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| It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... On Wednesday, February 12th, we had a free day, so a group of us decided it would be a great day to go skiing in the beautiful mountains of Greece. The story you are about to hear is completely true but probably still unbelievable, so here goes... Ok, so we had to wake up early Wednesday morning and leave the campus at 3:15 AM. There were 19 of us that left, and Dr. Edwards had promised to take a van load of us to the airport to catch our first bus. However, when he said "van load", he apparently was not planning on such a large group. Regardless, we actually managed to fit all 19 in a van built for 8! (I am not sure if I felt more like a clown or a sardine). Ok, first obstacle of the day behind us. We arrived at the airport and caught the 4:00 bus to Glyfada, a town near Athens; however, there were 7 stops in Glyfada and we didn't know which stop to get off at. So, we took a chance and guessed right and made it safely to our stop at Glyfada. 2nd obstacle down. There we met the preacher's son, Stephen, who went with us, and he suggested that we go to Dunkin' Donuts for a quick snack, even though we had only 20 minutes to catch the bus that would take us to the mountains. When we came returned, the bus was pulling away, so we sprinted after it and banged on the door and the driver let us on. 3 strikes. The bus was a charter bus and was very comfortable, and we were told by someone back at HUG that it was a two and a half hour busride to the mountains (some foreshadowing--that figure wasn't even close). Ok, so the bus was really nice and we slept for most of the trip. When I first opened my eyes, I woke up to a guy asking for money for the trip, which was disorienting, and found out that we had been in Athens for 2 hours stuck in traffic or something. Anyway, the busride, lift tickets and ski rentals came to 20 dollars total--not too shabby. So, I went back to sleep and woke up a couple of hours later and we were still far from the mountains. Ok. Well, after a bit, we made it into the mountains, and into a bunch of snow. The driver pulled over at a gas station, and we came to find out that a giant boulder had fallen into the road ahead, blocking it off, and we would be stuck there until around 1:00 pm. It was 9:30 am. The trip was to get even crazier. We all got off the bus and were playing in the snow, and after 45 minutes we found out that the boulder was moved and we could proceed. However, we failed to heed the warning signs when we saw another tour bus stuck in the snow and ice...So, we continued to wind our way up the mountain and then it happened. We were stuck. The road was solid Ice and we were trapped in a huge snowbank. So, the menfolk got out and we tried to help shovel snow and push the bus (yeah, push a bus!). Turns out the driver hadn't put chains on the tires, even though the road was a sheet of ice. So, after maybe an hour of the driver failing to get the chains on and no movement, we finally were able to push the bus out of the bank and onto the road. Keep in mind that this is a mountain road, which is pretty steep. All looked well and the girls were back on the bus when the driver got out to put chains on...but he forgot one key element--the parking brake! The bus slid backwards and into another snowbank before one of the passengers made it onto the bus to hit the brakes. So we shoveled / pushed the bus out again and finally they got the chains on and we headed up to the ski area. We finally made it there around 12:30. Oh, and the lifts there close at 3 pm too. So we get up there and it is a blizzard--totally white out conditions and we are all freezing because we don't have proper ski clothes. To top it all off, there was only one lift and one run open. So, for 2 hours we skied the same run down a windy slope and we couldn't see 10 feet in front of us. At 3:30 we got back on the bus and headed home, uneventfully, and finally got back to the Artemis at 9:30 pm. So, we were gone for 18 hours and skied for only 2! While this all sounds absolutely horrible, it really was a great day. We had great people and hey, we got to ski in greece (and for only 30 dollars total from Porto Rafti). I would do the day over anytime, however I don't think I will be going back there again! So, that was our crazy day. Never know what to expect, huh? | ||