Participation

“Overall, the trip is extremely useful for someone in the liberal arts, such as history and art. For me, study abroad allowed me to gain valuable language skills I can use in the future as part of primary source reading in Greek.

I have a few tips that aren’t usually mentioned:

1. Take classes back-to-back. Taking classes far apart makes it difficult to do activities during week days.
2. Research cultural do’s and don’ts before traveling. I accidentally made the worst insult possible towards a girl trying to give me a flower. This is called the Mountza in Greece. She was very upset.
3. Learn essential phrases such as “no” (oh-hee in Greek) and yes (nay) as you may need these for essential travel before language education begins.
4. The American College of Greece is very hands-off and does not give much guidance. Everything from food to trash and transportation is the responsibility of the student.

I do have some class suggestions for any future students also. I highly recommend taking modern Greek, it improves the experience exponentially. Taking a history or arts course adds some background to many excursions you can go on, such as the Aigina island excursion.

I do recommend choosing AIFS as the intermediary for the study abroad, at least to Greece. ISA does not offer excursions to places outside Athens (I was roomed with ISA students).

I definitely enjoyed my experience in Greece and took me out of my comfort zone. It was an unforgettable experience that will have enhanced my career and studies.”

“Studying abroad was one of the best decisions I made during my undergraduate career at Tiffin University. Some of the most valuable skills employers are looking for can be developed by stepping out of your comfort zone. Studying abroad allowed me to try new foods and meet people at my university that I would not have met otherwise had I not taken a chance. Take, for instance, Critical thinking and problem-solving. A large majority of my time abroad was spent not knowing what or where we were even going. There would be moments where we would be lost, in a country where we seldom knew people. It was times like that where thinking on the fly came to play, as we used our resources and became friendly with the locals. In my career, there are many instances when I don’t have an immediate answer for a client or a colleague. These are great opportunities to utilize my resources, such as my boss or another colleague who can point me in the right direction.

One of the most important lessons I took away from my time traveling is that patience is vital. It was so easy to become frustrated at the parts of life that I wasn’t used to. For example, early on, going out to dinner was a very confusing process, as we didn’t quite realize how late Europeans like to have dinner. Most restaurants and shops close mid-day and re-open later in the evening. Instead of getting mad at the culture in instances like this, I had to learn to accept that this is just how they live and develop patience for the things I cannot change. Frustration in instances like these turned into learning experiences and opened up my mind. This is a very valuable skill that is transparent in the real world and the workplace. Some days in my workplace are incredible, and I can get many tasks on my to-do list accomplished with very few hiccups. Other days can get busy and chaotic, with many hiccups or delays in getting projects completed with my teams. It can be easy to get frustrated at the little things, like a system loading slow or a process improvement issue. Most opportunities are learning experiences, and I have learned that just about anything is possible with a bit of patience and a little grace.”