Four Years Later: Still Figuring It Out

The past seven months I have prayed every version of “God, please tell me where I need to go and what I need to do” that possibly exists. I prayed fancy versions with big holy words and quick in-between-the-to-do-lists versions and versions that involved yelling at the sky from my car. And although I believe that God speaks to some people and in many ways, in all that time I did not feel like God was speaking to me at all. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Figure it out on your own, Maddie. That’s what it felt like. That is, until late last Friday afternoon when the final tracks of this “figure out your next stage of life” journey finally clicked into place and I realized that God was in every bit of it.

Picking a graduate school might not seem like this big event or journey, but don’t even mention that to December 2014 Maddie or she might kick your butt/sob uncontrollably. In fact, don’t mention that to January Maddie, February Maddie, March Maddie, or even April Maddie…actually, you should just wait until next week to mention it. I was an emotional wreck about (1) not having a plan, (2) being uncertain about what little plan I did have, and (3) the prospect of leaving my amazing Murray home.

I knew a few things about the future. I wanted to go to graduate school to obtain some sort of student affairs/higher education/please let me work at your university/education leadership sort of degree. I also wanted to get an assistantship to pay for that degree and thought that a hall director position would be awesome. Other than those two clues, I was pretty lost as to what the next step of the plan would be. And planners are not fans of not being in control of the plan…actually, is anyone a fan of that?? 

The number of schools I was considering is further proof of the horrible uncertainty. In December, I applied to eight different graduate programs, visited four different schools for interview weekends, and went to a conference in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where I interviewed with fourteen schools over three days. The schools I interviewed with were from everywhere—California to Minnesota and everywhere in between. There were big schools and tiny schools, private and public schools, schools I knew and schools I had never heard of before.

Enter Valdosta State University. They ended up on my interview schedule at the Oshkosh Placement Exchange almost by accident—I don’t really remember why I added them, but they were my first interview for the weekend. The other graduate schools I had applied to or thought about were bigger schools or well-known schools or schools in neat places like California. However, I found myself meeting with Mark and Ryan (VSU’s Assistant Directors of Housing…AKA the people who would be my bosses if I worked at VSU) first thing Friday morning. They were amazing. I immediately was able to slip out of interview mode and be 100% myself, and before I knew it the 30 minute interview was over. I’ve tried to explain this connection and how fantastic Mark and Ryan are, but I still haven’t figured out how to perfectly describe their hilarity/awkwardness/ability to make everyone feel important/passion for student affairs and students. Just believe me though—these guys changed my entire thought process on my future. I was offered the job at Valdosta State University a few days later.

A week and a half later, I went to Auburn University for their Placement for Graduate Assistants weekend. While I was there, I drank famous Toomer’s lemonade, toured the beautiful campus, and I interviewed for several different assistantships in every area of student affairs. I was there from Sunday evening until Monday afternoon, which was just barely enough time to fall in love with the campus and know that I would end up there someday. The next day they called with their assistantship offer (the way they do it at PGA is that they all get together and decide who gets to offer assistantships to who, so each student only gets one offer) to work in the First Year Experience office, and I was supposed to decide within 24 hours. It was a great offer. I would work with a fantastic guy (there are a ton of amazing people in student affairs) and have the opportunity to learn a ton. I ended up telling them no for a few different reasons including the fact that my heart was still stuck on getting to work in housing and also I had not finished visiting several other of the schools I was considering. After I called and turned down the offer, I immediately felt disappointed. I think I said “If they had offered me a job in housing, I would have taken it on the spot” about a million times. I was disappointed because I had fallen in love with Auburn and felt that it was the school I needed to be at, but I knew I had made the right decision because I also felt that I needed to be working in housing. I decided that I must be supposed to attend Auburn to get my PhD in the future and I focused on trying to pick between the other amazing schools.

There are a lot of details to this journey that seemed really important to me at the time—a lot of pro/con lists and a lot of varying factors on where I might want to attend school; However, for the purpose of this note I will just say that my mind was a jumbled disaster January-March 20 and even a bit of a disaster after “decision day.”

