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 their water source, conveniently named the source. As well as some weeding and walnut cracking. We enjoyed delicious food every day. Each meal we had was our new favorite meal. We enjoyed a pizza party our final night using their wood fire oven. They taught us all about the permaculture principles. We talked about how to apply them and incorporate them into a garden or community. We enjoyed their beautiful rooms with fireplaces and their gorgeous garden and koi pond. The last day, we performed a little drumming performance using patterns and skills from our previous circles.
What were the top highlights of the week?
🥖 I enjoyed the food so much. Every meal was so delicious featuring a soup everyday accompanied with vegetables and bread. With some Greek specialities like dolmades and spanakopita. The chef, Bijan’s, cooking reminded me so much of my mom’s cooking, which gave me a lot of comfort and warm feelings. We never went hungry and couldn’t help but go back for seconds every time. One of our students – who’s attending culinary school in the fall – got to be his sous chef one day!
🌱 I loved being able to work in their garden and contribute to their community. The garden is so lush and beautiful it was very pleasant to be in. We got to see how much work and preparation goes into a garden and producing vegetables. It made me appreciate my other mom, who works on our garden at home on top of her full time job. As well as my mom who uses all the produce in her cooking.
⛰️ During down time one afternoon, myself and another student went on a little walk to wander a bit. We stumbled on a view that was a 2-minute walk from the hangout. It was insanely gorgeous I couldn’t believe it. It overlooked a deep gorge with a river at the bottom. We were on a little edge covered in long green grass and wildflowers. We could see the whole upper valley covered in farms and trees. We were surrounded by mountains and protruding cliffs. It was there waiting the whole week but we had only found it the last afternoon.
What we’re looking forward to, going into next week:
This coming week is student directed travel!!! We are all so excited for this. We go to the island of Aegina right outside of Athens. A few of us are excited to take the ferry there and have the opportunity to spend some time on a boat. I am excited for some much-needed beach time. We also have a few activities planned for us. On Friday, we are hoping to do a little morning hike to some archeological museums and then a pretty view at a light house. Afterwards we head to the beach!
Then, after Aegina, we head to Athens for a few days before we depart on our journey home. I am looking forward to having the chance to really come together and see all the planning we did come to life. I am also excited to see how we each individually handle it. It will be nice to spend the last week all together, although it is bittersweet we are going to have the best time and really celebrate these two months we have spent together. We really have experienced it all from the mountains to the beach and the cities in-between. We have truly backpacked Italy and Greece and soaked up and made the most of the limited time we had in each place.
Gratitude of the week:
I really like this question for this week. Every day, our morning meetings at Re-Green included a circle where we spoke about what we were most grateful for the prior day. We all had varying responses and it was so nice to hear what every individual is grateful for. It’s a really nice practice to introduce gratitude into ur everyday life.
This week I am grateful for a lot of things. I am grateful that I get to wake up in new and beautiful places everyday, that I have the privilege to be so young and to have had the experiences that I have, I am grateful for the beautiful communities that have welcomed us with open arms these past few weeks, for the beautiful connections we have made along the way, I am grateful for the mountains and for the beaches, and overall I am grateful for this group we have formed.
There are so many things I am feeling grateful for especially because our trip is coming to an end. I could probably write a whole page of things. This trip has been incredible for all of us. Someone who I am eternally grateful for is Curry who found most of the communities we stayed at and helped start this trip when it first started running. She seriously did an amazing job. Each place has been so different and equally as special.
We have learned a vast amount of things individually and as a group. We have grown inside and out. Challenged ourselves past our comfort zones and learned we are each capable of much more than we ever thought. I am grateful for our beautiful trek for showing me that I am a fantastic walker and that if I wanted to hike the Appalachian trail that is something within my reach. I am grateful for our drumming classes for showing me I am decently good at music. I feel I just keep on learning more and more things about myself on this trip due to others perspectives. We are unable to see ourselves from others perspectives and a lot of the time don’t realize things about ourselves that others do. I am grateful for the perspectives of others for helping me see that I am more than I thought I was.
There are so many beautiful things to be grateful for on this trip but I think I will cap it here. I am so grateful for this trip. It has been so much more than what I expected and I can’t believe it’s almost over.
❤️ Until next time, Spring 2023 Italy & Greece Semester!
