It is very hard to put into words how my experience in Athens was. The best way I can describe Athens is a beautiful and vibrant city with rich history and a strong culture. A&M is rooted in our traditions, history, and culture, and being an Aggie helped me see a lot of similarities that Athens culture has to our little college town in the Brazos Valley. The people here seemed to care for everyone and had a family like atmosphere to them. This was one of favorite parts about the people of Athens.
Sites:
With Athens having such a long and complex history, there was a lot of site seeing we were able to do. We got to see historical sites such as the Ancient Agora, Muse Hill, the prison that Socrates was believed to be held in, the Aparthenon & Pantheon, and the Olympic Stadium. There were so many other places we visited but this is just a short glimpse of what we were able to see. Although we were able to see a lot of places, I will mention that to truly dive into everything in Athens you could probably spend a month here!!!
I am a very big sports fan (I know Ball) so I think my favorite site to see was the Olympic Stadium. It was surreal to step into the stadium that the first modern Olympic Games were held. Just imagine walking down the marble tunnel that is about 300 feet long, stepping out into the air, and there is 69000 people from all over the world, hooting and hollering, ready to watch you make some left turns around a track. Hopefully this imagery gave you some chills because I know it did for me. I ran about 100 meters on the track which was cool too.
Going up the hill of the Acropolis was really exciting too. We got to see the Dionysus Theater which was really cool to see. It is actually still used today which I thought was interesting, but just looking down into the theater was awesome. We learned a lot about the architecture of some of the theaters and how sound travels and it was super cool to learn how some of the methods used in Ancient Greece can still be seen today. Through a little digging of my own, I read about how some College football stadiums were designed and influenced based on some of the methods of Ancient Greece.
Overall the site seeing helped me learn a lot more history and dive into how people have changed over time but have still relatively stayed the same.
Food:
I’m a big foodie, just read a couple of my Yelp reviews, so I enjoyed trying all the new food.
I had never really had Greek food before so I tried to try as much as I could. Some of the more interesting foods were Mousakka, fried zucchini, Pastitsio, and fried feta cheese with honey drizzled on top. Down below is a list of my top 3 restaurants I tried while in Athens:
- Onos Tavern
- Tavern of Psarras
- Cafe Lycabettus
New Connections:
One of my favorite parts of the experience studying abroad so far has been being able to meet and develop friendships with new people. It is crazy to think that I met 28 strangers on December 28th, 2023 and now can say I’ve made a lot of friends along the way in just 7 some days. From meeting everybody in the group to seeing a mini mart owner every day, the new friendships and connections will last a lifetime
Connection to Global Leadership:
All the site seeing and exploring is super fun, but this is a study abroad as well. There is definitely some noticeable ties from Athens history that we can see in leaders today. I think the biggest thing I learned was that as a global leader you have to always account for everybody and you have to keep asking questions to really solve issues. These were things that philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle were doing way back when that influenced leaders today.
