After months of behind-the-scenes preparations, packing lists, and maybe some pre-flight nerves, our whole group made it to Athens!

Our students fearlessly navigated an international flight on 4th of July weekend. After making it to our hotel, we quickly found ourselves dining in a 95-year-old, family-owned Greek taverna a stone’s throw away from our hotel.

Heading back to the hotel from lunch, we took a moment to decompress in our rooms after a busy and long day of traveling. After a moment to gather ourselves we headed to our hotel’s roof, which has an INCREDIBLE view of the Acropolis to learn more about our program and what we’ll be doing.

We finished the day with a beautiful walk through downtown Athens to the foot of the Acropolis where we had a delicious dinner. There was a duo playing beautiful traditional Greek music and even a folk dancing group that made the dinner really special. We walked home as the sun was setting and made it back to the hotel for an early night in after an incredibly long, but wonderful day.

Today, July 5th, we woke up bright and early to beat the heat and see the Parthenon and the Acropolis. It was astonishing to see such ancient structures right in front of us. Our guide Marianna was incredibly knowledgeable about the historic site, its history, and the archaeological efforts being made to continually preserve the site.

Overall, our first two days were so much fun and we feel really excited about this group of students and leaders. Looking forward to the next three weeks together!

Dimitri, Giulia, and Michael