In the City of Dreaming Spires: Ancient Athens

I have fallen absolutely in love with Greece. This time here is exactly what I needed as my time in Europe ends. Trysha and I have responded to studying abroad in very similar ways, and it was so good to discuss out time abroad and find commonalities and understanding.

At home, Trysha and I were both known for being very bubbly, enthusiastic, positive, and outgoing. We have both been said to light up a room and bring sunshine with us wherever we go. Studying abroad has been very different, and have both experienced personality changes during our time away. We are less outwardly joyful, more reserved, and more inwardly focused. We both feel less need to be friends with everyone and don’t feel as friendly, overly kind, and people pleasing. Being so far from home and in another culture in some ways requires one to turn more inward and become self-sufficient and introverted. It is so easy to feel disconnected, isolated, and alone while abroad, and I feel that it is an important time for self-discovery and learning about oneself. We discussed our reactions to our terms in depth, and it was so wonderful to realize that I am not the only one who has reacted in this way. I was so worried, as I just don’t feel like I am as nice of a person as I was before I came. I thought that this was a flaw in personality, but the more I talked with Trysha and discovered commonalities, the more I realized that studying abroad has been more of a culture shock and will require more adjustment and processing when I return home than I had originally believed.

We woke up early today and walked to a Greek Orthodox Church down the street from Trysha’s apartment. The streets of Greece are lined with palm trees and orange trees, and I very much enjoyed the Mediterranean weather and climate. I had never been to a Greek Orthodox Church, and it was so different from any I have ever seen. Apparently the service is very long, and people come and go at different times. The church was filled with incense and icons, which the women stopped to kiss on their way in. The priests chanted from behind a screen, and the congregation constantly made the sign of the cross throughout the service. The men sat on one side and the women sat on the other. It was a very different experience, and I felt somewhat uncomfortable, as I had no idea how to behave.

From there we walked to see the changing of the guard at Syntagma and then up the Acropolis to the Parthenon. From the top of the Acropolis, we could see all of Athens, and it stretched on forever! Trysha was a very knowledgeable tour guide. She pointed out the Olympeion and Hadrian’s Arch, built under Emperor Hadrian, the same man who was responsible for Hadrian’s Wall in England. The Olympeion was a temple to Zeus and the largest in Athens. From there we walked to see the caves built into the side of the Acropolis and then walked to the Agora. It was so incredible to see buildings that have survived so long. As we walked down the Pantheonic Way, I was overwhelmed to know that some of the greatest minds of civilization walked down the exact path on the same stones.

On our way to lunch, Trysha also told me about the events of November 17, the Athens Polytechnic Uprising. On November 17, 1973, students at the Polytechnic University in Athens protested against the military regime in power. Unofficial accounts state that 24 students were killed, hundreds were injured, and almost a thousand were arrested during the uprising. The event is commemorated today with a demonstration that begins from the campus of the Polytechnic and ends at the United States embassy. The day involves a great deal of anti-U.S. sentiment, and during the early days of the march, students at Trysha’s American school in Greece were told to stay inside. I have never been anywhere that I have felt discriminated against due to my ethnicity or cultural background. Trysha often tells people in Greece that she is from Canada as so many Greeks feel animosity towards Americans.

After lunch we took a tram to Glyfada, Athens, Greece to walk on the beach and put our feet in the Agean Sea. The beach was very dirty and covered with garbage, but the sunset with the Greek Islands in the distance was incredible. Many beautiful pebbles and rocks had collected at the tide line, and I collected a few to take home to my young cousins as gifts from the Agean. Visiting the beach was the perfect way to end the day in Athens.