thankful. I learned that I could count on myself to solve my mistakes and that I could be independent of others. My heart and soul felt complete on this trip, I felt like I wasn't missing out on anything and I was sooooo incredibly happy. Having to worry about basic things like where we were going to eat, or where we were going to sleep made me feel SO ALIVE. I was so aware of that fact that I was LIVING MY LIFE and that I was in charge of ME. I've learned on this trip that I want my life to be full of this type of sponaneity and this type of adventure. I want my life to always be this FULL OF LIFE. This is my promise to myself, that my adventures don't stop here, my growth will not stop here, and my energy will continue to excel me into new places and new levels.

I would also like to mention that CHELSEA was the best travel partner I could have everrrr asked for!!! Chelsea understands me and I understand her and that is a unique relationship that we have that allows us to be the best travel buddies EVER. I am going to miss you soo much this summer but I can't wait for our next expeditions (because there will be many). I am so glad we were freshman year roommates because without her this trip would have been very different. I am so glad that we have become friends and I am soo glad that we went on this trip together!!! I LOVE YOU BOO. I am so lucky to have met you!!

Someone I met on this trip told me that I have a dreamers mentality. Which basically means I have kind of a delusional reality. I HOPE I always have this mentality in fact I LOVE this mentality. I think its because of this mentality that my dream came true and I traveled the beautiful country of GREECE.

I HOPE that everyone does something like this....its good for your soul!

Last but not least I would like to revisit my thanks. There aren't enough thank you's in the world to commend how perfectly this trip fell into place. With the help of amazing parents, and new found friends this trip was made into an amazing experience. Like i've mentioned before people really do make the place. TO EVERYONE I met on this trip, whether you were a fellow backpacker, a cohort at the sunshine house, a Bourtzi boy, or someone from the hostel it is because of you that my trip was so INCREDIBLE. I am so lucky to have met all of you and to have shared those experiences with all of you. You are wonderful and you gave me the time of my life!

PARENTS I LOVE YOUUUUU thank you for putting up with the stress of having a crazy traveling 19 year old daughter roam the land of GREECE. You let my dreams come true!

with LOVE and THANKS

JESSICA

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe