https://news.smus.ca/2016/07/13/smus-goes-greek/
Thursday 21 July 2016
Thursday 7 July 2016
Another Successful Grade 8 Greece Adventure!
Our second twelve day trip to the Peloponnese region of Greece ended late yesterday after a long trip home via Toronto. The trip was indeed a huge success, stretching students out of their comfort zone at times, which was exactly one of the main trip outcomes. Through it all, the touring group experienced a wide array of activities: cultural, linguistic, physical, and in some of the students' words, it was a transformative experience. This year, we followed a similar itinerary to last year's inaugural trip, but also tweaked it a bit and tried some new adventures such as spending a night on the beach, in the open air, experiencing this beautiful and fascinating part of the world. The students' entries in this blog tell the real story of the breadth and depth of their trip and I congratulate all of them in taking on some new challenges, supporting one another, and being fabulous ambassadors of our school and country. We were helped immensely by our Kyparissia families on the ground - the Woodgates, Yannis, and other members of the local community. SMUS teachers Riley McQueen, the main trip organizer. Brady Doland, and I got to know the students better and I suspect the reverse is also true! Together with the Vincents who once again made a return trip to Kyparissia, our students were truly immersed in many facets of this region's rich geographical beauty, history, and its warm and friendly people. It also sounds like we had an impact too, based on an email from Yannis, the NOKY triathlon coach for the local club who not only guided us on a few excursions (the Neda River activity was incredible) but who also hosted our group at his house one day for a fantastic evening of Greek food, Greek music, and Greek culture:
Dear friends,
Dear friends,
Here are some of my favorite memories of our time in Kyparissia:Lots of thanks for your coming to Kyparissia, and giving us, once again, the pleasure of having you as guests and co-athletes in our town. We really spent a very good time together and we already miss you all! Everything we experienced together got a special importance and we hope and believe that you will come again to add new friendly and cooperative input to our pleasant memories. (Yannis)
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| Apollo's Temple |
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| Amphitheatre near Neda River |
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| Dancing at Yannis' to live Greek Music |
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| Dinner at hotel in Kyparissia |
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| Dinner at hotel in Kyparissia |
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| At NOKY pool in front of mural painted last year |
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| Just hanging out at the beach - the Ionian Sea |
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| Learning about the loggerhead sea turtles - Here's a protected nest |
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| Eating dinner the night of the beach 'sleepover' |
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| Swimming at the 50 meter NOKY pool |
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| "Hands Up" at the amphitheatre |
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| Hilltop castle ruins at Pylos - spectacular view! |
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| Out for an afternoon stroll on the castle walls at Pylos |
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| Stadium at Ancient Messini |
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| Top of Pylos |
What an unbelievable experience. Greece has over exceeded our expectations from its legendary history, culture, beautiful landscapes and exhilarating activities we all had the time of our lives! Memories have been imprinted and Greece/Canada relationships and connections have been born.
The Woodgate family and the inspiring Yanni, the greek triathlon coach were amazing hosts and welcomed us with open arms as they shared their amazing laid back town of Kyparissia. Our students were wide eyed everyday as they were sharer the rich history of Olympia, Messini, Tholos Tombs, Pylos Bay, and the Acropolis and entertained physically walking down miles of beach searching for nesting sea turtles, exploring River Neda, swimming in the Olympic Noky Pool, hiking up to old town Kyparissia, participating in the NOKY Triathlon, scaling the top war torn ancient walls of Naverino castle, playing in the waves of the Ionian sea, Dancing and playing ice-breaker games with the Greek community, and navigating through the murky waters of the gorge stalagmites.
Our students exceeded our expectations as they were faced with uncomfortable weather and challenges but resulted in beaming pride that radiated from their smiling faces. I cannot believe how fast the trip flew by but wrapped up perfectly with our trip to Athens where we learned and visited the Acropolis and later were spoiled by the Vincent family staying the night at the lavish Hilton Hotel.
Below are my top favorite pictures of the trip!
The Woodgate family and the inspiring Yanni, the greek triathlon coach were amazing hosts and welcomed us with open arms as they shared their amazing laid back town of Kyparissia. Our students were wide eyed everyday as they were sharer the rich history of Olympia, Messini, Tholos Tombs, Pylos Bay, and the Acropolis and entertained physically walking down miles of beach searching for nesting sea turtles, exploring River Neda, swimming in the Olympic Noky Pool, hiking up to old town Kyparissia, participating in the NOKY Triathlon, scaling the top war torn ancient walls of Naverino castle, playing in the waves of the Ionian sea, Dancing and playing ice-breaker games with the Greek community, and navigating through the murky waters of the gorge stalagmites.
Our students exceeded our expectations as they were faced with uncomfortable weather and challenges but resulted in beaming pride that radiated from their smiling faces. I cannot believe how fast the trip flew by but wrapped up perfectly with our trip to Athens where we learned and visited the Acropolis and later were spoiled by the Vincent family staying the night at the lavish Hilton Hotel.
Below are my top favorite pictures of the trip!
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| Am workout - Skimble time! |
Wednesday 6 July 2016
SMUS grade 8s "Greek it up" after spending 10 days in the Peloponnese!
Well 12 days have flown by and words cannot express the incredible time we have had. The Grade 8s have exceeded expectations on all accounts whether they were trekking through Zues' birth place; River Neda, exploring ancient ruins and running in the first olympic stadium in Olympia, performing in an amphitheatre in Ancient Messini or travelling back in time to Ancient Athens to explore the Acropolis, and learn about where democracy was born. They even tackled a sleepover on the beach and participated in sea turtle conservation. Their words capture the trip in each post and comment they made. I encourage you to read their posts.
The town of Kyparissia loves the group of Canadians that visit each year. This group has made an especially significant impact, many relationships with locals were formed and will hopefully continue. We will keep working with the Archelon group to help with the loggerhead turtle conservation efforts, as Kyparissia is the second largest breeding ground in Europe for this endangered species, (the status has been moved to threatened because of this groups efforts). Our connection with NOKY, the local triathlon club provides a great opportunity for the students to build global relationships and be exposed to the three sport event, (the word is of Greek origin, tries (three) and athlos (sport).
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| River Neda Walk |
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| Start line at Olympia! |
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| Abby and Paris tapped into their construction creativeness and built bamboo beds! |
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| Apparently the sand is more comfortable than the mats! |
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| waking up to the sunrise on the beach is the best alarm clock ever. |
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| The mural the school painted last year at the NOKY pool. The pool has now been up and running for two years thanks to the initial efforts of the Vincent family and carried on by SMUS. |
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| NOKY & SMUS post triathlon. The top 3 from each category were recognized and we all received medals from Yannis. |
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| The medalists. |
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| The start of the 500m swim. |
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| Our last night at the Kanellakis hotel. Marianna was with us every evening providing us with delicious meals to refuel for our next adventure. |
The chaperone team, consisting of myself, Mr. Abrioux and Mr. Doland, made this trip run seamlessly and I could not imagine this trip without them! The Vincent's, for the second year have been an invaluable addition to the trip. It was neat to see the bonds begin to form, as they are going to officially be SMUS students this fall. The locals, Yannis and the Woodgate's provided the local experience for the group, which made the trip a once in a lifetime opportunity.
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| Methoni castle - in front of the Bourtzi, (prision). |
Cheers to another successful trip with an amazing group of students. Already looking forward to next year! Check out the photo albums below for further insight into the trip.
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