Submitted by Erin Ricciardi on the 2016 winter session program in Athens, Greece sponsored by the Department of English…
A Cross Between Religious Culture
This past week, my group and I spent time visiting a Jewish Synagogue, Greek Orthodox Church and a Monastery. I myself was excited for these visits as I was curious to see what religion was like here in Athens. Our first visit was to the Synagogue where we met a very welcoming and very young Rabbi. I was shocked to hear that the Jewish faith is only practiced by less than 4,000 residents of Athens. In comparison to my hometown, the Jewish faith here seems to be a rare form of faith.
I feel that the Greek Orthodox Church has a greater influence on the city of Athens, just by talking to locals and hearing from our tour guides. We had the opportunity to visit a Monastery in Delphi where my group and I were able to see the absolute beauty and history of faith in the nation of Greece. 
These visits to religious sites allowed me to understand that the world is much greater than what I thought I knew. I was also intrigued by the roots that are grounded here in this Nation, there is always a tie to history that every Athenian seems to know about and tell you all about. I think it is wonderful that the love and passion for this city is so obvious!
Bate, Bate, Chocolate
One of our tour guides also happens to work in a local chocolate shop where she took us one afternoon. As we acclimated ourselves to the city of Athens, my friends and I decided to pay the shop another visit, in hopes of meeting up with our new friend and tour guide. She was pleased to see us through the shop windows and us the same! The culture here in Athens is to sit and talk, and talk, and talk, talk, talk! So we did exactly that over steaming cups of melted chocolate with milk – a delicious drink popular in Greece. This activity is our version of getting a cup of coffee with friends (which they do here too) but chocolate makes it so much better! I find this “sit down and have a cup of chocolate” unique to the Athens lifestyle, it makes the city more comfortable, more personal.