CYA - Study in Greece (Summer Program)

For four weeks in Summer 2021, I was able to take a class on the Anthropology of Food in Greece, taught by Aimee Placas (who is amazing!). The course, and Greece in general was amazing. I learned so much about food, traditions, culture, etc - and ate my way through 7 Greek islands as well (yum!). I'm missing the experience and the people I met along the way already.

I highly recommend taking the ferries from Athens (Pireaus) to islands like Aegina, Naxos, Poros, Paros, etc. Ikaria is another favorite - but fly there!

CYA gave me the opportunity for a trip that I never would have been able to plan or execute on my own. For four weeks in the summer of 2021, I took The Strangeness of Ancient Greece: Diversity, Difference and Regionality among the Greek States, taught by Professor Pitt. Living among locals, learning about the history of the country, eating great food, and traveling around Greece made my education feel tangible and real. Not only did CYA give me the opportunity to travel and learn, but they made the process accessible, easy, and fun the whole way through.

The best way to spend my summer! In June, I travelled with CYA to Athens and Poros for an unforgetable study abroad opportunity. Even with COVID restrictions, CYA did an amazing and safe job of providing an in-person travel opportunity. Through excellent curriculum and exceptional recommendations, I travelled around Greece to the fullest in four short weeks. I am already preparing to return to see more of the wonderful country. Thank you so much to my classmates and teachers who made the trip on that I will never forget!

My experience with CYA was one of the coolest things I have ever done, and I would absolutely do it again, without question. In some sense, it’s hard to fully assess the benefits of studying abroad so close to my time abroad, but it is clear that the benefits of doing so are numerous.

I feel deeply grateful to have been able to visit places I have read about in my Classics courses for years, to see artifacts outside books, to get a whiff of the past while we walked along ancient roads, and to see the remnants of lives lived many years ago, which were not so unlike our own. The challenge the course posed to the dominance of Athenocentricity in Classics will be valuable as I move forward in my studies, but, perhaps the most meaningful part of the study abroad experience was just having the opportunity to leave my bubble and venture somewhere entirely new, which I felt even more deeply following the COVID-19 lockdowns. This is especially true as we see nationalism rising in waves across the world. Experiences like the one provided by CYA can help to counter ideologies that ask us to hate those that live beyond our borders. Participating in a program like CYA gives us space to stop and reflect on our place in this big, beautiful word of ours, and it nudges us to remember that there are people not unlike ourselves all over the world, and the awareness this brings is invaluable.

Upon arrival in Greece, I was immediately confronted by the fact that the people in Greece are exceptionally warm and kind, and they were willing to do whatever it took to help. The taxi drivers, the waiters and shop attendants, the locals I met walking around the city all went out of their way to make sure I was taken care of, and you will also probably find yourself receiving a lot of free food.

In this program, we were able to travel all around Greece. It was amazing to be able to experience the vastness of the country while also being able to learn from a very knowledgeable professor about Ancient Greece. The people were all amazing and it was very easy to connect with them! There is always something to do in Athens whether that’s hiking, seeing a theatre show, or eating at an amazing restaurant. You also have much more free time to explore than you would think so take advantage of that and go see the beach! It’s only an hour by tram!

I found my time in Greece with College Year in Athens enlightening, resourceful, and life-changing. I initially chose to study abroad in Greece to take in as much history and culture and possible and the course selections by CYA allowed me to find a perfect fit. Not only did the living situation and location allow me and my classmates to fully immerse ourselves in downtown Athens, but the faculty also gave us opportunities to interact with locals and learn about Greece first-hand. The actual class I took was based on the differences of ancient greek states based on historical and archaeological perspectives. This focus allowed CYA and our professor to spend most of our class time around Athens exploring archaeological sites and museums which created a fun, interactive experience to learn in. I have also heard that CYA tries to include some sort of travel to various Greek islands in all of their classes to show the students as much of Greece as possible. For my class, we visited the islands of Thassos and Aegina, along with having some free days to travel by ourselves if we wanted to. It was a beautiful time viewing incredible places, eating great food, and learning a wealth of knowledge about the Greek world. I would recommend this program!

I did the excavating in the Aegean field school with CYA and had an amazing time. I was really scared to do my field school because so many of my friends in my major told me how hard and miserable their experience was (with field schools in general). This program, however, was so much fun and not miserable at all. I met so many people from all around the world with the same interests as me that I know I can count on in the future. The work was very hard but I never hated it and we always made it fun. The good thing about this program is that you have so much free time to go explore and experience the culture of Greece. You get weekends off which is enough time to travel to different islands. I do wish they helped you with travel plans a little more (they don't meet up with you until you get to your destination which can be scary for a first-time traveler). I would definitely recommend this study abroad program because they want you to pay attention to your classes but also realize how important it is to go out and experience the culture yourself.

If you have any interest in pursuing archaeology, this is the best possible program for you to experience! I had come into this program still a little uncertain about my academic path, a little defeated after multiple other study abroad opportunities were canceled due to COVID-19, and very stressed out because I had not had a field school experience yet in my junior year of undergraduate. I not only left this program with a very clear sense of direction in how I planned on spending the rest of my undergraduate and postgraduate, but I also made some friends to last me a lifetime!