Before being trapped in such an ordinary situation, I worked quietly and comfortably in one little, comfortable library which makes part of a scientific center for the Greek and other ancient worlds. This comfortable job lasted for about two years. How did I manage to find such a dream-work?

I arrived in Paris in December 2015. I wanted to conduct a serious, deep research on skin in Hippocrates. But I needed a job.  And at that moment, I had no idea of how it is difficult to do these two things simultaneously: to study seriously and to earn enough money to survive in Paris, where the cheapest apartment is a studio 9 m2, on the last floor without elevator, with no WC inside, no shower cabin and no kitchen costs 350 euros per month. No problem! says the householder, you’ve got a swimming pool not far from here. There, you may take your shower. By the way, the door of this “studio” was rather symbolic: old, one half of transparent glass, another one wooden. “There have been no robberies here as yet”, says the householder. Oh, thanks for these words, I feel safe and comfortable now…

Fortunately, around the mid-January 2016, I found a studio (rented, by chance, by a Ukrainian) for 5oo euros + 70 (electricity and internet) in the 9 arr., Cité Napoléon. Cold, humid, tiny, but ok till the neighbour listening music every night arrived.

I also found a babysitting agency and became a babysitter, my first job in Paris. But I suffered from the boys, then I suffered even more from the girls I had to take care of. Finally, a friend of mine and a doctorant from Greece, Vasso who knows well how it is for the outsiders to study and to work in Paris, insisted: ask, do not hesitate an ask our direction for a job at the Gernet-Glotz! So, I did it. And closer to summer 2016 I signed the contract with CNRS (library). Since then, my life in Paris had become more “bourgeois” – more or less quiet and stable…