Written by Italy & Greece Students, Kyle Chang and Arianna Wilson
What’s New in Our Journey?
We have arrived on student-directed travel week! Since our last blog, we met as a group and decided on a location to travel to. Keeping the budget and all members of the group’s interests in mind, we settled on Aegina. Aegina had something for everyone- archaeological sites, hiking, beaches, scuba diving, and a small town to explore.
Top Three Highlights of the Week
The top three highlights of the week were scuba diving, biking to ancient ruins, and the mini Olympics we held at the beach. The scuba diving adventure was one of our favorites from the entire trip. To be able to see the earth from that perspective underwater in its rawest form was remarkable. Our day with e-bikes was another highlight. We biked across the island (around 30 km in total) to the Temple of Aphaia and the Church of St. Nectarios. Lastly, we had a mini Olympics, where we partnered off and competed in events ranging from three-legged races to a group volleyball game. It was difficult choosing just three highlights as it was a really great week on Aegina!
Challenges We’ve Faced (and Conquered!)
Contrary to other weeks where we had the location, accommodation, and parts of the itinerary planned out, we had to start from scratch this week. This posed a few challenges for us, like booking and planning our activities- especially keeping everyone in the group’s needs and interests in mind. This week the group was also challenged with adjusting from the fast-paced city of Athens to the slower island of Aegina. We were proud of the way the group overcame these challenges and grew from them.
Looking Ahead
Next week, the group is traveling to the mountains of Akrata, a town roughly two hours west of Athens. We are staying at Re-Green, an ecoculture center focused on sustainable living. We are excited to take this time to learn more about Green living and reflect on the past couple of months we have spent together.
