by Stella Kalle
Visiting Romania as a tourist and living there as a student at an University is certainly a totally different story. Or maybe not? The common thing between me – the tourist – and my friend Dimitris – the student – is Brașov. What a paradise! A very picturesque town! But, of course, Romania’s nature and mountains are by the far the most beautiful pictures I kept in mind! My friend who has lived there for 6 years studying Medicine at an University in Constanța has more to recall, of course.
He decided to study in Romania right after finishing school in Greece. He chose Constanța for two main reasons: it was close to his home town in Greece and had an English-speaking University. Actually he never regretted his choice! Not only was the school good, but there were also many other Greek students, so he settled himself down easily.
He already knew some Romanian before he moved there for his studies but he improved his knowledge day by day by practicing it with some locals. That is the most interesting part of his story for me: the local people. Because I also have some friends and acquaintances in Romania and, yes, some of them are very special people to me, but I consider myself a rather lucky person. Not to mention again that I visited Romania as a tourist and my mood was different. So, what is Dimitris’ opinion about Romanians?
“When I first got there I didn’t have any Romanian friends ‘cause I couldn’t communicate well with them in their own language. But soon the things got easier and I met some wonderful people. Romanians are friendly, polite and always in a good mood. What really impressed me, especially at the beginning, when I was away from my family and had no one close to me, was that they were helpful and available to provide any kind of assistance whenever they were asked to do so. And believe me, these are the most important things when you are a foreigner! I have stayed in Romania for six years and I have no complaint at all!”
Besides that, my friend explains to me that people in Romania and especially their way of living have many common things with the Greeks. Is that because of the Balkan Peninsula, is it because of the amount of the Greek students that go to study in Romania or just because people have the need to recognize common things in other countries just to feel comfortable and safe?
What Dimitris misses most is the feeling of being a student there. He had the time to travel, to go out, to have lots of fun and his only worry was how to pass the exams at the University. But real life has bigger problems than this, of course. Now that he’s back in Greece he has to find a job and face the economical crisis as we all do unfortunately.
What are the best tips for someone that wants to go for studies in Romania? Learn the language first so as to communicate easily from the beginning and try to meet locals that can make you feel like you are at home.
Don’t forget to visit Dracula’s castle, I would add! 🙂