Exploring ancient ruins, sipping on frappés in world class cities such as Thessaloniki and Athens and learning about the history, culture and local cuisines of Greece are just some of the highlights students experience during the Summer Studies in Greece semester, organized by both McGill University and the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki.
This year will mark the sixth edition of the summer semester, which will take place from May 18, 2024 to June 15, 2024 in Thessaloniki. In order to participate in the Summer Semester in Greece, students need to meet eligibility criteria and enroll in the 3-credit course, HIST 262: European and Mediterranean Interconnections, which features a series of seminars, lectures, excursions and field trips over a 4-week period.
Professor Tassos Anastassiadis, Associate Professor of History & Phrixos B. Papachristidis Chair in Modern Greek Studies, founded the program with one of his colleagues from Artistotle University, Professor Antoniou. Working together on a project on memoryscapes, the ‘visualization’ of various layers of memory within a city, Anastassiadis and Antoniou realized that their respective cities, Montreal and Thessaloniki, shared many common features as cities with a multicultural past and present, having to navigate the complex mechanics of cultural and memory heritage management. The Summer Studies in Greece semester grew from this research collaboration.
Exploring culture in and outside of the classroom
“When students enroll in HIST 262, they are expected to achieve several learning objectives,” says Michaela Michalopulos, program administrator of the program. “These include identifying key historical elements of the Eastern Mediterranean and Greece, including the various imperial legacies in the region and understanding the effects of both forced and voluntary human movements throughout history and the major challenges that a Mediterranean-Greek port city faces in the 21st century.”
Students also learn how to recognize key aesthetic elements of the civilisations that have flourished in the Eastern Mediterranean. The course includes lectures at various museums, museum visits and walking tours.
“Students will have the chance to explore how classical ideas have been transformed and interpreted in modern times,” says Michaela. “They learn to critically evaluate the social impact of Museums and Antiquities, as well as aesthetic norms, academic debates, and tourism and how these elements influence society and contribute to our understanding of history and culture.”
The course’s uniqueness is perfectly encapsulated in the memorable experience of learning and vacationing in Greece.
“[The student’s] classroom is the museum, the tunnels, the people, the culture, the food,” says Michaela. “Students have so many learning opportunities, it cannot be boiled down to one. They have the ability to walk the grounds, and even when they are not with the class and simply getting a a Frappé, they are still learning. We can all read and watch videos, but living the history, seeing the ports and the sites is what extends students beyond the dimensions of a classroom.”
“During the program, I went with my classmates to Roman sites, Byzantine churches, Macedonian tombs, and Ottoman mosques,” says Mia Engelmann, an Honours History student at McGill. “We learned and saw that Thessaloniki is a city with visible layers of history; it was incredible to see the ancient and medieval in constant interplay with the modern- this was not something I had experienced living in North American cities.”
Food, Field Trips and Fun!
A typical day for students will usually include a walk to a museum or site in which Dr. Anastassiadis will give a lesson on that particular week’s theme. Between traditional lectures in museums, students are given free time to explore the city and its archeological sites and museums, as well as enjoy local cuisines. In fact, the culinary experiences presented to students during the trip is part of the learning process.
“We gather for lunch daily where we have traditional food, which is still very much the learning process, where we learn the history, the various cultural influences and get to know the restaurant owners,” says Michaela.
“Professor Anastassiadis and Michaela carefully planned daily lunches or dinners that would offer us a taste of traditional Greek cuisine, depending on the region that we were in,” says says Julien Higgins, a U2 in Honours History. “Through this we were introduced to dishes that I now have come to love such as Bouyiourdi, a baked feta and tomato dish that I regularly make at home, and a traditional Balkans Big bean dish. These meal experiences gave me confidence to explore Greek cuisine beyond what is commonly known, like the Greek salad and Gyros, when we went to restaurants by ourselves.”
Like Julien, Mia also discovered some local flavours that she now counts among her favourite dishes. “I think my favourite dish out of all the amazing ones we tried was the sesame-coated, honey-drizzled back feta we had in several restaurants,” she says. “We had it in a few different parts of the country during our tour, and it was always fascinating to see regional differences in the way the baked feta and other dishes are prepared.”
Students are given the opportunity to experience first-hand the history and culture they have familiarised themselves with through their lectures and readings.
“I learned about the applied side of the discipline of history during this field course,” says Mia. “We engaged in mock debates, arguing for which ancient site should be preserved with limited resources, and this experiential learning reinforced lessons I had learned in classrooms about archival practices and the limits we face in trying to preserve records of the past”
“Lectures were really engaging, and I really appreciated that we had both on-site and in-class lecture sessions,” says Julien. “These were complemented by amazing lunches or dinners filled with great conversations. Professor Anastassiadis helped open my eyes to ideas and theories in history that I had not really thought about before this class. The way he structured the class gave us the opportunity to experience so much in only 4 weeks' time.”
The course also includes an 8-day archeological field trip, a popular highlight for most students taking part in the course. Students pile on to a coach bus and go to various regions and sites. These include, but are not limited to, Delphi, Athens, Corinth, Nemea, Nauplie, Epidaurus, Mycenae, Argos, Mystra, Sparta, Kalamata, Methoni, Pylos, Olympia, Nafpaktos, Ioannina, Metsovo, and Kalamata.
“With a guided journey that covered much of Greece, we were immersed in all the unique and interesting sites that Greece has to offer, beyond the hyper touristic elements for which the country is known,” says Julien. “We left Thessaloniki and travelled south along the Eastern coast of Greece into Thessaly to the cliff top monasteries in Meteora. We continued to ancient sites such as Delphi, the Acropolis, Eleusis, and Epidaurus. Among the many ancient sites, we also visited the Byzantine sites of Mystras and famous landmarks in Ottoman history. The tour offered us an in-depth experience of what we had learned during the first two weeks of the course. It was a very enriching personal learning experience for me.”
Mia echoes Julien’s sentiments and adds, “I loved our hikes up to the stunning monasteries at Meteora, to the upper city of Thessaloniki, and through the ancient site of Olympia.”
Interested in taking part in the 2024 Summer Studies in Greece? Applications are due by February 25th, 2024. Any questions concerning applications and eligibility should be directed to summer.greece [at] mcgill.ca
Information sessions will be held on the following dates:
- Wednesday, January 17, 4:00PM to 5:00PM, Leacock 721
- Thursday, February 1, 4:00PM to 5:00PM, Leacock 638
Financial aid programs are available for students:
- Schull Yang International Experience Awards for Field Studies and Summer Studies due March 24, 2024
- In-Course Financial Aid
More information on the upcoming summer semester, consult the McGill Summer Semester in Greece website.