Post-op Appt and then some... PHOTOS!

My post-op appointment was Tuesday--5 days after surgery. I've been really pleased with the lack of swelling and hope it continues that way after the tape FINALLY comes off!!! The surgeon and physician's assistant said everything looks fantastic and the results are amazing. I'm SO happy with how it's looking so far. 

Once the tape was removed, the swelling was more noticeable. I returned to work on Wednesday--just 6 days later!!--since the pain was down to a 1-2, my energy levels were fine, and things were just achy/sore/uncomfortable which has been totally manageable with some tylenol. I was more self-conscious of my "gigantic puffy chin" than I anticipated so tried to keep to myself. No one bothered me or asked any questions, but I could tell people noticed that I looked different. :) If I hadn't had such a receding chin in the first place, it wouldn't have looked so out of place. For me, it looked and felt drastic that first day. 

Today (Thursday), pain and discomfort was even better, and I generally felt more myself as far as mood/mental state is concerned. The hardest part has been that my smile isn't back to normal yet since all the tissue and muscles have been stretched, so I look a little doofy compared to my usual tooth-bearing grin. At least it's only temporary!

PHOTOS!!!!

Normal photo of myself (and my honey!) from our engagement photos last summer! Chin looks fine from the front!

Pre-op photos taken by the Cleveland Clinic--they emphasized that I should relax all the muscles in my face completely--fantastic. Receding chin is obvious from the side profile. 

First morning after surgery! Where's my prescription painkiller?! I looked exactly the same for all 5 days leading up to post-op, so this is all you're getting of these.

 NO MORE TAPE!! This is from Tuesday right after my post-op, literally--in the Cleveland Clinic bathroom and then in my car in the parking lot, ha. Look at all the chin I've acquired!!!! I was told that this was "quite swollen" and that over the next few weeks, the contouring and definition would continue to improve. It definitely became a bit more swollen than thing and was boxier by the next morning for my first day back to work.

At work today (Thursday), ONE WEEK after surgery. Already less swollen than Tuesday. Yes, I'm a chemist. Still having some achy soreness and discomfort, but again, nothing a couple tylenol can't take care of!

 Maybe my next post will strictly be pics of my derpy facial expressions! :)

Three days after

The surgery on Thursday afternoon went great! I checked in at the hospital at about 11:45am. There was a delay starting my surgery (due to the surgery prior to mine), so I didn't get back to the room until just after 2pm. Procedure took about an hour and a half, and I was in recovery until something like 6:45pm. My chin is taped up tightly with two large pieces of "special" tape.

That night was fairly miserable with pain on the high end of 7 on a 1-10 scale. I walked in the door, popped two painkillers, and went straight to bed--propped up on some pillows and laying on my back, of course. I didn't sleep well, maybe an hour or so at a time, and had to get up to pee quite often after being pumped up with the IV.

Friday--better, except my throat is really messed up from the tubes. Pain dropped to about a 5 most of the day, just hurts to swallow because the throat and avoiding anything acidic as it sort of burns going down (seriously, tubes fucked up my throat real bad!). Napped a lot, laid up on the couch, complete liquid diet of soups, smoothies that don't require a straw, juice, coffee, etc. Didn't appear to be much swelling, really, which was a nice surprise. Pain closer to a 7 by the end of the day. Still no bowel movement, which the doctor warned us about because of the pain killers--he recommended grape juice, but if that doesn't work, move on to softeners/laxatives.

Saturday--better again. Throat is fine today. Pain around 3-4 all day, and mostly in phases and not necessarily constant. Feeling less "pain" and more achy soreness. Most of the bottom lip is completely numb, as I can only feel in the very outside corners at the moment. I am mostly hurting underneath my chin along my jawline, especially back closer to my ears, which seems odd. It's quite tender to the touch, but only appears slightly swollen--not seeing any bruising. Only took one pain killer today, mostly used extra strength tylenol. Pathetic bowel movement this morning, but nothing else, even with coffee.

Sunday--pain around a 2 if I am holding still. My back is getting sore from having to sleep that way, and in general I'm feeling pretty restless. I normally work out 4 days/week on average and eat A LOT...  I think I'm probably over eating on the soup/smoothie/juice menu but it never leaves me satisfied. Going to move on to a straight laxative today and not taking the prescribed pain killer until I get some results, haha. Starting to get antsy about wanting this tape off my face.

Nurses did not say I need to ice. per se, but I have a couple of times because it feels good and is a relief. At this point, I'm very glad Monday is a work holiday, as I will still be taking a sick day on Tuesday. My post-op (and tape removal, for good I hope!) is that afternoon--even if my energy was up enough for work on Tuesday, I don't think I need to freak everyone out by showing up looking like this.

Trying to find a good before photo that will show the lack of chin! Hopefully the Clinic will give me a copy of the ones they took.

Morning of surgery!

I called the Clinic yesterday and they said my arrival time for surgery today is 11:45am.....  Not exactly the 7am I was hoping for, considering I have to fast after midnight last night. Instead of using a whole day of vacation today, though, I can just use a half day! Since I only started my job a few months ago and have limited vacation time (and am getting married this year), saving a half day is a big deal. Plus, now I will be busy at work while starving instead of sitting at home while starving and being tempted by all my food.

My last thoughts as I was going to bed: not about surgery. All about wedding planning details that have been on my mind.

