Thessaloniki Student Housing

A briefing Thessaloniki student housing guide

Based on the Greek Ministry of Education, there are approximately 330,000 students at Greek public universities at any one time. Thessaloniki accounts for nearly 1/3 of the total number of students in Greece with an estimated 100,000 students (including those attending private colleges and other higher education establishments).

For a city of 800,000 people (city population 2011) this means a particularly high proportion of students, which is evident from the vivid atmosphere and nightlife. The majority of the students are coming from other Greek cities, from Europe via exchange programs and from the Balkan countries in order to study at high quality private colleges. Estimating that on average a full-time student spends about 4 years in Thessaloniki (excluding exchange students), this means that there are approximately 25,000 new students in the city every year. And they all need a place to stay ...

This article will provide a brief guide to the types of available student housing, the areas, prices, and things to be aware of regarding student accommodation in Thessaloniki.

1. Types of student accommodation

1a. University publicorms.

The University of Thessaloniki offers lessons to students, based on need and primarily on financial criteria. They are provided free of charge. In practice this means that it is pretty difficult to get a dorm room even if you are eligible to get one. The norms are mostly located close to the university campus, but their quality is very low and maintenance is a big issue, along with issues about safety etc.

1b. University Student Hostels.

These are private properties (entire buildings) which are subleased by the University and are provided mainly to exchange students requiring accommodation for a few weeks or months. These are usually ERASMUS students. As of 2011 there are two student hostels, "Matsi Street 7" and "Kassandrou Street 134", both very close to the university. They offer complimentary wireless Internet access and a private bathroom with cable / satellite channels.

1c. Private hostels.

For students wishing to stay only a few days / weeks, these hostels are more appropriate and a better solution than a hotel. However, these are hard to find as private hostels that rent rooms / beds by the day / week are not legal in Greece unless they are Non-Profit Organizations.

1d. Private rental flats.

These are standardone flats (studio, 1 or 2 bedrooms) located all over the city that students can rent from private owners. You can usually find them through real estate agents (beware) or online ads. You will need to find the appropriate one to suit your needs. Most of them are unfurnished or partially furnished and are more suited to students who plan to stay in Thessaloniki for a few years (as you've got to buy electrical appliances, fridge, cooker, etc).

When you move in you will need to enter into a contract with the electricity company DEI, the water and sewage company EYATH and the gas company for heating (or oil if there is petroleum central heating). Be aware that apart from the rent you will need to pay for the monthly "communal" expenses (ie elevator maintenance, cleaning, communal lighting, repairs, etc.), so check for the rough monthly amount beforehand as this can vary wildly. This is obviously not the best solution for a student coming to Thessaloniki for a few months or a year as the hassle is too much.

1e. Rental student studios.

This is a new breed of student housing that is very popular with both full time students as well as exchange students. This trend began in the late 90s with just a few companies offering this type of accommodation. The main concept is that of a building with rental studios, where each student has his own private fully furnished room with en-suite bathroom and fully equipped kitchenette. This creates in effect a private high quality dormitory with single bed studios. The student atmosphere is maintained along with the feeling of privacy and safety.

Some companies offer additional amenities such as laundry area, gym, storage for bulky items, bicycle parking, etc. This solves the main problems a student would have if he rented a studio from a private owner. In addition to this, some companies offer an ALL IN rent which includes the cost of heating, electricity, water, communal expenses, etc. even a fixed line ADSL internet connection. This way students will not have to deal with the Greek public authorities in order to get a contract for everything. This is especially suitable for exchange students who do not have the time or knowledge to deal with this.

Finally, some companies also offer a number of additional safety measures (fire alarms, access control cards, etc). There is usually a porter at these buildings for anything that the students may need. However, be careful which company you choose as few offer all of the above.

2. Student accommodation areas

Since the university campus is in the city center of Thessaloniki, the most popular student areas are also there. However, since the city center is expensive, most students look for properties to rent near the university above Egnatia street and mostly around the streets of Agiou Dimitriou and Kassandrou. This is also where many student shops and cafés are located.

Other areas popular with students are towards the east side of the city such as Depo, Toumpa, Harilaou, etc. These however are far from the center on foot and lack the distinct "student feel" of the areas near the university. In addition, traffic can be very bad at certain times of the day towards the university.

Overall, both the city center and the areas to the east are very safe all day long.

Lastly, there are the areas to the west of the city center such as Stavroupoli, Evosmos, etc. where rent prices are lower but these areas are not favored by students. They are very densely populated and traffic is also a problem, plus many students (and especially their parents) do not choose these areas as they have a reputation for higher crime rates.

