Easter Break

Well, I don't know about you but my Easter break was full! Our students had an extra long break this year because the whole teaching staff at ICSV went to Prague for the ACSI International Christian Educator Conference. We were all bused to to Prague and were put up in the hotel where the conference was taking place. We left on Thursday and the conference started on Friday. Once we arrived and checked into our rooms, we were able to explore the city and have dinner on our own. I went out with some colleagues and took the metro to the main square. It was fun to look around the Easter markets there and note the differences between the ones in Prague and the ones in Vienna.

The conference started on Friday and went through Sunday. We had a keynote session every morning and at the end of each day while there were different breakout sessions we could go to during the day. There was a 15 minute break between each session and then there was an hour set aside for lunch which was provided for us by the hotel. It was a great opportunity to meet other educators from around Europe and Africa, hear their stories, and learn from them them. It was also nice to be able to do things with my colleagues from ICSV outside of the work environment. I was able to interact with some of the secondary staff more and it was nice getting to know them better since most of my day is spent on the elementary floor.

We had the following week off for Easter Break and I went to Santorini, Greece with Katie and Lydia. It was so beautiful!! The island is actually a lot smaller than I thought it was but it felt like a huge island the first day we got there and Katie said we should walk to our Airbnb in Thira because it's "only 50 minutes away!" Little did we know that it was uphill the whole way and that Google Maps would take us on paths that were not roads but more suitable for dirt bikes/ATVs. However, we made it and from then on out it was a relaxing vacation.

One day we rented ATVs and rode around the island which was a lot of fun. We were able to go and see the Black Beach, the Red Beach, the Lighthouse, and even a winery. Another day we took a taxi to the neighboring town of Oia which is the most popular city on Santorini. It was absolutely beautiful and we spent the whole day there wandering through the streets and getting all the Instagram worthy pictures we wanted. We also went out on a boat tour one day to see the other two islands that make up Santorini. The boat took us to the Santorini's volcano island and then also the fishermans island; neither of these islands are populated but there are still gorgeous views of the main island from both of them. We also were able to swim in hot springs which was cool, though it did smell strongly of sulfur. It was a very nice trip where we had time to relax but we also had time to do some touristy things which the island is known for. This was probably the best European trip I've done this year. I'm glad that the weather was agreeable too because it would have been miserable if it was raining the whole time.