EC EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SUMMER PROGRAMS: Samaria

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Samaria

Hiking through the Samaria gorge was breath taking. Being from Texas, especially the Dallas area, I have not been exposed to many geographical features like towering mountains. Even though I have an arthritic ankle that decided to swell up, the experience was exhilarating to say the least. What really struck me was the seasonality of water flow. When we were near the bottom of the gorge, there was a picturesque stream that is used as drinking water. During the winter months when rainfall is heavier, the gorge is impassable. When we walked through, it was barely a trickle of water. That may not be a shock to most, especially if you are from a mountainous region with decent precipitation. However, when I looked at the walls of the gorge and saw the high water mark, it really struck me as to how climate and weather effect a region, in this case drinking water. Hiking through with a group as big as we were, was an exercise in cooperation all in itself. When I started to slow due to my ankle, I was surprised by the actions of the group as a whole. I was assuming I would just sort of lag behind and allow everyone to carry on at their pace. However, people came to help carry my bag, find me a walking stick, and slow down to keep my pace. While we all are very different in many ways, the cohesiveness of the group was shown to me on our excursion through a pristine example of nature. The abandoned village that lays half way through the train really stuck out to me. With the absence of inhabitants, nature had begun to reclaim the structures. Floors had been replaced by grace, roofs disintegrated away, and all the metal fixings had eroded to almost nothing. Getting to the village and beach at the end of the 15 kilometer hike was the sweetest reward. Needless to say, I don’t think I will have many opportunities at excursions quit like that one. I will always remember the soaring hights of the surrounding mountains and the deep depths of the river bed, but most of all it was the people that really made this experience special.

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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.