This will be my family's second semester to call Greece "home." After experiencing an entire spring semester in the position of being HUG's new directors, we admit that we've learned very much! We know that HUG has been formed and led by wonderful people, whose shoes continue to be quite big ones to fill. And we're proud to say that we're attempting to do so with our own twists thrown in! In addition to keeping traditions started by others, we've added some new ideas and activities and are ready to begin the summer semester with the excitement and energy that new students bring. We welcomed the new students at at the airport this week, and everyone is just about over his or her jet lag. It's a tough body adjustment, but there's so much to do, so we hit the ground running. We toured our campus town and headed right into the city of Athens for a walking tour the next day. The following was written by our guest for the semester:
Yesterday I overheard Kaila say, "I can't believe it's only been 2 days... we've already seen and done so much. I'm almost afraid to go to bed for fear that I'll miss something." After a day of classes, we went to Athens to kind of learn the way to get around on buses and trains. We saw the changing of the guard at the Greek version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier... we were introduced to our first gyro (yum) down in the Plaka shopping district... we saw some ruins of ancient Greece that just seem to pop up everywhere in this very interesting, very ancient, very traditional and yet oddly modern city... a place that, at least for the next 84 days, is just over that hill... and about 45 minutes by train. - written by Chuck Hicks, visiting faculty.
In the midst of attending classes in our classroom on campus, we are also experiencing our classes out and about in our town. We climbed HUG mountain and experienced nature, each other, and our Lord. We drove to the local market in the next town and experienced people - their foods, language, gestures, and smiles. We drove to the church that HUGers attend while here and experienced an international worship service with Albanians, Afghanis, Greeks, and Russians, and we'll never experience a Sunday again without thinking of our brothers and sisters across the planet who worship the same God right along with us in their own daily lives. We even threw in a ping-pong game of Around the World. We're not just studying from books at HUG and learning to live in a new place. We're living to learn - we're craving the experience of new knowledge and time among new cultures. This semester will be an eye-opening and life-changing time to remember for all of us.
Yesterday I overheard Kaila say, "I can't believe it's only been 2 days... we've already seen and done so much. I'm almost afraid to go to bed for fear that I'll miss something." After a day of classes, we went to Athens to kind of learn the way to get around on buses and trains. We saw the changing of the guard at the Greek version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier... we were introduced to our first gyro (yum) down in the Plaka shopping district... we saw some ruins of ancient Greece that just seem to pop up everywhere in this very interesting, very ancient, very traditional and yet oddly modern city... a place that, at least for the next 84 days, is just over that hill... and about 45 minutes by train. - written by Chuck Hicks, visiting faculty.
In the midst of attending classes in our classroom on campus, we are also experiencing our classes out and about in our town. We climbed HUG mountain and experienced nature, each other, and our Lord. We drove to the local market in the next town and experienced people - their foods, language, gestures, and smiles. We drove to the church that HUGers attend while here and experienced an international worship service with Albanians, Afghanis, Greeks, and Russians, and we'll never experience a Sunday again without thinking of our brothers and sisters across the planet who worship the same God right along with us in their own daily lives. We even threw in a ping-pong game of Around the World. We're not just studying from books at HUG and learning to live in a new place. We're living to learn - we're craving the experience of new knowledge and time among new cultures. This semester will be an eye-opening and life-changing time to remember for all of us.
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