EC EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SUMMER PROGRAMS: Crete Week I

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Crete Week I

As the First week is coming to a close, I want to highlight some of the best parts of the week, and some of the things I learned this week while exploring the island.

left to right (Emma, Professor Vamvakas, Stevie, Zoe)

This picture was taken at Professor Vamvakas's favorite beach in Crete.

One of our favorite things to do after the beach is taking walks around the village. We will normally pick oranges, apricots, avocados and blackberries along the way, and watch the sunset.

This picture was taken at the Eleftherios Venizelos Tombs in Chania. Eleftherios Venizelos was a very influential Greek politician in the early 1900s, and this monument was created to commemorate his accomplishments, and also offers amazing views of Chania. The airport in Athens was also named after Eleftherios Venizelos, and is the largest international airport in Greece.

This is a picture of a Greek Orthodox Church in Alikianos, Crete. We attended a memorial service to pay respects to over 40 Cretan men killed by German paratroopers during WWII.

This picture was taken in Chania, Crete. On the right you can see the lighthouse of Chania, which is a Venetian lighthouse built in the late 16th century to protect the harbor. The tower fell but was eventually rebuilt in the 1800s resembling a minaret during a time when Crete was ruled by Egyptians.

This picture was taken at the Allied War Cemetery, Souda Bay, Crete. Many of the tombs were of unknown soldiers from both WWI and WWII. Souda Bay is a US Naval Base that operates under the US Naval Support activity. The cemetery is very well kept and reminiscent of the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.

In the next few weeks I am looking forward to hiking through the Samaria Gorge, and traveling to Samos to work with the Archipelago Institute!

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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.