My first thoughts this morning: I wonder how puffy my face is going to be after surgery.

I'm mostly feeling excited. I've had a few fleeting thoughts of disastrous outcomes but have managed to quickly brush them aside because they are ridiculous. Definitely feeling excited and maybe just anxious to get it over with in a way.

I'm stocked up on drinkable soups and smoothie items, as well as some serious vitamin C capsules along with my regular vitamin/supplement regiment to help myself heal as fast as possible.

The thing driving me the most crazy at the moment: not being able to put moisturizer on my face after washing it this morning--ahhh!! (Especially because it's super dry and really cold here in northeast Ohio right now!)

Time for work! Wish me luck!

So I'm getting a sliding genioplasty.

Yes, that's a real word, and this is happening in less than two days from now. It's more or less a chin job. Not a simple implant, and not the intense jaw surgery requiring braces before and a wired-shut mouth after. It's the middle ground--they cut just the chin bone and slide the bottom forward a bit to add length both vertically and horizontally.

How did this happen? I really don't know. I do know that my "receding chin" has bothered me immensely for a very long time and though I have a pretty enough face, I hate most photos of myself--blah blah blah. Once I realized it could be corrected, I wanted to get it done as soon as possible. I had a consultation with a couple of surgeons to determine the best option for me in November, a follow-up for photos and more in-depth discussion about potential results with my surgeon in December, and went in for an xray in January. Surgery is scheduled for Feb. 13th. Ahhh!

I haven't had much time to get nervous or let my brain run rampant with horrible potential outcomes. I find this quite fortunate; however, as the big day is now upon me, I am thinking about it more and more. And in my searches online for patients' stories who underwent the same or similar procedures, I came up with very close to nothing. Lots of info on doctors/surgeons/hospital pages, but I wanted more perspective from the side I will soon be joining. So here I am writing this.

I hope to post before and after photos eventually, but for now, here is how the cost broke down. Note that my surgery is taking place at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and that I am paying for this myself and the surgery is not covered by insurance.

Consultation Fee: $85
Surgery: $3500 (pre-op, surgery, post-op)
Prescribed pain killers: $0, thanks to insurance

All in all, it's about what I was expecting going into this whole thing. The biggest pain so far has been the fact that the Cleveland Clinic is a monstrous hospital system which inevitably comes with some major inefficiencies. I've had to shuffle around MANY desks/offices to get everything done that was required, but hooray, that part is over!

More posts coming with how I've been "feeling" about it all, who I've told and why, and pics/details after surgery!

USA! USA! USA! (7-9-July)

My last day in Croatia... so bittersweet. Not only to leave Europe and head home, but also to say goodbye to AJ for a while. He will be traveling for a few days in Rome, then heading to Africa for the better part of a month! That morning, we stopped at a bakery and tried an apricot muffin--WOWZA!!! I'm gonna have to figure out how to make those  things.

Because AJ was about to leave for Italy a few hours after I was leaving for the airport, of course his camera broke! hahaha.... so he bought a new one. This process of shopping for a camera took over an hour, so I did some shopping of my own at boutiques nearby! :) Next stop? Post office. Time to send some more stuff home so I am not carrying all of it on my back. Which would have been impossible, anyway. This was much easier than in Greece, and a lot cheaper, too! Not only did they have a box for me to use, but also twine to tie it up with--so cute.

It was an easy and relaxing last day... strolled through the green market, had some snacks, got some more figs and cherries (how I will miss them!!)... made one final stop for calamari and some dalmatian ham to share for lunch. We even had a chance to get some of AJ's pics on a disc for me so I could post them while we was still gone having adventures in Africa. Perfectly successful!!

So we had some time to kill before I caught the bus to the airport. AJ looks at his ferry info... hmm, why does the date show his ferry trip was for the week before? Shit. How did this happen? Thank goodness AJ is decent looking, and a younger lady was working at the ticket center... she changed it for him for a small fee. Ridiculous. Only AJ. Waiting for my bus, we got one last ice cream and finished off the cherries and figs. Mmm!

It was a bittersweet goodbye, for sure. Just as I was about to board the bus, AJ says wait because he has something for me. I think, "Oh how sweet, a parting gift! How thoughtful... wait, why is he grinning like that?? Uh oh, what's happening?" And next thing I knew, he Iced me. COME ON!!! You've got to be kidding! hahahahaha... unbelievably hilarious, and yes, I took a knew to chug the nasty thing. So awful. Love him, though. Ridiculous.

So my six weeks in Europe ended with an Icing. What could be better??

Some highlights from the trip home:
-Bag/germaphobe lady at airport in Germany... had seats and armrests wrapped in plastic. Weird.
-I love London Gatwick airport.
-Sometimes, annoying people with families of 15 and more will insist on pushing past you so everyone can stay together through the security line.
-The beer named Staropramen is amazing. And strong. Gotta find out if I can get it in the US.
-Chicks from Iceland are ridiculously gorgeous.
-Being welcomed back with overwhelming  news talk and broadcasts of "The Decision" from Lebron James... seriously? Gag me.

Time to Split! (5/6-July)

So we've left Hvar and are heading to Split, a port city on Croatia's Dalmation coast. Before we left, AJ bought some cherries and figs from the green market... I've never eaten either of these foods (never cared for cherries much), but I devoured them on the ferry ride across! I am salivating right now just thinking about them. Sheesh! So fresh and delish.

