Influences: Drs. Eleni Hasaki and Timothy F. Winters

Dr. Timothy Winters, myself and Dr. Eleni Hasaki on Crete
(Disregard the Mr. Happy shirt.)

Sometimes, people have a great impact on your life, and you don't really know it until much later. This is the case with the following two people: Dr. Timothy Winters (Austin Peay State University) and Dr. Eleni Hasaki (University of Arizona). I encountered them on my Fulbright-Hays grant to attend the summer session I at the ASCSA (American School of Classical Studies in Athens) during the summer of 2009. They graciously sacrificed their summers to take a group of people, some with limited knowledge of Classical subject matter, and some who already knew that was their destiny, and travel all over Greece.

They were very kind to me, considering my knowledge of Greek history was limited, to say the least. Besides the planning, which I am sure was difficult, they had to put up with 20 of us, all of different backgrounds and personalities. What I thoroughly enjoyed was that they assigned all of us 2 sites to report on: The two I was assigned: The stadium at Olympia and the Philopappos Monument in Athens.

I think this is part of (although I didn't know at the time) the reason I discovered I wanted to pursue this path. I really enjoyed (for the first time in a long time) doing research. It was a strange combination of hunting down information and discovering things I didn't know before. Although I enjoy teaching immensely, I also realized I really like sitting amongst books, piecing together information (ask me much later--I am sure my opinion may change on this matter).
 

Myself speaking at Olympia, (Hasaki and Winters @ right).  

 

The Monument of Philopappos, Athens

...Sometimes, I wish that I would have gotten the chance to know professors such as these, who are as passionate about they do... Maybe I did, and didn't realize it. I certainly didn't have any in my art history courses. It takes a special person, I think, in order to make art history interesting to the masses.

Anyway, a big thanks to these two... if you want to know more about what I did last summer:

Click here---> American School of Classical Studies-Athens: Summer Session I, 2009

Seriously, I hope I have more of these experiences...if I never do, I will be disappointed.