Back home in the United States, I've been thinking about my time in Greece a lot. Of course, family and friends have wanted to know every detail of my time abroad, and in many conversations I've found myself pulling a blank on what to tell them. It seems like even though I was in Greece for so many months I don't remember most of it. After being there for four months, everything that stands out becomes familiar, everything that sets it apart from the US becomes the norm. And I've noticed and learned about different modes of life, different ways of going about a day, and different ways of interacting with another person.
CYA offered me an invaluable opportunity in many forms: I learned from some of the most incredible professors, all very impressive in their fields. All of my professors from this past semester were not only excellent teachers, but they were also eager to learn alongside me and my peers as we discovered new finds throughout Athens and the rest of the world. The friends that I made inside and outside the classroom are some of the best I've ever had. I know that there are a handful of people I've met here that I will stay in contact with because we've shared this unique experience. My internship with the MediaLab taught me a slew of professional skills that I will no doubt bring to my next job, and I made more amazing workplace friends along the way. Even though it was an internship, the responsibility and the respect involved made the position feel like a real job, a real career, and that is a feeling that I will keep with me as I finish school and start to enter the work force as a graduate.
As a whole, Greece was one of the most beautiful places I had ever had the pleasure of living in. I learned to appreciate the outdoors and the casual din of the people around me. I learned to listen to the city and look at the corners in new ways. I learned more than I ever thought I would about history purely by looking at one storefront; furthermore, the way Athens is built layer upon layer made me think about my carbon footprint, and the impact I have on the environment on a young person in America. This city made me think about how I move through the world, and it caused me to think critically of myself and those around me.
One of the best memories I have of Greece, is one that occurred on my last day but brought me back to my first day. I was walking to the academic center the first day I arrived in Athens, and I needed help unlocking my apartment door. Having walked to the academic center one way, I thought that the person helping me would walk bak that way with me. I then found out that there was another, seemingly more confusing way to my apartment. She took me through winding streets and up and down crosswalks, and looking around I was completely confused and didn't have any of my bearings. Before heading off to the Athens airport for the last time, I realized that the very same street that I traversed at some point throughout every day was the same street that the CYA employee had led me through on my first day in Greece. It was a crazy realization to try and see the streets and all its storefronts and people without knowing all the history and experiences I've had with them–it was a surreal experience. It was then that I realized how much I needed to come back to Greece, whether it's in this decade or the next. Because the people in Athens knew me, and they helped me to discover who I was and wanted to be in this world. So, it's a goodbye for now, and a very very large see you soon.
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