3. Accommodation prices

Rent prices range from 200 euros per month for a standard studio in Evosmos to 650 euros per month for a 2 bedroom apartment in the city center. The communal expenses can also range from 15 euros for a studio without central heating to 80 euros per month for an apartment with central heating. Of course rent prices can fluctuate depending on the condition of the flat / studio.

On average a student will pay about 350euros for an unfurnished studio near the university plus 30euros / month for communal expenses. Do not forget to add the monthly cost of electricity, water, heating, telephone / internet, etc to this.

ALL IN prices for the organized student studios which offer all kinds of amenities and include electricity bills, water bills, heating, hot water, internet, laundry, gym, etc. can range from 390 to 460 euros per month for a furnished studio near the university. For the average student who wants to have the privacy of his own place, but also live the student life, this is the most economic option which also saves him the hassle and stress of dealing with the Greek public sector. One last advantage is that you can plan your budget ahead, as you know how much your living costs will be, so there will be no surprises at the end of the month ...

4. Legal issues

In order to rent a private property you need to know the following:

If you are a EU citizen, you will need to get a Tax Registration Number (ΦΜ)) from the local tax office. This is an easy procedure that takes 5 minutes and that only requires your passport. If you are a non-EU citizen you first need to get a residence permit and then get the above Tax Registration Number. This is absolutely necessary in order to legally rent a property in Greece.

If you stay at a hotel you need to know that you can not stay for more than 3 months.

If you rent a property, you have to sign a lease.

Do not accept to stay at rental rooms without signing a lease as this could get you in trouble. You need to know that it's illegal to stay anywhere without a lease, unless it is a hotel.

Always insist that the landlord hands you back a copy of the lease "stamped" by the tax office. It is not uncommon for landlords to rent properties without a lease or without an official "stamped" lease - this is illegal. Do not put yourself in a position where you could get in trouble. Always demand to sign a formal lease.

Resources in Piano Teaching - Creative and Innovative

Are you a piano teacher? Are you looking for some reliable, creative and innovative resources in piano teaching that your students would really appreciate and enjoy? Well, if you are a piano teacher who wants more than creativity, effectiveness and efficiency in the music classroom or studio, I must say that you've just landed on a right page. In this post, you would get to know some tips on coming up with more innovative and useful resources in teaching piano.

Most piano teachers out there always aspire not just for professional growth but also for the improvement of their resources in piano teaching. Showcasing our students' talents and abilities as well as reinforcing their personality and character, music and piano teachers venture into many things that can make these things happen. To help those who are in need and to resolve these issues, read on and see how you can take your teaching experience to the next level.

The following are some good and innovative resources in piano teaching that your students would certainly enjoy and appreciate - getting more and more excited and enthusiastic to attend each music class or session.

The integration of technology in the learning process is a good start.

Innovation in music teaching is the inclusion of new trends and tricks in the strategies of piano teachers. Coming up with new stuffs and methods in teaching heightens the levels of interest and motivation of your students without worrying about the attainment of academic objectives and the like. On a personal note, students would certainly look forward to each activity and work that they would participate in the classroom.

Piano teachers' software can be found online - updated and innovative.

There are some reliable resources in piano teaching that can be taken and adopted from different web applications or music teaching programs available online. The power of technology in terms of software creation and programming has greatly and positively influenced and acquired the music education arena. Without putting quality and efficiency at risks, piano teacher's software can really be helpful and useful to most piano teachers out there.

Find a reliable piano teachers' website today.

Music teachers' websites are made readily available to most music teachers out there to give them what they really need and deserve. Those piano teachers, who thirst and crave for more innovative and effective resources in piano teaching, should try it online - researching and finding for those reliable inputs and tips.

More so, with just a few very clicks, you can find links to those pages that are considered as networks and links of other educators around the globe. This can indeed be a good place for you to expand your knowledge and skills in piano teaching.

Create better musical activities and make them involved.

Musical activities provide children with important experiences that can aid them improve themselves - including these aspects: physical coordination, timing, memory, visual, aural and language skills. Through these tools and activities, you can expect a better classroom environment and learning situation as you would see them more motivated, inspired and enthusiastic in participating in every activity and participating in each lecture or discussion.

So, what are you waiting for? Visit a piano teacher's website today, find your own teacher's software and make use of those creative and innovative resources in piano teaching. Enjoy and more power!

The Excitement Of Your Own Money Making Internet Home Business

People are motivated by different things. This is especially true when it comes to making money online. One thing that is very exciting is setting up your own money making Internet home business.

