Erasmus Experience in Cluj-Napoca, Romania by Cristina

Why did you choose to go to Cluj-Napoca, Rumania?

My experience is from 2011 (February - August).

It was by chance :)

Before I start, I want to mention that I made a blog: erasmusenclujnapoca

If you could read it, if possible, in chronological order from the first post in January 2011 because that way you can appreciate how my opinion of the city evolved, what I was doing... I think that it would be helpful.

It was the first time that Romania had been offered for Erasmus at my university and only to those studying Industrial Electrical Engineering, no one had been there before so no one was interested in going, I mean, who would want to go to Romania?

My other options were in Sweden (two different places) and those were my choices, so I had the choice of changing my degree (to what I had no idea... ) or taking the plunge. I have a friend from Romania and she lives in my city and was studying physics in a city in Romania and she really encouraged me to go because she knew that I would like it and that it was a country I should find out more about.

And it was the best decision that I could've made.

After I had been, all of the Erasmus places offered in Cluj have been filled and everyone really enjoyed their time there.

How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

Mine lasted 6 months. And I got a lot of money, between the funding from the state, from Asturias and the others that came up, I was able to make savings there and come back with money.

But you can do a lot with little money there, it's a great place to go for your Erasmus experience.

What is the student lifestyle like in Cluj-Napoca?

Very lively. It's a university town like Vigo, Granada and Salamanca in Spain, the city empties in summer, so it's great in Cluj.

It's a hotbed of students from all over the world and from other parts of Romania, there are very few students actually from Cluj...

Ophthalmology and law students are the majority there, the city is full of their clinics and offices, it's said to be one of the best cities in Europe to have vision realted operations.

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Would you recommend the city and the University of Cluj-Napoca to other students?

Of course. However, every experience there will be different because every degree, faculty, professor, fellow student and your own personality, will make it different every time.

In my case I was the first Erasmus student that they had in the Electricity department and there weren't any classes in English, they hadn't made any yet, but the Electronics department had some and they had groups of international classes which were in English.

I had 5 subjects and although they were given in Romanian, they would explain everything to me in English, my notes were written in English. For me, aside from listening to the class being given in Romanian for everyone else, everything was in English.

All of the classes gave me lots to do, especially two of them, but only one made my life a little bit impossible and in that class they were dead set on making everyone's life miserable, be they from Romania or elsewhere. So I didn't waste any time in getting to grips with the SAE (Sisteme de Actionare Electrica).

What is the food like?

Very good and very cheap. They have German heritage, so if you like the food there, you'll love it here. Cakes and tarts. Dishes cooked with yogurt and sauces.

They eat a lot of grilled chicken, or rolled with parsley and they have a cornflour purée called Mămăligă or in Italian: Polenta.

They have many kinds of soup and they're delicious.

The famous Mititei are amazing, especially with mustard!

Sarmale is a way to eat cabbage without even realising because you can only taste the meat in the dish.

And their frappés... addictive.

Was it difficult to find accommodation in Cluj-Napoca?

I stayed in a residence for technicians, now it has joined with the Observator.

The different faculties are spread throughout the city, the most majestic buildings are in the city itself, I had some classes in various buildings here and I had others in the Observator. This area of Cluj is on the hill and is a high point in the city, this is where the student residences are. But they're quite spread out and aren't all connected.

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How much does it cost to live in Cluj-Napoca?

Very little. 1 Romanian leu = 0, 22454 Euro.

At the residence a room is shared between 4 with 2 bunk beds, 4 study desks, shelves, a fridge, a sink, a cooker (a portable one with 2 burners) and a bathroom with a shower, all for the price of €80.

The food is really cheap but it's the same as in Spain, if you buy in Lidl or other low price shops the quality isn't the same as in a better shop.

Going on nights out, it may seem cheap but it isn't, you end up wasting more money than you think but no where near as much as you do in Spain.

Or if you go to the Julius Mall, one of the shopping centres, you'll see that the prices are very high. It'll shock you when you've got used to the prices in the city... there are many levels. There are people who earn a huge salary and the girls are so arrogant, they're perfectly turned out, dressed up, made up, hair done, perfect nails...

Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available at the University?

Everyone speaks English, apart from the older generation but especially the young women and girls there have often mastered up to 4/5 languages, only from watching TV. English, Italian, Spanish, French or German, a lot of people know Russian as it was compulsary when Ceaușescu was president.

You'll feel ashamed if you can only speak English...

I couldn't take any Romanian courses because when I got there in February, you had had to have already applied for it much earlier, bad luck I guess...

You should take a course in Romanian if you can, it will help you to fit in there and learning how to say "îmi pare rău, strada mea este pe de altă parte" to a taxi driver isn't hard. I learned from a little book I carried while I was there, but Romanian is very similar to French and Italian so it's very useful to know when learning other languages, it's a fusion. They say 'Merci' to say 'Thank you' and 'La Revedere' to say 'See you later', like 'Arrivederci' in Italian. What's more, any work you put in to learning is valuable, even more so these days with there being work opportunities all over the world. As for languages, the more of them you know and the more unusual they are, the better.

What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to Cluj-Napoca from your city?

With Wizzair, you can go directly from Madrid to Cluj, but there were other cities you could get a direct flight from, too.

If you buy your ticket early, you'll save a lot of money. If you don't, it can be very expensive.

Where would you recommend for a night out in Cluj-Napoca?

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g298474-Activities-c20-Cluj_Napoca_Cluj_County_Northwest_Romania_Transylvania.html

In Cluj, you can go somewhere every day, there was a place for every day of the week. So on Mondays, for example, I used to go to a club in the Observator inside of a shopping centre, I don't remember the name but I really liked it there. It was modern, very nicely decorated, lots of people but not too many. There were lots of parties, it was fabulous and my favourite day of the week.

