Before I came here I did not know much about Crete or even Greece for that matter. Since my regional concentration for my major is the Middle East, I thought I came into these classes and environment cold-turkey, however, that is not the case. The lectures from Professor Xenakis's and Professor Roussos clarified that the Middle East pertains to issues happening all over Greece today, for example legal and illegal migration. Another point that was mentioned in class as well as the lectures from both professors was that Crete especially, serves as an important strategic, crossroads mechanism for many military operations (both NATO and United States) and operations for one of today's top issues on migration from conflict in Africa (specifically sub-Saharan), Middle East, as well as parts of Asia.