AIFS Abroad in Athens, Greece: Semester

I spent 5 weeks in Athens, Greece with AIFS and it was one of the best experiences of my life. They took care of finding me housing and scheduling my flight. With these stressors being removed I was able to focus on having fun. When I got to Athens, I was greeted along with other AIFS travelers and they took us to campus. No hassle trying to find a taxi, rather I got to start socializing with other students. I created memories and friends that will last me a lifetime!

I loved spending a semester in Greece! The onsite person, Alice, is wonderful! She is very kind and helpful if you find yourself in any tricky situations! I really enjoyed my classes and found them all to not be too challenging or too easy. All of the school/AIFS arranged excursions were pretty well planned out and there was a wide variety of sites/experiences! I didn't have to go to the doctor at all but from others experience's, it was very easy and simple. Getting around was pretty easy too, we would walk to the metro and then stay on one line to get to downtown Athens, there are also buses to and from the airport and around town that are easy to figure out. The only bad thing was the apartment, there are six different buildings that you can live in and the one I was put in were suites where 12 girls all shared a kitchen/living space which was very small for the number of people. The rooms were also pretty small too when you had to share. And we had to pay for our own laundry which was 3 euros to wash and 2 euros for twenty minutes in the dryer. I met my closest friends from being roommates but 12 people is just a lot to all live together. Overall, it was a great experience that I'm so glad I participated in!

Living with seven other girls in one apartment was a scary thought but honestly the best situation. Did a great job matching up compatible roommates. We were given such great opportunities to travel on weekends (with the program around Greece and to other countries on our own). The professors wanted us to learn but also wanted us to have enough time to travel and experience Greece. I loved the opportunities to meet other students (both Greek and American) and living so close to the school. Everyone in Agia Paraskevi was so welcoming and kind. Overall, definitely my favorite college semester.