“I wanted to immerse myself as much as possible in the cultures that I learned so much about in my past three years at Ohio State. Getting a physical layout of the land I have read about means so much to me. Also, seeing the impact the Ancient Greek culture has on the lands it once ruled has been an incredibly rewarding experience,” reflected Patrick Koeppen, a history and classics major who is currently abroad on the College Year in Athens program.
Koeppen is spending the semester at an American school located in Athens, Greece, taking a mix of history and classics courses, while also participating in bi-weekly excursions to destinations around Greece and Europe such as Thessaloniki, Crete and Rome.
“The ability to see, feel, smell and taste the culture that I study is exponentially more valuable than if I were to remain at Ohio State for all semesters. Getting a layout, a mental image of places like the Acropolis, the Agora and other sites is something I will never forget and will use in my further application processes towards post graduate education,” he said.
His major is mainly what led Koeppen abroad, but the experience has provided him an excellent opportunity to practice his language skills.
“Classics is a rather unknown discipline in the United States, but has been an integral part of the educational system and values that higher education seeks to promote. Latin and Ancient Greek are some of the least taken language courses at Ohio State, and while most see this as a disadvantage, classics students see it as an advantage. Getting a more interpersonal experience with the languages has been something I have discovered to be a massive learning experience while in Athens. Seeing how Greek has been altered, along with the remnants of Latin inscriptions and monuments strewn across the Mediterranean has been wonderful.”
The experience is something that Koeppen hopes will separate him from the pack when pursing postgraduate education and eventually a job, and he will take the lessons back to Columbus after the semester is over.
“Post graduate schools and employers in the history and classical fields want to see the initiative, and no better way was this possible than studying abroad,” said Koeppen. “They want to see my commitment to the discipline by going to the places classical education was founded upon.”