Age No Problem for 84-Year-Old Cretan Going to Greek University

Dimitris Moudatsakis is another person that proves it is never too late to follow your dreams; at the age of 84 he is ready to go to university and study history and archaeology.

The Cretan man wanted to get a higher education ever since he was in grade school. However, he was forced to go to work at the age of 10. He left his village and went to Heraklion to learn the craft of bookbinding, learning the craft from his uncle.

When he finished school, he served in the army and then opened his own bookbinding business. Then he got married and raised a family, working harder to put bread on the table and send his children to university, something that he had not been able to do.

Then his children started their own families and made him a grandfather. So, when he retired, it was time to fulfill his own dream: go to university. He went to night classes to get a high-school diploma and then started studying hard to prepare for the university entry exams. He didn’t make it last year, but now he passed the exams and is ready to enroll in September at Rethymnon University.

“I wanted to study from a young age. I watched the other kids go to school and envied them. I wanted to go too, but I could not. I did not have the chance,” Moudatsakis told Cretalive.gr. “All those years though, I was always with a book in hand. I always read. Every Saturday, when we got paid, I went and bought a book, which I read through.”  

The 84-year-old was always fascinated with history and is now prepared to study the subject. “I am thinking of enrolling for History and Archeology. I am 1,000 points above the previous try last year,” he said.

His family was not certain Moutsadakis would make it. “At first, when I returned to school, my wife was saying, ‘What are you going to do?’ And generally they did not think I would have that much strength. And now they are reluctant to go to Rethymnon. They tell me ‘It’s far away, how are you going to go there?’ And I answer them, ‘As long as my strength allows, I will go to the university!’

Philip Chrysopoulos

Sources: Greek Reporter, Endospolis, neakriti_