it's a price i have to pay - i'm a big girl all the way

so... still going to greece! i leave my house in like 12 hours! i am so so excited!

sunday through wednesday i will be in naxos, thursday through saturday i will be in santorini, and saturday night/sunday day i will be in athens. i found amazing hostels at ridiculously cheap rates. i have no set plans other than to hike lots, beach it up, and eat and drink my fill of ouzo and tarama salata. it would also be nice if i had a bathtub at one of my hostels, which would justify (somewhat) my purchase of lots of fun spa products.

i just tried to find songs centered around my destinations. if you can manage it, don't ever download yanni's "santorini." i wasn't paying enough attention and now i own this piece of crap.

anyway, things are going well... except i have a most horrendous headcold. finding a pharmacy past noon on a saturday is no small feat in this town - i spent an hour and a half searching online, and then another 45 minutes actually finding an open 'apotheke.' it was near the place where i was doing laundry, luckily. 99.99% of pharmacies here are open 9-5 weekdays and 8-12 saturdays. if there is an emergency, you can spend all of the energy you have finding one in a nearby district, walk to it, ring the scary little bell, and wait in the cold for a mean pharmacist to come help you. if you are lucky, as i was, they will give you grippostad c. i feel a lot better, albeit loopy and caffeinated. we'll see if it works. no luck refilling my US prescriptions though - i will have to see an austrian doctor for those.

this was an interesting and difficult adventure here because there is no such thing as walgreens. they have grocery stores which sell no medicine whatsoever. they have 'drugstores' that sell soap and toothpaste and eyeshadow and the austrian equivalent of 'slimfast' but no medicine whatsoever. then, they have 'apothekes,' which sell ridiculously expensive face/body products AND medicines (prescriptions, sudafed-ish things, advil-ish things, etc.). so it takes patience and tenacity to get well in this town, at least as a foreigner.

yesterday i tried medicating myself at the asian market, a new-found personal favorite. the korean soup and ginger tea are helping, but not as much as my GRIPPOSTAD! i like that word!

i am all ready for greece. have two swimsuits, good hiking shoes, citronella spray for skeeters, sunblock, and two good books. i might need more books, as two of my ferries are over 6 hours long. i will leave this to be resolved in the next few days. damn i wish someone would send me some books.

umm i am going to find an internet cafe to print my itinerary. then i am going to find a pub that knows how to make hot toddies, the only possible cure for this terrible cold. my only real worries are that 1) zeus already hates me and 2) i won't be able to taste my wonderful greek meals. pray to zeus for me.


xoxoxoxoxooxoxxoxoxoxoxo
ashley