Apartments in Athens, especially around city center, have gone up in price by quite a bit in the past few years, and prices only continue to rise. This is mostly thanks to Airbnbs. Owners can make better money renting out their apartments to foreigners for short periods of time at a higher cost than what you would charge your average renter, so it’s creating a kind of false scarcity. At least, this is how I understand it working. Probably it’s even more complicated and filled with finance terms than that. Regardless, Athens is becoming an expensive place to live, especially for Greeks. For someone used to prices in Atlanta… a little less so. Still, I’d been hoping to get a two bedroom apartment, so I’d have room to host friends and family when they visit, but quickly found that it wasn’t going to be possible with my budget (about 600 euros), if I wanted to be in city center.

I mainly used the Spigatos app and a website called XE to search for apartment listings. XE also has an app, but only the website translates into English. At first I was sending listings I liked to a Greek friend so she could call them and speak to the agents or owners in Greek, since I was told this would give me an extra leg up, as people here don’t always like renting out to foreigners. However, she’s a very busy person and didn’t really have that much spare time to help me out, and whoever was renting to me would have to figure out that I’m a foreigner eventually, so in the end I took it back into my own hands, and would simply use the messaging feature that both sites had, to inquire about the listings. I could have used google translate and sent the messages in Greek, but since sometimes they would call me back instead of emailing me back, I figured it would be better to just go ahead and admit that I only spoke English (outside of a polite greeting and asking where you’re from, which isn’t exactly helpful renting agreement conversation). This also gave them a heads up that I would need someone who spoke English at the property with me when I went to see it, since I tried to organize Greek speaking friends to come with me a couple times in the beginning, and unfortunately all of my friends seem to be very busy and possibly overworked people, and this just got too complicated. So I went by myself.

Possibly I would have been able to see more “by owner” properties if I spoke fluent Greek, which is reportedly the ideal situation, mostly because you avoid having to pay the agent fee (which is usually equal to one month’s rent), but to be perfectly honest, most the listings I was seeing were by agencies. All of the properties I was actually able to visit were by agencies, and all the agents I talked to were very friendly. I only had to use google translate to communicate with one of them, and for the apartment I ended up getting, actually a second agent that wasn’t officially assigned to the listing came to show me around, because he spoke better English than the agent that was assigned to the listing. So it all worked out in the end.

Besides the number of bedrooms, I had to adjust some other expectations as well. What I wanted was autonomous heating, i.e., radiators that you, the tenant, have control over. When these were few and far between, I decided that central heating (radiators controlled by the building manager, and usually turned on for an hour in the morning and an hour at night) would at least be better than only having heating through the aircon units (which aren’t usually installed in every room, and can get expensive to run depending on electricity prices), and THEN even when I was visiting properties that were listed as having central heating, the agent would inform me that actually, last year the building decided to stop running them, because petrol is expensive, or in the case of the one I ended up getting, “the building ran it last year, but we don’t know what they will decide for this year.” Though I have heard *something* being run through the pipes a couple of times, I haven’t ever gotten any heat from my radiators, which means the building must have decided against buying petrol, at least for this year. It’s been a very mild winter, abnormally so, according to all the Greeks I’ve talked to, but with that being said, I have found the aircon units to be sufficient for heating, have not had to run them all the time, never ran them over night, and the electricity has been (for me, at least) very reasonably priced. It seems to be about 20-30 euros a month at the moment, and that’s my hot water and my stove use as well.

I also had to extend my area of search. At first, I wanted to be as close as possible to the sea, while also being in city center. I wanted to be on the tram line, somewhere in Neos Kosmos or Nea Smyrni, but I was getting frustrated with how few listings were coming up in this area, and I also found out that the tram is pretty much the slowest mode of transportation ever. So I decided to expand my search to anything on the east side of city center, since this would still mean easy transpiration to the places I needed to get to most often. Ideally, I would be on the red metro line, but the blue line was permissible. I discovered that I really loved an area called Exarchia, as it’s full of book stores and vegan cafes, but it’s also quite an expensive area, and after missing out on one property because I took too long to decided (another note: if you find something, jump on it! These places are going fast), not being able to convince another one to come down into my price range, and visiting a third one that was just too far north in the area and thus just too far out of the way, I settled on being in a neighboring area (which is also very nice and still has vegan cafes and though not as many bookstores, it does have few and one of those is a really nice one that has lots of used books in English), called Pagrati.

