In the desert of the sea Ikaria is a garden

By Anna Hestler January 31, 2013 Read the article in Washington Post At a mini-market on the Greek island of Ikaria, I study the labels on various items, trying to decipher their meaning. It’s been three days since I left my Greek husband back in New York and dove headfirst into a local language immersion course….

I attended a two-week Greek course in Thessaloniki and I must say that I am very satisfied. I had studied the language two hours a week for only 8 months before I arrived in Greece and I wasn’t really able to speak or understand properly. Now at the end of the course I can communicate…

This August I again took a two-week course in Ikaria. And again, it was a very pleasant experience. This year there were 14 students and our group consisted of 6 people. I noticed several very welcome changes: The classes were always held in the mornings. This way it was possible to spend the afternoons studying…

What can I say about my experience that nobody has already expressed? For me, when the time came to leave, I couldn’t remember what life was like anywhere else in the world. But that’s just it… in Ikaria, you are able to forget the world and focus on what it is that you came for……