Study Abroad

The Program in Hellenic Studies at Columbia University encourages all its students to participate in a study abroad program in Greece either during the academic year for one or both semesters or by participating in one of the many summer programs in Greece. The following is a list of some of these programs. While not an exhaustive list, it does include many of the year-round and summer programs attended by Columbia students in previous years. Students should consult these sites before making further inquiries to Program faculty. Each year, the faculty arrange an informational meeting about summer programs in February.

Students are strongly advised to clear all issues of transfer credit with the Study Abroad services at Columbia before registering in a program in Greece..

• Aeolis Cultural Development Society of Lesvos Island


• American College of Thessaloniki


• Arcadia Center for Hellenic and Mediterranean Studies and Research


• Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, School of Modern Greek Language


• Athens Centre

• Brown University Greece & Turkey
  

• Capodistrian University of Athens, Summer School


• College Year in Athens


• Cornell University Summer Session


• Hellenic Culture Centre


• Hellenic Education & Research Center, Kythera


• Ikarian Centre
  
  
• Institute for Balkan Studies


• Learn Greek in Greece, Ikaria


• NYU in Athens

Omilo Greek Language & Culture

 

Queens College Summer Courses in Greece

Modern Greek Literature in Translation

Immigrats, Citizenship and Nationalism in Greece

 

University of California-San Diego




• University of Ioannina

Seasonal language courses are offered by the Institute of Balkan Studies -IMXA- in Thessaloniki.

 

Click here for general tips about studying abroad.

Scholarship

In the last several years, due to the generosity of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Institute for Balkan Studies, the Program has been able to grant one Columbia student a scholarship to attend the one-month course of summer study at the Institute for Balkan Studies, in Thessaloniki. The scholarship covers tuition, accommodation, and excursion costs. It does not cover the airfare to and from the United States. Ordinarily, the scholarship decision is taken by the Program faculty in March each year.

 

Spring Break Study Abroad Trip to Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (March 12-20, 2010)

Organized for first and second year language students by Program in coordination with ACT (American College of Thessaoniki) and Aristotle University with scholarships generously provided by the Lucy Foundation and the Greek American Homeowners Association.

 

Trip leader and leading faculty: Karen Van Dyck (Columbia University)

Onsite coordinators: Ariane Kotsis and Manolis Maou (American College of Thessaloniki), Yiorgos Kalogeras and Thanasis Kehagias (Aristotle University)

Students: Geovanna Carrasco, Julia Harris, Maryann Vlachou, Vickie Kassapidis, Olga Symeonoglou, Sappho Broumasian, Marissa Tjartjalis, Victoria Weaver, Jacob Moe

 

The aim of this week-long educational trip was to immerse Columbia students in the Greek language and culture continuing the work they had been doing in their first and second year language and culture classes; to familiarize them with the city of Thessaloniki and the diverse ethnic make-up of this geographical region at the borders of Europe; and to attend the international documentary film festival with its focus on film as a global medium. Activities included:

• • daily attendance at the documentary film festival (master classes, panels, discussions), free passes to films and meetings with directors and writers
  • participation in a class in student’s area of specialization at Aristotle University
  • three walking tours of Thessaloniki: Byzantine, Jewish, and Cinemas plus visits to related museums and monuments (Byzantine Museum, Rotunda, Kamara, Jewish Museum, Cinema Museum)
  • living in student dorms in the center of the city and exploring its cultural life, neighborhoods, waterfront and cafes
  • creating short digital journals that witness the crossing of borders linguistically, culturally, as well as between different media
  • pairing up with Greek students who will accompany them around the city and to the film festival where they will be collecting material for their digital projects
  

Itinerary:

1st day: Friday, March 12th, Leave JFK
2nd day: Saturday, March 13th Orientation on ACT campus; History of film festival (Arian Kotsis and Danae Mikeli); setting up digital journals (blogspots) and discussing final digital projects (Manolis Maou); photojournalism exhibit opening event in town; dinner in the old city
3rd day: Sunday, March 14th, buying breakfast in Greek and walk to film festival, seeing sites on the way (Rotunda, Kamara); film festival in morning; exploring the city and taking notes, photos, voice recordings, drawing and promotional materials that can be scanned for digital projects in afternoon; film festival in evening, dinner, journaling in blogspot, scanning in material collected during the day
4th day: Monday, March 15th, Classes with professors and students at Aristotle University (Alexandra Lianeri, Mihalis Chryssanthopoulos, Anteia Frantzi, Mary Mike); lunch with students and professors; more work on collecting material with university students; visit to Byzantine museum (Daphne Lambrou), film festival; Tour of Polytechneion at the University and evening seminar (Kehagias); dinner with Polytechnic students.
5th day: Tuesday, March 16th, attendance; digital journals; film festival, journaling in blogspot; tour of old cinemas in Thessaloniki and discussion of urban ruins (Toby Lee)
6th day: Wednesday, March 17th, film festival; collecting for digital projects and exploring the city; tour of Jewish Thessaloniki and visit to Jewish museum; film festival
7th day: Thursday, March 18th, film festival, lunch in Agora, hand in script for digital journal by 7pm, film festival in evening
8th day: Friday, March 19th, follow-up; create digital project out of blogspots and other material collected during their week (Manolis Maou); lunch and trigona from Panorama at ACT; free time and farewell dinner
9th day: Saturday, March 20th, Return to Newark

 

To view the videos produced by the students, please click on their names.

 

Spring Break Study Abroad Trip to Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (March 9-18, 2012)

The aim of this educational trip was for students to be immersed in the long history and rich present-day culture of the city of Thessaloniki. During this trip, students were familiarized with Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki- a diverse cultural crossroads of Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean - through participation in an intensive documentary production workshop.
Using video, still images, sound and text, students explored different aspects of the city’s complex history and cultural landscape, while being immersed in the Greek language and in the everyday life of a Greek city.
As part of this experience, students attended the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, one of the largest and most dynamic documentary film festivals in the region. Attending screenings, masterclasses, panels and discussions, students had the opportunity to meet filmmakers and reflect critically on different documentary practices. In turn, these experiences provided them
with a broader context in which to think about and produce their own documentary projects.
Students on the trip were responsible for producing short documentary media projects on specific aspects of their experience in Thessaloniki. As part of preparing for this final project, students were required to maintain a daily journal, consult regularly with the trip leader and participate in group meetings to discuss the final projects.

 

Please click here to view the student videos.