Today I landed in Rhodes, Greece where I am surrounded by not only the culture of Greece but Turkey and Italy as well. Although Rhodes is an island of Greece it was only recently and therefore has much influence from other cultures. When I first arrived in Rhodes the Greek influence was evident from the architecture, the houses especially represented what I had seen in Athens. There are also the typical landmarks such as slavaki places.
At lunch I choose an Italian pizza place and being in Athens has programed me to automatically try and use what little Greek I know. I was greatly surprised to find out that the owners were Italian and coincidently only spoke Italian. This surprised me because I was expecting Greek since I was on a Greek island. This showed how this island is a mix of cultures and languages, yet somehow all these different cultures are able to cohabit despite a language barrier.
When gazing out to the beautiful deep blue ocean I can see Turkey, it looks so close as if I could almost touch it. This gave me a whole new perspective on the aspect of being between. Geographically I am between Greece and Turkey, but I am also between all this different cultures on the island of Rhodes because I myself bring a whole new culture to the mix. This creates a whole new experience. In America everyone is diverse, it is not one homogenous group, whereas in Athens it is the complete opposite. In Rhodes I feel like it is combination of the mixed diverse population of America and the strictly Greek population in Athens. This opportunity will enlighten me on how these other cultures have influenced the Greek culture and how the Greek culture has influenced these other cultures as well.
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