Hello, Everyone! It’s officially been three weeks since I left the U.S. and arrived in Athens, Greece for my Global Seminar, and I’ve been enjoying every moment. We’ve had a lot of opportunity to explore the city (as well as a few other areas in Greece) and experience what Greece has to offer. Some things I’m quickly learning to appreciate are the magnificent sights to be seen in Greece. Whether it’s the early morning or late at night, in the middle of a busy city or on the coast, here are a few views from my time here thus far:

 

The view from the balcony of my apartment! We live alongside local Greek citizens while in Athens, so we’ve been fortunate to authentically experience our district in Athens as well as life in a foreign country. In fact, interacting with citizens in this district has been one of the best parts of living here, as people have helped in every thing from grocery shopping to commanding a dog to sit in Greek. I love eating out on the balcony at night and seeing the city begin to light up.

 

A photo of the Acropolis at night. Seeing the Acropolis was one of the first things we got to do while here (on day 2 we had a massive exploration of the city) and this view absolutely took my breath away. Not only could we see the Acropolis lit up from our position but also the entire city of Athens and the mountains surrounding it. Not a place to miss!

Above is a photo of the Corinth canal, which we needed to cross on the way to the city of Nafplio. Now, I’m a person who’s normally afraid of heights, but standing atop this canal was too breath-taking of an opportunity to miss. It was incredible to hear about the history of this canal (apparently, the canal saw some World War II action that you can find photos of online).

 

Still, although the Corinth canal was a beautiful stop, the destination was even more magnificent. Captured above is a photo of the Aegean Sea in Nafplio, and I think the photo and clear blue water speaks for itself. Directly underneath it is another view with a few other students and me on our way to the beach.

Now, we are going to move onto tastes, which of course means FOOD! Greek food is absolutely delicious, and every meal I’ve ordered here has left me completely satisfied (and not-so-secretly wanting to come back for more). Here are a few of my favorite dishes and some memories to go along with them:

 

Communal dinners have been some of my favorite meals to have in Greece. Everyone in the Global Seminar gathers to eat some fabulous food and talk together. Fun facts about meals in Greece: locals here eat dinner a lot later in the day, around 9:30 to 10 p.m., so it was a bit of an adjustment at first. Above are photos of the delicious seafood linguini and mussels I had at our first communal dinner.

Trying traditional Greek dishes has been really interesting, and souvlaki has become a quick favorite. On our first day of exploration I also tried my first plate of souvlaki, and whether in a restaurant or from a street stand it tastes delicious. While here, I’ve also sampled tzatziki (if you don’t know what it is, look it up because it is fantastic) as well as domaldes, stuffed grape leaves. If you ever come to Greece, look forward to the food!

While at Nafplio, we got to visit what is supposedly the absolute BEST gelato in all of Greece, and let me say that I think it’s a title well-deserved. This banana gelato was delicious and refreshing on a 90-degree day.

Despite my goal to experience as many Greek dishes as possible, I was happy to find a vegetarian restaurant named ‘Avocado’ while in Athens. The food was superb (I love avocados!) and it was comforting to know that Greece has a little something for everyone. In fact, across the street was a sushi restaurant and noodle bar, which I may be tempted to try in the future.

Well, that’s all for now! Hopefully, I’ll be posting back soon with some more detail on the experiences we’ve had outside of Athens, but in the meantime check out the PIIRS Instagram page to see a few more photos of our Global Seminar! Thank you, of course, to PIIRS for allowing me to be a part of this amazing trip.