Study Abroad in Greece: College Year in Athens
So I wanted to do a review of my study abroad program with CYA, College Year in Athens, through which I was able to travel to Greece over the summer. This is made with the intent to help all those considering doing their junior year abroad in Greece or anywhere in general! But also, I wanted to make outreach accessible for all those who need it and highlight this program that I’m beyond smitten with.
*Note: all the photos below are taken by me except for the one of us mounted on the horses.
As a person with serious wanderlust, I knew that study abroad was something I needed to make happen for myself, and honestly, I’ve been trying to leave the country since junior year of high school so, this has been a long journey for me. And as a First Year in college, I was extremely nervous about what I was embarking on but newsflash, you are more ready than you give yourself credit for. Study abroad allows for several beautiful things to happen: you are forced to rely on yourself in ways you just haven’t before, and in having to do so, you begin to grow into your own individuality more. Second, evolution is part of the process. Leaving a country that is not one’s own and having to embrace an entirely different culture gives you the gift of perspective. You change as you are exposed to things contrary to that you are used to and all of it is amazing.
One point I want to get across is that everyone can and should experience some sort of global study during their college career. You can make it happen for yourself with the help and resources I’ll describe later. The way I found out about CYA was at a study abroad fair organized at my home institution. I went in knowing a few locations that I was curious to explore: Greece, Scandinavia, and Latin America but I ultimately chose CYA because it offered something that hit a little closer to home. As an English major, I wanted to take a course(s) that complimented my major and CYA had a travel writing course that upon discovering it, lit up an engine inside me (I should also mention I’m doing a Creative Writing concentration at my home institution, which is why this was such a natural fit). Also, what did it for me was that the travel writing course was structured so that we would be staying in 3 different areas of Greece for various lengths of time. This included Athens, Nafplio ( a gorgeous cityscape that used to be Greece’s capital), and the island of Poros. What this enabled was for me to get the most out of Greece that I could, and I got to see more of it’s physical landscapes and areas outside the cities. I was eternally grateful for this aspect of the class because I got to soak in as much of the country as I could. Side note: they also offer some other AMAZING courses like a Philosophy & Film seminar, Excavating in the Aegean, Anthropology of Food, Political Economy, Greek Architecture and more. Seriously, check them out
Now onto the actual program experience itself, I can’t help but gush about it because my time in Greece, which was my first time traveling outside the U.S. on my own, was an absolute miracle after miracle. In all honesty, I have to say that I was really fortunate that the administration and staff at CYA genuinely cared about our well-being, safety, and whether we thought they were doing their job or not. This is probably in part of the fact that Greeks are famous for their hospitality but it makes all the difference when you have professors who are excited to bring you into their space and staff that protect/ care for you all while having smiles on their faces. It’s rare that you come across a group of people who are that welcoming and real, it was really refreshing. Furthermore, CYA just felt small and homey, it’s a tight-knit community.
As for the professors, they were an absolute delight. They were really accommodating to the fact that for many of us, it was our first times away from home and we were all eager to explore. They actually encouraged us to get out into our local community, immerse ourselves with our neighborhood of Pangrati in Athens, talk to residents and small business owners. For my course, on the island of Poros, we had to interview locals about their identities and have honest conversations about life. One homework assignment required us to write detailed descriptions of observations of people and landscapes as we passed them by. While the workload and readings were sometimes challenging, I think it was better that way because I wasn’t there on vacation, I wanted to learn as much as I could and internalize as much of Greece as possible. But you really do have to find a balance because sometimes you will prioritize the experience over the schoolwork at the expense of your academics and it is hard. However, my instructor made up for this.
I was lucky that my professor was a Greek woman herself. It made for a fascinating classes because it’s interesting to see Greece from the lens of a native, who is slightly separated from the glorified and sensationalized version of the country they know. She was a brilliant woman. She could speak Japanese, French, Italian, German and I think knew a bit of Arabic. Not only that, she was witty and sassy in the best way possible and truly valued our insight. The in-class structure really matched my learning style. I prefer discussions/ seminars over lectures which allowed to be more actively engaged. There were many excursions, writing workshops, and class dinners covered by the program.
Overall, I am more than satisfied with my experience as student with College Year in Athens. I probably sound like a paid sponsor but I swear I’m not! I just really see a genuine, caring group of folks at CYA and want to share that with others. Shifting gears, I want to touch on finances, budgeting, and demographics. I am a Latin American, female student of color coming from a working class background living under the roof of a single mother. I participated at CYA because of the generous scholarships from my home institution. Without that, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. My wish is for everyone to know that if money is an issue, there are resources for you to utilize to make global study a reality. This means you have to be proactive, get in touch with advisers, teachers, the study abroad office at your school. I scheduled meeting upon meeting so that I knew what my options were because this was important to me. It will likely be the case that your home institution can sponsor you for your program of choice and provide you funds. I applied for and received funding from my college that I used to pay CYA’s cost of tuition ($2990, and believe it or not, that’s one of the cheapest cost of pay for programs like these) and food. I survived 4 weeks in Greece on just 500 euros which is not a whole lot but with that, I was able to eat 2-3 meals a day, purchase souvenirs, an island getaway trips with my friends to Hydra and Aegina island, go horseback riding, pay for transportation, entry into museums/ opera, and still have enough for daily trips to get gelato. It’s all about budgeting. Additionally, CYA gives an early bird discount if you complete their application early in the pool. I told myself I wasn’t going to spend more than 10-12 euros a day and that served me well. I did not feel restricted or that I was losing out. People get caught up on feeling like they have to pay for the most lavish things or pay for the most expensive day-trips but money does not guarantee you the experience. Learn to stay idle in your new backyard. Discover the ins-and-outs of your nearby neighborhood and then branch out but don’t over-do it. I wasn’t going to visit all the Greek islands or all of Greece in a month. You can’t reduce a country down to that length of time. I would need years for that so get to know the places near you and be content with that.
Finally, demographics. I was one of two persons of color in my class at CYA of about 15. The rest of Greece reflected these kinds of numbers as well. Greece is a surprisingly very white country. Myself and my black classmate were the only POC in most spaces and my classmate did note that she got stares from people, mainly children (although I should note that staring is a social norm in Greece). That being said, everywhere we went, we were treated hospitably and with kindness, but people were just curious and mainly harmless. This may scare some people but it just goes to show the gap between affluent whites who occupy many spaces in global study programs like CYA and this will be the case in most places. This is not to discourage you but to encourage you not to be afraid to take up space. Pioneer your way to success and adventure. We have to shrink the gap of colored kids who are unable make it into programs like these, which is why I’m happily promoting CYA because I know that they will do right by anyone and tend to your needs.
That’s about it! I really do hope that maybe someone got the boost that they needed to really consider study abroad and maybe convinced to apply to CYA if you want to go to Greece because they’re great! I’ll leave a few links below if you are interested and need a place to start.
CYA website: www.cyathens.org
CYA Contact: Email:[email protected]
CYA Blog: cyablog.net
And if you want to get in touch with me with any questions you may have, feel free to email or message me: [email protected]
Hope this helped! Best wishes!