Finding the next hostel was very easy, and the hostel guy at this place was just as hospitable and helpful. And his name? FRANK! hahaha, love it.  That first day, we checked out the cathedral and walked around the old town square. Another charming city that we fell in love with immediately. The newer area, the Promenade, is a street of shops and restaurants... it is very modern and updated, and most of the locals don't care for it. I can't say I blame them, considering how perfect the rest of the area seemed to be! A low-key evening with some popcorn and a nice glass of wine. Lovely.

On Monday morning, we set off to find an internet cafe. What we didn't realize when we entered this building was that the computer lab was on the 14th floor... and it was stairs the whole way. Good thing I've been walking everywhere I go for the past 6weeks! With AJ's Kilimanjaro trip coming up, he wanted to break in his boots a bit more, so we decided to walk to Maljan Hill (as Frank suggested!) and check out the beaches and parks. It was a long walk out of the city, but well worth it. After chugging a bottle of water at the first beach, we found a spot to sit on the pebbly shore. This beach was very crowded and the water was murky and stirred up because of all the kids playing.  Talk about quality entertainment! :)

Eventually, we kept walking through the park, taking it all in. When we found another little spot to hang out, I laid in the sun and AJ kept walking to break in his boots and do some exploring. This part of the beach was near a place where lots of boats were cruising by at a pretty good pace. Their wake made the waves on the shore pretty rough, and a couple times the water crashed way up and all over me/my stuff/my book... haha, awesome. Good thing everything was dry in 5minutes flat! :)

Once we walked back later and got cleaned up, we enjoyed some dinner on the rooftop of the building across the alley from the hostel. Another great dish of calamari! We cannot get enough, and I think we ate it every day while in  Croatia. Sitting there in the setting sun with the trees and a light breeze, enjoying a meal and conversation with my best guy friend... epiphanies happen in those simple moments. I had one that evening, and it was a great one.

I love when I figure things out that really change you. One idea at a time.

How are YOU spending your 4th of July?? (4-July)

Cuz I am renting a boat for the entire day and cruising around the Croatian coast... Hells yea!!! We loaded up on snacks and sunblock for the day, met the boat guy so he could teach us how to run/drive the thing, and then we took off! AJ thought he was "the man" driving that little boat around, haha... he did a pretty good job of it, really.

Talk about a full day of fun in the sun! NOTHING beats this... nothing. There was even enough room for me to lay out on the front of the boat while we cruised around. A few times, we "dropped anchor" (hahaha... so weird) to hang out or swim around or explore a bitty little island. Of course, the water was all crystal clear and gleaming brightly in the sun. I got some of the best pictures from the entire trip on this day.  It was paradise.

We found a little island with some random sheep/rams on it... ?? How did they get there? How long have they been there? Is a farmer coming for them at the end of the day? So many unanswered questions!! Naturally, AJ wanted to explore, and explore he did. He managed to somehow climb onto this island without injuring himself and walk around... he got sort of close to the sheep/rams, but not too close, explaining when he returned from the expedition that they seemed pretty territorial and he didn't want to piss them off. Really? Good excuse, haha.

"Parking" the boat (yes, we called it parking) was a bit of a challenge, but we figured it out. Best 4th of July ever. Since it was our big day out, we decided to make it our big night out, too. Another suggestion from Mr. Hostel Man was what they call "slow food" and it was basically just a nice, formal restaurant with very customized menus, meant to be savored, enjoyed, and eaten very slowly... NO PROBLEM!  It was expensive about 250kuna (or $50) for the entire 5-course meal. And it was worth every kuna! :) The restaurant was called Golden Shell--we were just glad to find it after walking around aimlessly for a while!

We each ordered a different "theme" so we could try as many things as possible. The waitress even asked if there were any foods we positively did not like or were allergic to ("Nope!" for both of us) and she said the chef would love us! Time out... so he has this theme, but then he just makes some decadent thing with whatever he has on hand? On the fly? Freaking awesome. And holy cow, it was one of the most exquisite meals I've ever had in my entire life, and likely ever will. AJ even managed to take his time and eat slowly instead of inhaling it in 5mins like usual.

The night ended with some ice cream and good conversation... Perfect day.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Hello, Adriatic Sea! I love you! (3-July)

Today we decided to take an adventure and explore some more of the island of Hvar. This lead us to catching a bus to the town of Jelsa ("yell-suh). The bus ride was unbelievably, miserably hot, but cheap! :) We did lots of walking along the coast and checking things out. We stopped at a swim spot and stayed for a bit. There was a group of kids here playing in the water, and they were "sling-shot-ing" each other into the water using their towels. I got some fun pictures of them in action. We even joined in some of the fun jumping into the water and trying to do flips, haha. AND I discovered burst mode on my camera! AMAZING! We found a busy little area of shops and AJ bought the wonderful Hello Kitty mini/handheld fan. Yes, he used the strap to wear it like a necklace. Priceless.

After that stop, we walked a loooooonnngggg way around the island until we came to another town, and it was Vrboska ("ver-bOs-kuh")... It was a sleepy little place, but great scenery. And we found a deli to stop for a snack. From there, we caught the bus back to Hvar town. Dinner that night was at a restaurant tucked up on the hill on the way down to the harbor from the hostel. I don't remember what I got, but AJ got some sort of "octopus pasta" or something... all I know is the pasta sauce was black and inky looking! Very cool. Of course, we stopped at another place to get crepes for dessert. How I will miss crepes when I go home... they just aren't the same.

