Anastasia Gerolymatou doesn't only believe that 'Age is just a number'; she has become living proof of that saying. At 81 years of age, the Greek will have her name in the Guinness Book of Records after windsurfing from Kefalonia to Kyllini in the Peloponnese, last week.

 

The octogenarian athlete has 3 grandchildren, who are her main source of inspiration. 'I did it so my grandchildren can remember me for what I accomplished,' she says with pride.

 

Gerolymatou plans to keep windsurfing for as long as she is strong enough to do so. She watches what she eats and keeps herself busy by doing the things that she loves.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Reporter

Acropole Palace, an iconic building on Patission Avenue and one of the most notable examples of art nouveau architecture, is opening its doors again following an extensive renovation.

Now, after years of restoration works, it is ready to host offices for various departments of the Ministry of Culture, workshops, educational programs, periodical art exhibitions, as well as the ministry’s Fund of Archaeological Proceeds.

 

The historic building will also offer a coffee shop and a roof garden restaurant overlooking the National Archaeological Museum, Lycabettus Hill, and the Acropolis.

 

The Acropole Palace was one of the most luxurious hotels in Athens, boasting a lavish interior with stained glass windows, sparkling chandeliers, and elegant mahogany furniture. The impressive building was built between 1926 and 1928 and was included among the finest examples of art-nouveau architecture in Europe during the 1990 UNESCO conference in Vienna.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), known in English as Doctors Without Borders, recently welcomed Dr. Christos Christou as their new International President, according to a press release dated September 9. Dr. Christou was elected President during MSF’s International General Assembly in June 2019 and started his tenure in September.

 

Born in Trikala, Greece, Dr. Christou graduated from the Aristotle University medical school in Thessaloniki, Greece, and holds a Ph.D. in Surgery from the Kapodistrian University of Athens. He also holds a Masters in International Health – Health Crisis Management from the University of Athens and is a member of its faculty. Dr. Christou later specialized in general and emergency surgery in the Surgical and Transplant Unit of Evangelismos Hospital in Athens.

 

Dr. Christou joined MSF in 2002 and has held several positions in the field. His first assignment was in Greece as a field doctor, working with migrants and refugees. He then worked as a doctor in an HIV/AIDS project in Zambia in 2004 and 2005. From 2013 he has joined MSF missions in various conflict zones such as South Sudan, Iraq and, most recently, Cameroon, as an Emergency and Trauma surgeon.

Initially, Dr. Christou was appointed General Secretary, then Vice-President, and finally President of MSF Greece’s Board of Directors until his election as International President in June 2019.

The Washington Oxi Day Foundation is offering the following scholarships to five Greek-American students (Grades 6-12) who best describe “philotimo”

 

First Place: $2,000 scholarship and an invitation to the Foundation’s October 24 black tie gala in Washington, DC, where the winner will be recognized

Second Place: $1,000 scholarship (two)

Third Place: $500 scholarship (two)

1. Watch the Foundation’s video ‘The Greek Secret’ on the subject of philotimo here

2. In 500 words, or less, answer one of the following questions:

• What does philotimo mean to you?

• What are some extraordinary examples of philotimo that you have seen?

• What are some of the things you can do in your daily life to exhibit philotimo?

• How can philotimo improve your life?

3. Submit your answer to the Foundation via email by Friday, October 4

Seventeen-year-old Greek artist Adriano Souras spent a lot of time collecting the plastic straws that comprise The Killer Net, his politically charged art installation.

 

Adriano Souras — who is in his last year of high school — said that he and his friends spent months on end to collect the 9,000 straws that make up the piece.

 
"At first, I'd go to parks (in Athens) and, well, straws are a huge part of Greek culture, when they drink their coffee and when they have their drinks, so it wasn't too difficult to find these straws," he said. "Then, when I started getting really serious about my work, I actually outsourced to coffee shops and bakeries to get my straws from there. One of my friends went to China and brought straws from there. It was really a group effort."

 

The Killer Net, which measures about 5 meters by 4 meters, had its debut at the Design Museum of Chicago last spring before making its way to the Biosphere in Montreal.

 

"I just want to raise awareness about what's happening, even though we live in an age of social media where everyone is informed. I feel that the lifespan of a social media post doesn't have the same magnitude as an actual art piece."

 

Adriano Souras, who was 16 when he finished his impressive installation, said his social conscience derives from his parents. "I think that my parents have raised me in a way that if I see something that's wrong in the world, I feel that I should speak up. I think our generation has to deal with these problems. So I just think it's normal for me to get to this type of work."

Dimitris Psaltis is a professor of Astronomy and Physics at the University of Arizona, with his research focusing on testing the theory of general relativity in the strong-field regime. Dimitris Psaltis was born in the town of Serres in 1970, and since a very young age, he knew his professional destination. His father bought him science books to urge him to love reading, and reading about rockets and Physics, made him want to go to study in the US.

 

In 2019 Dimitris Psaltis, played an important part in capturing the first photo of a black hole in human history. This great achievement will be awarded the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in California in November.

 

The $ 3 million Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics will be equally shared by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHT). Under Psaltis' guidance and with the help of supercomputers and leading graphics processors the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration announced on April 10 that they had captured the first photograph of the black hole.

 

Last week US casino operator Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment revealed its plan to build a big casino resort on the Athens Riviera.

Mohegan is competing with Hard Rock International in a tender to build and operate a casino within the planned 8-billion-euro resort at Elliniko on the site of Athens' former international airport. The winner of the tender will construct a large casino, a luxury hotel, entertainment venues, a conference center, and a sports center.

Mohegan's CEO Mario Kontomerkos, stated that all costing, land planning, and architectural design is finished. "We are ready to begin as soon as we receive all the necessary approvals," he said. "We want to start as fast as possible."

 

According to Kontomerkos, the Mohegan casino resort will attract even more tourists to Athens and generate over 7,000 job openings.

 

Article Source: Reuters

Scuderie Del Quirinale, Rome
October 11 to January 06, 2020

 

To read this article in full, please visit: Scuderie Del Quirinale

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UOA) has announced Greece's first undergraduate course of study to be taught exclusively in English, marking a new era for the Greek educational system.

 

The course, which is named "BA Program in Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece," will be focusing on the study of the Greek Antiquity and will be delivered by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in collaboration with the International Hellenic University.

 

The program will accept up to 100 students per year and is aimed exclusively at non-EU citizens in order to attract overseas students to Greek universities. The program is intended solely for non-EU citizens and will be accepting up to 100 students per year.

 

The undergraduate program will offer foreign students a unique opportunity to study the culture of ancient Greece and gain first-hand knowledge of some of Greece's most important archaeological monuments and sites, such as the Acropolis, the Parthenon, Delphi, and Olympia. The curriculum will include courses in Greek archaeology, ancient Greek history and literature, and modern Greek.

For more information about the course, please visit: The University of Athens