Athena Blogs

It's incredible to think that I've only been in Greece for 11 days. As soon as I landed on Paros two Saturdays ago, I immediately felt at home. Since then I've not felt a shred of homesickness, anxiety, or regret. And this is coming from a severe homebody! I can safely say-- not because this is for the Athena website and I want to sound good, but because it's true-- studying abroad in Greece was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I landed in Athens on the evening of Friday, September 9th. A word of advice to anyone considering this program: leave at least a day early so you can explore Athens before heading to Paros. I didn't get to see any historical sites (e.g. the Parthenon, Acropolis, etc.) because I was only in the city for about 12 hours, and most of those were spent sleeping off my jet lag.

The following day we boarded the ferry that took us from the mainland to Paros. The ferry took five hours, but it wasn't boring for a second. I spent the time chatting with my new friends, gazing out at the Aegean Sea, and just appreciating how lucky I was to be there. Like I said, as soon as we saw Paros, we knew we were home. As we were being shown our apartments at Jimmy's, we all had these ridiculous smiles slapped across our faces-- we just couldn't believe that we were going to be spending the next three months in a place so beautiful!

Since then, we've all fallen into a calm, comfortable routine -- class, beach, grocery shopping, dinner along the shoreline to watch the sunset, home for internet usage in the common area, with the occasional excursion or night out thrown in. I feel as though I've known these people for years, not days. Every one of them is so interesting and unique, and I've enjoyed hearing each of their stories. This place seems to attract people who are... searching for something, I'd say. People who have dreams, and who have come to Paros to see those dreams realized. Or people who just came here to clear their heads and think about what they should do next. I certainly came for all of those reasons, and then some.

Classes are fantastic. All of the teachers are so kind and generous and passionate about their subjects. My favorite class experience so far has been in Theory of Art, where we sat in a circle and discussed what we do, why we do it, how we came to it, and what we want to do with it in the future. We spent at least twenty minutes with each person, and listening to my classmates talk about their creative endeavors was so inspiring. I walked out of that class with even more respect and empathy than I had for them already.

What else about Greece? Everything is perfect, that's all I can think to say about it. The people, the food, the sunsets, the weather, the atmosphere. Everything is perfect. Come to Greece. I want everyone I know to come to Greece. It's a healing place. It's a place where you can breathe again, think again. And in combination with this program, which is really there to facilitate what you want to accomplish, your passion, this is a place where you can see your dreams come to fruition. The best decision I ever made.