Some people go to camp in the summer; I walked the ruins of Greece.

In June 2008, I journeyed to Greece from my home town of Lowell, Mich., to photograph and experience the unforgettable along with 13 other students from Cornerstone University.

Our trip first took us to Athens, which has the population the size of Chicago. While there, we climbed Mars Hill, a small hill of marble rock. We also walked around the Temple of Heffices, explored the National Archaeological Museum and marveled at the size of the Acropolis. It is one thing to see ancient ruins in a book, but it is nothing compared to actually walking through them.

In Athens, I also experienced eating my first gyro, a common Greek food similar to a taco with chicken or pork, and vegetables topped with tzatziki sauce. Tzatziki is a cucumber and yogurt dipping sauce that Greeks put on their gyro.

One of the things I did not enjoy about Athens was the constant smell of cigarette smoke and car exhaust. It seemed like everyone was a chain smoker, smoking at all hours of the day and night.

After Athens, we loaded onto an overnight ferry that would take us to the island of Crete. On the island, we investigated an ancient palace called Knosis before traveling to our campsite. Little cafés a few minutes from our campsite dotted the coastline where one could enjoy a dinner under an umbrella and watch a sunset over the Mediterranean Sea.

Like the gyro, souvlaki, which is meat on a skewer stick, was another food our group became accustomed to. We also ate many Greek salads during our trip. The salads consisted of tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, feta cheese, Greek olives, oil and vinegar. But unlike most salads, without lettuce.

Our group then voyaged to another island called Santorini. The island is horseshoe shaped with many small towns on its cliffs. At its center is a volcano. Santorini was one of my favorite places in Greece because of the beauty of the white buildings and blue roofs. Typically when people think of Greek homes, they are thinking of Santorini.

On the island, I tried another Greek food called moussaka, a casserole like dish with potatoes, egg plant, mince meat, cheese and some other ingredients.

After returning to the mainland of Greece, we drove to Corinth and saw the original harbor where the Apostle Paul sailed into. We also had the opportunity to climb Acrocorinth, a mountain in Corinth, and walk the streets of ancient Corinth where Paul sold his tents. We also visited Epidaurus, where an amphitheater was built, and Olympia,
where the Olympic Games originated from.

Following many hours of driving in the mountains, we arrived at Delphi. By this time in our journey, our group was hiking in temperatures of 103 to 107 degrees. We investigated the sites of ancient Delphi then drove higher into the mountains to a monastery in Meteora to examine the lives of monks.

A few days later, we climbed Mount Olympus and drove through Philippi before traveling back to Athens’ airport. The culture in Greece is different and yet similar to ours. One of the differences between cultures was that while our group journeyed through Greece, the women in our group were not allowed to make eye contact with Greek men for our own protection. In Greece, the men display a form of male chauvinism that comes across as less inhibited than that of men in Western cultures.

One of the similarities between the United States and Greece was that most Greek citizens dress very similarly to people in the United States. They also listen to American music and play it to please the tourists traveling through Greece. My experience in Greece was overall an educational and eye-opening adventure