Elbow Greece

I thought I'd make a post taking us back about a week ago when I first arrived in Greece, describing my experiences and excursions before class started. Our first ferry ride took us to the beautiful islands of Kefalonia. There we had an exciting, packed schedule full of adventures ranging from exploring caves and striking scenery to getting acquainted with the lovely culture that Greece is so well known for. Something that I noticed immediately about how Greek and American culture differ is that Greek culture is fixated on the importance of family and friend bonding experiences. I noticed that everyone seemed to be very comfortable and friendly with each other while they sat down for a bite to a eat or strolled around town.  After spending a couple of days in Kefalonia, we took another ferry to Ithaca. While in Ithaca I discovered the extent to which Greeks are connected to music in their social gatherings and overall lifestyle. In the courtyard are...

Greeks are commonly presented as having an assured wisdom about life with the belief that life just happens and there is little one can do to change the future. In both Zorba the Greek and My Life in Ruins, Greek culture is displayed as having an demeanor that is compliant and satisfied throughout the course of one's life, maintaining a positive mindset and striving to find "kefi" in all areas of life. As I travel throughout this beautiful country and am embraced by the culture here, I find my own mindset becoming more similar to the Greek's in my lack of worries- I'm finding that whether my flight is delayed or if I arrive an hour later than expected, no matter what happens, the world will keep spinning and life will go on. Today, Wednesday, June 27th, was the first day of classes at the American College of Greece. I had a great first day in my Documentary Photography class as I got acquainted with some of my classmates and listened to our professor teach us a...

Our studies abroad in Greece have officially commenced, as today was our orientation at the American College of Greece. This orientation consisted of an informational presentation from the schools president and other staff members as well as a campus tour. UNF’s honors students also had our first Greek workshop, in which we learned the Greek alphabet and how to pronounce all of the Greek letters and some letter combinations. So far I’ve found the language quite confusing and complicated, and I’m sure I will have to study Greek often in order to be able to make use of it in simple conversations. Something interesting I learned about the language is how old it is- being roughly three and a half thousand years old, it explains how much the language has changed over time, resulting in some startling characteristics like the five different ways to spell the [I] sound. I believe the Greek language indicates some qualities of the culture in Greece, for example how many Greek people ...