Written by Italy & Greece Students, Elizabeth R. & Liam S. We arrived on Crete! Over the past ten days, we spent time in a small village on Eastern Crete! We started off the week with Greek language and culture lessons from our teacher Manolis. We learned the essentials of the language as well as Greek history and Greek dancing, which we all enjoyed! Then Carly taught us all… Read More

  Written by Italy & Greece Students, Kate T. and Lillian A. Since the last update, the Terra group has completed our time in Matera and travelled to Greece! In a farm outside of Matera we were tasked with designing and painting recycled fridges to turn them into “book fridges” as a sort of lending library for a nearby town, Altamura. With the help of local contacts, at the end… Read More

  Written by Italy & Greece Students, Zane & Justin We arrived in Rome after a four-hour FlixBus ride from Siena and split off into two groups after sending our bags to the monastery we’re staying at by taxi. One group walked an hour to the monastery and got Chinese food, and the other took the metro and got some Italian food. The next day we had lunch at a… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Students, Lillybeth & Amery Since the last blog post we have done and seen a LOT. It was the week of our trek so we started in Gambassi Terme where we met Luca, who showed us around his family’s bakery and taught us to make a delicious little bread snack! We stayed the night at a monastery and started our trek in the morning. Lauren,… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Students, Macey T. & Grace N. For the last week, we’ve been at a farm called Paladini in the mountains of Garfagnana. It’s a beautiful place and it was so nice to get back to nature after a busy week in Florence. There were other volunteers there from programs like Workaway, as well as the owner Colm and his family. There were different chores we… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Students, Sydney & Liam We’ve been in Florence this week. Traveling into the city was a nice change of pace after being at Panta Rei for a week and a half. We volunteered twice an urban garden called Orti di Pinti. There we met Giacomo, who told us about the ways that urban gardens are trying to innovate the methods of growing plants in a… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Educators, Megan & Mary Ciao! The Terra 23 group has been whisked away to the Italian countryside at the beautiful property of Panta Rei in Umbria. We’ve been knee-deep in orientation activities- fun games, learning about tools to build a healthy community, getting to know each other, and immersing ourselves in Italian language and culture. We have been spending time with Tom and Mauro… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Educators, Mariana (Mara + Ariana)  What a semester! 10 weeks, 2 countries, 13 locations, 7 local partner organizations, 4 puppies, and countless gelatos and cats later – we’ve finally reached the end. Though the blog is traditionally written for your friends and family following your journey at home, as the journey has come to an end, it feels most appropriate to now write it… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Semester Students, Tai and Henry After leaving our final permaculture community Re-green, we began our final week of student-directed travel. We arrived by ferry to Aegina an island to the south of Athens. We visited the archaeological museum and site of Kolona (which has the Temple of Apollo),  relaxed on the beach, rented bikes, and explored town. While on the island, we experienced stunning sunsets,… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Semester Students, Cat and Naomi This past week, we were at a permaculture community in the mountains of the Peloponnese peninsula. We participated in everyday activities such as morning movement, a morning meeting, and a drum circle. We did a main activity for most of the day. We helped prep and plant their gardens. We made a compost pile as tall as us. Hiked to… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Semester Students, Cat & Laura This week we ended our stay in Crete and said goodbye to Xeno and Marcos. We hope to see them again in Athens at the end of our trip. We were sad to leave the beautiful community within the village but we bid our fair wells and headed off to Athens for the next couple of days. We arrived at… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Semester Students, Jonah & Aiden This week, we left Italy and made our way to Crete, Greece! After a long day of planes, trains, and automobiles, we met our host, Xeno, in the airport and drove to Agios Ioannis, our village for the next 10 days. We enjoyed an incredible dinner made by Christins, the owner of the taverna in the village, and went to… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Semester Students, Tai & Henry   After we arrived in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana by train we were excited to finally arrive in Paladini. We were met by wonderful volunteers from Ireland, France, Italy, and Hungary. Our partner, Colm, his sons, and multiple fluffy friends made us all feel like a part of the community and family. We spent nights in tents and slept in some very… Read More

Written by Aiden & Naomi, Italy & Greece Semester Students  After sadly ending our stay in Florence, we made our way to Gambassi Terme to begin our Via Francigena Trek!! That afternoon we met Lauren, our guide for the trek, and prepared to begin our journey. Lauren guided us the beginning of the hike as we walked through the nearby town, noting all the via Francigena signs and painted pilgrims… Read More

Written by Laura and Jonah, Italy & Greece Semester Students  This week we finished up our stay at Panta Rei, and went to Florence. In Panta Rei, we helped give back to the community by picking up any trash around the property that we could find. We also made some challah for us and the community, which they loved. During our last day on Panta Rei we had quick Yoga… Read More

Written by Cat and Henry, Italy & Greece Semester Students  We spent this week at Centro Panta Rei. On Monday we embark by train towards Florence. We are all looking forward to being back in a city! We can’t wait to see and walk around the beautiful city of Florence and taste the world’s most recognized and flavorful wine. But we will wish a bittersweet goodbye to our beloved farm… Read More

Written by Tai & Naomi, Student Leaders of the Week  This last week we were staying outside of a beautiful town called Matera. We were staying on a working farm called La Masseria La Fiorita. The farm had everything from horses and cows to rabbits and chickens. When we arrived we met 2 volunteers and another woman who worked on the farm. They were from Austria, Tunisia, and Reunion Island… Read More

Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Educator, Ariana The Italy and Greece program is off to a great start! We landed in Rome and after a day of planes, trains, and automobiles we made it to Sora. Since arriving we’ve explored the countryside, done yoga, made pasta and gnocchi, and started our orientation activities. Our host Antonello has been amazing and the crew of volunteers here has warmly welcomed us… Read More

Written by Megan That’s all, folks! The Terra group has been back home for almost 2 weeks, adjusting back to the normal pace of daily life. Did we really just do all that we did? Whatever motivated each student to step on that plane on September 15th and fly to a foreign country with complete strangers, we applaud them! It takes courage to do what others aren’t doing- to walk… Read More

Written By Bella After our time at Re-green, we spent this final week directing ourselves around the Peloponnese region of Greece. Our first stop was Olympia, where we leaned about the ancient ruins, artifacts, the Olympics, and the Temple of Zeus followed by a race on the ancient track. We also had the opportunity to check out an amazing honey farm where we learned the process of bee boxes and… Read More