Playing catch up again

Time to catch up again from the past week! It's been pretty busy with end of the trip school work and trips. I continued to study ants on the mountain side to see what bait they preferred (Overall it was sugar water) We had Monday off, instead we went to volunteer and walk dogs at the only animal shelter on Santorini. The dogs get adopted out to people in Europe mostly. The city doesn't actually want to the shelter there though and its operating illegally because they won't give them a license. It was really interesting. Along with dogs of all sizes and walks of life, they had a few donkeys and mules and one horse. My dog was named Nevada and I wanted to bring her home. She had the brightest blue eyes I have ever seen on a dog. She also enjoyed swimming in the ocean.

After we finished the ant bait experiment, we went and tested soil at a winery. It was very hot and long work. At one point, testing the temperature at the soil surface, it read 114 degrees. Just a little sweltering outside I'd say. But after we finished, we got to have a wine tasting at the winery, which was much needed after digging in the dirt for three hours. 

I even saw a sow and her piglets. They were adorable and very curious about me.

Another big trip I had was on Wednesday, when my ecology group plus a few other people who hadn't gotten to go yet, went to a pottery place and threw a piece of pottery ourselves. The old man who taught us was hilarious, despite not knowing much English, and it is one of my favorite parts of the trip so far.

I made a little pitcher. I'm not sure what I'll use it for, but it's really cool. They're going to fire our pottery for us and give it to us before we leave.

On Thursday, we had out longest hike yet to the tallest spot on Santorini. It was exhausting but the view was amazing.

You can see the whole island from the top.

Then Yesterday, a group of 19 of us went to a neighboring island, Ios. We spent the night at a little hotel, of which there were goats outside of. Which made me very happy.

The beaches were beautiful and the waves were big enough to go body surfing in. (Not in this picture, which it from a different beach then the one we swam in) Needless to say, I spent a lot of time swimming the huge waves and getting bowled over by them. 

Then this afternoon, we took a ferry back to Santorini. We got a slow ferry this time and the boat was huge.

I must say that I really enjoy traveling by boat. If only I could get around Moorhead by boat! 

By this time next week, I will be back in Moorhead. It's a sad though because I'm not ready to leave yet. I have one lab report to write and a final test to take and then I'll be all done with class. On Thursday we're going to the volcano and having a bbq on it as our last feast. Then Friday we're packing up to leave Saturday morning.