MC in Greece
Hello, everyone! My name is Kirksey Croft and I am a Sophomore at MC. I am currently on my 6th day of a Study Abroad, faculty led, trip to Greece. We have just arrived back from Crete, and are settled into our modern Athens hotel rooms! At this point in the trip, the moment which I would call the halfway mark, there have been a lot of significant changes and amazing experiences. Starting with the first couple of days on the trip in Athens, the group and I were able to see what real urban Greek life is like. We spent the day with our amazing tour guide, who is around our age group and recently out of college, exploring the city and amazing sights. One of the most interesting components of the city from the start is the frequent graffiti. I asked our tour guide about the meanings behind the art and she informed me that Greece is currently experiencing significant political movements through which are being expressed through graffiti. Athens also holds a world famous annual graffiti contest each year! This was very interesting to me and I wanted to learn much more about this. Much of the graffiti also withheld emotional expressions and nudity, two aspects associated with Ancient Greek art as well. An example of some of the graffiti can be seen below, with the YouTube video link of Athens’s annual graffiti festival. When I say that graffiti is everywhere in the city, I mean every place we looked!
After exploring the city and learning more about the area, the group and I began to experience waves of cultural understanding. We learned about the different things that Greek waitresses found rude, the proper way to compose ourselves on Athens’ crowded public transportation, and how to say goodbye or greet citizens. This all came with perfect timing to our first major tourist site... the acropolis! The acropolis was truly amazing and was built in order to honor the goddess Athena. While I really enjoyed learning about the history aspects, I was also busy looking at the different individuals, styles, and diverse visitors from all around the world. This was my first time outside of the USA, so I was really interested to see so many people from all backgrounds gathering for the same purpose of seeing the Acropolis!
After spending time in Athens, the group flew to Heraklion, Crete. This city was drastically different from the metropolitan area of Athens and holds a beach town, relaxed atmosphere: I instantly fell in love with the energy that this city had. We toured the Palace of Knossos and learned about the ways in which the Ancient Minoans constructed this enormous community building in the past. It was so cool to see buildings that were the oldest I had ever seen, alongside the beautiful country sides and vineyards. We also had an amazing experience touring a Cretan olive oil farm! At the farm, we learned about the ways that traditional technologies were utilized to create olive oil. We also learned that many ancient Greeks would use olive oil as a way to keep things refrigerated! It is so interesting because the Cretans put olive oil in everything! I know this because we were able to do an amazing cooking class at the farm. My favorite thing that we made was Taziki, a traditional Greek sauce made with yogurt, cucumber, and garlic. It was so yummy! This was probably my favorite day of the whole experience.
Now that we are settled back in Athens from Crete, I am reflecting on this past week and looking forward to the times to come. Tommorow we will spend more time in Athens before going to cities such as Myceane and Delphi. I have adapted incredibly well to the different culture and am only struggling with insomnia due to the time change. Other than that, everything has been beyond amazing! I have learned so much about my identity and where I fit into other positions globally. I hope the learning and growth continues throughout the second week!
Hello, everyone! My name is Kirksey Croft and I am a Sophomore at MC. I am currently on my 6th day of a Study Abroad, faculty led, trip to Greece. We have just arrived back from Crete, and are settled into our modern Athens hotel rooms! At this point in the trip, the moment which I would call the halfway mark, there have been a lot of significant changes and amazing experiences. Starting with the first couple of days on the trip in Athens, the group and I were able to see what real urban Greek life is like. We spent the day with our amazing tour guide, who is around our age group and recently out of college, exploring the city and amazing sights. One of the most interesting components of the city from the start is the frequent graffiti. I asked our tour guide about the meanings behind the art and she informed me that Greece is currently experiencing significant political movements through which are being expressed through graffiti. Athens also holds a world famous annual graffiti contest each year! This was very interesting to me and I wanted to learn much more about this. Much of the graffiti also withheld emotional expressions and nudity, two aspects associated with Ancient Greek art as well. An example of some of the graffiti can be seen below, with the YouTube video link of Athens’s annual graffiti festival. When I say that graffiti is everywhere in the city, I mean every place we looked!
After spending time in Athens, the group flew to Heraklion, Crete. This city was drastically different from the metropolitan area of Athens and holds a beach town, relaxed atmosphere: I instantly fell in love with the energy that this city had. We toured the Palace of Knossos and learned about the ways in which the Ancient Minoans constructed this enormous community building in the past. It was so cool to see buildings that were the oldest I had ever seen, alongside the beautiful country sides and vineyards. We also had an amazing experience touring a Cretan olive oil farm! At the farm, we learned about the ways that traditional technologies were utilized to create olive oil. We also learned that many ancient Greeks would use olive oil as a way to keep things refrigerated! It is so interesting because the Cretans put olive oil in everything! I know this because we were able to do an amazing cooking class at the farm. My favorite thing that we made was Taziki, a traditional Greek sauce made with yogurt, cucumber, and garlic. It was so yummy! This was probably my favorite day of the whole experience.
Now that we are settled back in Athens from Crete, I am reflecting on this past week and looking forward to the times to come. Tommorow we will spend more time in Athens before going to cities such as Myceane and Delphi. I have adapted incredibly well to the different culture and am only struggling with insomnia due to the time change. Other than that, everything has been beyond amazing! I have learned so much about my identity and where I fit into other positions globally. I hope the learning and growth continues throughout the second week!