EC EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SUMMER PROGRAMS: On the Border

Thursday, June 27, 2019

On the Border

As Professor Vamvakas said being in Cyprus was truly a surreal experience. I have always heard stories, and seen pictures but to actually be there was something different entirely. Just 25 feet from where we were staying was this concrete bunker like structure, a razor wire fence, and a Greek and Cypriot flag joined together on one flag pole. Crossing the border into the buffer zone was an experience that I am thankful that I was able to have. We look at division in the form of Democrats and Republicans in the United States, but barbed wire fences and armed guard are not what separates them. This experience was also very personal for me. My grandfather was part of the Greek military element that was sent to fight the Turkish military. I took a rock from a buffer zone that I plan on bringing to him. This was a once in a lifetime experience and I am glad I was able to experience it and gain a new perspective on the issue.

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EC Eastern Security Studies Program

In the summer of 2011, as the "Arab Spring" was unfolding and the "Eurozone Crisis" was entering its second year, the Emmanuel College Eastern Mediterranean Security Studies Program was established in Crete, as a way to make the location the classroom. Beyond the grand theoretical, historical and political understanding that can be achieved through reading and classroom discussion and exchange, a more immediate, intimate and truer appreciation of the complexities can only achieved by experiencing the cultures, languages of personal interaction.

Since 2012 students have been able to combine an intensive curricular study, with the experience of immersion and living in a local setting. The geopolitical and geoeconomic forces that have acted in the region for centuries, can be identified in the classroom, but they can only be understood by being there. This year's EC EMSS Program will add a fourth week of study, experience and exploration and will also travel to the islands of Rhodes, and Cyprus. In Rhodes we will be partnering with the Prefecture of Southern Aegean and the Aegean University, while in Cyprus we will be hosted by the University of Nicosia.