September 28, 2006 Source: :
http://www.augustana.ca/include/auc_news/full_view.php?id=123 Lost in Greece by Kerri Anderson Greece was about getting lost. That may sound unusual, but sometimes getting lost is just what one needs to find the true beauty in an unknown country. There were twenty five of us on the trip – nineteen students, two professors and four auditors from out of province – and we all discovered that it is when you are lost that you find what is really important – adventure, memories, and friendships that cross international borders. Sometimes though, being in Greece just meant being LOST. We were lost in Delphi, lost at Thermopolye, lost in Athens…just to name a few. We learned a lot from these experiences though, like how to avoid goat droppings on what was supposed to be a donkey trail… or that when there’s no trail you should stop trying to forge your own…or how effective a map and hand signals can be in finding directions in a country where you don’t speak the language. However, most of these "lost" experiences resulted in something truly amazing, like getting a bird’s eye view of the ancient site at Delphi or learning the history of a battle site. It was because of this that we found unique shops in Athens, met interesting locals and saw sites that weren’t necessarily on the course outline. Greece was also about getting lost in a new culture. We saw, heard and tasted things that can never be experienced in Canada and which many wouldn’t discover without being totally immersed in the country’s way of life. I know, for example, that many of us can admit to having a new addiction to tzatziki, a yogurt, cucumber and garlic dip that tastes good on EVERYTHING. In fact, most of us discovered a newfound appreciation for most things Greek and even brought back parts of their culture to share with our friends and family – anything from souvenirs to shoes and music that could remind us of the way life is across the Atlantic. Of course, there were some experiences that were unexpected, like using the prehistoric WCs in northern Greece, but even that provided a laugh later in the day. Even the fact that we started calling washrooms "WCs" shows how lost in the culture we really became. Traveling in Greece also taught us to lose all of our preconceived notions about the country. We had learned about the sites we would be seeing for four months before embarking on the trip, but nothing could prepare us for actually seeing them ourselves. The Acropolis in Athens, for example, is the home of HUGE structures like the Parthenon and the Erechtheion whose true nature and sheer size cannot be captured by any photos or textbook. Other things we had learned about ended up being a lot smaller than we had anticipated, but their intricacies just made them all the more fascinating. We also learned to lose our past ideas about travel – we quickly found out that traveling in Greece is nowhere near the same as traveling in Canada. For example, apparently the "pedestrian has the right of way" rule doesn’t apply in Greece. Ditto for the "no motorcycles on the sidewalk" rule (which may not necessarily be a rule in Canada, but it’s a given). Traffic, especially in Athens, moved at a lightening fast pace and threatened to sweep us away if we didn’t apply the high learning curve taught to us in university. The open highways outside of the city were much the same – we had to put all of our faith in our driver, Dmitrios, to get us safely from one place to another as cars flew past us on winding mountain roads. For the most part being lost in Greece provided a learning experience unlike anything anyone of us would have expected. It was at times exhilarating, funny, scary or breathtaking, but it was always memorable. We discovered new things, both about the country and ourselves that made the trip so unique and special that it could never be matched. I think all the students would like to extend a "thank you" to Dr. Dahle, Professor Harder, and Augustana for making such a trip possible.
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