Reset search
Greece 2023Greece 2023
SatelliteEdit route

Greece 2023

May 2023
Adventure is out there, and I found it in Greece Read more
  • 20footprints
  • 3countries
  • 11days
  • 105photos
  • 0videos
  • 33.4kkilometers
  • 33.2kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerGreece 2023
    Day 1

    Learning about myself as a leader (Q1)

    May 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Question 1: What are you hoping to learn about yourself as a leader on this trip?
    In the past I never really considered myself a leader. It wasn't until I got invested with Leadership at SC that I saw the ways in which I was a leader and could be a leader. I felt somewhat behind my fellow first year team members because I hadn't taken Intro to Leadership, but during second semester through the travel class and putting more into leadership I felt like I was catching up. I learned the big parts of leadership and started to understand better what it meant to be a servant leader partially due to the servant leaders around me. On this trip, I was hoping to learn more about how parts of life work like airports, metros, and other things I haven't experienced, but I also wanted to learn how to lead in unfamiliar situations. The reality is, I'm not going to be comfortable or experienced in every situation I'm dealt in life, but I can't let that stop me from being a leader. As someone with anxiety my tendency in these situations is to look to others to follow the lead, but I might be the person other people are looking to. My goal for the Greece trip was to develop my ability to think on my feet and lead in situations I'm not use to. I do think I learned more about this, perhaps not through doing but through observing. I didn't plan the trip, so I wasn't faced with situations like these, but Maddie, was. I learned a lot from watching how Maddie handled different situations and problem solved. One of the biggest being, that you can look to those around you for help and that leading, it's a team effort!Read more

  • TravelerGreece 2023
    Day 1

    Sleep when you can, where you can!

    May 9, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Traveling from Winfield to Athens took a crazy number of hours. To get to Greece we had a 6 hour bus ride, and 3 flights and coming home we had two flights (with a 10 hour layover imbetween) and another 6 hour bus ride. All the changing of time zones and running from place to place made sleep a sought after commodity. This trip definitely taught me to sleep when I can and where I can!Read more

  • TravelerGreece 2023
    Day 1

    Delirium Set In

    May 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    By the time we were about to board our flight to London, we'd all been awake for a long time. Some of us (myself included) became a little goofy in the Nashville airport.

  • TravelerGreece 2023
    Day 2

    Shenanigans with Marteen!

    May 10, 2023 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Martin and I hung out quite a bit towards the beginning of the trip. Honestly, we're besties. I'm so glad he got his passport figured out because the trip would have been very different without him!

  • TravelerGreece 2023
    Day 2

    Contextual Factor 1 (Q7)

    May 10, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    Question 7: Talk about one contextual factor in the Greece leadership system and what you learned while we were in Greece that helped you understand that factor more in depth

    One contextual factor we learned about was driving in Greece. While we didn't experience this directly, as none of us were behind the wheel, we did experience the craziness that the streets in Greece were. During the bus ride from the airport to the apartment in Athens I was sitting near the front so I could see out the windshield. It was crazy! People were driving like there were absolutely no traffic laws whatsoever. They weren't abiding by the traffic lights, or the lanes marked on the street. It was pretty scary. We also experienced the auto craziness when waiting for buses and crossing the streets. Also, the prevalence of motor bikes in Greece is very high. The way people drive these was just as dangerous. The would zig and zag in and out of traffic. Then, there was of course, Martin and Trey's accident. People drive with such lack of caution that coming around the corner Martin and Trey had to swerve out of the way to avoid being hit. Driving in Greece seems very scary to me, but I didn't grow up with it. It's similar to how someone from a very small town might find driving on Kellogg in Wichita to be frightening, but for me it's just part of every day life. To us, driving in Greece seems chaotic, dangerous, scary, etc. but for Greeks, it's just their everyday. That's what they are used to.Read more

  • TravelerGreece 2023
    Day 3

    New Experiences! (Q2)