Ideas for how to celebrate the 4th of July from Croatia? :)

Back to the Motherland! (1/2-July)

So in case you didn't know, yes, part of my family was from Croatia. Not sure which part, but I was very excited to be there. Strangely, a lot of the Croatian men looked like they could belong in that part of my family... or perhaps my family looked like they belonged there. Either way, it was very interesting.

Upon our arrival at the airport, we caught a bus to Split so we could take the ferry to Hvar. The bus ride was about 30mins, and we stood the entire time, haha. Then we waited around in a line for ferry tickets. CROATIA IS HOTTTT!!! And cheap!! A huge bottle of water for only about $1!!! What a hugely exciting shock after spending a week and a half in expensive-as-all-get-out Denmark! After a nice nap on the hour-long ferry ride to Hvar, we found ourselves in paradise. The island has no cars, so it's all pedestrians all the time. What a charming place... very old world looking. I fell in loved immediately. And it was exactly what AJ was hoping for in a vacation spot after his year in Copenhagen, and before his trek through Africa. The couple running our hostel were AMAZING! Lemme tell ya--Croatians might have just invented what we call "customer service"... they have it down pat! Before the rooms were ready, we did a bit of exploring and laid around at a pebble beach, had a late lunch, and then got upgraded to a nicer room at the hostel! Hooray! We went to a place called Ferria Garden for dinner, as our hostel guy suggested, where I had the absolute 100% perfect and best calamari I have ever had in my entire life. (And I eat a lot of calamari, so I would know!) I think I took a picture of my meal, because it was just that good.

The next day, we strolled down to the harbor for breakfast and a quick internet fix. We noticed lots of people along the water advertising day-long boat tours, so we checked some of them out and settled on one we both liked. BEST DECISION EVER. For about $55, we would cruise around the islands of Croatia from 10am-5pm with 3 stops and lunch was included. Sign me up!!! We toured the Pakleni Islands!! The water everywhere was unbelievably crystal clear, which I am still not over! AJ had goggles for us to use, too! Buuuuut, like a champ, I lost them at our first stop. HAHA! We befriended two British girls that were also on the boat on our way to the 2nd stop, Ella and Frances, and they were just great. So much fun! We walked a long way around the island at the second stop... the rocks were weird and volcanic looking and we got some good pictures out there. After that, it was back to the boat for lunch. Chicken and fresh fish on the grill, salad, bread, drinks! Mmm... At the 3rd stop, we could swim around more and walk around this little island. We had to be careful of the sea urchins on the ocean floor--eek!! Like a dork, AJ climbed a tree and made me take a picture of him in it, haha. But it gave him an idea... let's go jump off the very top of the boat! ANOTHER best decision ever!!! :) Mildly frightening, but what a blast. Ella and Frances got in on the fun and we took some absolutely hilarious pictures of all of us jumping in and making dumb poses. What an amazing day!!!!!

That evening, we decided to take the hostel guy up on another suggestion: walking up the Spanish Fortress on top of the island for the best sunset imaginable. The Fortress itself was interesting and full of history, and the views just made it incredible. We sat up there for a while, enjoyed a cappuccino, and tried to get some cool pictures of the sunset over the harbor. We managed to do alright, too.

For dinner, we found Pizzeria Lavender, tucked up on the top of the hill at one end of the harbor. It was a truly fantastic meal! On the walk back, we decided  to stop for some crepes for dessert and then called it a night. Exhausting yet totally fabulous day!!!

Until next time... (30-June)

Last day in Copenhagen. At least for a while... Since it was AJ's last day there, also, we got to work doing some cleaning in the apartment. Yes, I'm so unbelievably nice for helping with this, I know. But I got another iced coffee out of it, so I can't complain!! :) Now since it was our last night, we knew we had to do it up big, so we (and by we, I mean I) got dolled up for a night out! Even though it was a Wednesday!


Where else could we go but to Mikkeller?! And who better to go with than Anders?! It only made sense, so that's what we did. It might only take 3 Mikkeller beers to get Mikkeller drunk, but remember that Denmark is quite expensive, so it still cost a good amount. And it was worth every kroner. We got some great photos that night, and Dora even jumped in for a couple!


AJ and I had to be up and out of the apartment, headed for the airport, at 5:30am to make our flight to Croatia. Since both of us had, in the past, flown while still drunk or severely hungover, we knew that doing it again would be a bad idea.


Naturally, we decided to suck it up and stay out all night long, not even go to sleep, and go straight to the airport after our night out. Awesome. Best decision ever, not gonna lie! :)


It also led to the sighting of a baby hedgehog on the sidewalk on the walk home... I even touched it and got my picture with it. Highlight of my life! ;)


Off to Croatia, the land of (some of) my ancestors!!!!! Can't wait!