Here are some of the motivating factors that cause people to take this exciting step.

1. They need money. This is a basic need that more people have turned to on the Internet based on a poor economy all over the world.

Perhaps you have lost your job or have had your hours cut. Whatever the reason making money from a home business is something more people are doing.

2. Quit your full-time job. This is certainly a motivating factor. It's great to be able to get up every day and go work for yourself. You will not have a boss telling you what to do, so if you are entrepreneurial by nature this is great.

3. You can work anywhere you want in the world. To have an Internet business all you need is a computer and Internet access. For people who like to travel an online home business means logging on where they are at to make money.

4. No ceiling on your income. This is a big factor for people who want more out of life.

Some people would like to give more to charity or their church. Others would like to buy a second home or make improvements on the one they have. All of this is possible when you are making more money online.

These are all reasons why your own money making Internet home business might be appealing to you!

Reverse Cell Phone Lookup - Easiest Way to Bust a Cheating Spouse Or Lover

There are hordes of people out there searching for a way to do a reverse cell phone lookup. Some of them just want a method which they can use to stop prank calls or to find out who last call their phone, but a major want to catch their partner cheating.

As depressing as that may sound, it's true. More and more people are using their cellular phones as a mode of communication when they are having a relationship outside of their marriage. The anonymous nature of cellular handsets has made it extremely easy to be deceptive and to keep secrets. After all, if the number shows up with no name attached to it what choice have you really had a separate take the other person's word for it?

Today though, there are ways around this. With the invention of an investigational tool known as a reverse cell phone directory, it is now possible to find out exactly who owns a cellular telephone number. In addition to that, you are also able to obtain their address, service status, current service provider and even a digital map to their front door.

Professional investigators have been using this type of technology for a long time. The fact that it is now available to the public, should help a ton of people find out exactly what is going on with their partners and whether relationships.

To appreciate just how big of a deal this is, you have to understand how hard cellular communication companies have volunteered to keep this type of information out of the public eye. In the past, this type of directory has been bought up and quickly dismissed by the phone companies themselves. You see, their loyalty lies to their subscribers and they are doing everything in their power to keep the numbers private. At this point, with these directories giving us all the ability to do a reverse cell phone lookup, it's a non-issue.

One additional piece of advice I would like to give you is to be prepared for the information that you get back. The sad fact is, many of the people that are looking for this kind of information already know that their partner is having an affair. They just need the information in black and white and in front of them to confirm their suspicions. Be aware, chances are good that your expectations will be confirmed and you should prepare yourself for that beforehand.

Small Business Web Solutions

For a business to grow in the online market by making the best use of the online opportunities, it is important to have a state of the art website. More than a mere online presence of a business, a website of a company speaks volumes about the company and makes or breaks the impression. This is where a company can use all its creativity, uniqueness and innovation in show casing themselves in front of the potential online customers. In other words, the website acts as an advertising medium for a business. Not only does it contain all the information and latest news people would like to know about a business but also the means by which a business can impress a visitor and tempt them enough to try out its products and / or services.

Professional web design

A well presented website not only has the potential to gain more visibility but also, the tool for procuring more and better business. A website that has been created with better planning and with a professional design has the ability to show easily easily the popular search engine rankings. That means, if a user performs a search in the search engine typing a keyword that matches with one or more of the keywords used in the content of a website, then it may simply show up within the first few ranks in the search engine listings.

Budget concerns

Small business web solutions are very limited by budget concerns, which is the reason why they may not be able to design their site as they would otherwise like to owed to a shorthard budget. That may translate into a website with a less sophisticated and a simpler design. Not all clients or customers look for flashy and over the top designed websites. However, it is still advisable that a small business always be open to feedback from clients and customers. A feedback form can also be designed in the website itself. This way, even though it is only a small business, it can play its part in making the clients and customers feel important while making them involved in the progress of the company. This only ensures a stronger bond of trust between the business and the clients or customers.

Marketing

Small business web solutions also offer marketing for promotion of a business. Since, budget is always a concern for small business; it can always create business profiles in the free to use social networking sites, where it can take active part in discussions in niche communities and keep updating their profile pages with the company's latest launches, developments and services.

How To Give Your Woman A No-Touch Orgasm By Phone Sex (3 PROVEN Techniques!)

Women can have NO-TOUCH orgasms! They can experience this by having you talk to them (with no touching) by texting them, instant messaging them, or even PHONE SEX! Once you learn the technique you can use it with any type of medium. Learn this PROVEN METHOD today!

This is an exciting technique and concept. You can use parts or all of this technique in so many ways!

