I traveled to Europe in my 20’s with US Servas, an organization that works to promote peace through international exchange. One of my stops was the village of Agios Nikolaos, Crete in Greece. A school teacher in the village hosted me and I helped out in class for a few days too. It was a poor village with a lot of remaining damage from multiple earthquakes. My host’s landlady walked her goat to the pasture each day. I found plenty of beauty in this harsh wind-whipped landscape.