On March 20^th I was fed up with feeling like I wanted to throw up all the time and finally let the dog decide where I was going to attend. I narrowed the search down to five of the schools I was admitted to/had obtained an assistantship from (Clemson, Alabama, Mississippi State, Tulane, and Valdosta State). I set out plates with the names of the finalists, placed treats on each plate, and said “Rosie, go!” On the first try Rosie picked Valdosta. When we did it again Rosie picked Clemson first and then Valdosta. When we tried to do it a third time my dad told us to stop giving Rose treats before she threw up. I was happy that Rosie had picked Valdosta—it felt like a relief because it was permission to go to the school that not everyone was excited about. The school that nobody knew and that didn’t have the biggest name or most prestigious program, but that was filled with genuine and passionate individuals who I knew would be invested in my growth in student affairs. So, I called Valdosta to tell them I was going to be a Blazer. (Side note: I would have picked VSU even if the dog had not picked it!) 

Although I was excited and content with my graduate school decision, I did find my mind wandering back to Auburn a few times throughout each week—planning for the day I would get to attend and knowing that if they had offered me a housing position that my life would be on a completely different path. It’s hard to explain my feelings during this time because I was happy about Valdosta and knew that I could find my place in Georgia, but at the same time I felt a bit restless for no apparent reason. In May, I visited VSU with my mother for a day and the restlessness died down a bit when I was able to show her the beautiful campus and introduce her to my incredible future bosses.

Fast forward to two weeks ago when I woke up to an email from Auburn saying that they had a GA position open up—not just any GA position, but their Graduate Area Coordinator position working in residence life. I literally threw my phone across the room. I was mad that this opportunity opened up after I had finally settled into a great job. If I had been supposed to work and learn at Auburn, I thought I would have heard from them MONTHS ago. This was not the plan. Or the backup plan. I found my phone underneath a stack of things I still haven’t unpacked from school and went to my Trust Team. I talked to my mom, dad, Jonathan, and God, and with their help I came to the conclusion that if I was meant to be at Auburn I would be offered the job and if I was meant to be at VSU then I would not be offered the job (pretty simple, right? It's kind of like my "let the dog pick the school" plan).

Then last Wednesday I was purchasing my first car (say what!?) from Beaman Automobile when it came close to time for a quick phone interview with Auburn. They had asked me to talk to two of their area directors at 2:00, and I ended up being in Murfreesboro longer than I had originally planned--which meant my best option was to stay and interview there. I was without my padfolio, notes, or any of the other things I had planned to have in front of me. Ken at Beaman let me use a spare office and I holed up in there to talk to Auburn for what turned into almost an hour. I found out that the position was for the greek women's hall or the international students' hall and I don’t have a ton of experience with either of those areas, so I don’t think that helped me. (By the way, talking on the phone to people you’ve never really met is very difficult! You can’t tell if they think your jokes are stupid or funny, even if all of your jokes are hilarious.) They were going to finish talking to everyone on Wednesday and fill the position on Friday.

By the end of Thursday, I was convinced I had not received the position. I wasn’t sad about it or angry—I just knew that I had asked God to close that door if I was to feel at peace about Valdosta.  I waited all day on Friday for the official rejection email so I could get my mind back on track, and I finally received it about 2:00 in the afternoon. My email dinged and I looked down to see "the" email, but it wasn't from Auburn, it was Valdosta just checking in. I read the email and got back into groove of planning for my future as a Blazer when finally an email from Auburn popped up. I acknowledged that they had finally sent the news and went back to daydreaming or something. It wasn’t until ten minutes later when I read the email and then read it a second time that I realized Auburn had offered me their hall director position. My mind went blank with excitement and I started walking circles around the house because there was nobody home to tell. I told Rosie (the dog) about it until finally real humans came in the door and I was able to show my parents the email. My mom immediately started helping me to make a list to compare the schools, but I stopped her. I knew that it was Auburn.

With the Auburn door opened, there was one thing I dreaded. I had to call VSU and back out halfway through the summer. I would be causing them a lot of trouble and I was going to have to make Mark and Ryan, two people I had grown to admire and trust, disappointed or angry with me. It was 3:29 (4:29, or closing time on a Friday afternoon in Georgia), so I needed to call super fast or I would have to wait until Monday to talk to them. I called and nobody answered, so I left a message asking Ryan to call me back as soon as possible. To curb some of the anxiety, I decided to take a walk to Sonic. During that time I still felt at peace with the decision to go to Auburn and amazed to look back at all of the pieces that had fallen into place to get me to this point.

