When I first heard about the dinner with the host family, I was nervous and a little skeptical about the experience. I wasn’t sure whether I would have fun, if it would be awkward or if would be really nice! When I met the family, I immediately felt at ease and realized how similar my family is to the host family that I spent time with. They invited us to their home and made us dinner. We drank wine, ate a wonderful dinner, and sat and talked about everything. It was such a relaxing and wonderful experience. I think it was really rewarding to spend time with an authentic Greek family!

The trip to Andros had been my favorite experience from the entire trip! The island was breathtaking, and the hotel, food, beach, and relaxing environment was perfect! We swam, tanned, hung out and walked around the village and neighborhoods! I wish we could have stayed longer, and not spent time visiting the water source and monastariki, because it was so exhausting. I completely recommend doing this trip to the island again!

The olive oil appreciation day was very interesting and a lot of fun! The cooking lesson was awesome and one of my favorite parts of the trip! The food was excellent, and I enjoyed learning about different uses or olive oil. The lecture was so sweet and the gentleman giving the presentation was interesting and so accommodating. The whole day was long but worth it!

On Friday we went to Athens city hall, a Greek cooking lesson, and to a presentation on olive oil. The Greek cooking lesson and presentation was very fun! We were able to learn from a great Greek chef and taste some fantastic Greek dishes! We learned a lot about the importance and uses of Greek olive oil, and also how to cook with it! The presentation was very interesting and fun as well! We went to this awesome hotel for the presentation, and met the CEO and founder of Gaea! He was extremely sweet and generous and very interesting. Below are some pictures of the cooking lesson and hotel!

Athanasia Dorrance