Completion Achieved!

I've got my Greece journals up! You can read them all here. Be patient, they're long. I've also got my paper done! I have time now! I can play Zelda now. I've got a nice list of games to rent as well. Now begins the fun task of printing off 718 photos and scrapbooking them all. I know I should pick and choose but I was thorough so I can have a teaching aid for my classes. Hooray for future concerts as well. It seems those who got postcards got postcards now. Most of my family got some along with Dr. B., the bank, and Jodie only because I had her business card in my wallet. My parents didn't get their second one until Friday. Last Friday. Whatever.

It is to laugh

My Ελλινικά Review of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

Now, I'm a pretty big fan of Pirates of the Caribbean so when I saw that it was playing in Kamari, I tried my best to hook myself up. No surprises here, Jack survives the second movie. Just look to the left. So basically Barbossa, Elizabeth, Will, and the gang are trying to bring Jack back from Davy Jones' Locker. Barbossa needs Jack's piece of eight to free Calypso, Elizabeth's motives are unclear, Will is still trying to save his father and going after Jack somehow falls into that plan, that along with double-crossing everyone in his path including his fiancée.

I really don't like what they've done with Will's character. He was so virtuous and honest in the first movie and now he's an ambiguous, whiny piece of crap. Will works with Sao Feng to give Jack up for the Black Pearl, but then Feng has a deal with Beckett already. Are you following this? And now that the awesome Davy Jones has become the ultimate tool of a villain to Beckett, the pirates must unite to stop them. They go as far to even elect a...excuse me...it's hard to type...a Pirate King. I never knew pirates were so organized. "Hang the rules and hang the code" and whatnot. And of course, this royalty goes to...um...Captain Elizabeth Swann. Bottom line, the movie is too silly for its own good.

The first one is phenomenal. The second one is fun, but leads into this one. It's not bad, but it's not good. It's like a Fantastic Four to me. It's fun to watch, but unlike the others you can't take it too seriously. One thing I miss from the first one is how pirates were the only people who believed in anything supernatural. Even the Black Pearl itself was a myth to the majority of the British. In the second movie they made Beckett know a lot of the stuff he shouldn't believe. OK, so he's been around to know better. Now, for whatever reason, Governor Swann is the one to find out the new information concerning Davy Jones. Along those lines, what is Davy Jones' motivation other than not to die. He becomes a subordinate because he doesn't want to stop. Plus I love the inferred reason to remove the Kraken as a threat for this movie.

On the plus side, this movie has the best soundtrack of the three which is nice. But as I said, don't take it seriously and just enjoy the film or else you will hate the movie. Oh, and please don't make more. You're just cheapening the franchise.

My rating: 8 out of 10
DVD-worthy: I'll get it, but I won't drive at midnight for it by any means.

If only work was like this...

Days 10 & 11 – Ferry to Athens, Athens, Transatlantic Flight

We gathered our stuff to leave for the mainland at around noon. One of the girls, Krystle, had met a guy named Tolis and wanted to hook up before leaving. Luckily, she made it back in time. We dropped our stuff off at the port and I went with Lance, Jared, Chari, and Sarah into town to get some eats. Yes, I had another gyro. We went back to the group when Chari realized she forgot her camera and ran back to get it. We got on our ferry, the Ithaki, which was like the Diagoras but much less fancy. We were looking at a 6 hour ferry ride. Zaira and I had reserved seats but not with the group but since we were not expecting the ferry to be packed, John suggested we just sit with the group in open seats. I must’ve sat near the end of the seats because the stewards kept bugging me about my seat. I moved up by Dan and Holly and noticed Dan had a Nintendo DS. He had New Super Mario Bros. until his battery died because he’s been unable to charge it. He just got it for the trip and it was nice for him to see how the wireless functions worked. There was a kid on the Diagoras who had a DS and I was too shy to ask what he had. I’m glad I didn’t let this time pass. I just with the browser was out in time because there were Wi-Fi spots everywhere. Anyways, I went to get some fast food from the Goody’s on board. They use fry forks! Europeans must not like to touch their fries. When we arrived in Athens we got to our hotel at about 8:00 pm. We decided to eat at the hotel because it was free but I wasn’t that hungry. Our Wayne group headed out on the metro, back to Syntagma, back to the plaka for last minute shopping. It is so different at night. I wish we weren’t leaving so soon because I could spend so much time in Athens and the mainland but all good things must come to an end. We went back to the hotel before the metro stopped at midnight and we decided that since we leave at 3:00 am that we should stay up. We had some drinks on the roof and enjoyed each other’s company before leaving. During this time I charged Dan’s DS because they still had Italy and flights to get through and I didn’t want him to suffer. After a while I got tired and I didn’t want to be in the same situation as on the way over so I left a bit early to get a couple hours of sleep. I didn’t pass out but it was nice to relax with my eyes closed and stress in peace in our tiny room again. When I “woke up”, I was stressed. I wish I wasn’t but anxiety always takes hold. We got on a bus with most of the group as we headed to the airport. We said our goodbyes and had our hugs before leaving the group and John. Dan and Holly were down the way along with Megan from Tennessee. The Kansas people were going to Munich to Chicago as we went from Frankfurt to Chicago. I was able to get some sleep on the short flight to Frankfurt which was nice. Frankfurt was very hectic. There was a lot of security because of the G-8 in northern Germany and we had a limited window to leave and we were unable to say goodbye to Sarah from Louisiana. We had a nice double-decker Airbus back to America. I know I got some sleep on that plane because I don’t remember how Wild Hogs ended. That’s my new suggestion: Don’t get a full night’s sleep before flying as I did on the way there. It helps to be dead tired before flying so you get your second wind when you land. I did watch Music & Lyrics all the way through though. Halfway through the flight we had to fill out DHS and Immigration forms for entry into the US. When we landed we had to go through customs. Basically you get in line, they ask you a few questions, you pick up your luggage from the carousel, they may or may not check it, and then you put it back on the carousel for connecting flights. It is amazing how European Union customs is so much simpler. It’s basically a stamp and you’re done. It took me no time to clear American customs and I waited for about 10 minutes for the other Wayne people but after a While I got impatient and started heading to our concourse and terminal. Chicago O’Hare is very efficient for being so busy. It reminded me of the efficiency of Munich that was missing at Frankfurt. When I got to our gate, not too far away were Lance, Jared, Sarah, and Chari waiting for their flight to Kansas City. It was nice to see them again at the tail end of the trip. I really enjoy their company. They left and a few minutes later we were boarding. Steph was upset there was a flight to Lincoln flowing the Omaha flight she could’ve taken. Our plane was a 13-row plane. So we went from the largest to the smallest plane. The flight to Omaha was very quick and it was nice to be back but I miss Greece a lot. I will miss the people I met on the trip along with the amazing sights.