The Context

So here it goes: hello Internet! I'm Ioana, born and raised in the fish-like looking country called Romania (it realy does, just look at the photo), city of Brasov (yep the one with Dracula... except that he left de building -or the coffin- for the moment). Otherwhise known for the large population of bears (being in the mountains and all that), yes, i said bears. When i was in highschool and went out, i used to call my mom before coming home at night, and asked her to look outside on the window to see if they are in front of my building "ok hon, guess it's ok to come home past your curfew". Oh, and the name of the citty is written on the mountain just like in Hollywood (check the photo! it's quite funny)

You see? it does look like a fish! (Source: Encyclopedia Britannica)

As you can see, they usually dine out, at the restaurants in the city. The ones in the picture didn't get a table so they went to a fast-food instead. Poor little furry guys,  (Photo source: Mediafax.ro)

Some of them are ninja bears. So keep your head up. They don't usually attack people, only stupid people that are mean  and selfish. (Photo source: bzb.ro)

You know the Madonna song that goes like "Everybody comes to Hollywood/They wanna make it in the neighborhood" - but except here, it's Brasov and you'd better pack your mountain gear if you really wanna make it in the neighbourhood. (Photo source: h2020.md).

So Brasov is my hometown and I actually consider myself lucky for this. If you come to Ro, check it out. You won't be sorry. Well... except if you get lost in the forest and end up as dinner for the furry souls. Kind advice: don't go looking for trouble, they are wild animals after all and not entertainment.

Academically, I graduated from Pharmacy school in 2015, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Hatieganu" of Cluj Napoca (which i heard, at that time, that it was the best one in the country, for pharmacy at least). In that same year i went with the Erasmus programme to a lovely, little, funky, groovy, sometimes rainy for 5 days non-stop and incredible beautiful and alive city called Porto (and i think that i can come up with even more adjectives!).

Wanted to go with Erasmus since i was admitted to university, thinking: "wow they are really going to pay me to go and work and learn and enjoy life in a different country? What's the catch?". My financial status - not that good being from East of Europe (but we do have electricity here and cable TV *hint of sarcasm), didn't do much travelling 'till then, but aside this aspect, i managed, thanks to my two amazing superhero parents.

Erasmus interview:

• Q - Where do you want to go? A - In Porto;
• Q - Where else?A - In Porto,
• Q - But you speak very well French, why Porto? A - Because:

1. it's 3300 km away from home,
2. I want to see the ocean 
3. Portuguese language sounds really sexy and i want to learn it! (Romanian is a latin language as well as Portughese, French, Italian, Spanish so it's not too hard to learn it or at least to get to understand it if you want of course. And i did! Agora mesmo, eu posso falar um bocado o Portugues e nao foi difficil a aprender no no)

Some dear friends, that went two years before me, suggested to go there: not expensive, people are amazing (more nice than the people in Cluj - they said), architecture is amazing... it sounded pretty nice + the Ocean!.

Succeded at my interview! I was going to work in a community pharmacy for three months (March - May 2015) in the city of Porto, second city of Portugal (Northern area of the country), university city, with one of the biggest Erasmus comunities - i studied and still live in Cluj-Napoca, second city of Romania, student city - any resemblance? and maybe one day a bigger Erasmus comunity).

Photo gallery