Geocrashing

Quickly: Where is Santorini?

As a teacher, I think it's my responsibility to give A's as much as possible. That's why I try to get to the bloodmobile every time it comes to campus. As an A+ blood type, I think it's only right that I spread some of that around. Sometimes, though, there is a disquieting moment when I begin to wonder about the quality of things. Take last week:
In filling out the form after reading all the information (that nobody ever reads), I noticed that the list of places where one must not travel has become much more extensive. Added to the list this time were places like Turkey, which made me wonder about my eligibility since I'd been to Istanbul less than six months ago on my honeymoon.
Just to be safe, I asked the nurse-like person who was doing the preliminary checklist if Turkey was a problem; having assured me that the questionnaire meant had I LIVED anywhere like that for six months (even though there was no indication of that on the form I usually don't read). Suddenly curious, though, she then asked if I'd been anywhere else outside the good ol' U S of A. I said that I'd also been in Greece and Crete, whereupon she got a befuddled look on her face and began to furiously pound her laptop in an attempt to find Crete anywhere. Totally embarrassed, she finally asked me where it was and was it a separate country somewhere? She was definitely not a student of Greek myths...I mean, Zeus was supposedly BORN on Crete, and the Minotaur? Really?
Eventually, she discovered it, right where I noted it would be, and she admitted that she was somewhat geographically challenged. I had to admit that, in some cases, I am,too: all the "-stan" countries with more consonants than vowels always leave me scratching my head as do the African countries that have changed names from when I used to watch Wild Kingdom. But Crete?
While she did not know geography, she DID know how to extract blood from my arm in a more or less painless fashion, thereby spreading A+ throughout the Green Bay area, limiting the number of future cretins.
Or is it Cretans?