Submitted by Nicole Getz on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Athens, Greece sponsored by the Department of English…
At the beginning of this past week, we went to Delphi, Greece. Delphi was so different from the Greece we have seen so far. It was very mountainous and rural. Our hotel was on top of a mountain in the small town of Delphi, and some people described it as similar to a ski resort. We also made some stops on the way, and my favorite stop was in the little town called Arahova. Arahova was a cute little town with shops, cafes, and restaurants. Another really cool stop we made was to Hosios Loukas Monastery. This was a Greek Orthodox monastery, and it was so beautiful on top of the mountain.
The highlight of my program so far though was visiting the Melissa Network this past Wednesday. The Melissa Network is an organization in Athens that supports migrant women from all over the world and their children. This organization promotes empowerment, communication, and active citizenship. We were able to hear a story from a woman who went from needing the Melissa Network for support to actually being employed there. This woman was a migrant from Afghanistan, and she came to Greece with her two children. Her story about how she fought through so much pain and suffering was truly inspiring, and it brought me and many of my classmates to tears. We also got a tour of the facility to see what they do on a regular basis to help these migrant women. They provide Greek and English language classes along with helping these women get acclimated to the area they are living in. They help them with their basic needs. We even got to meet some of the children who were there, which was my favorite part because they were so cute and full of love. This experience was so beautiful and eye-opening.
A lot of our program so far has been about the history of Greece, which is definitely amazing and really interesting. However, I am a health behavior science major, focusing on public health, so this experience was definitely more meaningful to me than some of the other stuff we’ve been doing. Public health is not just about physical health, but it is about education, empowerment, mental/emotional health, etc. That is what the Melissa Network is all about, and this experience really gave me hope that through my career I can help people the way the Melissa Network is helping so many people. Overall, this experience caused me to reflect. It made me realize how grateful I need to be for everything I have. It also inspired me to try to put more good into the world anyway that I can.
