I taught my documentary class Tuesday evening, and then taught the comparative class this morning. These are the three international students taking the Comparative Media class. From the left, Rita is from Portugal, Joanna is from Poland and Maja is from Austria. We are supposed to have another student from Greece, but she has showed up only once. I think she's a little intimidated to have class in English, even though Stelios told her she could take an exam in Greek. Stelios and I are doing a research project comparing Greek and US TV newscasts and the students are going to do the coding.

Today's highlight was a gathering of most of the Fulbrighters. We met at the Fulbright office and went around the table with introductions. The picture on the left shows the director, Artemis, speaking. Jessica (from Chicago) is a grad student doing genetic research at the Fleming Lab south of Athens. In the background, Nikos (who works most closely with us grantees) is taking the pictures.

It's quite an impressive group. We had faculty in oceanography and music and a theatre professional. The grad students were in genetics, anthropology and archeology. We even had a visiting Fulbright from Germany doing seminars this week on American studies.

Cort (Buffalo) is in music and Catherine (NY) is the theatre professional.

It was great to hear what all of them are doing. Our Fulbrights are all so different. After each one of us spoke, Artemis would add something that the speaker had not mentioned.

Speaking of Artemis, she had been in the US recently and was part of a program at the Woodrow Wilson Center on the impact of education and culture on US/Greece relations. You've heard me say it before, but I truly believe in what Fulbright does and think the sorts of bonds they create are critical to international relations.

Afterwards we walked to a local restaurant for lunch. Phillipou is a restaurant that has served traditional Greek food since 1923. The meal was very nice, but as usual it's the conversation that really enhances the meal. Meals are so much more than just eating. I regret that many times a meal is just nourishment. It's the special occasions that people gather around a table that make the food all the more special. I think it's why some people think their Thanksgiving meal is the best: the food may be mediocre - it's the company and the special feeling that make it unique.

We were joined at lunch by the head of the Greek Ministry of Education. In the U.S. his title would be Secretary but Artemis introduced him as Ambassador Economou (sp?). What a contrast from my 1995 Fulbright in Slovenia. At the time there was no Fulbright commission in SLO, so we were pretty much left to fend for ourselves. Here in Greece, the Fulbright Commission is a respected entity and as such, we Fulbrighters actually feel valued.

As we left the restaurant, some of the others familiar with the neighborhood pointed out the Wine Garage, a unique shop just up the block. Usually I'm more interested in what's in the bottle than the building, but this place was as unique as I've ever seen. We spent way too long in there talking with the woman in the shop to walk out with only one bottle of wine (I wonder if she expected us to buy more).

I offered to try to get us all together after the Easter break, even if it's just to go out for coffee. I think it's wrong to spend all your time with Americans, but comparing notes every few weeks can be useful. If somebody finds a spectacular coffee shop or bookstore or restaurant, I want to hear about it.

I'll close with this delivery truck Kim and I saw outside a grocery store. As loyal Ball State fans, we just couldn't resist taking a picture.