Note: This course starts in Athens and ends on the Island of Poros.  Participants should plan to depart Athens the day after the end of the program.  Please see Essential Information below.

In her book of travel essays The Blind Masseuse: A Traveler’s Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia, Alden Jones describes the difference between the ‘tourist’ and the ‘traveler’. She writes: “While tourists spend their time away from home seeking out the comforts of home, travelers risk—even cultivate— discomfort, because what they want is the thrill of a new perspective.” Yet in doing so, the traveler journeys to achieve perspective on his or her own life as much as on the lives of others.

On this course, we will use the study and practice of creative non-fiction to introduce you to new ways of engaging with the world – both as writers and individuals. We will also explore various questions that arise when writing travel literature: How does one write about a foreign country without exoticizing or romanticizing the country and its people? In what ways do our expectations and our actual experiences of a place juxtapose, merge, or align? And how might an outsider’s perspective contribute to the representation of place in a variety of written forms, from the personal essay and destination article to scripts for walking tours and short travel documentaries?

Finally, by using Greece as a lens to examine the ways in which authors have drawn on the rich myth, history, and literary tradition of the place to investigate both its culture and themselves, students will hone their critical thinking and writing skills as well as learning how to productively immerse themselves in – and make meaning from – a culture that is not their own.

Read the “Travel Writing and Running on Poros Island” story on the CYA blog!

Course Details

Enrollment

This course requires a minimum enrollment of 10, with a maximum enrollment of 16.

Credit

60 contact hours

Essential Information

The course starts in Athens and ends on the island of Poros. Class will spend one week in Athens, 3 days in Nauplion, and the remainder of the time on the island of Poros. Transportation between Athens, Nauplion and Poros, as well as a ferry ticket for the return to Athens (port of Piraeus) are included in the course fee. At the end of the course participants should allow themselves time to return from Poros to Athens and should not plan to fly out of Greece earlier than Sunday, June 16.

Enrolled students will have access to detailed information prior to departure that will include directions to the Academic Center and other practical information about the course. CYA recommends the following websites for general information about Athens and Greece: http://www.athensguide.com/ and http://www.greektravel.com/.  For information on the island of Poros: http://www.greektravel.com/greekislands/poros/

IMPORTANT NOTE: This course involves extensive travel.  Be wary of overpacking.  Pack only what you can carry comfortably, because you will be required to check- in and out of accommodations for each stay/travel segment of this course. It will also be useful to bring with you travel-size cosmetics.

Housing

While in Athens, students are housed within walking distance of the CYA Academic Center in either CYA student apartments located in the Pangrati neighborhood of central Athens or in hotel accommodations arranged by CYA. CYA apartments are simply furnished and equipped with a full kitchen and air-conditioned bedrooms; towels, linens and housekeeping service will be provided. Hotel accommodations will be in simple 2- or 3-star hotels, double- or triple-occupancy, with air-conditioned rooms.

Facilities

The CYA Academic Center is located next to the Athens Marble Stadium and houses classrooms, the library, the student lounge and cafeteria, computer facilities (including wireless access for those students who choose to bring laptop computers), laundry facilities, and administrative offices. The Academic Center is accessible Monday-Thursday 9:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Meals

When class is in Athens a full mid-day meal will be served weekdays in the CYA cafeteria between the hours of 12:00-3:00 p.m. On Poros, a mid-day meal will be served at the hotel or a local taverna Monday to Friday. A welcome and a farewell dinner are also included in the course fee. During study travel, breakfast will be offered at the Hotels.

Day-to-day Program & Itinerary

The day-to-day program and itinerary of the course are subject to change. Students are advised not to make plans for their free time or weekends in advance, as class schedules and site visits may be re-scheduled depending on local conditions.

Read the “Travel Writing and Running on Poros Island” story on the CYA blog!