Experiencing Greece

When I was looking for study abroad programs, CYA caught my eye because it offers an archaeological drawing program. Being an art major and always having been strongly interested in classics, this class, which is incidentally taught by the top woman in the field, was amazing.
This class was just one of the great things about CYA though. The program is in a great central location in Pagrati, a nice compact neighborhood next to the Panathenaic stadium and walking distance from the Acropolis. This environment, the wonderful tight-knit staff and faculty who are all experts in their fields, and/or just warm, caring people, and the small number of students, makes CYA feel like a small community.
The staff and faculty I feel really wanted us to experience Greece like Greeks. I loved how they took us out to traditional tavernas for dinner and taught us about the traditional food and drink and ate it with us.
The academics had great chances to take very specialized classes in things like archaeology especially, as well as very interesting classes that focused on the current state of Greece as well as its historical origins. My favorite classes used the National Archaeological Museum and Acropolis museums everyday for class lectures. Cant overemphasize the value of first-hand viewing of art for an art history class.
We also went on several group trips around Greece, this was NOTHING like cheesy tourist packages or something, our amazing professors were often so well experienced in the area we were in that they would correct museum placards which were outdated and were overall very enjoyable, even the driving for hours because, Greece is drop-dead beautiful.
Just one more testament to how kind the staff is: I stayed in Greece over the summer with a volunteer program and when I was back in Athens heading home they amazingly let me in to use the laundry for my disgusting clothes and print my plane ticket. You really cannot go wrong with College Year in Athens. I would love to do it again!