Nora's Big Fat Greek Experience!

Studying Abroad at the American College of Greece

Hey everyone! My name is Nora Nicholl and I’m a senior at Dominican! Almost done, woo hoo! I’m double majoring in Political Science & International Studies, so after 3 years of wanting to study abroad, I finally took the plunge and decided to go ahead and do it the first semester of my senior year.

First of all, I’m so glad I did. I did miss the Bay & of course being in the Giants parade when they won the World Series, but I’m pretty sure the trip of a lifetime is a great excuse. At first I thought it’d be a bummer to miss half of my senior year with all of my friends, but living for 4 months in Athens, Greece, quickly helped me forget my worries.

Living in Athens was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I was studying at the American College of Greece, and as a school bigger than Dominican, I was one of only about 15 Americans in the entire student body; at first that sounded intimidating, but by the time the semester got moving, it meant I was immersed in Greek culture and had more Greek friends than I did American!

My favorite part of my semester is the way I fixed my schedule: I was still a full time student, but I made it so I had all 12 of my credits only on Tuesday & Thursday. This meant I had five days every week to take advantage of my time & explore the country of Greece: picking up groceries at the farmers market down the street on Mondays(speaking Greek to get my vegetables was a challenge), taking the metro to Monastiraki or the beach, keeping up with my workouts at the beautiful Olympic-sized pool, & even taking the ferry to whatever island strikes your fancy that week!

I made some of the best friends I’ve ever had & memories that will last a lifetime. Truthfully, I had to be dragged out of my apartment& to the Greek airport when it came time to go home for Christmas.. if my parents hadn’t missed me so much, I may have considered sabotaging my flight so I could stay in our Athens forever! Taking the plunge to move to another country for a few months was by far one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Anyone who’s considering study abroad, ask yourself, “Why not?” You probably won’t think of a good enough reason to stay in good ol’ safe America.