Three Weird Things You'll Face Living in a Student Apartment in Athens

Get better prepared to deal with odd things when living in student accommodation in Athens.

Student life in Athens is awesome.

But, like with anything else, it comes with some challenges.

If you're thinking of studying in Athens and taking the plunge on living in student housing... here are the top three oddest things you'll face living in a student apartment in Athens.

You may have never thought of some of these things before.

Here ate the most annoying quirks of your new city and student apartment.

Hot water

You're in your room, after a long day of class. You're sweaty from the walk from campus, and you're tired from all that studying.

The one thing on your mind is a nice hot shower. You turn on the water, only to find a trickle of lukewarm water dripping out the showerhead.

Suddenly you realize: no hot water!

This can happen pretty much at any time, day or night, so it pays to know what to do when this happens.

The hot water boilers in most of the buildings in Athens need to be manually switched on and off.

If your flatmates accidentally switched it off, your water will turn cold before you know it.

So, before you decide to relax under a nice, hot stream of water, make sure you check there is some!

If there isn't any, switch on the water boiler. It usually takes 15 min to get really hot water.

If after 30 min there still isn't anything hot coming out from the tap, it's time to contact your landlord.

The critical thing to remember:

Do NOT leave the water boiler switched on.

The boiler can get damaged, and the replacement cost will be passed on to you.

With that, happy showers!

Toilet trash bin

Another bathroom matter that leaves many students, how should we say it delicately... grossed out?

Here's the thing.

Athens' sewage system isn't modern enough to process anything more than... what naturally comes out of humans.

So, never throw toilet paper or ANY other hygiene products in the toilet. Ever! Or risk a massive flood!

But where does all the toilet paper go then?

It goes into the trash bin. Every bathroom in Athens has one, so you won't be missing it in your student accommodation either.

And what happens with the trash?

Read on!

Garbage disposal

Athens buildings don't have garbage chutes, so there is no central collection point.

Every tenant disposes of the garbage according to their time and preference.

Arrange with your flatmates how you'll handle garbage disposal.

To avoid unpleasant smells or unwelcome guests such as cockroaches... the best way is to dispose daily.

Most households use plastic supermarket bags or special garbage bags.

The trash dumpsters are usually very close to the building entrance out in the street.

So, collect and store all the trash in your apartment. Make sure nothing is leaking, or you'll create a mess in the elevator.

Take the garbage bags out and dump them in the garbage containers.

The blue containers are for recycling. The green and/or grey containers are for everything else.

In conclusion:

Some of these things are really weird, so it's understandable if you haven't heard of them before.

Hopefully, after reading this article, it will be much easier to live in an apartment in Athens.

You already know what to do and what not to do, so you are much better prepared than most.