When I told people that I was going to Greece with my fraternity I couldn’t even begin to imagine what they automatically thought we were going to be up to. Then though I explained that it wasn’t going to be a group of guys just running around causing trouble. We had mentors, a professor, and a plan. Hell, we even had assigned readings that were given to us months before we left, good old fashioned homework. Our trip wasn’t just a vacation it was a week and a half study abroad session.
Upon our arrival in Athens to say that we hit the ground running would be an understatement. Each day was action packed. Every morning we arose at 7 a.m. to be at breakfast and got ready for our group discussion at 8 a.m. These were led by Professor Ed McCann of the University of Southern California. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, all jumpstarted our brains for the days coming events. Philosophy was a large part of this trip and from the tactically picked readings we did I feel like I could almost minor in it.
After the morning discussion we visited the monuments and returned back to our hotel around 7:30 p.m. where we would have dinner and some free time to shower and relax. Next, around 9 p.m. we had our evening discussion. These were moderated by two scholars and one mentor. We discussed topics such as Olympian Ideals, Competition and Hubris, and Virtuous Living. Then we either rested up for the long day ahead or ventured out to enjoy the European nightlife.
Throughout the course of the expedition we must have experienced everything Greece has to offer. We strolled through the ancient Agora where Socrates taught over two thousand years ago. We swam in the Mediterranean beneath the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. We combed over the ruins of Eleusis, the birthplace of Greek ritual and an extremely large center of cult activity. At the Corinthian canal some of us went bungy jumping and later that day we scaled the AcroCorinth.
From atop the thousand foot fortress we sang the anthem and gazed as far as the eye could see at the beautiful valley below and the Ionic Gulf. We visited the theatre at Epidaurus and the birthplace of the Trojan War at Mycenae. We ran a footrace on the ancient track at Olympia, the site of the original Olympics. At lower Delphi we had a debate about religion and its place within SigEp. The next day we explored upper Delphi, the Temple of Apollo, theater, and stadium all carved out of the side of a mountain.
That night we performed our ritual and Brother Sam Madden experienced the Epsilon rite of passage overlooking the valley that held Delphi below. A quick stop off the road lead to a site that held much importance. It was Thermopylae, a site where three hundred Spartans knew they were going to die and virtuously defended a position anyways to ensure the future of the Greek civilization during the Peloponnesian Wars. On the last day we ascended the Acropolis of Athens and fixed our eyes on the pinnacle of Greek achievement, the Parthenon.
In Greece, the cradle of modern thought, each one of us shared unforgettable moments that will impact us for years to come.
-Joey Baird,
12 July 2005
