Overview of our experience...

Our international journey has created so many unforgettable memories and some very special friends. We've laughed, cried and pulled each other through to achieve what at first seemed impossible.

We've really enjoyed helping the people of Oropos and experienced a whole new culture whilst doing so. None of us realised what we were capable of achieving! It's been very tiring but we've completed so much in the two weeks; we've painted the fountain; painted the wall of the Old Prison; painted the kerbs; painted the playground; set up an exhibition and so much more... 

The journey from selection to now has been 'eye-opening.' We've discovered so much about Greece, each other and most importantly ourselves. 

Over the two weeks we were asked to put some words in a sealed box to describe each day. This is what was said: 

Our message to any girls that are thinking about going on an international trip:

"Go for it! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity... You will experience things you never thought you'd experience and learn so much. You'll meet new people, make friends for life and have so much fun! For us it's been amazing, enjoyable and exciting and we discovered that Girls really can do anything!"

Day 14

Our last day in Greece! 

This morning Libby, Ruth, Megan and Rachael accidentally set their alarm for the wrong time and woke up to the sound of the leader's banging down their door! After getting ready (very quickly) we all went to the terrace of the hotel for breakfast; the very same place we had our first breakfast in Greece 2 weeks ago. 

After breakfast we packed our rucksacks and then headed out for our final day in Athens. On our walk through the city we stopped to watch the changing of the guards at the parliament building. This was a bit different to that in London. 

We then carried on walking to the Olympic Stadium. Chrysafo told us a bit about its history: It held the opening ceremony of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens 1896. We had some time to walk around and take some pretty amazing photos. 

As this is a once in a lifetime opportunity we decided to have a race around the Olympic track too! It turned out to be a lot longer than it looked...

We stood on the Olympic podium to show the standings of the Egg Challenge. Well done Libby and Lili!

We took our last group photos together... 

After this we went shopping in the markets of Athens, and bought some souvenirs etc. to remind us of our trip. 

For our last lunch we had burgers from a Greek fast food restaurant. We think this was our first meal since we've been away with no salad! 

After the tiring walk back to the hotel we all joined together as a group to give out awards. We each created an award and designed a plate for someone else in the group. 

This is what we had: 

Jodie - THE SNEAKY PHOTOGRAPHER

Julie  - THE BEST HUMAN WET PAINT SIGN 

Liz - THE BEST BEACH DANCER

Lili - THE BEST TAN LINES

Megan - THE DANCING QUEEN

Rachael - THE EGGTASTIC AWARD

Naiomi - THE MOST FASHIONABLE ARTIST 

Libby - THE BEST GREEK GODDESS

Ruth - THE BEST WALKING CHEMIST

Hannah - THE BEST STORYTELLER 

Finally it was time to leave Athens. We said our goodbyes to Chrysafo and Xiena (we got a little bit emotional) and got in the taxis to the airport. 

Our plane was delayed by an hour so we had some time to spare. We all had a plain sheet of A4 paper with our name on it, and had to pass it around the circle. Everybody wrote a short sentence summing up the nicest things about that person and folded it as they wrote it. Later, in our own time we opened them and read all the positive messages. 

The leaders also awarded us our 'Hear our Voice' badge for all the work we've done about democracy not only in Greece but also at our second briefing weekend in June. 

Us girls also had a special present for our leaders. We wrote a postcard saying thank you for our trip and gave Jodie, Julie and Liz a T-Shirt with the Greece flag on and signed our names on it. We had a mini speech and a big group hug, we're going to miss each other a lot. 

Whilst we were waiting to board our plane we played one last card game with everyone, this has been a common activity we've done in our spare time throughout the whole of our trip. 

Now we've landed safely in the UK and we are about to settle down for our final night away from home.

Day 13

Today was a day of mixed emotions.  We all felt sad to be leaving Oropos as we believe we have become part of their family. However, we are most grateful for the memories we have created during our time here in Greece. We are all also very happy as our trip has been a success and we have thoroughly enjoyed our time together. We also cannot wait to come home to our families to share our happy memories of our experience and finally appreciate the Welsh weather!

Today, many of us awoke to the sound of the crickets in the trees as we slept outside on our mattresses as last night we decided to brave the outdoors ! After tidying and cleaning the old prison from top to bottom we put on our rucksacks and headed for the bus stop.

