By Thomas Lewis
I am very excited to be returning to Paros this year with my colleague, Albert William, and 11 students. After two summers of cancellations of our travels to Greece due to COVID, things are finally back for 2022. Hurray!
Albert and I got in a few days ago, and it is so good to be back. After taking in and processing the fact that the land under our feet was indeed Paros, we immediately set about our normal routine of getting everything situated, eating a gyro with fries at the Steakhouse, meeting with our collaborators, and trying to figure out what exactly we will be making this summer. You would think we would know that before we arrived. But the truth is there is only so much planning we can do from thousands of miles away. We just have to be here on the ground, meeting face-to-face with people, to get things sorted out. We have no shortage of great ideas this year, and I am excited about them all.
I have to say the island does not look any worse for wear due to COVID, and neither do the people we know here. Everything sort of feels just as we left it three years ago. As with every year, there are some new businesses and some that have a closed-up shops. But in general, things seem pretty good. One exciting change for this year is that our classroom is in a new space. Our usual classroom, the Archeological Institute, is currently being used by the city. During the weeks prior to our departure, we were scrambling to find a new place. Shortly before we left, we finally secured the Apothiki Art House. Its location in the heart of the Kastro could not be more ideal. The space itself is much larger and has very high ceilings. It really is a very pleasant space to have as our new home base.
At this point, the students have all arrived, and they seem to have fully recovered from their jet lag. We held our first class in our new space on Friday, during which time we assigned the various projects and worked out our technical workflow. So, here we go. We are all set to start filming on Monday!