Day 13: τέλος [End]

June 2nd-

Homeward bound.

Like the animals in that movie... wasn't there a drowning cat or something?

Except, they were bounding home. I, on the other hand, have small icepicks that bite into the pavement with each step I take. No bounding for me.

I'm pretty sure my brain is struggling on 1/2 hour of sleep. Last night was charged with negative-sleep particles. After dinner I went up to the disco for 9 seconds, got bored out of my mind and then spent the rest of the night with Rachel and Andrew, a fellow cruiser.

A couple hours into our final day, I was pondering sleep, but then stumbled across poor Paula, sleeping outside on white plastic lawn chairs. The boat had been rocking wicked bad during dinner, and Paula nuked her sea legs the first day on the boat. Her cabin wasn't supplying the fresh air, so there she was, 2:00 in the morning, sleeping on the patio.

Between Andrew and I shenangling a lounge chair from where they had been locked up and Rachel grabbing a pillow and comforter, we conjured a pretty nifty abode for Paula. It was still weird leaving her alone, so I sat up and read a book, figuring I'd have to get up in two hours anyway. I'm glad I stayed, because 20 minutes later, a whole bunch of Creepy McCreepsters crept out of I-Don't-Know-Where and started cleaning off the deck.

Actually, they were all very nice and being careful not to be noisy and wake Paula up, but I think everything is sketchy when you're alone at whatever in the morning it was. Unfortunately, two guys in spiffy white suits ended up strutting over and shaking Paula awake. Something about needing to clean the deck, go see the doctor if you're sick, just get downstairs.

This is the part where I charged in and karate kicked them off the boat.

[I'm a liar]

It's actually the part where we went below deck, Paula though she could handle it since the boat had chilled out, and I got 1/2 an hour of sleep.

After waking up, it's all a little fragmented. I remember being overwhelmed with joy that I was able to get up in time for coffee. I remember that a bus ride and a few bad jokes later, we were unloading at the Athens airport. We checked in our bags. We got something to eat, sought refuge from cigarette smoke. There was a stray dog in the airport. Then we were on the plane, homeward bound.

Sign of homesickness: Everyone ran for Mcdonalds.

Group Shot: Leaving Athens

Rachel in Paris

Paris Layover

Passing the time

The plane rides went very well. After a little bone reassembling, I slept nearly the entire way. The half-hour of sleep was a good idea. We landed in JFK around 10:00 or 10:30 PM and pulled into my driveway 4 hours later.

I walked up to my room, and there was the shirt I'd never picked up off the floor. The trash still had lettuce guts in it from feeding the iguana. I sat on my bed, which was still a little crinkled from when I'd slept in it 13 days ago. The last thing I remember was two weeks of events scattering through my head. A deluge.

Then sleep.

-Emily