Chapter 3

3.   Student life in Greece: 1977-1979

 

The university studies went well. During the spring term of 1977 I was already in my third year and according to the plans I would graduate in 1978.  This semester I chose to take a course in "Regional Economics". I was one of the few students who followed the course and had close contact with our professor. The course was quite interesting and it felt good when my professor told me about Torsten Hägerstrand, a well-known professor from Linköping University, who was one of the best in the subject. Hägerstrand and some cultural geographers had developed a whole new school of thought about the geography of time.

In the macroeconomics course, we had a dedicated Keynesian professor. Keynesianism was the dominant theory of economics at that time. The professor said, among other things, that the theory actually originated in Sweden, as the idea was developed at the School of Business and Economics during the Great Depression in the 1930s. I actually remember that a fellow student, who was born in Germany and his parents still worked there, became a little sarcastic and pointed out that it was Hitler first who applied the theory in real life and the professor got quite annoyed! But Keynesianism was also applied in Sweden too, the professor replied, and there it went just fine! Other fellow students then mentioned my name, because I was probably the most suitable person to talk about Sweden. During the break, I had a nice conversation with the professor and he thought it was a wise decision to move to Sweden for further studies.

Linguaphone certificate

In November 1977 I received my Swedish Linguaphone certificate. I remember that I was examined on some grammar, word order, and an essay of at least three pages long about Sweden, without a dictionary. The examination took place at Linguaphone's headquarters in Athens.

My essay was about where I wanted to live and why. I remember I wrote that I wanted to live in Karesuando (Lappland) and live in peace and quiet, together with the Sami people and their reindeer in the free and cold North, away from the chaos and pollution of Athens. I ended the essay with "Yes, I want to live, I want to die in the North", using the two last lines from the Swedish national anthem. A few weeks later, the certificate arrived from London, in an A3 format, along with all the errors that had been corrected by some Swedish teacher. Of course, there were a lot of errors, but probably they liked my sentimental text. However, I had fewer errors in grammar and word order.

It should be pointed out that I have never had a Swedish teacher to help me with my pronunciation. Learning Swedish on your own when you have already turned 20, in a foreign country, was not so easy. I still have a bit of a hard time pronouncing "å" and "o" correctly, even though I know how the words with such vowels are written. On the other hand, I rarely miss the "word order" in long sentences, a typical mistake by non-Swedes, and never start a sentence with "Which", as is usually done in Sweden these days.

The letter to Uppsala University

Even though I had just under a year and a half left of my studies, I decided to write a letter to Uppsala University, in Swedish, and ask for the conditions to the doctoral program in Economics. Of course, I told them a lot about myself and that I had a great interest in studying in Sweden. I probably had a lot of errors in the letter, even though it took a lot of time to formulate it as correctly as possible. I also sent a copy of my Linguaphone certificate, as well as my approved courses from the School of Business and Economics and hoped that they would take my letter seriously.

Early 1978, I received a large envelope, with a lot of information in English, as well as a letter in Swedish, from the then assistant of the Department of Economics, Anders Kristoffersson. Anders wrote, among other things, that "It feels unusual to be able to answer your letter in Swedish...", because they had all the information in English that they used to send to foreign students. He replied that: given that I got a residence permit, that I had finished my degree from the School of Business and Economics and had passed the last semester's two supplementary courses in economics in Uppsala, I would be admitted to the doctoral program! He didn't mention anything about the requirement for the Swedish language and I thought that the Linguaphone certificate was adequate.

An economics course

During the autumn term of 1977 I started my last year. At that time, we had a course in "International Economics" that among other things dealt with Heckscher-Ohlin, i.e. the most known model in Trade Theory. Bertil Ohlin from the Stockholm School in Economics had just received the Nobel Prize the same year for this theory.

