Ringing in the New Year

Like everyone else, as New Year's approached, I reflected on 2013. It was a big year for Rusty and I. Rusty graduated college, played in the National Championship with the BYU men's volleyball team, we celebrated our first year of marriage, and moved to Greece! For me, this new year was bittersweet because it wasn't just the end of another year, it was the end of a chapter in our lives. No more late nights studying, no more Wednesday night zumba with my sisters, no more pulling up to our little brick house- our first home together, no more regular family outings...2013 was good to us. It provided us with memories we will never forget. But, new years is not just about reflecting- it is also about new beginnings and looking forward to the future. I am excited to see what 2014 has in store; somehow every new year seems to outdo the last.

Like Christmas, New Year's here is celebrated a little differently. Everywhere closes at about 10pm and then opens up again at 1am, so that they can celebrate the clock striking midnight at home with family. On New Years Eve, Rusty and I were skyping my mom and my sister Kendall. Midnight was quickly approaching, so we pulled up a YouTube video of the ball drop in Times Square last year and projected it on the wall. We had Kendall help us time it perfectly so we could actually watch the ball drop right at midnight. Then we ran around on our balcony banging pots and pans. Not one person was out on the streets. There was one other family out on their balcony, but they were just starring at us like we were crazy haha. I was excited to see lots of fireworks going off in the sky- at least the town wasn't totally silent at midnight!

At almost 1am exactly, Mike, Rusty's teammate, called us to go out. He picked us up and we went to the center, which was super busy. All the coffee shops were more like clubs. We met up with a couple of Mike's friends at People Cafe, which had a DJ who was blasting techno and Greek  music. The place was jam packed both inside and out on the patio. At around 3am, the place lit up with sparklers that had been given out; confetti was thrown up in the air and it finally felt a little more like New Years Eve! We hung out there til 4am, which is actually early by Greek standards- they usually stay out til 7 or 8am...but apparently I am an early-nighter because I was ready to go home by 2am haha. I was so tired, but Mike persuaded- or should I say forced us to go to another place after People haha. We got to the other place and found out it cost money to get in and since we were only planning to stay for a couple minutes we just decided to go home. So long 2013...bring on 2014!