The moment I got to Sonic, I looked down at my phone to see that Ryan was calling me back. I took a deep breath and answered it. I barely had two sentences out about my offer to go to Auburn before Ryan responded that “God’s timing is perfect. We might not always see why he is planning or what he is planning, but he knows what he is doing.” He proceeded to share his support for Auburn, his support for me, and invitations to be apart of each other’s networks in the future. He also told me that they had other students still begging for assistantships, so I was not leaving them hanging. Basically he said the exact opposite of everything I had expected of the conversation. It was like the dream of what you would hope someone would say in that situation, but better. Overwhelmed with the emotions of the afternoon and how everything was playing out, I may or may not have started crying.    

So, this way too long blog was written to summarize my amazement that the puzzle pieces of this journey each had a purpose. Turns out that I was wrong about the "figure it out on your own" plan. There was a plan. To be honest, I’ve never really been great at trusting God’s plan. I mean, I trust God. And I’m sure his plan is great. But I’m also a planner. And a planner likes to be in control of the plan. But no matter how hard I tried these past couple of months to be in control of my own plan(read: screw up the plan), God was there through every decision, every step, every interview, and every holy-word prayer/yelling-crying prayer. Thoughts and feelings, interactions with various people, and pretty much everything else that happened this semester have guided me to being absolutely sure that I’m supposed to be an Auburn Girl. Without my interactions at Valdosta, I would not have learned so much from Mark and Ryan and I would not have been given the chance to fall even more in love with the world of student affairs. Waiting for Auburn to fall into place gave me the ability to clearly see it as the best school for me. 

“Trust The Lord with all your heart and lean not upon your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and he will direct your path.” 

Proverbs 3: 5-6

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey and who has supported me through all of my crazy emotions and decisions over the past several months. You all are rockstars. I am so grateful that I have such an awesome team on my side.

A Personal "Play Book": A Guest Blog

Hey Josh :) It's time for another guest blog!!! I like these because they're great to understand different perspectives, and this one is SUCH a different perspective. It's from a guy, so you finally get to hear about guy stuff from college. Can you guess what guy it's from?? ...................................SEAMUS. Seamus, although my age, has always had a wider perspective than I have, and I appreciate that. As you know, he doesn't fear what other people think about him and I think there is a lot to learn from that. I sought (why is that a real word!?) him out to write this blog for that very reason, and so that you can learn the most I am not even going to filter his charming, humorous, and semi-true advice for you. Although I haven't had the same experiences in college, his point of view is valuable and I am so very thrilled to share it with you on this exact Friday. So, my brother, read on! 


Yo sup Josh? I guess it’s about time you got real advice. Okay so I’ll skip all the basic stuff like studying and sleeping and eating cuz I believe you just learn that stuff the hard way. Girls, man. College has a lot of those. The problem is college girls are the craziest ones out there. High school girls don’t even come close, brah. So, yeah, don’t be afraid to be whatever you want around them cuz there are so many that one of them will maybe try to like you. UNFORTUNATELY, stalkers exist hardcore in college. So get a group of girls you can tolerate quickly to use as excuses for not hanging out with those stalker girls who will constantly be asking you to help them with that “hard assignment” or whatever.

By the way, that’s a good one to use on chicks you’re in class with. Got me my ole miss girlfriend that way. I pretended an international student knew more about the English language than me. Genius? I know.

Anyways, girls and stuff.  You’re gonna probably seem like a stalker, too, but the trick is to act like you don’t care ever. Even when you’re the one starting conversations with them.

Josh: “Yo! Sup, Judy Su”

Judy Su: “Oh not much doing this hard paper lol XD” 

Josh: “Whatever…” 

Also, acting mysterious when you’re not totally works, too.

Girl: “Wow these burgers are great! Don’t you think, Josh?”
Josh: “I’d rather not talk about it…” 

Better get those burgers to go man.

Yo! Seamus, what if I don’t do things like have a successful radio show or rap career and/or just don’t want to talk about what I really do. 

Well, Josh, you can make things up. But they have to be ridiculous and believable in the “is he joking” sense. Chicks dig guys that maybe do things. Especially if they’re ridiculously incredible. 

Girl: “Josh you’re late.” 
Josh: “Sorry had to diffuse a bomb, what kind of pizza we got today?”

