Though it’s still too early to be in reflection mode with all the travel I have left for the summer, I’m confident I will always look back on this trip as an influential one on multiple levels. Meeting the people involved with my time at Prodromos monastery has motivated me to study more of art history as a supplement to my design education. They have pushed me to make the most of my time here and at school just by proving the intelligence one can gain, and the intellectual conversations we’ve had.
Professionally, I now fully understand that my studies will one day pay off. There are issues around the world that will require good planning, preservation, and design to function, but also remain as historical monuments as a celebration of history and culture. Nikos has introduced me to many of these opportunities that have broadened my interest after the Athens trip and classes last year.
Finally, the monastery and its nuns have provided me with a greatly positive mindset moving forward and has allowed me to realize how stressed I become over really minuscule things. Taking the time to reflect, and conversing with the nuns has humbled me greatly. School consuming my life makes feel like there is no time to spend on personal reflection and prayer. However, the monastic life is based off of prayer and they do so as naturally as their heart beats. Being such a close part of a part of a community and lifestyle that is completely unlike mine will hopefully make me conscious of feeling overworked in the future.
In the evening, its Greek tradition (and specifically in the monastery) to spend time conversing in the evenings as a stress reliever before bed. We stayed up until almost 2 am with the nuns talking together in a circle about everything from Orthodoxy to Minnesota. I sat right next to the Abbess who spent a lot of time talking to me about life (through translation of course). She is incredibly wise and seems to have an answer to all problems; the most prominent of which is giving glory to God and humbling one’s self. One of the nuns in the monastery, who is the Abbess’s godmother and aunt, is in her late 80’s and has Alzheimer’s… She doesn’t know anyone’s name, including her own, or where she is but can recite the liturgy word for word and recognizes her sisters. To the people she would consider complete strangers, she is so courteous that she will give up her seat for you to sit down and stand up to show respect when you leave. The Abbess was saying that these are traits that she has always had… This got me thinking, what would I resort to if I had the same case of Alzheimer’s? Better yet, what defines me as a person?
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