Author: Abby Werzenski Major: History, Anthropology Country: Greece Program: Honors Passport Greece
“Πάμε παρέα!” (pronounced PAme paRAYa) means “let’s go together” and is an interesting Greek phase that I used many times during my month-long study tour earlier this summer. It is especially useful when traveling with a group of adventurous students and their professors, trying to see as much of what Greece could offer up to us during our stay. We were given many unique opportunities to take advantage of during our time abroad as we began to become immersed within the country’s rich culture and history that seemed to surround us everywhere we went. From scampering along crumbling walls of ancient fortresses, wandering through crowded city streets, or hiking down Europe’s longest natural gorge…we were always going there together, trying to learn and experience anything within reach.
On my group’s third day in Athens, our travel itinerary had only one thing planned for the morning: a visit to the Acropolis. During breakfast that morning, I remember feeling overwhelmed by a feeling of anticipation of what the day would bring. Though we had only been in Greece for a few days at that point, I was already well aware of the many experiences the country had to offer me in terms of experiencing many forms of art, architecture, and culture. For that reason, I found myself excited for what the day had in store for me and was delighted to begin experiencing the Acropolis and its features firsthand.
This learning experience on the Acropolis was my first opportunity to learn about something as monumental as the Parthenon in such a close proximity, and it was vastly different from any classroom experience I have ever had. My lesson on the history and cultural significance of the site felt so relevant and timely when I could see and experience the Parthenon for myself. Being so close to the history I was learning about allowed me to feel more excited about having these unique experiences while abroad.
During the remainder of my time in Greece, my enthusiasm for each day and its experiences only seemed to grow, and I began to thoroughly enjoy different aspects of my daily life abroad, taking every opportunity that I could to experience something unlike anything I had before. I think that my eagerness to seize any moment available to me was what made my days in Greece so enjoyable. Despite all of my attempts to make the most of each day, my favorite part of it typically included sitting at a taverna with friends, laughing over a table of shared food.
These evenings spent in tavernas – the Greek equivalent of a small, family-run restaurant – greatly influenced the time I spent with my friends, granting us the rare opportunity to live like locals: talking, eating, and laughing together. This focus on coming together is what made dining in Greece such a unique, bonding experience. Making friends with other students in my program was inevitable when we were having so much fun together, enjoying the experiences that we were sharing.
We were staying on the island of Naxos, the largest in the Cyclades, when we sit down to eat at a taverna for dinner. The conversation and laughter started almost immediately, and when our server brought bread and water for our table, he asked where we were from. When we told him that we were students from America, the man just smiled and said, “I thought so. You Americans are always so happy.”
I laughed and wanted to ask a single question. How could we not be happy when we were having an amazing time together, going to amazing places and learning all that we could about them?