What attracted me to Harvard was the ability to travel with my studies; that is, the opportunity to continue my political science education from lecture halls to historically valuable parts of the world. Here’s my experience of spending my freshman summer getting to know all that Harvard has to offer, both in Cambridge and abroad.

Waves crashing gently against the wall of the port below the open turquoise window, a salty air blowing along with the wind into the classroom, the refreshing sensation of pleasurable warmth. “The early years of Ancient Chinese political order saw dramatic changes in its political composition, including socio-political perceptions of hierarchies…” What a way to spend my afternoons learning about political history of the interactions between the Eastern Mediterranean and Ancient China while the beach waited right outside the classroom door.

I spent my freshman summer at Harvard learning and living across the three remarkable Greek cities of Thessaloniki, Athens, and Nafplio as part of the Harvard Summer School Program. Only one of the various ways to spend your summer continuing to dive into areas of interest to you while exploring the world, making new friends, and learning alongside world-renown professors.

As part of the program, a group of 10 Harvard students and five students from both other Boston schools and Greek universities came together for five weeks of inspiring academic exploration, exciting ventures into Greek summer life, and a dive into souvlaki, horiatiki (Greek salad, a classic), and tzatziki – the cornerstones of local life. Throughout our five sensational weeks together in Greece, we built lasting friendships, created life-long memories, and of course expanded our understanding of the political and economic history of the Eastern Mediterranean area. One of my most fond memories from the summer program was our visit to the archeological site of Mycenae in the Mykines region near Nafplio, where we spent the day exploring the remnants of what once was the epicenter of Greek civilization in the Late Bronze Age. The most striking feature of it all was the Lion Gate, which is a monumental stone structure in the shape of a lion that sits majestically at the entrance to the ancient citadel. As our visit to Mycenae was only one of numerous visits to archeological and cultural heritage sites throughout the program, what I enjoyed most was the ability to see for myself the ruins of early Greek civilization as they stood, allowing my imagination to envision that ancient world. That is, all lectures and readings were complemented by in-person visits to the very sites that our wonderful professors were teaching us about!

While I knew that Harvard had an endless variety of courses on offer within the Government Department relating to regional political and economic history in various parts of the world, I wasn’t aware of the summer programs on offer until an upperclassmen friend of mine who had been on the trip first told me about it. Since I had lived in Greece for my middle school years, I yearned to return to my old home country, whose history I knew to be incredibly rich, diverse, and intermingled with regional geopolitical and cultural transformations. As a result, I was compelled to apply to and eventually attend the program in order to expand my understanding of how Greece’s geographical and cultural features have been foundational in the construction of the modern Greek state – all the while spending time with friends visiting the Acropolis, old town of Athens, or the sandy beaches of Nafplio right around the corner from the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies (CHS).

As you continue exploring all that Harvard has to offer, I encourage you to remember that Harvard is a place where people pursue both academic and extracurricular interests with passion and dedication, where learning and living would transcend the walls of lecture halls. Whether you find yourself in Sanders Theater or Sever Hall in Cambridge, or in the discussion rooms of the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies in Nafplio, Harvard is your home to challenge yourself to learn more about the world around you by immersing yourself in it fully.