Best Recap Ever

As reality is painstakingly starting to set back in, and everybody's probably not reading the blog anymore, let's take time to reflect on the best of the best of the trip.  I just want to say that I don't think we could've asked for a better ending to our European tour than spending it in Greece.  The food, the weather, the history, the people...enough said.  A special shout out to Dmitri and Rebecca for translating and toting us around in Greece, as well as Nike and Ares for expanding our knowledge about ancient Greek history and culture.

As we all probably have varying "bests and worsts" of the three weeks, I think these are a few we can all agree on:

Best Dinner: last night out in Athens
Best Hotel View: Lausanne
Worst Weather: three-way tie between London, Paris, and Lausanne
Creepiest Men: Paris
Most Heavenly Beds: Lausanne
Pissiest Waitress: Lausanne
Cutest Waiter: Olympia
Best Bread: Paris
Funnest Transportation: The Tube
Most Insane Place: Harrod's
Hardest thing not to sleep through: visit to Hackney

And finally, the best statue:

























As cliché and cheesy as it sounds, the trip seriously changed our lives.  It allowed us to step out of our comfort zones and it made us realize how ridiculously routine our lives back in the States are.  Even little things such as different outlets, different toilet flushers, and different ways to say please and thank you entertained us.  From an educational point of view, you could say the trip was set up in the best way possible.  Each city/country presented a unique element to the entire idea of the Olympic movement.  London provided us with the most recent display of the Games, showcasing the facilities and community pride/involvement that benefits the city from a social, political, and economic point of view.  Lausanne gave us the opportunity to realize the constant everyday work that has to be put in for the Olympic movement to be fostered and preserved.  Greece then brought us the rich ancient history and culture that inspired Olympic competition.

Perpetual thanks goes out to Professor Patrick Ryan for organizing this trip and putting up with us idiot-students.  And to my peers; I had an unbelievable time on this trip thanks to you guys.

Now, some of my favorite pictures in no particular order. Cheers.