After two long, long, quarters, it’s officially time to leave for my study aboard and I could not be more excited! For the next two months I get to explore Greece and Italy (plus a side trip to London after). I get to see ancient art, architecture, and so so much more. The food is going to be incredible and the people will be wonderful, it’s just going to be fantastic.

I’ve travelled all over the United States but I’ve never left the country before so prepping for this has been stressful and a doozy. If you’re thinking about doing a trip outside the US, do better than I did and plan wayyyy ahead because it just makes everything so much easier. Since my program is going to be moving all over Greece and walking more than 10 miles a day, I don’t want to bring too much but I’m not an experienced enough traveller to not take a full suitcase. I’m stuck in this limbo space right now where I feel like I have too much packed but also not nearly enough so that’s been a lot of fun.

I can’t wait to get immersed in the culture that takes part in Greece and Italy. We’re going to be visiting a lot of different architectural sites as well as many monasteries throughout Greece that still follow traditional Greek Orthodox traditions, like head scarfs and skirts that go to your ankles. I come from a fairly non religious family, though I was encouraged to believe whatever I wanted too. My grandfather was the only practicing Quaker in my family and helped to teach me the traditions of that culture. I also explored Christianity and Judaism to really see what beliefs I wanted to follow. I haven’t been able to experience too much Greek Orthodox belief systems so I’m really excited to get to see it actually IN Greece. My partner is grew up Greek Orthodox and when I told her we were visiting monasteries, she went through her closet and surprised me with her old head scarfs from when she wore them to church; it was so sweet.

Anyway, pictures to come of Greece! Yiásas! (goodbye in Greek)