We arrived in Athens at 3pm and walked to the hotel (up what felt like a million steps and up the steepest hill with our 13 kg rucksacks) #notimpressed

After some free time at our hotel we headed for the national museum where we met our guide for ice cream ! He explained some history of the place and ensured us he wouldn't lecture us. After the museum we went to a local restaurant where we met Giovanna for our meal. ( our food was really yummy). Here, we said good bye to Giovanna and thanked her for looking after us all, her help and kindness towards us during our time with her in Oropos.

During our meal we were all awarded for our hard work and our positive attitudes by citizens in actions. Giovanna handed us our awards and we then gave her a post card we had written earlier to show our appritiation for her hard work. We also gave Xenia and chrysafo a post card thanking them also for their hard work. 

we took the short walk back to the hotel were we showered and went to bed. ( we were most grateful for not one, but two pillows).

Overall today was a good day and we can't wait to see everyone on our return. 

Day 12

Today is our last full day in Oropos. We got up and had a special treat of ham and cheese toasties for breakfast, thank you Xenia! 

This morning we got the taxi to an archaeology site in Oropos. The first taxi that came didn't fit us all in so the taxi man went back for a bigger car. However, we were laughing when he turned up with a 70 seater coach for the 11 of us. Xenia gave us a tour of the site, showing us the theatre, old village and also explained about the ancient healing centre of dream therapy. 

When we got back we began to set up our mini display all about Wales for our farewell party tonight. We pinned up a map of Wales and everyone marked where they live on the map with postcards we've brought from home. 

As a snack we ate loads of really sweet Greek cakes and biscuits. 

Rachael and Megan helped to prepare Tzatiki for tonight's Barbeque. 

Before lunch we tidied our rooms (again...) 

We've also started to pack our bags ready to take to Athens tomorrow. 

After lunch, some of us made welsh cakes to share with the Greek people tonight. 

This afternoon Rachael, Libby, Megan, Ruth, and Hannah went to the supermarket whilst Lili and Naiomi went to the beach for the last time. 

During our time here in Greece, some of us set ourselves the challenge of reading some books.

It's been a success - however they've been glued to us during our free time. 

Hannah finished 'The Hunger Games.'

Libby has read two of the Percy Jackson books. 

Megan has read 'Lucky,'  'Wonder' and is halfway through 'The Abundance of Katherine's.'

Rachael has also read 'Lucky' and is halfway through 'The Abundance of Katherine's.'

Ruth has also finished 'Wonder.' 

This evening we had our farewell party. We listened to music, had a BBQ made by Christoforos and watched a slideshow of a selection of photos from our trip. We sang some Welsh and guiding songs which the Greeks liked very much. We also showed them our display of Wales, they laughed at the amount of Castles! It was a very emotional night, as we now feel a part of the big Oropos family. 

We were given a special present from the Greek people to say thank you for all our hard work. In return we gave them postcards and Welsh gifts from home to say thank you also. 

Rachael had a confession to make...

Naiomi was blamed for 'cracking the egg' within 10 minutes of being given it last week. However, it turns out Rachael broke it and tried, until now, placing the blame on Naiomi. 

As it was our last night all together here in Oropos we decided to sleep outside. Most of us brought out our mattresses and literally slept under the stars. 

Day 11

Today was our last day of work, we finished off painting the playground.

Some of us got a lot of paint over themselves, and spent ages with the white spirits trying to scrub it all off "cough, cough Hannah"

Megan broke the egg on the way to the playground, it was a very sad death. 

"R.I.P Eggburt" 

After lunch we had a water fight, we got very wet, then decided that Liz and Jodie should have a cool down as well, so we soaked them too. We couldn't soak Julie because, unfortunately she was "holding the camera," but it was very refreshing.

After the water fight we had free time, Hannah has already got halfway through the Hunger Games book that she started yesterday, she won't put it down! A lot of us had a 2 hour nap, the trip is catching up with us. 

At about 4:30, we got on the ferry to get to the island across from Oropos, it's called Euvia. As a forfeit for breaking the egg, Hannah, Ruth and Megan had to sing titanic on the edge of the ferry like Rose and Jack do in the movie. 

