Back home in Melbourne following a three week Greek immersion camp in Halkidiki in North Eastern Greece, Year 8 student Crystal Pazianas, described the experience as a great opportunity to see Greece.

It was good to expand my knowledge of the language, by the end of it you’re thinking in Greek, it’s just a good opportunity.

“We got to do lots of different activities, basketball, extreme sports, BMX riding, going to the beach,” she told Neos Kosmos.

“We put on a fake Greek wedding and we all had to learn Greek dances and then afterwards we had a big Greek party,” she said.

The experience allowed international students to be exposed to new music and the Greek language, the 14 year old said.

“We spoke Greek the entire time, or most of the time,” she said.
Having attended Greek school since prep, the Pythagoras Greek school student said while she’s not fluent, her grasp of the language is pretty good for her age.

“It was good to expand my knowledge of the language, by the end of it you’re thinking in Greek, it’s just a good opportunity,” she said.

Crystal was also grateful to meet Greeks from all over the world.

“We met people from Canada and America and it was good to see that the same customs are in all the other countries although they might do things differently, the same traditions and values are kept up,” she said.

The young teenager also said she enjoyed making friends with the Greeks from Greece.

“I’ve added heaps of them on Facebook. It was easy to relate to them. We all do the same Greek lessons. It was just fun,” she said.

Principal of Pythagoras Greek School and head of student services at Oakleigh Greek Orthodox College, Con Roubos, who attended the camp with students from both schools, described it as fantastic.

“The kids absolutely had a ball. It was a chance to see things they would never have seen otherwise,” he told Neos Kosmos.

“The program was fantastic, during the day the kids played European handball, soccer and did extreme sports like the flying fox. There was also arts and crafts, clay work, traditional Greek dancing, and Hip Hop dancing,” Mr Roubos said.

The camp included around 500 children, with between 80 and 100 from Cyprus, 50 from the USA, 50 from Canada, 50 from Australia and the rest from Greece.

“They didn’t really change the program for us, we were immersed in the program,” Mr Roubos said.