But, yeah, when you’re a freshman its really easy to meet chicks in class. You've gotta be careful about that though. That means you've gotta go to class with them. It worked out okay for me, but I’d still be wary about it. Try and meet chicks through chicks until you find one. Or maybe do clubs. Chicks go to clubs. But make sure when you join clubs understand the chicks you get are the ones you sign up for. D&D club is gonna have D&D chicks. (Maddie's note: D&D is apparently Dungeons and Dragons...if you already knew that? Then you're more nerdier than me! Ha.)  The "I hate men" club is gonna have "I hate men" chicks. Use your head.

Oh and I’ve always found that dating chicks with similar music tastes usually works out really well. You do have to be yourself eventually, so the sooner you are the better. And maybe she’ll like who you really are. That’d be cool.

Oh, and find someone you can laugh with. If a chick doesn’t find you funny you’re screwed. End of story.

Oh, and getting to know girls is fun. So, get to know a lot of them. You don’t need a girlfriend right away. The longer you last without a girlfriend and the more friend girls you have, the cooler (attractive) seem. 

By the way, don’t ever let girls know you have a “play book.” The more original you are in everything you do, the better. I’d suggest you burn this message after reading it. Also, don’t ever view women as just “chicks” unless you have a girlfriend (or don’t want one). It’s probably better if you don’t...ever…

And you can always ask me for protips when you’ve found that special one. I’m a pro after all.

Anyhoo, Josh, I know you’ll do great at college and I’m rooting for ya. You can hit me up about anything you wanna talk about man. Even if it doesn’t involve women. I’m probably more helpful that way… College gets crazy. And you’re not an exception to that, but have fun!

Seamus "the king" Hamilton

Athena Must Have Done Something Right

KALEE SPERA JOSH!!!!

Let me just tell you--I am loving this trip. If you ever get the chance to hitchhike to Europe, take it. Especially if that offer is actually a first class plane ticket. You can even settle for a study abroad trip that uses economy class seating (yes, the pillows and food suck--but it's an intense battle of who gets the armrest. Riveting).

I was last able to shoot you a letter while heading to Athens, and when I got there I must say that my initial reaction was a bit of disappointment mixed with hunger. We pulled up to the hotel and there was graffiti everywhere, broken down cars and trash littering the streets, and it smelled like sewage. Boy, I sure missed gorgeous, quaint, mountain flower scented Delphi. I plopped down on the hotel room's cot/a-couple-of-those-airport-pillows-glued-to-some-PVC-pipe and decided to buy some spray paint so I could join in on the city's favorite pastime later that evening. However, once we headed down the street, mastered the metro system, and came out in a dinner place I realized there are actually some cute places and Athens. So, I dropped the spray paint idea and enjoyed a pretty decent meal from a cute Greek restaurant named Vyzantino. We got this delicious layered eggplant/potatoes/other random stuff casserole-looking thing called Moussaka, a delicious super fresh salad (BEST TOMATOES HERE EVER), really great fresh bread, some 'eh' meat/rice/french fries, and the grossest mushy dessert cake ever. Overall, tasty :)

The next day I wandered down to breakfast with a backup Poptart hanging out in my bag (just in case), but this hotel in Athens actually has freshly baked crusty bread every morning. So fresh that you cut it yourself. They just have a huge basket of different types of bread loaves, a cutting board, and a knife. I just took half of a loaf to go. Someone said something about the Les Mis stealing bread thing... I didn't go to Greek prison for forever though! Besides, if I had been sent to prison, at least I would have had the Poptart!

Then we hopped on the bus for a tour of Athens. I may have slept through a tiny part of the tour, but in my defense we had to get up super duper early. I did get to see the tomb of the unknown solider and several important monuments, though. The bus dropped us off near the Acropolis and after checking out our tour guide Fay's family gift shop (maybe? she had several grandchildren running around the store--so, I assume it was hers) we headed to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. Personally, I was really pumped about the Parthenon after seeing the one in Nashville so many times. I was actually kind of surprised though--it's really not what I thought it would look like. A lot of it has fallen down, there was scaffolding everywhere, and that huge Athena statue is nowhere to be found. It's not even in the museum! The view from the top of the Acropolis (the hill that the Parthenon sits on top of) was phenomenal though. Pretty much the view from anywhere high is pretty good looking, but this was a 360 view of beauty. After pretty much falling down the Acropolis, I finally made it back to un-rocky ground where we stopped for lunch at a sit down restaurant where I got chicken souvlaki (basically a chicken kabob) and fried cheese (pretty good, not as good as the other restaurant).

