The extremely unique history and culture in the city of Athens, Greece is like nothing else in the world. This past week, I have had such an insightful and immersive experience, walking up the same hills, and standing by the same monuments as some of the most influential people in world history. An aspect of the culture I have particularly enjoyed was the cuisine. Our opening welcome dinner was delicious, trying foods such as gyros, lamb chops, mousses and feta cheese to name a few. I’ve had a lot of great experiences with cheap gyros that are extremely delicious from local places that can hardly understand us, and those are the meals I cherish the most. Another great aspect of this trip to Athens I thoroughly enjoyed was the amount of history packed into the city. First and foremost there is the Acropolis, housing the Parthenon, which is one of the most amazing views from almost anywhere in Athens. I can’t get over the condition the Acropolis is in, considering the amount of war is has housed over thousands of years. The feeing you have when standing on that ground is not replicable anywhere. One of my personal favorite locations was the original Olympic stadium, that housed the first modern Olympics in 1896. Getting to run down the track where some of the world’s greatest athletes have is an amazing experience I will not forget. I particularly loved the tunnel, that led to a small room that housed torches from almost all of the Olympic Games over the years. Last but certainly not least, I loved our time at the Agora, being where the hustle and bustle of the city once was. There are so many small pieces of history preserved throughout that land, giving an idea of how life was once upon a time. An overall aspect of the Greeks that I have found amazing is how advanced of a civilization they were back in times that were hundreds of years before Christ. Ancient Greeks developing highly effective construction methods, creating a system of government still used around the globe today, and discovering theories of mathematics, among many other things, is a hard concept to grasp. All of this interesting history has made my time here memorable and enjoyable.