1st Tip. Make her feel comfortable.

Too many people, even women, start in too far, too fast. There's a time to be crude and use vivid language and a time to wait. Start out with some momentum and make her feel comfortable.

Then, once she knows that you respect her. Nobody wants to totally be thought of as a sex object. The woman could tell you that she doesn't want phone sex, yet love it when you do it in the right way.

The point is to start slowly.

2nd Tip. Getting her hot!

Now start at her mouth (actually her head) and head south. Ask her about her greatest unfulfilled fantasy or a sex game she'd like to try. The more you can get her to talk, the more you'll turn her on.

If she asks what you'd like to do with her, then describe a very romantic scene. Give her details and set the scene with smells, feelings, taste, and texture.

Describe in detail, how her mouth would taste, and how you'll enjoy french kissing her. Then ask her if she's getting turned or - or damp.

3rd Tip. Driving her crazy!

Now, start with a detailed description of what you'd do with her breasts. Tell her you'd tease her breasts for a long time. Ask if her breasts fell swollen and ask her if her nipples are hard.

Tell her you'd want to give her a breast orgasm. You'd cup them, tease her nipples, suck them, and then put as much of her breast in your mouth as you could. Describe how you'd suck her breasts so fast and hard.

Now, tell her how you'd kiss her inner thighs and tease her clit with your tongue. Tell her how she'd have to arch her back and reach your tongue and finger. Describe how you'd drive your tongue inside her and reach her g-spot. Tell her how hard she'd shake and convulse.

Give her as much detail as you can, including feelings. You should have a great time and a new experience!

Demystifying Japanese Cellphone Slang - Kaomoji, Emoji and Decomail

It's hard enough trying to keep up with the latest English terminology and slang surrounding the use of mobes, the gratingly ugly term preferred in the UK for cellphones (mobe is short for mobile phones), but with Japanese keitai terms (that's the Japanese slang for cellphone) now appearing in the English language, us old fogeys can sometimes find it difficult to work out what it is all about. This article will try to explain two common and one not-so-common phrases that seem to be making the rounds of the SNS generation.

Kaomoji
Literally, this is face letters , but it is also often referred to as Japanese emoticons. These take not just alphabet characters, but the full gamut of symbol characters, Japanese kanji characters, Greek, Russian, dingbats and anything else you can find to make assorted horizontal faces. The classic cat smiley = ^. ^ = Is a simple example, but searching the internet for a term such as "kaomoji dictionary" will reveal hundreds, if not thousands, of kaomoji to represent just about every emotion or situation you could ever think of , and a good number you could not!

I do find it interesting that there are many, many articles out there about how the Western smilies like :-) came about, but very little has been done to reveal the history of the Japanese kaomoji. As far as I can determine, it was a Korean person in Japan in early 1986 who proposed the (^_^) smiley, and a Japanese nuclear scientist who came up with (~ _ ~) at much the same time.

Emoji

Move a step up the evolutionary ladder and we get to emoji, literally picture letters . These were first popularized on Japanese cellphones, displaying a small icon in place of characters in an email. Now almost every phone supports a full range of over a hundred of these icons, and are an indispensable feature for the vast majority of users in Japan, as even if people do not write them, the chances are that contacts will be sending emails full of them! They also infect Japanese blogs, and for many people they replace punctuation within their text. Some of the mobile service providers now even animate the glyphs, which brings us round to the final term.

Decomail

Decomail is actually derived from English, being short for decoration mail . Decorated mail would be more grammatically correct, but the official full name is indeed decoration. This should actually be familiar to many readers as it is just a marketing name for HTML-based email on a mobile phone, allowing simple decoration of text through features such as scrolling banners, inserted images, aligned text, and color selection. One major manifestation of decomail is the use of what is effectively animated emoji, by allowing small animations to be inserted into email, with some phones coming preloaded with animations numbering in the thousands! However, these images are not just limited to small animated emoji ( kaoani - animated faces - are one manifestation, and another term to talk about at a later date) but also may be larger and may even be flash with simple scripting.

As mentioned at the start of this section, decomail is HTML mail, so that means that yes, you can send foreign friends these messages directly from your Japanese cellphone! You can also sometimes receive it, but as the size and other limitations on a cellphone are quite severe, there's less of a guarantee of it actually working.

So, that I hope gives you a flavor of how Japanese spice up their mobile emails. I've no space to mention that Google's Gmail can display emoji, nor that Apple and Google are trying to standardize emoji in Unicode, nor even 2ch emoticons, but hopefully now you'll know the definition of kaomoji, emoji and decomail if you hear them in conversation.