A Greek Time Abroad

For my STEP Signature Project, I went abroad to Greece through Ohio State’s Engineering of Ancient Greece trip. This project took 23 students and 2 professors from Thessaloniki to Athens with many different stops along the way looking at different ancient sites in Greece.

Going to Greece was a new and exciting time for me. I have never been to Greece and I didn’t know what to expect before this class. I knew about Greece from the news because of their economic crisis a couple years back but other than that it was truly a mystery. When I first started the class, I started to look into different aspects of their culture, food, religion, customs and more. I learned a lot but nothing really prepared me for what I saw in Greece.

What I saw in Greece was a beautiful country that is super kind to all strangers. They like to be calm as a group and take their time which is one of the reasons that some of their islands are in the blue triangle. They drink a lot of coffee and wine and eat every meal with such time. The beauty around was truly incredible with the wondrous mountains. It was not the poor country that everyone told me I was going to visit. It was not the big city view that we see in New York City either. They are somewhere in the middle of on track with the rest of western Europe and eventually will catch up. However, because of all the ancient architecture, it will still take a while.

There are a few key things that helped transform me. The first item is the interactions with the locals. The locals in Greece are truly kind people unless you are driving badly. They love to hear all about you but also tell you about things they like in the area and about their lives. With these interactions, you can tell a lot about the people that live there. These interactions helped me see that you don’t need to live a high strung or a stressful life that is seen a lot in America. While in America every minute is a precious thing in Greece it’s not about what time is accounted for but the activities you partake in. This attitude will let me appreciate more of what I have rather than be in hurray for the next thing.

Another item that helped transform are all the activities that we partook in that dealt with ancient history. The ancient sites really helped me see how the new and the old can combine in a country with such a rich history. I think our of seeing the different sites like the Parthenon and the Temple of Hera I can really appreciate how much more ahead of the game the Ancient Greeks were. Their ideas were well beyond their years and they managed so much.

Finally, seeing the pure beauty shown in Greece not just the ancient but all the new really helps someone appreciate their surroundings. In Greece, I had time to take a look at all the different types of mountains, valleys, and landscape all around. This experience really showed me that sometimes something we see every day is beautiful even if you forget because the Greeks live with that beauty all the time but no longer awe at it the way we did and sometimes you just need to be reminded of that awe.

This transformation is significant in my life as it gets me to really enjoy life rather than just let it pass by. It gave me more of a look into different cultures and helped me change for the better as it has caused me to spend more of my summer outside truly noticing the beauty that I might not have done if I didn’t go to Greece. This is important as it will help me be more of a well-rounded adult that like to do things outside of work every day. In addition, it will get me to appreciate all I have in the future.