Athens, Greece
June 26 - August 7, 2010
Courses, Costs, & Dates | Photos | Facilities & Housing | Excursions | Directors & Faculty Contact Info | Info for Admitted Students | Apply
Application Deadline: March 15
About NYU in Athens
NYU Summer in Athens strives to provide students with a means of understanding Greek culture within the context of lived experience. Special emphasis is placed on visiting and exploring significant cultural and historical sites, not only in Athens but also in other parts of Greece. Field trips, cultural activities, and guest lectures constitute an integral component of the program; students are expected to attend and actively participate in all of them.
Academics
NYU Summer in Athens combines classroom study of the language, history, literature, politics, art, and culture of Greece with cultural activities and field trips to introduce students to all aspects of Greek life. Local artists, scholars, and politicians often give presentations and lectures in class. Approaching modern Hellenic society and culture from an interdisciplinary perspective, the program provides students with an appreciation of the history of modern Greek language and literature and an understanding of how the Greeks have borne their classical, Byzantine, and Ottoman historical and political experiences, even as they translate them into the modern era.
Facilities & Housing
Classes are held at the Al Andar Center, a three-story Bauhaus building conveniently located in the historical center of Athens. The center has several classrooms, study areas, a library, gallery space, screening rooms, patio, and recreation areas. The surrounding neighborhood is active, with many cafes, restaurants, cinemas, stores, and opportunities to enjoy one of the most vibrant cities in the world.
All students participating in the program are required to live in NYU-provided housing. Students stay in double rooms at the five-star Park Hotel, a modern, air-conditioned hotel situated a short distance from the Al Andar Center, where classes are held. The hotel's location, in a lively section of Athens, offers students the opportunity to enjoy a neighborhood rich in cultural diversions and leisure activities. Breakfast, linens, and a daily room cleaning service are provided. Hotel amenities include a roof garden with pool.
Excursions
The program's trips and excursions are under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture and are meant to encourage students to discover and experience modern Greece through the various lenses of its rich history. Activities may include walking tours of Athens, visits to monuments and museums, evening outings to dramatic and musical performances, and a half-day trip to Attica's beautiful coastline and Poseidon's temple at Cape Sounion. Weekend trips may include the royal tombs of Mycenae, the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, and the volcanic Cycladic island of Santorini. This year's program may also include a visit to the island of Crete, known not only for its historical and archaeological importance but also for its geophysical uniqueness and breathtaking beauty.
Former excursions have included the impressive medieval settlement of Mystras, the capital of Byzantine Greece, and the imposing Byzantine-Venetian fortified towns in mountainous Arcadia in the Peloponnese. There have also been visits to significant sites of modern Greek history, including Nafplion, the capital of the Greek state after the 1821 War of Independence and a city known for its beautiful examples of 19th-century neoclassical architecture, as well as the Polytechnic School of Athens, site of the 1973 student uprising against the dictatorship. All these sites offer the unique opportunity for long walks, hiking, and exploration.
Directors & Faculty
Liana Theodoratou
Director of NYU Summer in Athens, Ph.D. Pittsburgh. Clinical Professor; A.S. Onassis Program in Hellenic Studies, NYU.
Eduardo Cadava
Ph.D. UC Irvine. Professor; Department of English, Princeton University.
Dimitris Kargiotis
Ph.D., Princeton. Associate Professor; Department of Hellenic Studies, Université Marc Bloch (Strasbourg II).
Evgenia Sifaki
Ph.D. King’s College, London. Assistant Professor; Department of Literature, Hellenic Open University.
Paschalis Zafeiriadis
Ph.D., University of Thessaloniki. Lecturer; Department of Archaeology, University of Thessaloniki.