Here’s what sealed the deal for me: despite an unknown central heating situation, this apartment has double windows, which, I discovered through talking to various people here, is a game changer when it comes to keeping the heat you’re producing inside your apartment. This is actually the main reason behind my not taking an apartment I’d found earlier in Koukaki, which was spacious and lovely in every way, except for the fact that it had single pane windows, and being on the fourth floor with a wide open view, was open to a lot of wind. (A part of me still hurts when I think of that apartment – I really loved it.) Some additional benefits of the apartment I ended up getting were insect screens (I was going to have to instal them myself if the apartment I got didn’t come with them – why anyone would want bugs flying in and out all day and mosquitos biting you all night when you’re trying to save money on aircon by leaving the windows open, when screens exist, is beyond me); a camera for the doorbell so that for one, I can see who’s at the door, and for another, I can make sure the door actually opened for them; lovely wood floors in the living room and bedroom, lots of storage space, newly painted and renovated (to some degree), and (well, this one was more on my necessity list) a security door. What’s a security door, you might be wondering? Basically it’s got metal plating of some sort, and has more bolts than your standard lock. Even though Greek doors already have the extra security of not having a turning doorknob on the outside (you have to have the key to get in, even if it’s not “locked”), AND Pagrati is a pretty nice, calm area, it’s nice to have that extra security, especially when you’re living on your own. Another bonus with this building is that there’s another security door downstairs, which I’ve never seen before. This is nice not only for security purposes, but because Greeks like to be extra secure and lock their building doors behind them (even though, once again, you can’t open it from the outside without having the key to turn the latch), the automatic “lock behind you” feature means that I don’t ever have to run down and manually unlock the door for anyone when the buzzer doesn’t work because someone’s locked the door. To get out, there’s a little button above the handle that unlocks it, and to get in, there’s the buzzer for guests, and a fob on my keys for me. It’s all very convenient and fancy and I feel very bougie for having it!

The downsides to the apartment are that the walls are pretty thin and I can hear a full conversation happening next door and a dog running around overhead, and that it came fully unfurnished. By which I mean, no stove, no refrigerator, no washer. I’ll go more into furnishing an apartment in another post, but getting a “blank slate” vs having something with a few more things, or even everything (I did look at a fully furnished apartment in this same area, but I wasn’t sure I actually wanted to live with someone else’s furniture choices, though it would have been very convent to not have to buy anything, not even utensils), is definitely something to consider when it comes to prices.

Back to the actual process of acquiring the apartment: Once I’d seen it, I knew it was a good contender, and that a lot of other people were looking at it. Someone else was actually viewing it at the same time as me. Additionally, the time on my visa was ticking down, and I needed an apartment in my name in order to proceed with my residency, so I was under a lot of pressure to find something and make a decision quickly, for multiple reasons. Still, I made myself take the time to see two more properties the next day, and after those didn’t pan out, texted the agent as I was making my way home from those, praying that the apartment was still available. It was. He said he would contact the owner the next day (it was night at that point), and just like that, the apartment was mine.

At least according to WhatsApp messages. I was about to go out of town for the weekend, so I couldn’t sign the contract right away, which was stressing me out. I thought, however, that I would be able to sign it Monday, when I got back. In the end, I wasn’t able to sign it until a whole week later, because the lawyers were on strike and so my contract wasn’t even being written. But finally, finally, I was able to meet the agents at the lawyers office, sign the contract, and after a bit of a scramble to find out the owner’s zip code so that I could make a bank transfer for the rent (he doesn’t live in country), I finally had the keys to my new place. Ironically, I wouldn’t even see if again until a few days later, because I was commuting out of Athens every day during that time for another course I was taking (a nice additional complication to this entire process), it was already getting dark out by the time I was done signing and there was no power in the apartment yet, so though I did go just to see it again later in the week, I had to wait until the weekend to clean it because I needed daylight. (I’ll also go into signing up for power and water in another post – the list just goes on, doesn’t it?)… So, in so many ways, it was a huge weight off my chest to finally have an apartment, but in other ways, a whole new list of to-dos and things to figure out HOW to do, had only just arrived!

The post Finding An Apartment appeared first on Any Day In Athens.

