Submitted by Shelby Switzer on the 2016 winter session program in Athens, Greece sponsored by the Department of Philosophy…
Today marks the end of the first week of an amazing three week program in Athens, Greece! I feel like we’ve already done and seen so much and we still have so much left to do! After the long, but relatively painless flight here, we started our first night by getting a walking tour of the neighborhood in which our apartments are located (Pangrati) and were treated to dinner at a local taverna. The food here isn’t as different as I initially thought it would be, but one thing that was noticeably different from night one is the salads. A lot of them just don’t have lettuce in them! Most are tomato based with a lot of cheese and various vegetables. Most of the fruit and vegetables we’ve had while eating out are fantastic so it’s great!
The rest of the week we’ve been having classes and taking excursions to the various ancient ruin sites that are within walking distance of our apartments. We spent a good deal of time on the Acropolis and had a guided tour of the Parthenon, various other buildings on the site, and the Acropolis Museum nearby. The Museum is one of the most well constructed museums I personally have been in. The architect designed the glass floor so that visitors can see the ancient ruins below their feet as they walk. They also have the various artwork taken down from the Parthenon displayed in a way that is parallel to the nearby site. Standing in the Museum with the various artifacts and being able to look out the window and see where they came from is something that most museums simply can’t offer and the entire experience was breathtaking.
In addition to visiting ancient ruins, one of my favorite aspects of the past week was the few days of modern Greek language lessons we had. It’s amazing to be in a place where most of the citizens speak both Greek and English, but I loved learning some simple everyday phrases so that we can speak to our guides and various shop owners in their native language instead of expecting them to know ours.
This entire program has been an amazing learning experience both inside the classroom and culturally outside the classroom. I’m really excited to continue exploring modern and ancient sites in Athens!