A tribute to my study abroad trip to Greece.
A year ago, the thought of leaving home to go to school in South Carolina was the most terrifying idea I had ever come across, but in due time it became my second home. I encountered a similar feeling when I found out I was accepted into a study abroad summer program in Greece, but once again, in due time, Greece became another home to me.
When I first told people about my upcoming trip to Greece, I was asked the same two questions.
1. "You're already studying abroad?! As a freshmen?!"
Well, yeah....I guess you could say that's exactly what I did. The idea of age never even crossed my mind when I started looking into the program. I would be traveling with a group of sixteen people and two professors studying Classics History, so who cared how old I was? The way I looked at it, the sooner I started studying abroad, I would only gain more time to travel to more places.
2. "Isn't Greece in like really, really bad shape? Aren't they bankrupt or something?"
This question bothered me the most. My response at the time is still the same response today: 'Not sure, who cares.' Although Greece may not be in the best economical place, it didn't mean all the ancient ruins I was going to see were being affected-- and that's all that really mattered.
Soon enough I found myself sitting on a huge plane, quickly doubting myself and why I wanted to study abroad in Greece so badly. Will this really be worth it?? Do I even really like Classics History?? What if I don't actually like greek food?? Each of these thoughts went away as fast as they came when an old little Greek man from Corinth sat down next to me-- and suddenly I was good to go.
From the moment we landed in Athens, everything was (obviously) new to me but also didn't fit any of the stereotypes I had always assumed. From eating, to walking in the streets, the people, even the street vendors--nothing was how I expected it to be.
The biggest surprise of the trip, and my first meal was: THERE IS NO LETTUCE IN THE GREEK SALADS. At first, I wondered if my entire life had been a lie. Here I've been sitting in restaurants in America, ordering greek salads, happily devouring a bowl of lettuce, meanwhile it's not even a real Greek salad?! Come on. Ordering a Greek salad in Greece means you're really ordering a bowl of delicious tomatoes, onions, olives, cucumbers, a big hunk of feta, all coated in oil. I soon got over the lettuce deprivation I had been suffering from. For some reason, I was the only person in the group who expected to also eat hummus for a month. Which was wrong. There is no hummus in Greece. I soon then found out that Tzatziki is in fact, it's own food group in Greece. Anything and everything actually can taste much better if you dowse it in tzatziki. Some brave eaters--not me-- even eat tzatziki plain, with a spoon. As time went on, more food surprises came about as well. I discovered you could get a great caesar salad and bowl of pasta bolognese just about anywhere you went (Thanks, Romans). I also discovered that Greeks put their french fries in the gyros (which leads to more food on your face, but makes the gyro taste that much better). By the end of the first three days, I embraced my new diet that consisted of gyros, tzatziki, feta, chicken souvlaki, and pasta bolognese.
By the end of the first week, I had also gotten used to being surrounded by ancient ruins and ancient history everywhere I went. And it was awesome. No matter where you went or how modern the city seemed, all you had to do was look up and you'd easily find the next ancient ruin filled site. Even if you don't find classics history "cool", chances are you'd be just as baffled by the Parthenon or the Temple of Poseidon as the average Classics Major would be.
Besides tzatziki and ruins, Greece is also filled with stray dogs. There are so many stray pups hanging around, it's almost heartbreaking--besides for the fact that they're extremely big well-fed pups. All the dogs we encountered would follow us through the cities, or spent their days sleeping around ancient ruin sites, which if you ask me-seems like a pretty nice life.
Out of everything during my trip, the nicest part was the little-to-none cell phone service. Everyone knows (and refuses to admit) that cell phones and social media really are ruining people's ability to chat and socialize. We experienced this first hand. All it took was a day or two for all of us to realize the sixteen people we were with now, were the sixteen people we would be with for the next month. Once that was silently realized by everyone, all it took was one lunch for us all to click. Without a constant ring or vibration from everyone's phones, everyone focused on the present- which usually consisted of some marvelous view or a beautifully preserved temple. After a week the group and I became so close that we'd even all pile into one small hotel room to just hang, or insist on the waiter moving tables together so that we could all sit together. Never once did I think at the beginning of my trip, that by the end of it, I would be crying and in denial of leaving everyone I had met. And no, I wasn't the only person who felt this way either.
Being back in America now, it's crazy to think that a few months ago, I actually had doubts about why I should leave home and study abroad in Greece. Besides the millions of "tbt's" I now have, I also gained new eating habits, a new appreciation for what most people would just consider an old column, fifteen new friends with fifteen-thousand new inside jokes, and an experience of a lifetime I would have been extremely dumb to have given up.
