To move or not to move?

Hi Tor and welcome to Expat.com!

Do not hesitate to browse through the forum, it may help you.

Wish you Good Luck,
Harmonie.

Hello Tor!
  My name is Joanna and i live in Greece(Athens) since i was born ..Greece is beautifull country with many wonderfull places and more in islands!The weather in summer is very sunny and hot we use aircoditions and going to beach for swim and sunbath and in winter we have most rainy and cloudy days.
  People are friendly and use to help someone new coming to country.But the last 2 years there is problem about jobs.If u don t have a permanent job with very good salary,you must twice think about to move here.
  Jobs here are very rarely and those few who exist have very bad salary!Working hours are many and salary very few and it's very hard to give you 1 day-off per week.Days of work here are from Monday - Saturday,but depends wich work u will do and what kind.Sundey only coffee shops/restaurants are open all day almost..
  Don't forget,cost of living compared to wages,is not commensurate.As about greek language it's really hard,but almsot all people here speak english language.
  Although I am Greek and I live here permanently due to the state looking for work abroad.For all those reasons think about it if you are 1000% sure to move in Greece!
  Anything else you need my pleasure to help you.I wish you good luck in any decision you will choose!
Friendly,Joanna.

hello [email protected]

R U SERIOUS???????
have u ever seen the movie run lola run?
except in case u want to be a p@rn@ star there,think serioussssssss
with all the respect from a greek who abandoned greece,leo

ps:Greece is an extremely expensive country no matter if the crisis stroke everybody there.

Hi
Last thing you have to worry is about the language. Most of greek people speak english and they're willing to help you to learn greek if you want.
good luck!
Nat1911

[email protected] wrote:

Hi all,

I am seriously considering making the move to Athens and was wondering if anyone had any advice on how it is to live there as a single woman (30)? I have travelled a lot and lived abroad before but i am a bit worried about the language barrier- as it is so different from my own!!

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, 
Tor

Hi Tor,

If you have a private income then the move to Greece compared to London is not really all bad. In saying that I base my comments on living in the countryside NOT Athens or Thessaloniki as obviously rents etc will be far more expensive in the big cities.

FORGET work, its virtually impossible at this current time to get jobs....hence my comment on private income.

The islands are restrictive, look at mainland Greece, Peloponnese etc. There is plenty of coastline, some great little towns & villages. You get the best of both worlds.......

I urge you though, DO NOT rely on getting work

Thanks for all the comments so far.  Its given me alot to think about. If i did come i would be teaching at an international school so work would not be an issue. More cultural really!

Thanks again, very helpful

Hi Tor,

I am French and I also plan to live in Athens. I am 28. I lived there some years ago and I really loved it!
It's a really nice city with many things to do.

I am currently looking for a job there, but because of the crisis no answer...

If you have a job that's ok. There are many greek schools there to learn Greek. A single woman can easily live there. It's really safe.

If you like going out (coffee, clubs, restaurants...), it's the perfect destination. It's a really beautiful country but I think that prices really raise up. You should think about it and calculate everything.

I think I will go there this summer or in September to continue to learn the language.

Lisa

Hi Tor,

I am expatriate from Lebanon and Ive been working in Athens since last september. The language barrier is present in some cases however mostly people here do speak english once they realize that you dont speak greek.
Its safe in general except for a very few places at the center of athens at night..From my experience here i can say that greeks are very friendly people...things here are a bit less organized than other european country but it a funny and entertaining manner..
The party scene here is great! its true that the economic crisis has affected alot of people here however all i see is clubs and bars that are full of people having a great time and partying...
Goodluck with your decision.

[email protected] wrote:

Thanks for all the comments so far.  Its given me alot to think about. If i did come i would be teaching at an international school so work would not be an issue. More cultural really!

Thanks again, very helpful

Hi,
I just moved to Athen from Italy and I'm  teaching at an international school as well.
Athens and Greece in general is great: if you want to do olne year experience as I'm doing, just do it, it's worth.
baci giorgia
ps>: if you decide to come , don t esitate to contac me, I m  also new here, but i'm loving the place really so much!

Language barrier? There so many Greeks speaking English. You donŽt have to worry about that, really!

[email protected] wrote:

Hi all,

I am seriously considering making the move to Athens and was wondering if anyone had any advice on how it is to live there as a single woman (30)? I have travelled a lot and lived abroad before but i am a bit worried about the language barrier- as it is so different from my own!!

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, 
Tor

Hi,

do you REALLY want to move to Athens this period? If there is no any urgent need, I would suggest to wait until next year, to see how things go. The situation is not very promising.

Anyway, regarding the language, it cannot be more difficult than learning Finnish! Do not worry. Most people speak (at least some) English (but do not try that to immigrants from Asia). Greek language is not that difficult to learn and you can find many resources in the Web for learning some basic Greek (for daily use).

Kostas

Hello Tor

I am also considering moving to Greece, and ive been reading everyones comments and wanted to know if you have moved or are you still considering it?

Shelley

koula1979 wrote:

Hello Tor

I am also considering moving to Greece, and ive been reading everyones comments and wanted to know if you have moved or are you still considering it?

Shelley

What is it that you are planning to do in Greece? And where. It really depends on how one comes here.

Hi Tor

I arrive in Athens few month ago.
I have to agree with the fact that most of the Greek people here speak English and it is not too much of a problem to get by.
The Food/drinks the same price as in France or England for example. It is expensive but it does not stop the Greek to still go out and enjoy their time.
Life is pleasant but time are difficult indeed as the rest of Europe.

Let me know if you need more info.
Albert

Nat1911 wrote:

Hi
Last thing you have to worry is about the language. Most of greek people speak english and they're willing to help you to learn greek if you want.
good luck!
Nat1911

[email protected] wrote:

Hi all,

I am seriously considering making the move to Athens and was wondering if anyone had any advice on how it is to live there as a single woman (30)? I have travelled a lot and lived abroad before but i am a bit worried about the language barrier- as it is so different from my own!!

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, 
Tor

Hello everybody,

This topic is very interesting to me as I'm planning to move to Greece very soon.
I'm actually free to move where I want to as I'm working on Internet, so Internet is the only mandatory condition for me.

What I aim is a simple place, where 1° people are nice (so no worries, Greeks are) 2° with sea and nature not far (I lived in Lebanon so I really enjoyed the country and the people but suffered from the lack of nature) 3° if possible, where life is not too much expensive. I experienced Athens but I don't know anything about minor cities or even towns.

I also know people in Athens speak English but I don't know about other parts of the country (touristic areas took apart, of course) I don't speak Greek yet, but I can read it and understand some written words. I know it's a difficult language but also very beautiful one, and care to learn some rudiments.

Why Greece? Why now? I know the country is suffering but I don't look at Greek people as plague victims or people I should take advantage of. No, I just know they are basically simple, honest (I talking about morality) they still know what is really important in life. I only met this kind of spirit in Lebanon and Syria and you know both are a worse place to be right now than Greece...

SO, regarding these criteria if you feel you would be of any help, please feel free to share your thoughts, experience or advices.

Efkaristo
Pierre

Hello Pierre,

This is Spiros, read your message. ItŽs rare to find people that are broad minded and ready to come and live here. As far as english, yes, its less spoken in smaller cities and furthermore in villages. Depends what you have in mind. If a basic communication is what you are after than I think you wont be experiencing serious problems