Author: Emily Snyder Major: History Country: Greece Program: Honors Passport Greece

Before my study abroad group left for Greece, our wonderful professors, Dr. Daniel Levine and George Paulson, gave each of us a Greek name. It was often the Greek equivalent of our names, so mine was Amalia, but sometimes it changed if there was no equivalent, such as for Walker, who was now Vangelis.  

One day when we arrived at our hotel and were settling in, I heard the receptionist asking Walker for his name.  

“Vangelis,” he responded.  

A smile spread across her face, and she started talking with the others, asking for their names. As she heard each name, her smile grew larger and larger. She approached me and asked for my name. 

“Amalia,” I responded.  

She burst out laughing. I laughed along, as did everyone around me. Her laughter is contagious, but we were all confused about why she was laughing. Why is my name funny? She continued to ask names and smiled and laughed as she received the names one after another. 

We brought up the interaction to our professors and asked if there is something funny about our names. This was not the first person who had laughed when we had offered up our names, and it would not be the last.  

They explained to us what would make many interactions we had with the Greek people make more sense. They said, “they are not used to Americans coming in with Greek names, coming to Greece and actually embracing the culture and the language, willing to learn and interact with them not just as tourists but as people who want to know about their lives. And seeing you all doing that makes them so happy that laugh with joy when they hear your names.”  

That sentiment was important to our professors, and it could be seen in our program. I did not just see pretty scenery and ancient ruins; I experienced the very lives of the Greek people. That influenced my time so much that I left knowing Greece like the back of my hand, and as the home of people that each had their own connection to something that I had learned about. And I may not remember every fact I learned, but I will remember those connections, that now I get to share. 

 On the island of Crete, we hiked the Samaria Gorge. This is the longest gorge in Europe that begins in the White Mountains and ends on the coast of the Libyan Sea. It is sixteen kilometers of gorgeous scenery that words cannot adequately describe. But also, sixteen kilometers of downhill walking on rocky ground. We were all proud of ourselves for finishing it and just happy to be done at the end of the day. No one was yet thinking of how sore we would be.  

The next day we are off to explore Crete, being driven around by our Greek bus driver, Yiorgos, who was in the Greek military as a young man. As we complain about our sore legs, he tells us how in the military they would have to hike the Samaria Gorge down and back up again in a day for their training. We were floored. We were all destroyed physically by just walking down it. He tells Sarah to spread her legs apart, bend her knees, and then rock slowly. We all laugh as Yiorgos and Sarah sway back and forth, looking like they are doing an odd dance. But as Sarah exclaims that her legs feel better, I decide that it is worth looking like a weirdo to have my legs less sore, so I start to sway as well. Pretty soon, our entire group is swaying back and forth and laughing. Yiorgos’s were incredibly interesting, but his advice on what to do after you have hiked the Samaria Gorge helped our group learn something that we needed right then and that I will always remember.   

Another thing our professors taught us was the lullaby song To Ko Ko Rakee, which means The Rooster. The song is taught to Greek children when they are young because it goes through animals and the noises they make. We sang it on the bus, learning the song like the little children do. When we arrived at our hotel on the island of Naxos, the woman who owned the hotel told us about how she had sung the song with her boys and began to sing it for us. Our professors joined in singing and the rest of us did as well. It was so special to sing the song surrounded by Greek people who grew up singing it.  

The things I learned from interacting with the people of the country I came to learn about are the things that I could not have learned from reading about or taking a class on it. I learned about the hospitality of the Greeks, about how they use food to connect with the ones they love, about the stories and songs they learn as children and pass on to their children, and about the history that they still hold dear to today. I would recommend that everyone go on this program because I came to love Greece because of it. But even more than that, I would recommend that whatever program someone goes on, they prepare to learn in the moments they least expect it and from the people they least expect. Because everyone wants to share their lives and countries, and if you are open to that, you will learn things you never expected to. You will learn the very fabric of the lives of the people around you in the place you have gone to study.