Nights out are always very safe, everything is under control, you can see that they don't want any problems because when people drink, they act stupidly, especially when they're students. Be careful, it's just like in Spain, it's easy to get into stupid fights over girls or getting pushed, dropping the subject or walking away quickly is always the best thing to do.

Depending on your music taste, I like electro and it's produced in Romania. You'll realise when you go back to Spain that everything sounds Romanian :D and no one has any idea!

The club Vertigo is great and super modern. It's quite small but great for having a nice drink, great service and the music is great. The crowd there is between 25 and 30 years old.

Cluj has a really young population, if you go there and you're over 25, you'll notice it then :)

Club MIDI is an electro club, they have international DJs perform there, the atmosphere is great and it's clean. Check out their line up if you like the place because some really big DJs go there.

To dine and to watch matches, the Roland Garros restaurant is the place.

But everyone says that the Janis Club is the best, Janis la Stuf. In my opinion, it's a death trap with those stairs to get down. Although, the decor is cool, I think it changes every year. When I was there it was a boat, full of fishing nets, paintings, graffiti and everything. Anyone who came to visit was left really impressed but the bars in Cluj.

A lot of the pubs are hidden because in Romania they have taken advantage of spaces on the ground floor and "hideouts" to house the city's best establishments and restaurants.

There are a lot of bars hidden in indoor patios, you have to go out and look for them, they're all over the centre of the city. There's one near the Piata Uniri where everything is made of cardboard, the tables, the chairs, the lamps... everything. Another had some amazing graffiti and I don't know if you can still smoke in the bars but you used to be able to smoke nargileh, shisha or hookah, they used the Arabic names there.

So when are we going? :D

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And to eat? Can you recommend some good restaurants in Cluj-Napoca?

To eat, there are a lot of Romanian food places but there are even more international ones and we'd always end up there.

There's a very glamorous restaurant called SORA, you should really take someone special here and when you visit, you'll have a fantastic meal. It's the best in Cluj and the price is the same as in Spain, so it's very good.

There's a restaurant inside a small shopping centre on the street Bulevardul 21 Decembrie 1989, near the Piata Uniri, it's on the ground floor and I think it's called something like Casa Alardeana. It has a typically rural decor and you can have an amazing meal there for very cheap. We went back there several times and it's perhaps the best place to take family and friends when they visit, because it's more authentic.

The Roland Garros is great for food, too. It's a huge place with big tables and great beer. I forgot to say that Romanian beer is really good and the one from Cluj is called Ursus, the beer of the bear. There's also Timisoreana, it's more international, you can even find it in shops in Spain, so go and test it!

There are also a lot of pizzerias, the legendary one is the Dolce Vita in Hasdeu, where they have football meets. You can have amazing food there for very, very cheap and the pizzas are made in a wood-fired oven. We loved going there although it's on a street with the residences so there's a lot of places to choose from.

A more glamorous, more modern Italian restaurant, where you can take special friends, partners and family is La Piazzetta, on Bulevardul Eroilor.

Sahara, is a really cool Arabic restaurant, they cook amazing food.

Tokyo is a Japanese restaurant, it's very good if a bit expensive. But it's good to get some variety and if you like Japanese food, it's a great and the only place in town, I think.

The Chinese restaurants are not like the Chinese restaurants you're used to, you won't see any Chinese people inside, nor in the shops. We never ate at a Chinese place, but I think they only do soup and something else but there's little variety.

And then the kebab shops, there are a lot of them and they're really good. They're the same as they are here, little bars or they sell directly onto the street. They're always full of people and, strangely enough, they put chips in the kebab! Nooooooo! You'll soon learn how to say 'no' in Romanian! NUUUUU :D

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

Cluj is a small city but it has lots of churches (Biserică), the Piata Uniri basilica is beautiful and the Ortodoxa is impressive, they're on the same street. The architechural contrast between them is special to have in one city. They're on the Bulevardul 21 Decembrie 1989, a huge street.

The National Theatre, you must see a show there, we went to see Carmina Burana and we loved it. The experience was amazing, what it's like inside the theatre, how you get dressed up to go to the theatre...

After you've got to know the city, you'll travel a lot. Romania is a country not to be missed.

Brasoc (a city in the mountains), Sighisoara (a medieval city), Bucharest (the capital, it's not as pretty but you have to go), Sibiu (very little but it's very pretty and the houses have a strange feature: eyes on the roof), Suceava, (the Bucovina monasteries are indescribable)... there's a lot to see.

Is there any other advice that you could give to students going to Cluj-Napoca in the future?

Go to class in the early days, give a good impression, try to do what is asked of you and, if you can't, ask for help. It's easy to pass because they help you. The other students will be shy at the beginning, too, but they all speak English.

The veterinary students were the other students who had a lot of work, but the others, I can't even tell you!

Try to learn Romanian, carry a little dictionary.

You'll make a lot of friends and people will be really nice to you. They love that we are interested in their country and are very hospitable.

Be careful with the taxi drivers, they have one price outside of the car and then they can still charge by how long the journey lasts or by how many kilometres you go. They never tried to trick me because I spoke Romanian when I got in the cab. So knowing how to say hello to someone is important, depending on the time of day, they can say something different. Saying the street in Romanian and not much more is already mastering a taxi ride.

Try all of the food.

And, if you can, you should make a blog or a personal diary because it'll be harder to forget it then. Boys, you'll fall in love with many Romanian girls and girls, you'll fall in love with Italians, Turks, or, like me, with someone from your own country.

Everything will change when you can say that you've been here, few can say the same. If you like to travel and learn languages, this is only the beginning.