This past week has been one of, if not the, most memorable weeks of my life. I was nervous during the months leading up to this trip, but those nerves quickly turned into excitement upon arrival.
I was shocked to find out how many Greek citizens speak English; this definitely helped ease some of the confusion of being in a new country. Of course, I still said “yassou” and “efcharistó” to everyone I interacted with. Seeing the quantity of people who can communicate in both Greek and English sort of opened my eyes to the fact that most of us only know English. Also, after the Embassy presentation, one of the panel members was telling us how useful and important it will be for us to know at least one more language. She said something that stuck with me: “knowledge is the one thing that no one can ever take from you”. This really helped me remember that learning can only make you better and it’s important to challenge yourself to grow. I think this applies to global leadership in the sense that knowledge is power and it’s important to learn in an ever changing environment.
I was also surprised and amazed to see how prominent the use of marble is throughout the city. We learned about the recycling of old buildings and fallen structures, which I thought was awesome. It’s cool to see how they’re trying not only to utilize their resources, but also maintain the history and culture of Athens.
The place we visited that I enjoyed learning about the most was the Acropolis. The The Parthenon was specifically interesting because of the building illusions. Our tour guide explained to us how there’s actually no straight lines on the temple. The curvature of our eyes creates an optical illusion that makes it look perfect.
Other than the Acropolis, I also enjoyed seeing the Ancient Agora, the Olympic Stadium, and Plato’s Academy. The Agora was a place where people practiced open discussion, which is very important in our society today. The Olympic Stadium was cool to see because of the whole thing being marble. It’s crazy to see how different even sports stadiums are from ours in America. We held class at Plato’s Academy, which was a great experience. We practiced Socratic discussions and learned about how we need to step out of our shoes and into others’. This will help us become rational and fair decision makers, leaders and people.
Overall, it has been fun learning about the places and people who developed some of the world’s greatest ideas about democracy, philosophy, and leadership. I’ve become much more confident in my travel and cultural skills. Apart from this, I think the bonds I’ve made in the past week have been my favorite part. I truly wish I could stay here forever!
