There's more...

Closing ceremonies hasn't come yet, there's still more people!
After the McDonald's meeting we were supposed to meet with our security guy. (Who I wasn't allowed to talk about on here) We said to meet in front of the fountain, but there was about two miles of fountains which we discovered that night. I remembered him saying that we were getting a bus where we had gotten them before. I learned later that he wast talking about a time with some of the girls and I was not on that excursion. So I rounded up the eight of us that I could find and headed to the bus stop we had always picked up our buses. But, there was no bus. We found some Greek cops and asked for their help and they worked to get us some shuttles. Little Stephanie remembered that we had a number we could call if we were stranded so we called the USOC Call desk and informed them that we were just that. Somehow Becky was the only one that found this "fountain" and our security guy so she got to the Village about two hours before us. We had a fun little "bonfire" type gathering in front of the metal detectors in the entrance to the pool. We reflected on our swim, took our hats out and just generally laughed at our unglamourous post medal winning celebration. But the Greek cops came through and got us safely back to the village. The whole team had to wake up early (we had about three hours of sleep since the knox gelatine in our hair had turned to cement and was impossible to get out) The whole team went to a team breakfast but I had to stay behind to give blood as part of the drug testing. I HATE givind blood, I don't even like watching kethcup come out of a bottle and certainly don't like blood being sucked out of me. ewwww
But after that we got to head out to the NBC studios to be on the Weekend Today show. I also met up with my Aunt to give her a suitcase to take my home, and my medal. I didn't want to have that on my vacation.
After a super nap, we headed to a Sports Illustrated party that we had to perform in. We had no warm up and our showtime was at 12:30 am. We were right after a "laser light lady" from Australia. She's the only person in the world that does her act, wow.
We performed in this salt water tank (we got to wear our caps and goggles) and we barely fit in the pool. Everyone loved it. It was salt water so we floated a lot which made a lot of things easier but made getting under water a lot harder. We were all laughing the whole time, it was one of the weirdest things we've ever done. Everyone loved it and then we all got to shower (one shower for ten of us) and went to enjoy the party. Basically every American athlete was there so it was a total blast seeing everyone and saying goodbye.
The next night was the Closing Ceremonies. They were lots of fun, it's just a big free for all with all of the countries mixed together and everyone is so ecstatic. The Greek people were going bonkers for the people that were singing in the Closing but none of us really had any idea who they were. I wish it had been my Greek rappers. After buses taking us back and mobbing the McDonald's, I was ready for bed. I was convinced by Sara and Kendra to head out to the Plaka (downtown Athens) one last time but after an hour I was ready to hit the sack.
The next morning I checked out of the hotel, said goodbye to who was still there and headed to the airport to meet Lisa to start our vacation. I'm going to miss all my girls but we have already planned a reunion for the 4th of July.
Lisa and I are enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of Mikonos and pinching ourselves to make sure we are really here in paradise! Love to you all!
~Lauren