Day 8: Double Friday!
Friday, August 1st
Happy Friday everyone! It’s a special day for us on the GSA Greece August program as we are doubling up today! That’s right, we decided to make things even more fun for our students by spending a few days with another one of our programs, the Double Credit program. Their staff and students joined us at our hotel today and we are excited to share the next 3 days with them. Stay tuned for more details!
In the meantime, today’s blog is brought to you by Liam in Ms. Amelio’s class. Enjoy!
Travel Blog
I woke up abruptly to a loud knocking on my door, at first unsure if it was part of my dream. I looked around my room to see that my friends had also woken up. It was about 7:45 a.m., and the knocking was our friend getting us to come down to the Dolphin Bay resort restaurant in Syros for breakfast. I was super hungry and helped myself to a good mix of food for my first meal of the day.
After breakfast, my friends and I went back to our room to get ready for our school day. I showered and grabbed my laptop, course workbook, and the book that we’re currently reading, The Tempest. We went down to the pool bar area at 8:45 a.m. to start our school day, where we discussed the themes and characters of The Tempest, specifically in acts IV and V. At 10:00, we had the option to take a 15-minute break for a dip in the pool or ocean. After that, we kept working until lunchtime. Before lunch, we got our revenge on a group of girls who had pranked our friend by taping a funny picture of them to their door.
We then went out for lunch to a nearby restaurant, Estiatorio Iliovasilema. I got the best chicken souvlaki I have ever had from there, along with some great tzatziki and fries. It was perfectly cooked, seasoned, juicy, and well-priced.
After lunch, we all checked in with Ms. Amelio to get clear on what to work on, then went back to working independently on our assignments. I watched the movie adaptation of The Tempest to further my understanding of the plot and characters, but I didn’t like it very much. Some parts of the production and editing just didn’t seem to hold up.
I interviewed Simon, who’s taking the photography course. He had a pretty similar structured day to mine.
“Today, we were just taking pics, editing, and going for dips in the pool on breaks to cool off. We had a pretty chill day, but I’m excited to hopefully go into town later.”
My friends and I continued to work until around 4:00 pm, when we checked in again with Ms. Amelio, then went for a quick swim in the ocean. The water was super warm, and I swallowed a bunch of saltwater while wrestling with Charlie. The saltwater dries me out and burns like nothing else, especially up my nose and eyes—a big difference from the neighboring resort pool.
We then met up with some of our other friends on the program and went to a market across from the resort to grab some water and snacks. We relaxed and showered until 7:15 pm, which is when we went down to the resort restaurant for announcements, then went upstairs to grab dinner. I had pasta and salad from the buffet, which was great.
After dinner, at around 8:30 p.m., we got ready to go into town and met up with more of our friends. While waiting for the others, I stepped outside onto our balcony and really took in the view. It felt like the perfect temperature, as by then I had adjusted to the extreme heat under the Greek sun. The cicadas were singing, the sun was shining, and the trees were swaying with the wind. I felt refreshed and excited to keep exploring life in Greece.
At about 9:30 p.m., we took the bus to get into town. It was insane how the driver was navigating the massive coach on tiny roads with crazy sharp turns winding all the way down the mountains.
Once we got into town, we walked around a bunch. We met some local boys around our age and younger who showed us around Hermopolis, and we got to know them. Most lived in Syros, but a couple were from Athens. Only a few of them spoke English. One of their dads has a business in B.C., which was cool. It was really interesting seeing how different they seemed compared to boys their age in North America. They seemed much more mature but also adventurous, and it was a great feeling connecting with people with a completely different lifestyle and culture.
At midnight, we were picked up by a pre-booked taxi to make it back to the resort for our 12:30 a.m. curfew. Our driver was much safer and was very nice, just like the rest of the island locals. His name was Alexander the Great. After signing in, we went up to our rooms and went straight to bed after a long day of working, eating great food, swimming, and having fun.
A big takeaway so far on this program, especially today, has been learning more about myself, what I like, and how I enjoy living. I learned I can adapt well to my surroundings—whether it’s wildly different temperatures, fast-paced switching between activities, or new social situations.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog, which will cover our first true weekend day in Greece. Who knows what that will entail!
