Yesterday during one of my classes, a student asked, “Mr. Thomas, How can you afford to move your entire family to Greece?”
Good question. I frequently ask myself the same question.
First, let me start with the “why”. Why have I moved my entire family to Greece?
It’s simple. I want to master the Greek language. Modern, Biblical, and Classical. By my own estimate, I believe this is going to take about 10 years.
I first decided to master the Greek language about three years ago. Immediately, I began looking into the academic route. Since Vanderbilt University is a half-hour from my home in Franklin, Tennessee, I began my search there. The search ended almost as quickly as it began. To study the Classics at Vanderbilt would cost about $45,000 a year.
Since Vanderbilt University is a half-hour from my home in Franklin, Tennessee, I began my search there. The search ended almost as quickly as it began. To study the Classics at Vanderbilt would cost about $45,000 a year.
$45,000 a year? “For that price,” I thought, “I could move my family to Greece! Hey. Wait a minute. For that price, I could move my entire family to Greece!”
And, that, my friends, is how this all began.
It turns out, I could move my family to Greece for much, much less.
So, how can I do this?
The story is a long one.
I will start with the short version. Perhaps later, I will write out the long version. Right now, I have about 200 emails to respond to. The short version will have to do.
When moving overseas, the main expenses are food, lodging, and transportation.
First, my family eats food in Tennessee. I can’t seem to get them to stop. Now we are in Greece. They want to eat food here, too. There really is no cost difference here. We eat there. We eat here. We are not spending any more on food in Greece than we were in Tennessee. However, my wife does feel that the price of food has gone up in Greece since last year.
Second, we rent out our home in Tennessee. We live in a condo. We have lived in condos for 20 years. Housing is expensive in Franklin, Tennessee. We bought a condo while we saved for a home. While we were saving for a home, the prices of homes skyrocketed. Now, we cannot afford a home. Oh well.
We live in a condo. We have lived in condos for 20 years. Housing is expensive in Franklin, Tennessee. We bought a condo while we saved for a home. While we were saving for a home, the prices of homes skyrocketed. Now, we cannot afford a home. Oh well.
Last year, we rented our condo. The rent there paid for our rent here. This meant that we were really not paying for housing. This year, we did not have as much luck renting our place in Tennessee. But, we are still hopeful. A friend is showing our place while we are here.
We do not have a car over here in Greece. We use cheap public transportation. Public transportation here costs much less than gasoline back home. We are actually saving money on daily transportation.
In the end, airline tickets are the only real expense. And, they are a real expense. I wish there were a way to avoid this cost. There isn’t. I looked. We can’t drive to Greece. I did look into taking a cruise to Greece. But, cruising cost more than flying.
Life in Greece is not as glamorous as all of my friends think it is, but it is also not as expensive as everyone thinks it is.
It is my goal to blog daily about our time over here, but, for now… back to that overwhelming mountain of emails.