Roskilde Festival! (27-28/29-June)

Welcome to what is surely the largest music festival in the world!!! The best worst part of the trip. Boy, were we ill-prepared for this event! Took the wrong train, got off at the wrong gate once on the right train, couldn't find Philip... sheesh! Not to mention that we hadn't actually purchased wrist bands since we were only able to stay for a couple of days, so we had to sneak in. And by sneak in, I mean we had to jump a fence. A tall one. I was more or less tossed over... good times! But we made it! Getting off the train, I couldn't help but wonder what on earth all these people were doing with dolly-cart after dolly-cart loads of beer. Now I understand. And I unabashedly participated to my fullest potential. I'm not sure how I survived on basically nothing but Tuborg and Carlsberg for over 48hours, but hey, I'm alive. And it was fantastic. Because this adventure was so incredible, I think it will be easiest if I just list some of the most memorable points:

1. Gaining a new appreciation for port-a-potties... most people just pee'd along the outer fence of the grounds, which made for a swampy and stinky situation after the first day... and the festival is a week and a half long.
2. Being taught how to properly squat and pee by a Danish girl... and yes, I got it down now!
3. Drunk and loud people everywhere. All the time.
4. Susanne Sundfør... great show.
5. Walking around in leggings and a bikini top, and not being ashamed even in the slightest.
6. Attending a birthday party at another group's campsite... music and dancing. Liberating.
7. Late night kebab and hookah... the kebab was a mistake, as I found out the next day.
8. Wake up at 9am, have a light breakfast, nap in the grass till 11am, get up, drink beer all day.
9. A lot of our group's beer getting stolen... that sucked.
10. Ultimate exhaustion on the train ride home to pass out and sleep for an entire day.

Once we made it home, I think I really did sleep for most of the day. Then an iced coffee made everything better! :) As miserable as I was during parts of my Roskilde experience, I would absolutely love to go back someday, for the entire festival, much better prepared for all it entails!!

Mikkeller = True Happiness (25/26-June)

Our attempts at visiting a beach with a jumping platform today were made in vain, as the water temperature was too cold and they weren't letting people swim. Boo. Oh well, more laying around in the grass and enjoying being alive. We also had entertainment--a creepy guy trying to strike up conversation with two young girls. Later on, we met up with Anders and his brother (Peter), as well as another Fulbrighter (Adam). And then the "icing" began... AJ iced Anders upon our arrival to the apartment. It was pretty hilarious, and I got a good pic of Anders taking a knee to chug that Ice. After a while, Anders innocently left to go to the bathroom, but magically returned with an Ice for AJ! Good work, Anders. Oh but wait, as soon as AJ stood up, tears in his eyes from chugging his Ice, Anders presented him with ANOTHER ONE. Priceless. That's rough. After some dinner at an excellent Indian restaurant, we decided to start the night at Mikkeller (said like mick-uh-luh). This place might be the best thing about Copenhagen, and it is AJ and Ander's favorite bar. Rightfully so, as I quickly learned. I don't know what they put in their beer, but "Mikkeller drunk" is an entirely different kind of experience from any other type of drunk you can imagine. In a good way. Since AJ's time in Copenhagen was coming to a close, the boys wanted to take him to get a Dirty Draught. Once they convinced me to approve of this plan (like I said... Mikkeller drunk!), off we went to the sketchiest bar I will likely ever visit. I am not going to explain what the Dirty Draught is here, but you can either use your imagination or ask me sometime if you are really dying to know. All I know is that I never want to experience this again. We hit a few more bars over the course of the evening, and I discovered the game Meier (said like Maya) Meier--good times, and I learned that I am pretty good at bluffing! :) Playing this game and having more beer is what we did into the wee hours of the morning. We didn't leave until 6:30am. Talk about a great night!!

Saturday required that I sleep in, so I did. Then we went to the Carlsberg Brewery for a tour. Yes, I went on a brewery tour and got 2 free beers... me, AJ, and my MASSIVE hangover. I wasn't joking about the beer intake. Anyway, it was a self-guided tour, and I really liked it. Learned some interesting little beer tidbits and got to see their beer collection (largest in the world, amounting to over 19,000 unopened bottles of beer!) We were so tired and hungover, we didn't do much else that day. But we DID get iced vanilla coffees... my life has been forever changed, and iced coffee will never be as good once I am home. They make this stuff fresh. I'm talking freshly ground coffee beans and using actual vanilla ice cream. When I go back, I will likely go to that cafe every single day just to get an iced coffee. Mmm, just talking about it makes me want to go get one now!

That night, I watched The Green Butchers. Highly entertaining. And highly Danish. :) Great film.

CASTLES and FIRES and NIELS BOHR, oh my!!! (22-24-June)

CASTLE DAY!!! Perfect day for a Princess like me! hahaha :) We spent much of the day exploring several castles in Copenhagen, all different and all beautiful. I got some of my favorite pictures from the summer on this day. The castle grounds were all so gorgeous and perfectly primped. I felt like I was in a movie, or that someone like me shouldn't get to enjoy something so beautiful. But there it was, on a perfect summer day in my favorite city in the world. We enjoyed some smørrebrød for lunch (look it up), and later found a fruit stand with fresh Belgian strawberries. Now, I am very picky about my strawberries, I'll have you know. These were the most unbelievably perfectly delicious strawberries I have ever had. Ever. In my life. It was such a lovely day.

FIRE DAY!!!! It was the summer solstice today, which means that everyone in Copenhagen gets together in this square where a gigantic fire tower is set up and stands around the fire while drinking beer and listening to music. Jealous? You should be, because it was awesome. Apparently, it was not the best summer solstice celebration for the Danes, but I was seriously loving every second of it. I finally got to meet AJ's friend, Anders, that night. After hearing so much about it him, it was great to have a face to go with name (and hilarious stories). We had a fantastic time, even the guy who thought it would be a great idea to try to climb the burning fire tower and had it all topple down underneath him...