My professor had heard from his colleagues that there was a student in the class who was interested in Sweden and knew Swedish. A few days after it became known that Bertil Ohlin received the award, he asked who the "Swedish" guy is. I actually got a little scared and raised my arm cautiously. He then asked me if I could translate a Swedish article by Eli Heckscher from 1919, which, according to some economists, contained the basic idea for their model. I answered maybe, but it can be very difficult with such an old text. After the lesson we went to his office and he showed me the article that was published in the Swedish journal Ekonomisk Tidskrift under the title: "The effect of foreign trade on income distribution. Some theoretical groundlines". I spent many hours on it because my Swedish-Greek dictionary lacked many important words. Finally, I decided to write a short summary of the parts I understood. He was satisfied anyway, thanked me for my work and I was rewarded with a better grade on the course! At the same time, I realized that my Swedish was at an elementary level.

Telegram to Nikos & Barbro

At the beginning of February 1978, I was told by our friend Tassos that Nikos was going to marry Barbro in Stockholm. At that time in Greece, if you couldn't go to a wedding, you used to send a telegram with greetings and wishes. I decided to do the same for Nikos as well, in Swedish.

One day when I was in the center of Athens, I went to the Greek Telecommunications Authority (OTE) to send the telegram. At the same time, I wanted to impress Barbro in particular, that I had learned a lot of Swedish, and decided to write the text in Swedish. But, what should it say? I knew the Swedish word "congratulations", but there should be something more, but not a long text, since telegrams were expensive at the time and were paid per the number of characters. Nor did I have the Swedish book with me to get some help, but I remembered some nice adjectives that should be in front of "congratulations". Then I decided to write "Deepest congratulations". When thy told me that it wouldn’t cost more up to 50 characters, I wrote, "Deepest congratulations on your weddings. Hope nice life". I mixed of course “hope” with “wish” and got angry at myself later. I remember writing clearly on a piece of paper to help the receptionist with the Swedish letters. Barbro was really touched, I found out later from Nikos. She has saved it and she still reminds me of when they called from the Telecommunication office and read out the telegram.

Sweden and my girlfriend

In the spring of 1978, I went with my girlfriend to ABBA's film premiere, "The movie". The film and the music were fantastic, we thought. Afterwards we went to a cafeteria and started talking about ABBA and Sweden. Of course, my girlfriend knew that I was studying Swedish and was planning to go to Sweden, but she was sure that soon I would grow up and change my mind. She told me that my mother had already talked to her to try to change my mind and stay in Greece. My arguments for Sweden did not help.

After a little heated discussion, she asked me a direct question: "Do you love Sweden more than me?" And without thinking, I answered immediately, "maybe". She was devastated and began to cry. I tried in vain to calm her down that she could also go with me to Sweden after her studies, but without success. To love a foreign country that I never been there, instead of her, she interpreted as if I had never loved her and that I thought selfishly only about myself. She left the cafeteria crying and our love came to a sad end that evening. Of course, I was also sad, but at the same time I felt a little liberated anyway, because no one could keep me in Greece anymore!  

Summer 1978

At the beginning of the summer, Barbro and Nikos came to Greece on holidays. It was the first time I met Barbro. I got a t-shirt from her with a text in Swedish, "Sweds eat more porridge" that I wore almost every day. Barbro was so happy when we sat out in a tavern and I practiced Swedish with her, while Nikos was talking to Tassos about Sweden. It was an unforgettable summer evening. 

A couple of weeks later, I went to Cambridge to study English. It was a nice experience to hang out with students from different countries. There I bought, among other things, a larger English-Swedish-English dictionary.

When I got back to Greece, it was time to take the last three exams I had. I wanted to finish my degree and move to Sweden. But if I had passed all the exams, I had to cancel my deferment from the military, which I had received due to my studies. I didn't want to do the military service for almost two years. So, I passed both tests I took, and left the last one for the February occasion. At the same time, I started working part-time to have some income in Sweden.

Applying for a residence permit

During the autumn, I went to the embassy and applied for a residence permit in Sweden. I wanted to be out in good time and move there as soon as I was done with my last exam. I was given all the application forms by the secretary, who actually remembered me from my previous visit. We exchanged a few short sentences in Swedish and she was impressed. I showed her also the answer from Uppsala University and my Linguaphone certificate.

But, in order to get a residence permit for studies, I was required, among other things, to have clear financing, for example a bank account that covered about 4 years of subsistence. At that time, Sweden required about 350 dollars per month, over 9 months per year, i.e. a very large total amount. Of course I didn't have it. She suggested that maybe someone else close to me could help in some way.

