Greece

Personal stories

This section consists of personal anecdotes from people living in Germany. Remember to take it as stories, but they can point you where you can do more research.

Cost of living

person 1:

It's relatively low compared to the US but high compared to Greek wages. Minimum wage is 700€/mo after tax. Rent alone might cost you 400€ (and that's way on the lower end, which is why people usually live with their families here). My family personally pays 600€ for a 3.5ish bedroom house that's about 100 something square meters.

Finding work

person 1:

idk - not very easy to find work in general, I assume it's harder if you don't know the language but idk"

        
Trans acceptance/tolerance/friendliness

person 1:

Greece has good LGBT friendly laws and various protections, but public opinion isn't the best unfortunately. There is a lot of casual transphobia and homophobia everywhere, lots of propaganda and misconceptions, which is why the average person can be mildly homophobic/transphobic. There are LGBT circles and accepting spaces too, though. Overall it's a mixed bag, I'd say that acceptance is at around 40-50%.

person 2:

not accepting at all


Academia

person 1:

I only know how Greek students can get access to higher educations, which is by the panhellenic final exams (for public universities, based on the grade you get in them). There also exist some private ones but I don't know much about that.

person 2:

not really feasible if you don't know the language. it's free but idk what the process is for someone from another country to try to join

How to deal with the language barrier

person 1:

A lot of people speak English and you can get around and do a lot of stuff in basic English but there will also be times where the language barrier will become a problem. Your only option is to learn Greek, then, which isn't the easiest language in the world for an English speaker (not the hardest either).

person 2:

most younger people speak english

Access to HRT

person 1:

Okay so that depends on what your endocrinologist is willing to prescribe you. Not all doctors are willing to prescribe hrt and some might have too many arbitrary requirements or ask for a diagnosis for gender identity disorder (F64-ICD10), especially if you're a minor. Other than that, you might be able to find some doctors that are better (it's not easy, but afaik there are some). DIY is your best option, which is somewhat easy since oral estradiol tablets can be bought without a prescription very cheaply(not sure what is true for testosterone). If you're looking to do more such as get injections, etc... I'm pretty sure you don't have many options except for getting them from abroad.

Contact us

If you know about life in Greece as an LGBTQ+ person or would like to ask us questions about Greece, you can reach out to us using the contact form.