NIELS BOHR DAY!!!!! Ok, for those of you who are not geeky science freaks like AJ and me, you will probably not care about this at all. Fortunately for us, AJ's roommate is good friends with a physicist who works at the Niels Bohr Institute. AMAZING!! Niels Bohr is a big effing deal, and not just anyone can walk into the Institute... but we had a personal escort and tour guide. The outside of the building has a light system set up and the lights emit random flashes, but it is all powered by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Tell me that isn't badass... it's awesome. Check it: Niels Bohr Institute After that delightfully dorky treat, we strolled around some parks in the city and laid in the grass, got some Chinese for dinner, and then went to the other Philip's apartment for another soccer game. It was so cool to be in Copenhagen with someone who had been living there and had a group of friends to hang out with!

København, du gamle hore! (19-21-June)

Let me first say this: I will consume more beer in the next 10days in Copenhagen than I have in my entire life combined up to this point. Because THAT is just how much Danes love their beer. And I love it, too.

So great to be back in Copenhagen!!! And a nice break for me and Clare since we didn't have to do much thinking when we flew in--AJ met us right at the metro stop! After a bit of resting and getting readied up, we, of course, went to the BEST shwarma restaurant just a couple blocks from his apartment. I could eat there EVERY DAYYYY!!!! So good. We made our way to the "beach" across from the Opera House, then, to meet up with AJ's roommate and watch the Denmark v Cameroon soccer game on a humongous projector screen that was set up for the public! After some convincing, we decided to stay out for the entire game even though we were exhausted and Clare had to leave very early in the morning--like 4am wake-up call early! We knew we made the right decision--Denmark won!!!! I think it was because 1. we were there and 2. I got Clare one of those ridiculous hotdogs-in-a-sleeve-bun thing---hahaha, so priceless! And we still managed to get a ketchup cup at the bottom, despite out attempts to avoid that. In the morning, I dropped Clare off at the S-train to take her to the airport at a bright and early 6:20am. What a bittersweet moment! After spending 3weeks together, 24/7, now I won't even get to see her beautiful face for over 3weeks more. Thank goodness we had the absolute BEST time of our lives together!!! :)

AJ and I just relaxed for the most part, since it was Sunday. Did a bit of walking around, and I finally got the climb the spiral church tower! That really was fun, and I got some of the most amazing pictures up at the top. What a great view of Copenhagen! Next, we decided to take the boat tour of the harbor--if you go to Copenhagen, you MUST do this. Grab yourself a 6pack of beer, a loaf of bread, and have an awesome time cruising around. By the time you get back an hour or so later, you've got a full belly and a nice buzz! ;) AJ introduced me to some Danish movies on the trip, and that night I watched Adam's Apple. I really enjoyed it, though I don't think many people at home would care to watch it, haha. I'd like to get a copy for my DVD collection, anyway.

The next day, we did some shopping and got some groceries for the week. I also had to get a few "warmer" items (like jeans and a sweatshirt and close-toed flats) because it was so chilly in Copenhagen!!  It was a lazy day for the most part, and AJ worked on some writing for the lab and I did some reading. I had just picked up Barbara Kingsolver's latest novel, The Lacuna--PHENOMENAL read, by the way! That evening, we went to a BBW at Philip and Janine's apartment (where AJ used to live when Philip was in the US) with a group of their friends. Could I find better people if I tried? I think not. Good food and even better conversation. It was a night I was truly present for... enjoying each moment, taking it in, and not thinking about what I was going to do tomorrow. Very hygge. Look it up, but you'd have to go to Copenhagen to really experience it.

Love København.

Adio, Greece! (17/18-June)

Another great beach day!! We rented the nice chairs again--cheap and comfy. Ok, so there was a guy on the beach every day, and he sold donuts. Huge donuts covered in sugar. We resisted the first day, but decided to indulge since we were, after all, in Greece! :) Once we decide to do this, he is nowhere to be found. Panic ensued. We even made up a song to bring him back to us... he finally came back to our beach and we quickly bought donuts. One covered in sugar, the other filled with little pockets of CHOCAOLTE! Woooohoo, good stuff!!

Since it was our last full night in town, we got all dressed up, all fancy-like, and went back to Michael's for dinner. He was so glad to see us and wanted us to come back for drinks later, haha. (We got their fried zucchini tonight--out of this world!!!) We got some good pics of how cute we looked, too, out on the beach. Then we went back to our hotel restaurant to hang out with Alexander and the Greek hottie, lol. Oh, also, walking down the street to the beach... it was like we had friends and people knew us because all the bartenders/restaurant people would wave and say "Hey, America!" as we passed, hahaha, loved it. Anyway, ordered some baklava--just shoot me now so I can die happy. Sheesh was that delicious. Might have to try to make some at home, and would surely do it no justice.

On our last day, we had to find the post office to send some things home and make room in our packs! Better to do it now than in Copenhagen, cost-wise, but that is the ONLY reason it made sense to visit a post office in Greece. What a disaster! The workers were not helpful and would not sell me a box for my things! They only have display ones, and wouldn't give me one of those, and apparently don't sell them? What?? They told us to go around to the nearby stores to ask and find a box--HAHA, are you kidding me? So we tried, and failed. Ridiculous. Thankfully, our Frank of Greece showed up at the post office and helped us out--brought us a good box and got everything shipped. For $90! Eek!

