Some of you know already, but for those who aren’t aware, Christina and I are in our first week of leading our first study abroad program: Bucknell/Penn State in Athens! Christina is the official faculty-in-residence leader of the trip, but as her partner and the instructor of one course this term, I am obviously helping her with the formal and informal duties and obligations related to shepherding ten undergraduates on an 89-day adventure into Greeces both modern and ancient.
Christina is teaching two of her own political science courses related to Greek political development and democracy in theory and practice, while I will be teaching a course on the films of Yorgos Lanthimos and their often fraught relationship with Greek myth. Christina is also responsible for overseeing a Culture and Environment course that brings students (and us) into more direct contact with experts in the modern Greek context, including experts on wildfires, sea turtle conservation, various agricultural concerns, and more. In addition, all of the students take an archaeology course on ancient Greece, and they are given the option of enrolling in a modern Greek course, too.
The students are fantastic, animated, and engaged. We’re all getting over our jet lag, settling in to our surroundings, and finding our bearings around the Pangrati neighborhood of Athens near the Kalimarmaro Olympic stadium and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Christina and I have already twice returned for solid runs in the National Gardens next to the Parliament building, where we ran when came to Athens in December of 2023.
The program is facilitated partly through the Athens Centre, a local philanthropic organization that provides logistical support to academic programs of varying length and focus. There is a large classroom there where I found this wonderful framed poster from a film screening from decades past. It made me feel at home to be part of an organization that cares about sharing modern culture as much as it cares about introducing students to ancient civilization, as well.
One of the other extraordinary parts of this experience is that we chose to bring our elderly cat, Nibbler (she’s almost 18!), along with us on this adventure.
This was the first time Nibbler ever flew in an airplane, and she pretty much handled it like a pro. She was a bit cranky on the second leg of the journey from Frankfurt to Athens, but we all arrived in one piece. Now she is getting to know her new stomping grounds.
Meanwhile, our other adorable feline, Madeleine Albright (the tortie), is back at home in Lewisburg with our house sitters, one of whom comes with a cat of her own, the relatively kittenish Annata (gray and white). We get photographic evidence with some regularity that Madeleine Albright is warming nicely to her new housemate.
Good to know all three of you are getting comforttable with the change of location.