The first time I traveled to Greece, everything was reminding me of Albania. The little store fronts selling brightly colored plastic goods, the local bakeries, the old men sitting about drinking espressos, riding on a public transportation bus again, the old apartment buildings with the tattered awnings over the balconies, the street food (called by different names but tasting the same), the people going through garbage bins and loading what they considered salvageable into either hand carts or tiny trucks, the foliage, the dusty and diesel filled air, the way people were driving, the old women and their little two wheeled shopping bags. 

I have been here enough times now to not compare everything. Greece is Greece, and Albania is Albania – but there are things, every now and again, that take me straight back to my childhood. Little moments, unexpected flashbacks. Like today, when I was walking from the metro stop to the bus stop on my way to language class, and something about the color of the leaves of the trees poking through the iron fencing with the chipped paint, just sort of caught me off guard in a way that didn’t make me think of anything particular, even – just those Albanian days, in general. And in the very next moment, I was thinking ruefully to myself that I’ve not been appreciating what I’ve accomplished: that I have, just as I always wanted, gotten back to that part of the world, surrounded myself in a similar culture, am living once again in a cement and tile apartment with corner stores to pop into just down the street, a farmers market happening daily in different places where I can get all the fresh produce I could ever want (just as we used to), learning a language which has long been on my bucket list (though technically what was on my list was the ancient version – but close enough)… which is to say, I am living the life that my ten year old self so desperately didn’t want to leave, when we went back to the States. 

I have always remarked, to those that have asked, that living in a foreign country was easy as a kid. I was caught up in the adventure of it, and didn’t have any of the stresses and anxieties that my parents had. 

Now, living as an adult in a foreign country, I can not avoid such things. Learning a new language is hard. Going to church in a different language, even with translation, isn’t that enjoyable. Navigating bus routes is frustrating. Finding an apartment was hard in the US – I have even more odds stacked against me here. Figuring out where to buy different things, tiny grocery stores, running across busy streets when they don’t have crosswalks, not being able to flush the toilet paper, having to conserve the hot water, windows not having screens so all the bugs just come in… just starting over, basically, in life – it all stacks up, one on top of another, until sometimes I just want to scream. Or sleep, for a really long time. I remember watching my parents go through all of this. I shared in some of those frustrations as a kid, but certainly I didn’t have to apartment hunt or worry about where to shop. Just as when I was a kid, however, I miss American cereals…

So even though I feel like I’ve settled into a better schedule and rhythm of doing enough but not too much (I was trying to do too much, at first), there is still all this cultural stress that, adaptive as I am, is waring me down. 

Yet – there are glimpses. Like that tiny moment this morning, that small window into the past that reminded me that I am exactly where I want to be. Where I’ve longed to be. So that I can remember to take a deep breath, and take the next step, and keep pushing forward, because it’s worth it. When I long for the ease of grocery shopping at Kroger, I remind myself that when I was shopping at Kroger, I was longing to be here – and when I pass under the beautiful statues adorning the grand university building I pass every day on my way to the bus stop, and when I’m riding the bus back home and peer out the window at the acropolis, and when I’m helping one of the girls in the art class carve a pumpkin for the first time, and when I blend in with the commuter crowd so well that someone asks me for directions (which I am unable to give), and when I make a friend from yet another European country I’ve never been to… I am grateful. So grateful to be here. Even when I’m the most stressed, the most frustrated, the most at my whits end – there’s no place else I’d rather be.

I’m a stranger in this land, and yet somehow, this land is home. 

The post Lost Yet Found appeared first on Any Day In Athens.

One of my friends connected me with the lawyer she used, and through WhatsApp, he’s communicated the steps and procedures – though his English is a little hard to understand at times, and I’ve had to have a Greek speaking friend jump in to figure out exactly what he means at certain points.

First I had to fill out an application online, which I sent him screen shots of so he could complete it for me and submit it. I’m not exactly sure why I couldn’t submit it myself, but there must have been additional information he needed to add. Probably the hardest part of that was finding the USA listed in the dropdown menus, because I wasn’t familiar with what that looked like Greek (everything else was translated in English). In case you’re wondering, it’s “Ηνωμένες πολιτείες Αμερικής”, or the abbreviation of that. I had only learned “Αμερικής” when I was learning to say where I was from, so I had no idea that I should be looking under “H”. It took me a long time the second time I had to find it as well, but that’s because I had no idea where “H” (which is one of several letters that makes the “ee” sound) fell in the order of the alphabet. I’m familiar with how to read the Greek alphabet, but I haven’t gotten the order of the letters quite yet!

