Third-year student Emily Jackson holds the Schaus fellowship at the Canadian Institute in Greece (CIG) this term and reports on her first month in Athens.
The last two weeks of September have been a roller coaster of adjustments in the most positive way possible. I feel as if I have been living in Athens for over a month already with the amount of people I have met, jobs I have started, places and sites I have visited, and plans I have for the upcoming weeks. However, my time here has only just begun, and I can only reflect on positive experiences thus far.
Work within the Canadian Institute in Greece (CIG)
Within the Institute, I work alongside another intern (Hilary) from McGill University and occasionally the CIG fellow (Justin) from the University of British Columbia. Within the first two days, Dr. Jonathan Tomlinson (Assistant Director at CIG) and Justin gave us a crash course on how to catalogue the Institute’s library and begin the very long process that is archiving. Both tasks are fairly simple and only require some organizational skill and a good attention span; however, both jobs are so large it can be difficult to notice progress after a single day’s work and that can be disheartening. I have found the task more rewarding when the progress is reflected upon at the end of the week, rather than daily. I also find myself more motivated to continue working knowing I am making some sort of impact.
During my first week at the institute, the sole job for both of us interns was to catalogue new books into our library. Despite the short stacks of new books, this process took us all week. From the stack of monographs, we had to find the correct Library of Congress number, so as to follow our working library system, and ensure that our numbers aligned with the American School’s cataloguing system. Having taken most of the week to complete, we also had to double check a few of our results for specific books the following week. This small task took many hours longer than I had expected.
In the middle of my first week, Dr. Gerry Schaus [Professor Emeritus at Wilfred Laurier University] paid a visit to the CIG to drop off an enormous mound of papers, including correspondence and other things (I just haven’t finished looking through it all). Archiving is a slow, tedious process that has taught me a lot about patience and the importance of being thorough. Doing something correct the first time is a lot better than having to revisit mountains of papers all over again some other day. From collating these papers I have learned a lot about how much effort goes into keeping a small but important organization on its feet for decades. I rather enjoy sorting through the archives and learning about this place; in a way, I find it a lot like reading a history textbook.
Experiences outside of CIG
Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I only work between four to seven hours a day because I have so much free time to explore the city and other parts of the country. So far, in my two short weeks, I have visited (in Athens) the Cycladic museum, the Acropolis, and a night of classical music at the American Institute. On the weekends, since arriving, I have taken a day trip to Lake Vouliagmeni and had an overnight stay in Delphi. Greece has proven to be more than I had expected; Athens alone makes me never want to come back home.
My two favourite experiences outside of CIG have to have been the Acropolis and Delphi. The Acropolis is larger than life, and it is easy to see how such a space was associated with greater beings. It is definitely one thing to learn about the art, architecture and purpose of a place but another to experience the place itself. I found the same goes for Delphi. While standing next to a column at the temple of Apollo, I suddenly felt so small and insignificant. When thinking about the site I understand why both Delphi and the Athenian Acropolis would have felt so spiritual to ancient visitors; they were made to feel bigger than you, more important than you, and the architecture is a sure way of accomplishing that.
What was strange about Delphi was the abandoned part of the site. The gymnasium was inaccessible, having been closed off with a padlock and chains at both entrances, but the temple of Athena Pronaia remained open. I suppose that means I will just have to go back, visit another time and hope that area is open then.
Lake Vouliagmeni was a hidden gem an hour outside Athens — hidden from my knowledge anyway. The lake itself was refreshing, moderately warm and did not require travel by ferry — so it was an easy yes when Hilary suggested we go. I figured it would be a popular tourist site and there would be few Greeks there, but to my surprise, we tourists made up only a handful of the crowd. It seems that a lot of Greek families spend their time tanning by the water and having the little fish peck at their toes as a spa treatment. Personally, I did not enjoy the fish, although the swimming was nice.
These first weeks have been so eventful and exciting it is hard to believe this experience has only just begun. My upcoming weekdays will be filled with other institute lectures and events, Tuesday dart nights at the Red Lion Pub (a CIG tradition), and further exploration into museums and historical Athens. My weekends will involve much more travelling around Greece to see other famous sites and feats of nature. For now, this has been the best September.