    May 11, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Question 2: What about being in Greece area is a new experience for you?
    This entire trip was FULL of new experiences! The first and most obvious is being in another country, but also being in such an urban area. Yes, I am from Wichita, but Athens is a very different type of city. Everything is much closer together and it is more densely populated. Something new for me was walking everywhere and taking the bus. Before this trip I had never been on this type of public transportation. I've obviously been on school buses and charter buses but those are very different from the experience of hopping on and off different buses and being shoulder to shoulder with strangers. There is a bus system in Wichita, but I have always been driven everywhere. Another new experience for me was the metro. That isn't something we have in Wichita and I haven't traveled anywhere that does. Before this trip I had also never been to a beach or the ocean. This trip was also the first time I was ever on a boat. I also road on a four wheeler for the first time which was so much fun! This trip also gave me a lot of new food experiences! I tried lamb, cod, squid, and other things I never would've eaten otherwise. The lamb and cod were good, but I am not a fan of squid. Before going to Greece, I had also never been on a plane, but we weren't technically in Greece yet so I'm not sure if that one counts for this question.Read more

  • TravelerGreece 2023
    Day 3

    LWB Service Work (Q3)

    May 11, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Question 3: What about the service experience is different than the service we do on the team at home?
    The service work we do at home is what I would label as "physical." At home we do yardwork, paint houses, clean, pick up trash, etc. While we did do some physical labor, like Faith and Dalton painting the steps and whatever Martin and the other boys were doing upstairs, that wasn't the majority of what we did. Most of the work we did for LWB was what I would call "emotional" or "awareness" service work. We started by learning about Love Without Borders, it's origin, mission, and the people within it. After listening to Kayra we were given the opportunity to look at the art work and read about the artists who made it. Reading the biographies of the artists put into perspective problems in our world that we don't hear about enough and often don't think about in our little world of Winfield, Kansas. Throughout the trip there were people expressing that they didn't feel like they were doing anything to help. I think this is because the results of our work weren't necessarily immediate or tangible. For example, if we paint a house, we see a painted house when we're done. While learning about these issues and this organization didn't have immediate effects, it planted a seed. A seed that we can bring back with us and plant in other places to spread and grow Love Without Borders. Some of our work did have tangible results (the painting and flooring), but I also saw the effects of the emotional work we did. We sang, danced, and played with the refugee children. Throughout both days we did this I could see the joy on the kids' faces and the relief on their parents' faces. We gave the parents a safe place for their kids to play and safe place for them. They didn't have to constantly worry and be looking over their shoulder.Read more

  • TravelerGreece 2023
    Day 3

    Servant Leader In The Wild (Q5)

    May 11, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Question 5: Write about one Greek leader you have met on this trip: introduce him or her, describe the parts of the leadership system in relation to him or her, you might want to use the leadership system diagram to help you explain.

    Throughout this trip we encountered many different people that demonstrated aspects of being a servant leader, but the one that had the most impact on me was Kayra. Kayra is the founder of Love Without Borders, the NGO we volunteered with while in Greece. One of the reasons Kayra stood out to me was her incredible story of how Love Without Borders came to be. I am still in awe of her initiative. She saw a group of people that needed help and she found a way to provide them help. She is setting an amazing example of the quote "Be the change you wish to see in the world." She also is so humble in everything she does. I am so inspired by Kayra and moved by the stories of the artists. I think bringing LWB to Southwestern in some facet would be an amazing thing. I think, if possible, it would be amazing to have Kayra come speak at Southwestern. What we learned from her I feel is so important. As young adults from small town Kansas we do not hear enough about the refugee crisis or ways we can help. At one point, while talking about starting LWB, Kayra said something about at the end of the day, everyone is a person. This is something that I have thought for a long time. We're all human. We all deserve safety, love, and to be treated with kindness. Kayra demonstrated this so well. I hope to take what I learned from Kayra and use it to bring awareness of LWB and the refugee crisis to Southwestern and Winfield.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English