Did a bit of shopping and walking around town, watched a couple futbol games and just relaxed before heading to the airport. We got a set of cards and played War and Go Fish. Clare had a legendary game of Go Fish--I think I made a couple of matches, and then she just matched up every single last card after that. Insane. In the meantime, Alexander comes around our table every 10-15mins and squeezes Clare's shoulder... much to her dismay. hahaha. Then the Greek hottie showed up (he works there, too) and we just sat around till it was time to leave. And because of Clare's smooth skills, we got a picture we him. God, we crack me up!!

OFF TO DENMARK!!! OMG OMG OMG so excited!! :)

Go Greek! (15/16-June)

Sooo... definitely the best beach Clare and I have seen. AMAZING! LOVE IT! Please don't make me leave! And it was less than a 10min walk from the hostel! Freaking awesome. I'm pretty sure we were in paradise. Which says a lot considering someone told us there were way better beaches about 25km away. Oh well, we were perfectly happy! :) We got some serious tan lines, and maybe a tad bit burnt! Oops! It was worth it for a real beach with sand and crystal clear water! It was so gorgeous! And seeing your feet on the bottom was pretty cool!!!

After a day well-spent, we showered up and had dinner at a restaurant that we'd seen at the beach--open deck right out on the sand pretty much! We call this place "Michael's" because that was our server's name and he was kinda in love with Clare Bear! haha... we got a pic with him, too! :) Their food was outstanding-- shrimp pasta, greek salad, stuffed vine leaves (a new FAVE item!), and grilled veggies with a bit of cheese from Cyprus (or so I was told). Oh, and they gave us BUTTER with our bread--first time the entire trip! THANK GOD FOR BUTTER!!!! hahaha, we'd been so deprived! ;)

Clare talked her way into getting a beer glass for free from Michael. Such skills. Stopped at another place, Prime, for a drink on the walk back where she doubled her earnings with another glass from the bartender. So proud. So jealous. I am just not that smooth, haha. Getting back to our hotel, Alexander was working again and he greeted us with handshakes and cheek kisses. So funny! And then we had another drink with him and 2 other guys--dear lord, one of them was pretty much the textbook definition of a Greek God. LOL. Seriously, though... god status. We probably stared. Oh well.

The next day, after breakfast (which wasn't very impressive, but decent enough and included in the hostel price!), we went to Knossos to learn about the Minoan civilization and the Minotaur. So disappointed I didn't see it, haha, but it was interesting. Unbelievably hotttttt that day, we barely survived the tour! Afterwards, we hit a gyro shop across the street. Everything was fresh, including the apple juice I ordered. I'm talking the dude picked up a few whole apples off the table and turned it into juice for me. Amazing. And the gyros were out of this world!!!! I took a pic of them, haha.

After the short bus ride back into town, we accidentally found our way to the old Venetian fortress on the harbor. Not too much there in the way of tourism, but cool to see and being near the water is always nice. Always. Mmm, another fantastic day in the lives of Erin and ClareBear!

Kalispera, Greece!!

Airport day, for real! Yippee!! And no Alessandra this morning! :) The wonderful woman on duty did her job, too--took the key, checked the computer, confirmed on the books, made sure we paid, and THEN SAID, "Ok, you're all set!" THANK YOU, lady!

Flew from Venice to Athens to Heraklion, and we are now 7hrs ahead of everyone at home. This was probably the easiest bus and hotel route we'd had so far! And the driver knew right where we were going. What a relief! The room was nice, clean, and had air conditioning! The attached restaurant is where we could have breakfast in the morning, and we decided to eat there when we arrived and got settled. Fried zucchini and tapas, chicken with rice and veggies. Pretty good! Alexander (server who we hung out with all week, haha... what a cute little old man!) brought us a fruit/cake/jello thing for dessert and a small carafe of some type of liquor... he called it "huraki" and said he made it. And it was on the house! HOLY SHIT will that stuff put some hair on your chest!! Hot damn! Of course, Clare took it down like a champ with little complaint--so proud of her. I, on the other hand, thought it was the end of my life. We saw similar alcohol in stores later, called ouzo and it is 80proof. If any of you ever try it, let me know... you will not believe I even took a shot of this stuff!! Goosebumps for the rest of the night, for sure.

Whew! What a day! Welcome to Greece!!!!!!

Bitch Alessandra! (13-Jun)

That f-ing bitch Alessandra screwed us again. Seriously. I wish we had taken a picture of her so I could show you her stupid face... ugh. (Brace yourselves for a reallll good laugh on this story!)

So, off to the airport today. Had breakfast and turned our key in to... Alessandra. She didn't actually check us out, just smiled and went back to what she was doing. Went to the bus stop and arrived at the airport. Flight on Aegean to GREECE!! It wasn't posted on the big screens yet, though, so I stood with our stuff while Clare went to find their service desk. So I'm going through all of our travel papers... our flight is for the 14th of June, a Monday. We were certain that today was the 14th, but I also knew that today was SUNDAY. Shit shit. What is going on? I scramble to find Clare's phone to check on the day... son of a beach, it's Sunday the 13th. BAHAHAHAHAHA... so our flight is definitely not until tomorrow. You've GOT to be kidding me! THAT, my friends, is how blissfully unaware we were of the day and time during this trip!!! Better than showing up a day late, I guess!!!