I remember she showed a document from the Immigration Authorities where all monthly costs were specified. In addition to the usual ones, rent, electricity, food, transport and clothes, there were two more items, "two cinema tickets" and "an LP record". I got a little bit annoyed and said to her in Greek: "I am not going to go to the cinema or buy an LP every month! Can't we remove it from the list and transfer a little less money"? She politely replied that if the authorities have decided so, I need to accept it. At the same time, she pointed out that I will go crazy in the long, dark and cold winter in Sweden without cinema or music! There I got my first lesson about what a Swedish authority can do with one's private life. Despite my sadness, I thanked her and promised to come back and submit the application.

I talked to my family about this. It was impossible to have a four-year amount and block it in a special account. My mother was a housewife and my father was a public servant, with neither a high income nor savings. I also had a younger brother who was in high school and we lived in a rented apartment.

I asked my father to just sign a fake document that he will support me. However, my dad was upright and correct throughout his life. In fact, he was very afraid that he would be punished if he did not fulfill what he was supposed to certify on his honor and conscience. I reassured him that this was a mere formality that he didn't have to worry about. In the worst case, my residence permit in Sweden would not be renewed and then I would leave the country. At the same time, I promised him that I would do everything possible to get by with research grants. Finally, I convinced him to sign a certificate promising to support me every month.

His certificate was officially translated into Swedish, and a few days later I returned to the embassy where I submitted my application. The secretary received it and all the documents and I hoped for the best.

At the beginning of 1979, the Swedish embassy called and told me that the Immigration Authorities rejected my application. The reason for that was that I lacked permission from the Greek Central Bank that would allow my father to transfer foreign currency to Sweden. Even Nikos told me that other Greeks who had applied for residence permits had the same problem because of the currency restriction that prevailed at the time in Greece.

I then went with my father to the Greek Central Bank and applied for permission. There, too, my father had to certify that as a public employee he had a fixed income and the amount was to be put into a special account at the central bank, which would then be transferred to my account in Sweden. A couple of weeks later, we got the permission from the Central Bank and I went back to the embassy.

While I was waiting at the reception, I noticed that the secretary was talking in Swedish with an older handsome man. The secretary told him something about me, as he turned to me and introduced himself: "I am Ivar Öhman, the Ambassador". Then he continued in English that the secretary had talked to him about me and suddenly he asked me: "Do you know Swedish?" I immediately replied, "yes, a little". He asked how I learned Swedish and if I had bought my blue winter jacket I was wearing in Sweden. I replied that I had never been to Sweden, that my friend Nikos bought the jacket there and that I learned Swedish through Linguaphone. The secretary standing next to him showed him the certificate. His face lit up. At the same time, I handed over to the secretary the missing certificate from the Central Bank.

He then turned to the secretary and asked her to get all the documents in order and send it to the Immigration Authorities as express embassy post. Then he looked at me for a bit, patted my back and said that they would appeal the decision and that it will be fine. I thanked them for their kindness, using a phrase I had learned in the Swedish course, "I am extremely grateful for your kindness," and went home.

After about three weeks, the embassy called again. I wasn't at home and my mother answered the phone. The secretary told her that I was granted a residence permit and I should go to the embassy with my passport to get it stamped. When I got home later that evening, my mother told me the wonderful news.

The next day, early in the morning, I went to the embassy. The secretary of course noticed that I was very happy. She said that the ambassador helped, because he perceived me as serious, determined and a friend of Sweden, and he was also fascinated because I had learned Swedish myself.

At the same time, she had some good advice to give me. I should try to concentrate on my studies, spend a lot of time with Swedes at the university and be extra careful with the Greeks in Uppsala. I asked why. She only mentioned that several years earlier, during the dictatorship, there were some fights between left-wing and right-wing people in Uppsala and the situation was still tense there. I thanked her for the advice and promised that I would stay away from them, just as I had done during my studies in Athens.

A few days later, I was told that I was not accepted into the "College d' Europe" in Belgium. I had applied for a place to study the European economy. I was in a good reserve place but it was not guaranteed that I would get it. But I didn't care, I was going to Sweden!