Then it was the Acropolis museum for more history, more great views, and some pretty interesting information. First of all, this museum was built on top of some ancient ruins and instead of just covering them up (like most greek and italian buildings have done) they built windows in the floor so you can look down on the old house ruins and pipes and everything. It is super cool. I also went and watched this nerdy video about the Parthenon that almost everyone else was avoiding. I thought it was interesting though! The Parthenon is actually 16,500 pieces and they just joined them all perfectly together, it has been 25 centuries since its construction, it took nine years to build it, the building is the only building throughout the ages that was built without straight lines (it's curved so you can see all of the columns) and it has 378 figures throughout the entire structure. Can you say nerd alert!?

The rest of the day we had free time where I went shopping and to dinner with Molly, Haley, and Kyser. While we were shopping Kyser disappeared for a little bit and when he got back I can't really remember what he said, but basically he produced a can of...drum roll please...DR. PEPPER. I pretty much freaked out--may have teared up from overexcitement. I'm pretty sure he found the only place that has it in all of Greece and Italy and it was delicious. Definitely a great way to start the night off! Then we headed off to find dinner and somehow wound up at a place called Topika which was one of the best places I've eaten in Greece thus far. I had a gyro and we just sat and talked for about three hours. It was super relaxing.

Finally, we took a cab home (Haley had never been in one, so we had to try it out! Plus, they are super cheap here) instead of trying to maneuver the metro system. After we got back I went to sleep which brings us to today!

Side Note: Sorry for the monsterous posts when I don't have time to send anything one day!

This morning we woke up at 6:30 (which means I am super tired now) and headed out to take a one day cruise through the Aegean Sea to some of Greece's smaller islands. We were supposed to hit Hydra, Aegina, and Poros; however, the sea was absolutely nuts today because of storms, so we only made it to Aegina and Poros. The wind and rain didn't stop the majority of the group (the non seasick ones) from having a kickbutt time though. The boat was a medium-sized boat with three levels and an inside cabin. About 7-8 of us sat at a table in the cabin and played a bajillion rounds of card games while traveling from island to island. The first island we went to had a bell tower that I climbed to in the crazy freezing rain. The view and the chance to see a ton of cute little greek houses made it worth it. Plus, we got hot chocolate before hopping back on the boat to go to Aegina where we took a bus to a Pistachio farm. Also, I bought some DELICIOUS BEST EVER kiwi from a little fruit stand.

We got back to the big city around 7:00 and a group of eight of us MAY or may not have headed to McDonalds where they MAY or may not have had something called a Greek Mac (A Gyro fast food style) that MAY or may not have been delicious. Not saying I went to McDonalds, but I do approve of trying out the McDonalds' in different countries because they each have unique items! Pretty dang cool.

As you can tell, my initial opinion of Athens has changed. Although the street our hotel is on is still pretty disgusting, the giant city is still pretty fun and interesting. In fact, the city has this really cool thing with stray dogs and cats. They are everywhere and they are super clean and friendly. The thing is, the city picks them up and gives them health shots, fixes them, and then lets them go again. From there, they just love on people all over the city, run around and play, and basically get fed by everyone. They really like big groups, so they'll herd our group around like sheep and bark at strangers that get too close. It's pretty hilarious. I think the system is interesting, and although I don't like animals that much I appreciate the good life the city is providing for those slobbery, hair-filled, peeing on my bedroom carpet things.

Alright! I'm going to head out and try and enjoy as much of the last couple of days as I can!!! I'll be seeing you soon (half frown face, half happy face).

Love,

Greek Maddie 

Greetings from Greece, Day 9 Adventures

Greetings from gorgeous Greece:

We are on our way from Delphi to Athens right now and I am taking a break from the beautiful scenery to write you a bit of a letter. We’ve just spent most of the day in Delphi, and I am sad to say goodbye. Once I’m able to post photos, you will see why I’ve been mesmerized by these views, the town, and all of the people.

It’s about 3:30 in the afternoon and I’ve done quite a bit since the last time I was able to send you something. When we woke up this morning we had a delicious breakfast (great peaches, sweet bread, and hardboiled eggs) and headed two minutes down the road to the Oracle of Delphi’s stomping grounds. The oracle of Delphi was extra important because people only came to Delphi with the big questions about war and peace. There were other oracles, but this one was for more than just everyday minutia—I thought that was pretty cool.

