Why Are We All Here?

13/10/08

Why Are We All Here? (Meaning of life stuff)

Possibly a question only answerable with a myth. However, everyone on this trip probably had different reasons for wanting to come to Greece. My personal reasons were to experience the Greek culture and try to learn as much of the language as I can. In trying to learn the language I listened to lessons on CD then during that I made myself learn the Greek alphabet, which is quite different from the English one. I got a Greek dictionary before I left to help me out as well. All these things helped but actually being here where Greek is sometimes the only language people can speak to you makes things different and can be intimidating and made me realize that I wish I knew more. Myself and Misty were big on trying to learn the language so we asked our Greek teacher of Athens though the Ages to help us out with the language. So far we have only had one time where we have met but we plan on keeping it up as soon as she gets back from her trip. She is very helpful and able to teach us things that CDS and dictionaries cannot help us with.
The other thing that I had mentioned was experiencing the culture. This is big for me because my personal area of study is anthropology. This culture has much to offer in many ways. One of the ways is the food. Greece is big on their food from, gyros, spanakopita, saganaki (fried feta), baked feta, cheese pies, to tons of other delicious things, some of which I still have yet to try. Their dairy products here are a lot richer than they are in America. A lot of their culture is around food and people gather around tavernas or other types of restaurants for conversation and good food. Something else that I noticed that has nothing to do with food is the way they make their buildings. In America they are made mainly out of wood but here, as I look around at things being built, they are made of a concrete looking material. Recently, I have been making more Greek friends who help me to experience the culture even more which I am very happy about.