Anyway. Once that was done I had to wait for the completed document to be sent back to me, and then had to find my way to a “Kep” (the equivalent of a notary, from my experience) to get it signed and stamped. Then I sent a picture of it to my lawyer, and after a couple of weeks of waiting, finally got a video call appointment with an official of some kind (I have no idea of the particulars of any part of this process – I was just following instructions the whole time) who had me show my passport to the camera, as well as the signed document I mentioned before, had me state several details aloud (the call was recorded), and when all that formality was accomplished, read off to me my tax number. After the call, my lawyer submitted the appropriate application, I got the official document with my tax number, and he said I was clear to pursue housing. Just today, a week later, he’s contacted me and said his office has all the “codes” necessary (whatever that means) so once again I’m clear to sign a housing contract, and I think that’s it? I really have no idea what any of this is, so a google search might serve you better. But basically, it’s not a hard process, it just might take awhile – in my case, a month.

My next step is to find an apartment – I’ve been looking, and nearly had an appointment for today before it got canceled – and then I can apply for residency. I also now have a Greek phone plan, so I’m two steps down, with two more to go, before I can really consider myself “settled.”

The post Getting a Tax Number appeared first on Any Day In Athens.

Here’s what I brought with me:

Four checked bags – You get one for free flying International with Delta, I got an additional one for being a gold card member, and a third one for booking with a travel agent. I paid $285 for the fourth one, and was able to do this when I checked in online 24 hours before my flight. I had to put in a return date when I did this, or else it wouldn’t let me complete the check in process, but when I dropped off my bags at the airport I had to check in again anyway, and at that point the agent put in my student visa information and that I didn’t have a return date because I was going to school.

Anyways. I had two large hardshell cases, one medium hardshell, and one medium sized soft case. I’d read that it might be better to use medium cases because they don’t get heavy as fast as the big ones, but I really struggled to fit enough in the medium hardshell to get up to 50 lbs. In fact, it was the one and only suitcase I was able to keep at my goal of 48 lbs. The advantage of the soft case is that you can stuff it full of more things, and it’s deeper, since it doesn’t open in two halves. This is also the case in which I packed clothes normally, instead of trying to use vacuum pack bags, like I did in the others. Never did I realize how heavy clothes are until I weighed those vacuum bags. I think they were nice in that I knew then that the clothes were my weight problem when I was trying to pack my bags (which I did at least twice, and then had to continue to fiddle with all of them), but they’re awkward to pack around and, even though they saved on space, I kept going over weight and struggled to find enough light weight stuff to pack on the other side. So in some ways, it was nice to be able to pack bulky things like sweaters down, but in hindsight I don’t know that I should have tried to do so many of my clothes that way. I had to go back through and pull out some clothes, and over all just was amazed at how little I could take per bag at 50 lbs. I don’t think I really had the right idea of what a pound is in my mind. It seems like more weight than it is. Plus, you have to figure in how much the suitcase itself weighs… thankfully my mom saw how stressed I was and offered to ship what I couldn’t fit, which ended up being most my books (I fit about ten), some art supplies, my hats, a few card games, and some shoes. I also wasn’t able to fit all my mugs, but I don’t want her to try to ship those.

I will say that I was impressed that nothing broke! I haven’t been able to completely unpack yet, since I’m staying with a friend while I find my own place to live, but I’ve been through my suitcases several times as I look for different things I need, and I haven’t noticed anything broken. I think it helps that it was a direct flight from Atlanta to Athens, so that minimizes some of the throwing around.

Carry on and personal item: I packed all my electronics, along with their cords, in my backpack (which was my personal item), which meant it was very, very heavy. I strapped it to my carry on suitcase while I was walking through the airport, so I didn’t have to wear it the whole time. I packed my record collection, my PS4 and it’s controllers, and some last minute items in my carry on suitcase. I made sure my records were packed in cardboard and bubblewrap and that the suitcase always got laid down so that the records were on top. I’ve yet to unwrap them, but I’m hoping for the best. I also had my oversized leather coat with me, which I know must have looked strange in the 80-some degree weather, had my headphones around my neck with other stuff stuffed into the case in my backpack, and my current read in a book sleeve. I also wore my heaviest shoes and my favorite hat, which is the only hat I was able to bring. I had a window seat, thankfully, so I was able to stuff my coat beside me instead of trying to fit it under the seat with my backpack.

