"I began to see how that history still influences contemporary Athens, not only in its museums but in its daily life and street culture."
When I told people I was applying to the Columbia Summer Global Core in Athens program, everyone said, “Don’t go to Athens, it’s not a hot girl summer destination,” and to think I almost believed them. While the point of a study abroad experience is not necessarily to have a vacation, any opportunity to snap a good picture is appreciated. I didn’t give it much thought and just submitted my application.
When I first arrived, I wasn’t sure what to expect, even though I had just spent the previous semester studying pre-Roman art and architecture, which is so deeply influenced by Greek art. However, my time in Athens went beyond simply looking at the monuments of the classical past. I began to see how that history still influences contemporary Athens, not only in its museums but in its daily life and street culture.
One of my favorite discoveries was finding a certain image scattered across the city of Athens that I began calling the “angel eyes.” To many, they might look like simple graffiti, but for me they carried the essence of Athens. They represented resistance to a past that no longer defines the city and pointed out how much I didn’t know but was excited to discover about contemporary Athens. Much like those images scattered across the walls, we explored how modern architecture clashed with classical remains, climbed temples perched on mountains, swam in the Mediterranean Sea, walked through the ruins of the Parthenon, and even attended the opera. And of course food, food, and more food!
All in all, I am happy I didn’t get a “hot girl summer.” Instead, I gained something richer: the chance to see Athens not as a tourist, but as someone who, even briefly, belonged.