Buy more bus tickets to go BACK to the hotel. While waiting around, a few young guys starting talking to us and asking our names/where we were from... FINALLY, a good-looking Italian guy who whispers in my ear, "bellissima"!!! I about died! That is seriously all I wanted from Italy, though, hahaha... so woohoo! So funny. Anyway, made it back to Hotel Palladio in a fit of laughter, which ended promptly when we spotted that f-ing bitch Alessandra STILL at the desk. (ps--her full name is actually 'f-ing bitch Alessandra, in case you were wondering!) Seriously, go home already! If she had done her job properly, she would have seen that we should not have been checking out that day and could have asked/stopped us! Hmpf... knowing her, she would have seen it and still said nothing. Ugh. Hate her. lol

Might have went back to Palladio Ristorante for lunch and had MORE gnocchi with mushroom sauce, haha--sooooo delish! We couldn't help it! Pretty much just lazed around the hotel, did some journaling and reading, and Clare napped, of course! :) Ok here is where we get pathetic, but we didn't even care. We went BACK to the restaurant for dinner!!! LOL... in the same outfits, too!! We are awesome. I'm pretty sure the workers were laughing at us and telling the other customers the deal, and they were laughing at us, too. Oh well. It was pretty funny. Oh, and we got MORE GNOCCHI!!! I mean, who knows when we will be in Italy again, so we might as well savor it every chance we get! And savor we did!!! We ate it all and were stuffed to maximum capacity. What is wrong with us??

Got ready for our ACTUAL travel day the next morning and went to sleep. Hooray for Greece--so excited!!

Love Venice (12-June)

For our last day in Venice, we decided to visit a beach! So we made our way into the city and hopped on a water taxi to take us to the small island of Lido. We must have picked the longest boat route possible because I think we rode around for over an hour, haha. At least we got seats on the back (and open-air section!) of the boat!! There were about 10-11seats out there, but probably nearly 20 idiot people trying to squish in the standing room to take pictures. Sooo annoying, and we were hardly able to see anything ourselves because of it! They were stumbling all over and bumping into people... one guy stepped, and stood for a while, on my foot. Another chick was literally half-sitting/leaning ON Clare, pushing her part way off her seat. Ridiculous, yet somehow amusing. One girl and her boyfriend seemed to think they were in the middle of a big-time photo shoot. Oh well... what an adventure! :)

Stopped for lunch and then headed to the beach!! It was a public beach with lots of "stuff" set up for the people (ie: restaurants, volleybaall courts, chairs, restrooms, etc). The down-side? I think anyone who lived anywhere near Venice was there that day! haha, it was so crowded and made it kinda hard to relax. It didn't help that a big group of total douchebag dudes decided that playing a full-on game of futbol would be a great idea! So there we sit, wondering when it would be our turn to get hit in the head with their damn soccer ball... they were kicking it into tons of people, and even a small child! With NO apology, moving the game, or (the best idea!) putting an end to it altogether. The mother started yelling at them and removed the sticks they'd placed in the sand as goal markers, haha! Those a-holes put them right back and kept playing! These guys were real pieces of work, lemme tell ya. Then they hit some other lady and her husband tried to pick fights with them for the next half an hour... quality entertainment! :) 

I got in the water because, c'mon, I'm in Venice!! Unfortunately, it was fairly dirty with debris/trash, but it still felt nice and I couldn't pass up the opportunity! After a bit, we headed back and I took a nice nap on the water taxi to the main island. Showered up and had dinner at the restaurant near our hotel. We discovered that their gnocchi is OUTSTANDING, and that mushroom sauce is even MORE outstanding! Mmm... I'm salivating just thinking about it!! hehe... A+ for sure!

STRIKE! (11-June)

So all public transit was on strike this day. Which is awesome since we bought a 3-day pass yesterday. Stupid Alessandra!!! She coulda told us... it was a planned strike. Oh well. We definitely made a day of it! :)

We decided to get smashed on the dock just down the road from our hotel. Bought 2 bottles of wine (Thanks, Tracy, for the pocket knife with corkscrew!!!) and laid out our towels, and the drinking began. Played "would you rather" for hours, haha. What an awesome day. The weather was perfect and it was great to just lay around and drink wine all day with my best friend. :) After most of the wine was gone, a guy from the bar across the street came down with 3 beers. He was working there, apparently. Marco. Nice guy. He invited us to come up to the bar in an hour or so because they were having a party. Awesome! Thanks, Marco!

After a quick wardrobe change (of course!), we went to the party. They had lots of wine and beer, which we didn't pay for, and fresh, thin sliced prosciutto! Marco greeted us and sat us down at a table with a bunch of his friends. It was so much fun and everyone was so nice and friendly. It was kind of a big party! The prosciutto was amazing and we couldn't stop eating it. And the beer, mmm... San Souci, I believe they said the brand was. Wow, was it great!

So after a while, we realize that we are at Marco's BIRTHDAY PARTY! haha, he didn't even tell us! They gave him 7 gifts, which had some significance but we aren't sure what. And then they carried him off to throw him in the canal. And then we had a brief limbo contest. (PS...Clare and I? Wasted. Especially this girl. Haha...)

To spare you the details, we left rather abruptly when I started to not feel the best. :) Oops! It was worth it though, because it was suchhhhh a fantastic day! And we got to go to an Italian guy's birthday party! Heck yes! Can't beat that.