And here we go again! My colleague Albert William and I have returned to Greece for our fourth summer teaching abroad. This year we have nine excited students plus our TA in tow. Every year, I eagerly look forward to the time when we get to return to Paros and introduce more students to this magical place. As of yesterday all of our students have arrived. Last year, traveling to the island for several of our students was plagued with difficulties due to a ferry strike, missed connections and lost luggage. This year was much better for nearly everyone, but perhaps even worse for one particular student. Thankfully she was able to persevere, despite her 36+ hour sojourn including a missed connection, a cancelled flight, an expensive hotel and a delayed ferry. International travel can be so much fun. When it is your first time on a plane, I am sure it doesn’t make for the best first impression of world travel. Luckily, those pains quickly fade from memory when you are surrounded by such amazing sites.
Since Albert and I arrived on the island, we have busied ourselves with the usual tasks needed to prepare for our students and for the making of the films they will produce. This year we are trying something a little different. Instead of making documentaries about the archeological sites on the island, like we have done for the last three years, we are going to do one film about farming practices and one about a place called Paros Park. The first film will look at traditional and modern farmers and how their means and methods have persisted or evolved. The second film is going to overview an ecological park on the north end of the island. Paros Park is a peninsula across the bay from the town of Noussa. There is an recent effort to restore the flora, maintain and expand hiking trials, and make the park a destination with a focus on nature and the history of the peninsula.
We have also brought along a special camera this year that can scan and photograph spaces and create amazing 3D models of the environments. Look forward to some future postings that will include our 3D virtual tours of various places on the island. So far on the docket to scan are the Ancient Pottery Workshop (the subject of one of our videos last year), the island’s Archeological Museum, and the ceramic studio of Stelios, a local ceramic artist (who was interviewed in our pottery workshop video form last year.)
And with that I will sign off by saying I eagerly await another Mediterranean adventure where Albert and I get to spend quality time with amazing students as we produce exceptional media for the people of Paros.
Written by C. Thomas Lewis