Ruth and Megan didn't know all the words so they were mumbling while Hannah belted it out, Hannah was the only person who found it fun and wanted to do it again. (But she didn't) We didn't exactly sound like Celine Dion... 

On the island we went for ice cream, then went for a walk around the island. It was very fun, we also got some stuff from the shops before getting back on the ferry to Oropos.

Once in Oropos we went out for food again and had beef and vegetables for dinner (it was very tasty)

We then went back to the prison and hung out before going to bed. 

We had a long but enjoyable day it was very fun, hope all is well at home and goodnight. xxx

By the way - Can you tell who wrote this blog?? 

Day 10

This morning was strange, as we had woken up and gotten dressed before the leaders. (Woo!)

Once we'd had breakfast we all set off to finally finsh the fountain. We had decided to paint flowers on the arms of the fountain, everyone had a flower to paint so there was a wide variety of flowers. Also, the others finished off the sunset that occupies the middle of the fountain.

Here's the fountain before:

And after:

When we finished painting we had a couple of the locals congratulate us on our painting and told us it looked good, we had quite a lot of 'Bravo'.

After lunch the remaining groups in the egg game were given a challenge, they had to create a parachute and cushioning for their egg as later on the leaders would be dropping the eggs from the monkey bars in the park. Both groups took very different approaches but both of their eggs survived the drop.

Then we made our way to the beach, as Rachael and Naiomi failed to take care of their egg, they both had to walk to the beach wearing ridiculous egg themed hats. Sadly you will have to wait for the photos to be put into the Dropbox when we get home.

When we got back from the beach we all got showered and dressed for the 2nd round of Greek dancing. Some people still didn't quite grasp the dancing (Cough cough Liz) while others proved to be secret Greek dancers. 

To end the day we had some really delicious Greek pasta and ice cream. 

See you all soon.

Day 9

We had a very early start today (well it felt like it) as we had to get on the 8am bus to Athens. 

We arrived in Athens at 9am and caught the metro to the Acropolis station. It was really packed! We had to squeeze really closely together on the carriage so we could all fit on.

We were early for meeting the tour guide so we ate Cheese Pie as a snack in a small cafe. We met the guide at 10am and began the start of the long walk ahead of us. Firstly we were told all about the Acropolis and about the Greek Gods and Godesses. Then we started the very, very exhausting walk up the mountain to the Acropolis at the top. It's fair to say we were sweating buckets (literally!) We drank so much water between us and it's lucky that we covered ourselves in suncream because the sun was scorching as we got higher up. On the way we stopped to see the remains of the ancient theatre.

We finally got to the top after a 45 minute walk. The view from the top was beautiful and this made a perfect photo opportunity with the Acropolis. 

Next, we walked all the way back down and went to the Acropolis museum. We were all very grateful for the air-conditioning inside. We saw many marble statues and watched a documentary explaining how the Acropolis was built and why certain designs were drawn. Libby has a very keen interest in learning about the Greek Gods. Sadly, we couldn't take many photos inside to bring back home. 

Then we went to a restaurant in the small streets. We all demolished the pork and chicken souvlaki, it was very tasty! 

Once we finished, we went shopping to buy souvenirs. This was a chance to practice our Greek because not all of us had a translator with us. 'Poso-ka-knee?' means 'how much does it cost?' This became very useful when trying to talk to the shop owners. 

We finished our day in Athens with an ice cream, we tried flavours such as: Watermelon, Oreo, Sour Cherry and Snickers... 

We caught the Metro and Bus back to Oropos in the late afternoon. 

Unfortunately, Zoegga (Rachael and Naiomi's egg) is out of the game. Rachael was trying to re-bandage Zoe's dent when she pushed a bit too hard and it spilled everywhere! 

This evening we went out to a different restaurant for food. We had crepes; one sweet and one savoury each. There was a bit of a translation problem between our order and what was served but it was still scrummy!! 

On our walk home we think the Greek's appreciated our singing and dancing. One direction, McFly, The spice girls and S-Club 7 were a few of the band choices. Jodie and Julie weren't so sure we were amazing singers... 

Back to work tomorrow, so an early night it is, see you all soon. 

