THIS is Sparta!!

Anonymous Disclaimer: I have never actually seen the whole "300" movie (though I have seen certain clips relating to liminality, as Dr. Finitsis reminded me...), but I admit that I have heard Sparta jokes for so long that they are funny, even to me. Also, no offense is meant to the philosophy class in Athens, we still love you.
Today I observed something interesting regarding group dynamics. Yesterday night, another PLU group arrived in Athens for the final part of their philosophy class. But, when this was mentioned to us this morning, rather than excitement at the nearness of our fellow lutes, I heard some... grumbling? Yes, grumbling; resentment. "What?!" you may be thinking, but really, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. In our last couple classes we have been reading and discussing parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The documents written by the sect at Qumran have an interesting perspective to offer on group dynamics and are extremely concerned with the distinction between the in-group and the out-group. It is incredibly important to them to maintain clear boundaries between their "remnant" and outsiders. Now PLU is, under normal circumstances, an in-group of sorts. It is a community to which we belong and with whom we share many things in common. But we have created a new community within a community. We are the "true Israel" within Israel; a remnant within a remnant, to use the language of the people at Qumran.  Unlike the sect at Qumran, is not that we have cut ties with our PLU community, on the contrary we look forward to being welcomed back by them, it is just that created even stronger ties within the smaller piece of PLU that is "Between Athens and Jerusalem." We have bonded. Who knows just how strong those bonds will remain when we return and no longer have the pressure of living in a foreign environment to reinforce them, but, for now at least, we are a group. It is our shared experiences, experiences that are a bit unique, that have created this bond and which are at the core of our group identity. And the "new" PLU class in Athens? Well... they are not part of the group. They are here in Athens now, which presents itself as a possible claim to being a part of our unique group... a claim that this morning I heard vigorously rejected. It's not that we don't like our fellow lutes, it's just that, well, this is "our Athens." Of course Athens does not belong to us, but nevertheless there is a sense that they are on our turf, infringing on our unique group identity. They are... a threat. Luckily, we are moving on to Rhodes; removing ourselves and thus protecting our uniqueness... sort of like heading out into the desert ... We are a group with a shared group identity, and, at least for now, we don't want anything to mess with that. Just as Leonidus, or Gerard Butler, or whoever, yells of Sparta... THIS is "Between Athens and Jerusalem" and nobody else. So there.