Alrighty, so I am going to take this time to elaborate a little what the school system is like here. This conversation took place in the gym in between basketball games and gives a small idea of how school is viewed here:
Greek kid: So how do you think classes are so far here?
Peter: (in an attempt to not sound like a know-it-all snob) Oh you know, it's not too bad. It's just really different from back home.
GK: Really? That's funny. How many classes are you taking here?
Peter: I'm required to take five while I'm abroad and I take five when I am in the U.S. too.
GK: (in an astonished voice) You take...five...clasess? Wow, that is alot. I am taking three and I feel like I have so much to do. I only took two last semester.
Peter: THAT'S BECAUSE NOBODY WORKS HARD HERE ON SCHOOL AND NONE OF YOU SEEM TO CARE AT ALL.
Okay, so that last line never actually happened, but it was what I was thinking in my head. School is simply not a priority to most here. Paying attention in class is overrated and taking notes is going far beyond what should be required for a student. Granted, there are exceptions to the rule, but seriously, people here just don't seem to care much. And I understand that English is their second language so of course I have a leg up on the competition, so spare me the "you're being too hard on them Peter" argument.
Here's just another little example of how classes and work are generally treated. In my Media Ethics class, there are about 15-20 kids. She assigned us a paper on an article we read and said "It can be as long as you need to get your thoughts out on paper. It is due a week from today." Okay, simple enough, right? I cranked out 2 1/2 pages of fairly decent work figuring that should be adequate for the teacher's expectations. On the day it was due, six kids showed up. Barely 1/3 of the class, on the day a paper is due? Would not happen in the U.S. Nobody wrote more than a page...with the heading double spaced. Oh boy. I hate to say it, but these kids would get chewed up and spit out the back end of a U.S. college faster than they could ever imagine.
Now don't accuse me of being culturally insensitive. I understand that to them and their entire culture, competiton and school is just not the same as it is back home. And that's cool, because it means that I am getting plenty of relaxation time. But I will admit that it is a tad bit frustrating when you have been at school for over a month and you've put in approximately five hours of work outside of class...and you're still two weeks ahead.
However, as I said, it has given me plenty of time to explore other facets of their society and culture since I am not bogged down in mounds of work. For instance, the thing to do here is to just go and sit in a coffee shop for a few hours and just chill with friends: play cards, backgammon, chain smoke endlessly (you ever seen that many cigarettes consumed at one time? Eh, not for me), etc. So I guess you just have to take the good with the bad. That's just the way it goes.
Expect another cultural difference post this week and on Saturday I will recap going to a Greek national team game on Friday night. That's right. Greece vs. Latvia in a qualification match for Euro 2012. Should be intense. And going with the sports theme, a truly wonderful person indirectly challenged me to continue with my sports writing and thanks to her, you can check back here every so often for my thoughts on the sporting world.
And once again, I write too much. Anyway, I hope that people found this somewhat informative of my time here and drop me a Facebook message or email or something because I would love to hear from some of you that I have yet to hear from. Αντίος.
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