Harding professor, Jill Davis, leads a bible study for college girls every week. This past spring she presented the idea of going to Greece as a group. Davis planned out a ten day trip to Greece, which included a three-night cruise to the Greek Islands and other various locations. They visited places such as Athens, Ephesus, Corinth and Turkey. Davis extended the invite to the students’ mothers,as well as some Harding graduates. A total of 23 women went on the trip. Senior Lael Seats was one of the Harding students who went on the trip.
“I think it was just crazy to see the Bible in real life because we got to go to the Bema, which is where Paul was on trial,” Seats said. “So it was just interesting to see like this is where this actually occurred in real time, whereas, before that all you have is your own vision of the bible but then you get to put it together in real life.”
Another student on this trip was senior Adele Duncan. She had studied abroad in Florence, Italy during her sophomore year, but never had the opportunity to visit Greece. The group stayed at the Harding owned building called the Artemis.
“The magic within the walls at the Artemis was just so similar to my study abroad program and seeing their pictures and the books that they’ve left behind.” Adele Duncan said.
One of Davis’s goals for the trip was to allow students who couldn’t previously go abroad to experience a little taste without being gone a whole semester. The group visited biblical sites such as Corinth and Ephesus, which allowed them to visualize Paul and his journey establishing churches in these areas. They also took cooking classes with the Harding University in Greece head cook, Natasa Tsirmpa. This intergenerational group of women ranged from college to middle age. Since it was a smaller group, it didn’t take long for everyone to get to know each other and grow closer.
“The best part was definitely the group bonding and experiencing it all together and I was so proud to be a part of Harding to get to offer that for them.” Davis said.
As Davis reflected on how well this experience was with the help of Harding, she looks forward to the possibility of the trip happening again in the future.
