“This is not a vacation,” the mentors said the afternoon in Chicago before we left for Athens. “You will be challenged — it’s a journey, a Quest.”

With this reminder in the back of my head, I packed enough sunscreen in my backpack to last months. I filled both of my water bottles to the brim. I recharged the batteries in my camera to document the experience. I dated the first entry in my travel Features, “Day One.”

Little did I know, one cannot simply prepare for the Tragos Quest to Greece.

Yes, the 18 other Tragos Scholars and I had read all of the required pre-departure books, exchanged our currency to euros and learned some useful Greek phrases to help us make our way around the country.

But the premise of the Quest at its very core is to not know all the answers. Much like the Greek mythology we studied at the various archaeological sites we stopped at, the Quest taught me how to find the answers I sought by looking inward.

Most of us — 19 scholars, four mentors, a tour guide and an archaeological expert — were complete strangers to one another. However, by the end of the Quest, Greece had bound us together in an unspeakable bond of late-night conversations, T-shirts stuck to our backs with sweat and bricks of feta cheese.

One afternoon in Nafplio, the mentors challenged us to hike the 999 steps up the Fortress of Palamidi. Days before, we had probably walked a couple of miles exploring Acrocorinth, and that morning we had just completed a rigorous workout.

But my body did not complain, my muscles taking each step up to the fortress comfortably, my lungs taking in air easily. Every morning, my spirit reinvigorated itself in the aura of this ancient country.

Greece, the sculptor, molded this seeker in the image of a warrior ready to take on the journey of self.

When I reached the top of the fortress with my brothers, I took in all of Nafplio, the moment too pure to distill with a photograph. A sense of pride rang in our laughter as we patted each other on the back for a job well done climbing the fortress. Smiles were everywhere, our faces beaming brighter than the Mediterranean sun.

Moments like these reminded me why I am a SigEp. The men around me in Greece, from all different parts of the United States, were my brothers. There is no such thing as a stranger when I meet a brother; we may not know each other’s stories, but we do know what we stand for, our familiarity tied to the Ritual we keep sacred and strive to live for through our everyday encounters.

My fellow scholars, the mentors and I shared the deepest facets of our lives with one another, even though we only knew each other for a short time. We laughed, made jokes and filmed funny videos of us practicing our Greek. We met the most fabulous Greek students and explored cities through their eyes.

All along, I expected I would have an epiphany somewhere at the Parthenon or maybe on a random street in Athens. I thought I would see some life-changing picture in front of me, twirling, shouting, “This is it, this is me, your life has changed now.”

Instead, I found that the answers I had been searching for came from within. Greece shared its infinite wisdom on every column, every broken artifact, every ancient site my eyes wandered over.

Although the Tragos Quest to Greece is only a 10-day excursion, it truly is a quest through the mazes we trap ourselves in through life, tearing every border down as we run to get to the truth of who we are as brothers, questioning everything.

I now have 22 brothers all around the country who I shared this experience with, to lean on, to send a quick email to when I visit their state. We may have left Greece, but the Quest is not over.

The Tragos Quest to Greece is within us, and it has set us up to continue to find the answers we seek throughout our lives.