Ios was fun
Transcribed from my notebook, written on 26 March 2007. Omissions/edits in brackets. Also, this is slightly out of order as I was on Ios before Santorini.
"Amanda's birthday was the day before our ferry ride to Ios. We were drinking appropriately hard. They woke up appropriately hung over. And Amanda spent the ferry ride in the head. We were all glad toget off the boat, but we had no idea where to get picked up. Fortunately, the owner of the hostel saw us and snared us.
"The view from the hostel was amazing. Well worth the hike through the town and up the side of the hill (through the old village). We spent both evenings at the hostel taking pictures of the sunsets. And after the sun wend down, the stars came out in their full glory. From my window, I could see Orion, the moon, and about a thousand other stars. My bed was under the window, so everything was framed in the [panels of the window].
"The second day was spent on ATV's (we had so much fun in Paros that we had to do it again). That was Sunday and Greek independence day. A lot was closed, but still beautiful. We found a beach on the other side of the island that looks like it would be packed during high season, but was completely empty. Actually , we had two adjacent beaches completely to ourselves.
"We didn't spend much time on the beach because the water was cold and we were hungry. Our quest for food landed us on the north-east side of the island in a restaurant in which our waiter got up from his meal with his family to help us. Some of the best food of the trip. We felt a little bad about interrupting, but he didn't seem to mind when we saw him at the bar later that night.
"Everyone showed up at Flames. The bar had opened just that night. We saw servers from 3 of 4 restaurants we ate at plus the bunch of MIT kids that were staying in our hostel. We all got pretty drunk again and ended up dancing. The 8 americans being crazy around a dozen or so calm locals. Let tourist season begin. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I starting getting hit on pretty hard by the blond. [Matt and Amanda rushed out to give me ... umm.. "room to work"].
"And then the blond girl threw up. outside the bar, indian-style. Dublin reflexes kick in[*]. I'd been friendly with the bouncer earlier. I told him [that if he got me a hose], I'd handle the clean-up, but he just waived me off and laughed. Next on the list: get her + her friends moving. Andother guy and I hooked her under the arms, lifter her, and walked her home where I'm told she passed out. This morning was a little strange - I think she's embarrassed. What she doesn't know is that this is a fairly average night out [...] and you don't loose points for that. I have to admit, my point system has changed a lot since moving to Dublin. There is a small chance I'll see them again (we're on the same island for a couple of more days), but I wouldn't be sad if that didn't pan out."
* Dublin reflexes really exist. There is a certain etiquette to being (or a friend being) sloppy drunk. And if you misbehave, there is a proper way to correct yourself to lower the chances of you a) getting kicked out, b) getting kicked out in a manner that will prevent you from going back and c) increasing you chances of getting into the next place. There are also certain care procedures that should happen once somebody gets a little too drunk. It's all very scientific.
"Amanda's birthday was the day before our ferry ride to Ios. We were drinking appropriately hard. They woke up appropriately hung over. And Amanda spent the ferry ride in the head. We were all glad toget off the boat, but we had no idea where to get picked up. Fortunately, the owner of the hostel saw us and snared us.
"The view from the hostel was amazing. Well worth the hike through the town and up the side of the hill (through the old village). We spent both evenings at the hostel taking pictures of the sunsets. And after the sun wend down, the stars came out in their full glory. From my window, I could see Orion, the moon, and about a thousand other stars. My bed was under the window, so everything was framed in the [panels of the window].
"The second day was spent on ATV's (we had so much fun in Paros that we had to do it again). That was Sunday and Greek independence day. A lot was closed, but still beautiful. We found a beach on the other side of the island that looks like it would be packed during high season, but was completely empty. Actually , we had two adjacent beaches completely to ourselves.
"We didn't spend much time on the beach because the water was cold and we were hungry. Our quest for food landed us on the north-east side of the island in a restaurant in which our waiter got up from his meal with his family to help us. Some of the best food of the trip. We felt a little bad about interrupting, but he didn't seem to mind when we saw him at the bar later that night.
"Everyone showed up at Flames. The bar had opened just that night. We saw servers from 3 of 4 restaurants we ate at plus the bunch of MIT kids that were staying in our hostel. We all got pretty drunk again and ended up dancing. The 8 americans being crazy around a dozen or so calm locals. Let tourist season begin. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I starting getting hit on pretty hard by the blond. [Matt and Amanda rushed out to give me ... umm.. "room to work"].
"And then the blond girl threw up. outside the bar, indian-style. Dublin reflexes kick in[*]. I'd been friendly with the bouncer earlier. I told him [that if he got me a hose], I'd handle the clean-up, but he just waived me off and laughed. Next on the list: get her + her friends moving. Andother guy and I hooked her under the arms, lifter her, and walked her home where I'm told she passed out. This morning was a little strange - I think she's embarrassed. What she doesn't know is that this is a fairly average night out [...] and you don't loose points for that. I have to admit, my point system has changed a lot since moving to Dublin. There is a small chance I'll see them again (we're on the same island for a couple of more days), but I wouldn't be sad if that didn't pan out."
* Dublin reflexes really exist. There is a certain etiquette to being (or a friend being) sloppy drunk. And if you misbehave, there is a proper way to correct yourself to lower the chances of you a) getting kicked out, b) getting kicked out in a manner that will prevent you from going back and c) increasing you chances of getting into the next place. There are also certain care procedures that should happen once somebody gets a little too drunk. It's all very scientific.
