Greek Culture
Care about strangers
Since being in Greece, I have realized that the people around me are very open and kind to me. Whether it be in a random shop or on the ski slopes, the strangers around me have been very sociable and caring. For example, in one of the olive wood shops in Athens, the store owner, Stella, talked to Brooke, Erica, and I for about a half hour and just asked us about our time here, what we were learning, and our lives back in the states. She even gave us her card and told us to come back and talk to her again. Another example I have seen was at the ski center in Kalavryta. I was going down the very long run when I had a pretty bad fall. None of my group saw me because they were all ahead of me. A random snowboarder who barely spoke English stopped next to me and helped me get my things together. Then, he followed me all the way down the slope just in case I fell again. I even saw him a little while later and he asked if I was still okay! I just thought this was such a nice gesture from a total stranger. I know that people at Harding are very open and caring but in the general population, people only make irrelevant small-talk and carry on their way. This has been a nice change.