We first stopped at this little museum where a tour guide shared fascinating stories behind the sculptures that were in the museum from an excavated Apollo’s temple. Thanks to you, I knew a lot of the Greek gods and goddesses she was talking about.

Josh. You would have thought you had died and gone to Mount Olympus if you had been there. The amount of that temple that was on display without glass covering it was just phenomenal. I could walk up to it with barely an inch blocking me from the depiction of Nike or Athena. Dr. Pizzo said this was one of the only times in history people would be able to get that close to such phenomenal illustrations of history.

We left the museum and went to the actual site of the old temple and various different parts of the area. It was a ginormous hill to climb to see everything, but the view was completely worth it. There were huge mountains and beautiful architecture everywhere. I’m not usually a view obsessive gal, but Greece sure has blown my mind. Even the bus we are riding on has a camera in the front of it (like the one on cars used to back up) that plays the image on the television screens to show everyone the amazing view. It’s pretty dang cool.

After the views, we headed to this place named Agelos for lunch where I tried this fried cheese in Fila bread (the most delicious cheese stick I’ve ever had. We need to get these in the states) and a pasta with rooster dish. Everyone at my table was quick to swap bites of meals, so I got to taste some pretty good food throughout lunch. I think the cheese sticks were still my favorite though.

After that we headed to see this little monastery, and that was not as exciting as some of the things we have done; however, it had really gorgeous views and the weather was pretty nice so we had a good time relaxing.

Now that we are in Greece it has really hit everyone that we are over the middle hump of our trip, and I am starting to get pretty sad that the trip is going to end. So far it has been one of the coolest things I have ever done (maybe THE coolest), and I just don’t want it to end. Plus, the whole going back to school thing seems pretty lame comparatively. I’m thinking maybe that you and the fam can just move up here and we will move into a house that kind of looks like the monastery with gorgeous views and a big courtyard. We will eat fried cheese sticks every week. And bam! Live happily ever after.

Our tour guide today said humans tend to only be influenced if they think something else is interesting and not inferior. I know that on this trip there has been some things the group thinks America does better (WHAT!? THEY DON’T HAVE DR. PEPPER!???), but there has also been a lot I have learned from Italy and Greece. I don’t know if I have had some sort of drastic change so far, but this trip has definitely influenced me. I hope one day you will be able to travel here or even somewhere else that has something interesting enough to influence you.

Love,

Maddie 

Greetings from Greece, Delighted in Delphi

Josh Jacob Jingleheimer Mucci.

I am in Delphi, Greece and it is the cutest little town ever. It’s basically just one really long road that just barely fit our huge bus and there are little stores up and down the whole thing. We are only here for one night though and we are staying at a hotel called Parnassos that barely has Internet connection. So, hopefully I can upload these blogs tonight, but I still probably don’t have enough for pictures. We got to the hotel and dropped our stuff in our room—Go room 104! I am rooming with Elsa and Megan again, but this time we have a super tiny room with three twin sized beds all smushed together so we barely have room to move around. It has this little balcony looking out onto that town street though, and that is so cute. Also, there is a fireplace in the lobby and I kind of want to just go sleep in front of that—it looks great. I seriously want to move here. I am terrible at the Greek language though.

After we dumped our stuff, we headed to a restaurant two doors down named Epikouros. We got this delicious soup (It was just like broth kind of? It was semi-cheesy. I just know I couldn’t stop talking about how good it was), soft bread, the juiciest chicken in the whole world, perfectly seasoned potatoes, and some sort of nut/honey/lemon cake. The waiters were getting a kick out of our Greek attempts, but they all spoke English so we didn’t have any issues communicating.

At dinner I was explaining my problem with running out of words to say how awesome everything is here. I feel like everything is great, but I can’t keep saying this was great, that was great, or you will stop reading my letters to you! So, I got some suggestions of words to use from the gang.

Also, this girl Molly on the trip (she is super hilarious all of the time—sarcastic, loud, and witty type of hilarious) was making us laugh so hard during dinner and that was great fun. Now we are just chilling out before bed—we moved another hour ahead, so now I am eight hours in front of you back home. It sounds like we have a pretty packed day tomorrow, so I am pretty excited.

So far I am surprised at how much I love Greece. I really thought Italy would be my favorite trip, but now I’ll have to keep an open mind!

Over and Out!!!

Maddie