What I would have done differently…

I think it’s hard to say at this point if I packed the right things, since I haven’t moved into my own place or really tried to replace anything yet. I will say that, though the hardshell suitcases were annoying to pack, having four wheels to roll around on really helped when I had to pick up all my bags by myself in Athens. I was able to get two big bags and my carry on suitcase on a luggage cart, and roll the other two bags back to back in one hand while I pushed the luggage cart with the other. Thankfully I had help as soon as I walked out into the lobby and met my friends.

As mentioned above, I don’t know how much I would really recommend vacuum bags, other than for plushes, coats, and bulky sweaters. I’ve heard of a lot of people using packing cubes, which would have been nice for being able to weigh things as you go, but on the flip side, would have added weight, which is why I didn’t use them.

I’ll also have to see how expensive it really ends up being to ship things, and what condition they arrive in, because it really didn’t seem like an exorbitant amount when I was looking online, especially considering what I paid for that fourth checked bag. (I paid that much, btw, because that’s the fourth bag price – it gets more expensive with each bag, so even though I got the other ones for free, they still charged me the fourth bag price.)

What I did right:

So far, I’ve been very glad to 1) already have all the toiletries I immediately need. That way I’m not trying to go out and buy something right away, and trying to decipher labels or find comparable things to what I’m used to. I’ll have more time and brain space for that later. 2) European plug converters for my MacBook and phone. I LOVE that the Apple block chargers have an easy pull off-slide on conversion system. Makes things SO easy. I was able to get the converters on Amazon, though you can also get the official multi country set from Apple. 3) Books to read! I’m a huge reader, so having the books with me that I wanted to read next has been huge for me, as this is how I relax. I’ve already been to the local bookstores as well, but new books are even more expensive here than in the US – partly because of the conversion rate, but also because English books are being shipped in from the UK. 3) Foldable storage bins. I had one from IKEA that’s made of felt and lays flat until you wrap it up and snap it together, and another one one that’s like a really stiff paper almost with a wire frame that smashes flat. These have been so nice to be able to pull out and feel a little bit more organized in these days where I’ve been existing in limbo and before buying furniture, and I know they’ll come in handy going back and forth to school as well, since I’ll only be going to campus two weeks at a time. 4) Cold meds. For one, it’s been nice to not have to figure out what to buy when I’m already not feeling well, and for another, according to one of my American friends here, the American meds are just better. Which makes sense; we probably use stronger ones than they’re allowed to give out here, and like she said, this stuff is what my body is already used to. I didn’t bring a massive supply though, so I’ll have to adjust to European meds eventually – or add that to the list of things to have my mom ship.

Flying nonstop was a HUGE bonus. Delta only added the direct route from Atlanta to Athens in the last few years, so this is only the second time I’ve been able to use it. It’s SO nice. It’s a long flight, but so worth it to not have to get off and navigate another airport and sit around even longer waiting for your next plane (or running to catch it, if your flight gets in late). It’s one less thing to worry about, and made it so I could truly relax once I got on the plane.

Here’s something to consider if a direct flight isn’t an option for you though: book an International layover over a domestic one, if possible. Why? Because if you have a domestic layover, you’ll have to fly domestic first, which often means getting to the international terminal once you get to your first destination, and possibly rechecking your bags. The same goes for your trip back, but in reverse order. Even though you’ll have to go through passport check twice with an international layover, for me, it beats the chaos of having to switch from domestic to international.

Final notes:

I’ve now been in Athens six days, and I’ve navigated the train by myself (thankfully it all came back to me), grocery shopped by myself (thankfully everyone here knows English), failed and then succeeded to order my coffee in Greek, got my language classes paid for with the help of a friend and a bank employee, cooked my own food, and tried to find the balance between getting into the swing of things and giving myself space to rest. Jet lag hasn’t hit me too hard, and I think flying over night helped, even though I wasn’t able to really sleep, thanks to not really being able to breathe. Hopefully by next week I’ll feel fully adjusted to the timezone and will no longer be assaulted by random coughing fits, but we’ll see. School starts soon, so I’ve been working on my pre-homework for that, and trying to make the Greek words I already know stick in my brain long enough to use them. I’ll continue to let you know how things go from here!