Day 8

It was a late start today as most of us where kept up from the music from the festival the night prior. Once we had breakfast and were washed and dressed we split up in to two groups. The first group: Rachael, Megan, Ruth and Hannah painted the roundabout, monkey bars and see-saw in the playground. Whilst the other group: Libby, Lili and Naiomi who started the sunset on the fountain.

Once this was finished we came in and showered and got ready for our challenge with the eggs. We had to makes story of the eggs going on an "eggsellent adventure". Some were better than others and some amazing ICT skills were shown by Libby, when she put together a video of her and Lili's egg's adventure.

Once this was done we had a free time until we had to start to set up for the final night of the festival. Whilst this was going on we had to say goodbye and thank you to Giovanna because she's ironically going away to the UK; and say hello to Xenia who will be with us now for the rest of the week. 

After we had set up we went for dinner, and when we came back it was time for the final night of the festival. We all sat and watched it for a while but came in half way through as we found it hard to understand the Greek and it was getting late. We needed to be up early tomorrow for our day in Athens. 

Most of the girls went to bed but, Lili, Naiomi and Hannah stayed up a little longer talking to some local children who where very interested in what we where doing here. Lili gave them all something that she had brought from home which made them smile a lot. It was hard trying to communicate with them as they did not speak very good English but with the help of Xenia we where able to do so. 

Day 7

We had a little lay in and got up at 8. Then after having breakfast we got ready to go to the town as we had a free morning. We went shopping for an hour as a group and then went for some frozen yogurt. We went to the beach - some of us swam in the sea whilst some of us just paddled. We bought a volleyball and a racket and ball set to play with on the beach. 

Julie and Jodie went to the fruit market with Rachael and Megan to stock up our kitchen whilst the others stayed in and had a bit of free time to shower (a few of us had a nap.)

We then made more posters in Greek which informed people how to get to the exhibition, then we hung them up around the area. Some went to the exhibition room and cleaned up ready for the festival. 

Once this was all done Liz, Jodie and Julie had a game for us to play. We all have been spilt up into groups - Libby and Lili - Naiomi and Rachael - Megan, Ruth and Hannah. Each group was given an egg to look after until Tuesday. Within the 20 minutes we were given them, Naiomi and Rachael had already dented their egg. 

In the late afternoon we set up for the festival again. We put out a lot of chairs and brushed the paths ready for visitors in the evening. 

For dinner we had Paella - it was yummy! 

Tonight we sat out by the stage. A prisoner who was once held in the exact bedroom we are staying in came and spoke on stage. Giovanna translated for us and explained that he had never been back here since because he was scared to, however, now he felt it was important to come here to tell his story. Also we listened to a documentary from the famous musician who was also held in this prison. The music went on all night but this didn't stop some of us from sleeping, we were very tired! 

Day 6

We all struggled with the early start this morning which resulted in a late breakfast.

Our morning task was to paint the outside kerb edges in white around the Old Prison. There was a lot to do but between us we got the work done in a few hours - 'many hands make light work'~ Jodie Sabin

We also swept the paths and did some general cleaning. 

We also had to clean our messy room and do some work cleaning at the centre ready for this evening as someone from the ministry of justice was coming to visit the festival. 

A few people went to the beach for a swim whilst the rest had a challenge to complete. We had to take photos of Hermes with something beginning with each letter of the alphabet. For example for 'h' he had a picture taken with one of our hats. We managed all 26 letters

At the end of the afternoon we helped set up for the festival, we put up the posters we had made along with bin bags for people to put their rubbish in, cleaned the exhibition room and put all the chairs out in front of the stage.

Tonight's food was 'traditional' Greek pizza (exactly the same as in Wales but with more cheese) which was very big and very delicious 

After that it was the start of the festival. Things are very relaxed in Greece, the concert was supposed to start at 8.30pm but didn't get going until 9.15pm. We chatted to a couple of local teenagers who spoke very good English, their Dad had helped organise the festival with citizens in action. 

The festival involved some people talking about democracy (in Greek of course, but we clapped anyway) and they thanked us for helping with the preparation. There was also a band from Athens who played a lot of songs which we enjoyed sitting and listening to. It was different to what we expected the festival to be like but we enjoyed it.