EC EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SUMMER PROGRAMS: Local delights

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Local delights

The village bakery, the local packaging company, and the national Mills of Crete were great examples for us to look at how businesses in Crete work. Although small and limited to this region (or village of Alikianos), it was very interesting to see how they all successfully take advantage of the uniqueness of local resources. Products like olive oil, oranges, avocados, and carob make Crete a very resourceful place in the middle of the Mediterranean. As these local businesses try to break into the regional and international market, they face high competition and challenges from European bigger industries. Nevertheless, I found the great deal of innovation impressive. I wonder if being limited to the Cretan territory is an actual disadvantage; by treasuring everything here, Crete becomes more unique than rare.

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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.