This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Cal Lutheran chapter.
My favorite thing has always been to travel. The excitement of picking your destination followed by anxiously waiting for the departure day to arrive; it is single-handedly the best feeling. So, when an opportunity presented itself for me to travel to Greece this summer and spend two and a half weeks learning about my Greek heritage and studying at the American College of Greece; I jumped at the chance.
I somewhat stumbled on the application, not knowing what amazing adventure would be ahead of me. I pressed submit and waited and waited for what felt like forever but thankfully to my delight, I was accepted! I was immediately excited but after a while, the nerves kicked in, I didn’t know anyone going on this trip so a bit of fear crept into my mind. But I had to remind myself of the amazing opportunity that was being given to me and that many others would love to have it.
The trip came up quickly, I soon found myself packing my bags and in what felt like just moments, I was roaming in the streets of Athens. We hiked to the top Parthenon, explored Mykonos, took cooking classes, language classes where I expanded on the Greek I already knew, went to the islands of Naxos and Delos, which have great historical artifacts, ate the best food and saw the clearest blue water. I saw the most amazing museums, such as the Benaki Museum where I was in awe of the history in which my family comes from.
I would never have had that amazing experience if it wasn’t for my Greek Heritage and the Heritage Greece Program. This trip taught me the importance of cultural appreciation and to take a chance because you never know when adventure awaits! I never realized how much my Greek heritage paid a part of my life until I saw it first hand. I was most concerned about making friends but in the end, I made so many life long friends because of the experiences we shared. I would trade just about anything to go back to that amazing trip!
All Photos Courtesy of the Author – Sophia Placencio
