Everything and Nothing.
Everything and nothing. Isn’t that what this is all about?
“Hi Lindsey, how was your experience living in a foreign country for 4 months…” That is when I will stare at you…but I’m not staring AT you, I am staring past you, trying to remember who I was when I came here and who I have become when I finally leave Greece. So here we go…”Hi Lindsey, how was your experience living in a foreign country for 4 months?”
I lived in an 8 million dollar house.
My back yard was the Aegean Sea. I fished off my balcony and waved at tourists that were taking pictures of my famous house. I lived with 11 people at one time…sometimes I thought we would start World War 3…two Americans, one English, four Italians, two fugitives from Cypress, and three Australians. The Cypress guys got arrested and one very Greek man moved into their room. We were all around the same age and we come from all walks of the Earth…but we were living the dream. I worked with the most amazing people that were also all my age. We worked 70 hours a week, no days off and were treated basically like slaves. I did V.I.P tables up in the disco. People thought I was blonde and spacey and all the stereotypes that came with American…until they got over it and talked to me. I met Kings, Princes and Lords…went on a F1 racer’s yacht and had Crystal champagne on an oil tycoon’s yacht…which happened to be named “Awesome.”
Everyday I woke up at 3pm and had to go to the beach, dance on tables, eat strawberries and drink champagne.
Every night I started work at 9:30, and promoted around Mykonos town until all the locals knew exactly who I was so I would get discounts everywhere I went. I listened to the same music every night at the club in the same order…thank you Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, David Guetta, Leona Lewis, Michael Jackson and John Cougar Meloncamp…and screw you Will Smith for making “Gettin Jiggy Wit It” and “Welcome to Miami.” I stopped work at 7am…ate at one of 4 places…Gyro place, Caesar salad place, the bakery or soup kitchen..funny how we never called the restaurants the right names. I would go to sleep when the sun was coming up, but the loud thumping of house music would echo off the ocean and into my room from the bar that was kitty corner to my house..it was called Caprice and they threw white napkins in the air all the time.
I rode quad bikes 3 people deep to Cavo Paradiso, which was an after party club on the cliff. The most famous DJ’s would spin and it felt like me and 5,000 other people were waking up the world and welcoming them to a new day. Planes would often fly over head and I always wondered what passengers thought as they looked a few hundred feet down and saw people jumping in a pool shaped like the island, dancing on podiums, popping 1,000 euro bottles of champagne and showering anyone in their sight.
I got in a motor accident, had my ears pierced, almost got a tattoo, jumped off a cliff, drove a jet ski, almost threw my passport into the ocean, learned Italian, Greek, French and German, gained 10 pounds, lost 15 and gained 8 back, left my morals at the airport, and made friends with people I never would have given the time of day to.
I went to Paradise Club, which was a club on the beach and befriended an army of Australian boys who worked for the club. We drank a lot, talked a lot of crap, laughed, cried because we were tired and underpaid, laughed more at how stupid the Greeks and tourists are, and then cried when we had to say good bye.
Goodbye
…goodbye to Alison, who was the first to go. She was my friend from Boston…she will be at my wedding, meet my children, and someday have a drink with me somewhere in the world again. Goodbye Jacko…he was my Australian buddy who lived for everything and had the soul of a lion. He and Ali met here and I think fell pretty hard for each other. Goodbye Holly…she was my 19 year old room mate from London that was going on 26 who taught me more than anyone ever could have. Goodbye to Roberta and Georgia…Roberta doesn’t know English, but we played a wicked game of charades this summer. Goodbye Stavros, you were my boss…you have a lot to learn about people and life. Goodbye Angelo, there is a better man inside you (please find him and keep him)..and Christos, you’re my favorite. Michalis…I miss you already, Theo, thank you, Niko, you are a pervert. Jack, you were my drinking buddy at 7am…Thanassis..you still don’t know my name you crazy man…Anestis..you’re welcome for me taking one for the team and getting people to buy me shots and then me getting hammered.
These are the characters that make my story a story. You will forever hear me talk about them, see them in my photos and maybe one day meet them.
I can’t tell you much more because there isn’t anything else to explain. It’s not just a memory, this experience, it’s a feeling. It starts when you breathe in really deep and you can feel the air expand in your lungs…the excitement of the disco, the sound of the waves, the clanging of plates, the babble of a million different languages that all turn into a loud hum. The smell of the salt, the touch of the wind coming off the ocean and wrapping you in it’s strength and freedom. The warmth of the sun on your face…then it all flows into your veins and spreads to your finger tips and down to your toes and it feels like a million butterflies are the only things keeping you going…the vibrations from the music pounding in your chest like a giant drum…and for a second it all goes silent…and you realize that the only sound you can hear or feel is your own heart beating and you know you are alive…and just in that second when you think you’ve figured everything out, you realize it’s nothing at the same time…and all the emotions and feelings and memories rush into your head – only they play backwards and you smile and laugh and start crying at all the things you thought you forgot and you remember. But I tell you now, that you don’t have to understand. Because for the first time, I understand. I opened my eyes and I met the world for the first time. And I don’t have to try to love life, because life already loves me.
You realize it’s everything and nothing at the same time. And the beat goes on somewhere else..
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