My love for Greece, where does it come from?

I was introduced to Greek when I was in secondary school and that’s when my love for Greece started.

A dynamic teacher

I had to choose between Latin and Greek, it was the same teacher for both, but for some reason Greek attracted me more. I learnt the alphabet, and loved it.

The teacher was strict, but passionate, dynamic and bubbly. At the time, I thought if I ever wanted to be a teacher, I’d love to be like her. My first trips to the Louvre and to the Chateau de Versailles were with her, and she made us see these places not with the eye of a simple visitor but like hunters for traces of the Greek heritage. She taught us to see this everywhere, in brands, in language etc. The above picture is the Victory of Samothrace, one of my favourites sculptures, currently displayed at the Louvre.

I carried on with Greek until the end of my secondary school (although with a different teacher because I changed schools, but funny enough I think that’s one of the things that saved me at my final exams).

A dream come true

My dream was to go to Greece, and come the Olympic games in Greece, I thought, perfect opportunity! but that’s the year I moved to the UK and as a student had very little money.

Fast forward a few years, I had finished my studies, started working in the Translation industry, met a few Greek speakers, picked up (very quickly) modern Greek, and in 2011, I finally did it. This was the trip of my life. I planned it to the minute, everything went perfect, I was on my own, but parts of it involved meeting friends all over the country, and going to certain historical sites was just me crying like a baby that I finally made it (yes, I love ruins!). In hindsight I believe some of the things I did were a bit careless but pff I loved every bit of it.

Fast forward a few years later, and I have met my now husband, we’ve done many trips together to Greece, and we even got engaged there. The last time I went was in 2017 and I haven’t been able to go back since (a few reasons including my grandmother passing, my second pregnancy, etc.).

I would dedicate this post to that teacher, and to my second son. I can’t wait to go back, and take a little bit of him with me on this trip.

Just to finish, I’ve always wondered why I have this connection to Greece. I secretly believe that have a Greek ancestor, through my Sicilian grand father (wink) hahahah

Thanks for reading this far, I loved sharing it and I believe it’s our personal experiences that make who we are.

Have you read about my colour journey yet? you can start here.