Γειά σου!

The post Travel day appeared first on Any Day In Athens.

This should be a simple process, really. Since I’m going as a student, and surely Greece wants students to be paying their schools for international programs, as long as I bring all the documents required to my appointment at the consulate, it should be no big deal, right?

Wrong.

Greece is, unfortunately, known for being difficult about the visa process. Actually, I’m pretty sure every country is, but the fact that it seems to depend on the mood of the people in the office on the day of your appointment is… discouraging, to say the least. The good thing is that the Atlanta consulate was pretty good about emailing back when I had questions about what to bring, and they let me continue to submit the extra documents they asked for at my appointment through email after my appointment. The bad thing is that they asked for extra documents.

I’ve talked to several other people who have come on student visas, and though the extra documents they were asked to acquire at their visa appointments varied, pretty much everyone I’ve talked to has run into this same hurtle. The really bizarre thing is that, in my case and in some others, they didn’t end up needing the extra stuff anyway.

Here were the issues they had with my paperwork: You have to prove that your parents can finically support you while you’re in school. This doesn’t change, no matter how old you are or what level of education you’re going for. Now, at my appointment, I was told I could submit my own bank accounts as well, to bolster the number, but that’s not listed as an option in the visa document. So take that with a grain of salt. As I’ve just alluded to, they didn’t like the numbers I was submitting, even though my Dad is very comfortably middle class, and an empty nester. My mom and I would be his only dependents. I was very confused by the math the consular agent was presenting to me, and ultimately I think he was looking at the numbers wrong, and either later realized his mistake, or someone else realized it for him. You’re only required, as per the visa document issued by the Greek government, as a student, to have 500 euro at your disposal a month. This is definitely an expense my Dad could afford.

The second problem they had was with my insurance. Even though I’d bought the Greek insurance plan that I was told to get by those advising me from Greece, and was told even by the insurance agent – when I later talked to him over the phone as we were both confused by the consulate’s demands – that this is the insurance plan that people get for their visas. The consulate wanted the plan to have a higher hospital coverage, and to include repatriation. Though I found travel insurance plans that covered the higher hospital amount (the company I’d gone through didn’t go that high – he did email the consulate on my behalf to try to figure out what they wanted, but they never replied to him), I never found anything that covered “repatriation.” Emergency evacuation, yes, but repatriation under the conditions the consular agent described to me: “if you commit a crime in my country”, was never listed under anything I was finding, so finally I googled, “do travel plans cover repatriation for crimes.” The answer is, no. From what I could find, you will be held responsible by your government for the cost of getting you back home if you commit a crime in a foreign country, but health and travel insurance doesn’t cover that. So, in exasperation, I emailed the three plans I’d found that seemed closest to what had been asked of me to the consulate office. This was the day before the expected two week wait time to hear back about my visa. The next day, I received an email saying my visa had been issued. Queue a sigh of relief (or rather repeated exclamations of “oh my god oh my god oh my god” as I’m near tears in my brothers car), but I still have no idea what the consular agent was talking about. In the end, they must have decided the insurance I had was enough after all.

Someone else mentioned that they were asked for an acceptance letter from the university in the US that has a partnership with the Greek university they were applying to, and the school here in Greece had to call and say no, they don’t need that. So it’s nice to know that the school could have called and come to my defense, if need be, but talk about a stressful two weeks! I was really convinced I wasn’t going to get it. That I was going to have to figure out how to apply in another state, under another consulate’s jurisdiction, or who knows what else – but in the end it all worked out.

Now that I’m in the country, I have to apply for a residency permit, since my student visa is only good for three months. Before I can do that, however, I had to have a tax number – which will be another post. Needless to say, don’t come to me for any visa advice, but this is a record of my experience. I’d been warned that getting a visa to Greece could be tough, but I really thought I was coming in well prepared. So this is my word of caution: no matter how many boxes you’ve checked, they just might find more for you, and in areas that you would never expect to be an issue.

So all I can say is: Best of of luck!

The post Getting a Visa appeared first on Any Day In Athens.