Honors Program

Westminster Honors Program in Athens

This travel course offers honors students the opportunity to earn 2 credits via a short-term, intensive travel course in May. It is designed to enrich student understanding following the first two honors program courses: HON 201: Ancient Greek Justice, and HON 202: Renaissance and Scientific Discovery.

Tentative Itinerary for May 2023:

15 days (16 nights) in Greece– 7 in Athens, and 8 as follows:

2 days in Argolis (Mycenae, Nafplio, Epidaurus)
2 days in Delphi
4 days on the island of Crete (Heraklion, Knossos, Hania, & Aptera)
Within Athens: Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Agora, Agora Museum, Benaki Museum, and National Archaeological Museum.
Anticipated cost is between $4000-$4500.
Trip cost and final itinerary (duration of stay) depend upon the number of students who sign-up.

Cost includes:

roundtrip international airfare from Pittsburgh to Athens
guided walking tour in central Athens
3 dinners, including one in Crete with live traditional music
all breakfasts
housing in Athens, Nafplio, Delphi, & Crete in double or triple rooms (if needed) with private bath
transport by private, air-conditioned bus on field trips
group bus transfers to and from the Athens airport
introductory class of modern Greek
travel from Athens to Crete by overnight ferry, with cabins
flight from Crete to Athens
entry to all sites and museums
expert guides and lectures on archaeological sites and in museums in Athens, Argolis, Delphi, & Crete
bi-lingual Athens Centre advisor to accompany group on field trips
Folder of materials for each participant upon arrival
24 hour bi-lingual emergency assistance from the Athens Centre
All taxes including VAT and hotel rooms

Testimonials

“One of my favorite things about being in Greece in general, but especially at the Acropolis, was being around so many people from all over the world, and hearing languages and accents that I could not recognize but knowing that everyone there was experiencing the same thing that we were…. This trip was even more special after two years of living in a pandemic, and the constant uncertainty we are all still living in. I am so thankful for the honors program and this trip. It was the best two weeks of my life, and I will never forget the experience.”

Elizabeth Walters, Sophomore CS Major

““This trip has opened my eyes to an entirely different world of possibilities that I didn’t even know existed.””

Ashley Madasz, Junior biology major

“Greece has changed my life forever. I now understand the beauty and significance of our world, and the duty we owe ourselves to learn, travel, and discover every square inch.”

Lauren Turturice, Senior biology major

“Our tour of the Acropolis was honestly surreal. It is one thing to read about Greek history and culture but seeing it and experiencing is completely something else. The Greeks made us feel welcome … and that feeling only grew as the trip continued. Although we were foreigners, we were treated like old friends.”

Bella Buettner, Sophomore Psychology and criminal justice studies double major

“From the moment we stepped off the plane into the Athens airport to the moment said goodbye, I felt right at home, even though I was actually thousands of miles away in a country where I didn’t even speak the language.”

Lindsey Oliver, Senior psychology and criminal justice studies double major

“Throughout the trip, I felt enlightened, excited, intrigued, but also extremely humbled, and I adopted a new view of what it means to visit a foreign country: not just seeing sites, but understanding the different lifestyle in which you have been placed.”

Jacob Steinbeck, Junior biology major

“Greece is an ideal study abroad site for our students, many of whom have never traveled outside of the U.S. The firsthand experience of its rich culture, vast history, and genuinely welcoming citizens deepens our on-campus learning considerably, inspiring our curiosities. It is not uncommon for students to come home from Greece asking, 'Where can I go next?'"

Kristianne Kalata, Associate Professor of English and Honors Program Director

"It's one thing to read Homer or Plato--something we should all do. But it's quite another to visit the sites that appear in their works, the Illiad and Odyssey, and the Republic. Nothing makes a lesson better learned or a memory more lasting than being on location. At Westminster, our Honors students get the best of both worlds and come out of the program not only well trained for whatever they choose to do next, but genuinely changed by the experience."

Russell Martin, Professor of History and Honors Program Faculty

Westminster’s trip itinerary is coordinated by our friends at the Athens Centre: http://athenscentre.gr