Submitted by Ashley Steele on the 2022 winter session program in Greece sponsored by the Department of English…
My roommate Erica Russo and I thought it would be super fun to go out to eat alone at a restaurant after a chilly day in Athens and four straight hours of class. After we received our hot chocolates that we ordered, the waitress dropped the bill off at our table and never returned. We looked at each other stunned. A huge lesson that we learned the hard way in Greece is that you have to order everything at once or they’ll assume you’re only there for drinks! We had to awkwardly shuffle over to her after fifteen minutes and a pep talk and put together a combination of some Greek and English phrases to indicate that we wanted to continue eating at the restaurant for dinner, and we were then able to get some delicious pasta and pizza.
Our day prior to our dinner mishap was spent at the Acropolis where the wind was howling through the gorgeous structures, practically blowing us over. Professor Satran told us that it was the coldest trip to the Acropolis in the past six years – go figure! We then spent the next four hours taking Greek lessons with a generous local and then going to our Biblical and Classical Literature course hosted by Professor Satran. The other students on this program have been so fun to hangout with – it’s such a great opportunity to be able to spend three weeks with people I may have never met elsewhere in my four years of college! I already feel so close to so many people on this program simply because of how much we all do as a group together. We’ve made it a habit to spend our free time together dining out at authentic Greek restaurants, trying as many local dishes as possible. Bonding over food is so very special, especially in a foreign country!
