Coming on this global business program has been surreal. I have never been overseas before so I really didn’t know what to expect. However, going into the program I knew we would be spending time helping small business owners. I hoped to gain another perspective on running a business in general. I think I have gained way more than just that perspective. The people in Greece live very differently than we do back home. Seeing another culture has gifted me the ability to see how vastly different the world really is. Not just the Greek culture but many others as well due to the fact that Greece is home to a lot of migrants. When we arrived in Athens it was very different from every other city I have seen before. The entire city is very compact with narrow streets and tight buildings. A lot of things are made out of white marble as well. I thought this was interesting as I saw white marble as luxurious but here they use it for curbs on the street. The people socially act differently as well. While everyone here has all been very polite their facial expressions aren’t very light hearted. I think the food has been the most difficult thing for everyone in the Brigade to adjust to. Greeks seem to just survive off of bread. A lot of the meals also don’t consist of any meat and if there is meat it isn’t much. The reason for this is that Greece historically has been a poorer country and meat is a luxury. We actually learned that fact about Greek cuisine from the Greek cooking lesson we did which was a lot of fun. One very noticeable thing about the people is they drink a lot of coffee and I mean a lot. You could walk down practically any street and there will be numerous coffee shops. Overall seeing the country and culture has really given me a better perspective on myself.
