As part of my day, my appreciation for our tour guide Dimitri has grown exponentially. I want to say that my favorite part of the day today was hearing how much knowledge he has on absolutely everything. He has been to over 100 countries and can speak 7 languages. After growing up in a small village in the suburbs of Athens to being educated in history and traveling the world, he has touched many lives, including mine. His knowledge and passion is allowing our group to learn more than just the history of Athens. He is providing an immersive experience, providing the why between each historical event and topic. He has connected his experiences to my own culture in many ways and realizing this has given me the opportunity to rethink my viewpoint on traveling. One memorable experience that I will never forget is visiting the Greek Orthodox Church. I am Hindu, but I appreciate learning and experiencing other cultures and religions. At the church, along with learning the standard practices and procession of a church service from our tour guide Dimitri, he provided a small donation to the church. With this donation, he lit a candle and created a list of names to be blessed by the priest in the next service. With that, he requested some names of important people in our lives that have passed. I gave the name of my dear late grandmother. She would have been thrilled to hear about my Athens experiences and the beauty of the Greek Orthodox church we visited. The cherry on top is that it is mother’s day, and this is a small gift that is being given to her. I am sharing this experience to emphasize Dimitri’s dedication to his tour groups and how excited he is to share his culture. One day, I want to see enough of the world to appreciate it with a global lens and no bias, just like him. His passion for exploration and history has made him an open-minded person, able to look at and analyze situations in every light possible. I strive to apply this thinking to the way I face problems in engineering, life, ethics, relationships, and experiences.
