1. Firstly, the most important aspect for us, being poor students who can’t manage their student loan… FREE SCHOOL MEALS. So, in Athens we receive 2 X free school meals a day, including weekends. The food may not be that amazing but its free and means that you have money to spend on other things, like trips to the many sights available in Greece. Obviously, in Brighton you can end up spending £4 on a sandwich and that’s without thinking about a drink or a snack to go with it (this can be tough when you’ve got full days of lectures) but Greek students don’t have this problem and always know there’s a hot meal (with starter, main, salad and dessert) waiting for them at university. 2. With these Free Meals you obviously have to get out of the house and head to the canteen at your university campus, however, this may be the only reason students go into university. This is because Lectures are not compulsory, and this results in students retaking as many classes and can mean students are going to university for 5 – 7 years. However, the government are trying to limit it to 5 years so that students aren’t spending their whole lives in education. (even if the students aren’t happy about this) 3. Maybe you think that going to university for 7 years would rack up a lot of debt as in England we have to pay back the money spent on our education. Well, in Athens you can guarantee you will have no debts to pay back no matter how long you stay in education, because University is free here. Although this sounds like a dream to many students who are already thinking of the debt they will have to pay off for the rest of their lives, it does result in less money being put into the universities, so this can result in the buildings and the facilities taking a large hit. 4. Fourth on the list is the political aspects of the student body. In our current semester (1st) we have been turned away from Uni due to student sit ins or strikes. Obviously, this doesn’t affect the students here as much as it would in Brighton as the students aren’t paying for their education. 5. Now on the weekend at the end of a long week of lectures and seminars in Brighton you wouldn’t dream of heading back into the Checkland building to spend your Saturday night (unless it was exam season) but in Athens students often go and attend parties in the university building. They set up a bar with cheap drinks for around 3 euros, with music playing and with you being allowed to smoke inside the building anyways, there’s no need to go outside to a smoking area. 6. However, these parties could be coming to an end soon. (yet another thing to strike about) In England you are safe knowing that police may enter the university building if something goes wrong or you need to report something. But in Athens there was a law that said that police could not enter a university campus or building, and this has only just been abolished. Meaning that before the beginning of the November anyone could seek asylum in a university building without fear of the police making an entrance. I suppose this has its advantages and disadvantages. 7. In Brighton most subjects now only have coursework which you have time to work on and then hand in. However, in Athens there are a mixture of exams and smaller assignments, but with the exam being worth a higher percentage. This is proving a bit tricky as we (due to us studying English literature) haven’t taken an exam since A level (and we were happy not taking exams). But hopefully these exams go ok …. If we can even remember how to write by hand. 8. A very annoying aspect of university in Greece (and most aspects of life here) is how long it takes to get the simplest things such as timetables, Uni cards and library books. Whereas in England you can go and get any of these things the first or maybe the second time (if you’re unlucky), here it will take 3-5 business days from when you ask for it or sometimes just to get some information about how to complete the application or who to visit next in order to get the item. As Alex likes to say … “it’s like a quest from an online game”. 9. The lack of aircon or heating. Greece is obviously known as mostly a hot country however; our university building doesn’t have any aircon installed in most of the class rooms… this can lead to a very sweaty three-hour lecture during the summer months making you wish you didn’t wear such a thick material. 10. Finally, as mentioned above … the lectures here are all 3 hours long with a 10-15min break in the middle. This was a massive change from the hour and a half lectures we had in Brighton and can result in losing concentration. (This also makes our Thursday a living hell as we have continuous lectures from 9am till 6pm with only the 15-minute breaks to keep us a little saner through the consumption of mass amounts of coffee.) Overall, Greek university has already been a massive change to our regular uni routine in Brighton but an experience none the less and we’re excited for the coming months. And let’s be honest… it being warmer than England is a plus. But, Brighton we miss you! Written and edited by Elly Babe (@elly_babexxx)
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The Academics:We are three Brighton University students who have been given the opportunity to study at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. This blog will be our way of sharing our experiences of living and studying in Greece, plus will include tips and advice for those also looking to study abroad or even just visit Athens. Who we are:
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June 2020
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