| Help with information on living in Romania/ Ajuta cu informaţii pe viaţă în România?I wish to get a visa, and go to a university in Romania; I would be living in one of the cities in Transylvania. I have a lot of random questions on what it would be like living there.
I think I would have to switch to a different bank account, since they wouldn't have any of the same banks as in North America; right? Would I be able to pay for things there with a BMO prepaid travel card, would it automatically change the currency of the money?
What's the cheapest I can get for an apartment? Are the grocery/ drug stores about the same?
Will I be screwed trying to get services such as a taxi, buying groceries, buying stuff at a mall, etc, since I am a beginner in learning Romanian, or do most people around the cities know a bit of English?
How do I move my stuff overseas? Since airports only allow you to take one luggage.. I have no idea about how to move all my stuff to an apartment? And would it be hard for me to get a part time job?
Thanks.
Doresc pentru a obţine o viză, şi du-te la o universitate din România; Ar fi în viaţă într-una dintre orase din Transilvania. Am o mulţime de întrebări aleatoare pe ceea ce ar fi ca trăiesc acolo.
Cred că mi-ar fi pentru a comuta la un alt cont bancar, deoarece acestea nu ar avea orice băncilor acelaşi ca în America de Nord; dreptul? Mi-ar fi capabil să plătească pentru lucruri acolo cu un card de călătorie preplatite BMO, ar acesta modifica automat monedei de bani?
Ceea ce este cel mai ieftin puteţi obţine pentru un apartament? Sunt băcănie / droguri stochează despre acelaşi lucru?
Va am dat fi-încercarea de a obţine servicii *** ar fi un taxi, cumpărarea alimente, Cumpararea lucruri la un mall-ul, etc, deoarece eu sunt un incepator in Romana de învăţare, sau cei mai mulţi oameni în jurul orașelor stiu un pic de engleză?
*** muta lucrurile mele peste hotare? Deoarece aeroporturi doar vă permit să transporte bagaje unul. Nu am nici o idee despre *** să se mute toate lucrurile mele la un apartament? Şi ar fi greu pentru mine pentru a obţine un loc de muncă part-time?
mulţumesc.
used translator ^
Asked By: nothing - 2/14/2011 |
I'll try to help, though my experience is a bit dated. First, I think your education would be simpler in Bucuresti, not other cities, though Timisoara is the second-largest city. Bucuresti is just that much better. The last time I was there in 1999, my ATM worked well. Of course I had to withdraw "normal" amounts in Lei and these became odd withdrawls in dollars, but I never ran out of cash. Secondly, you might find a bank that can give you dollars instead of lei, since valuta is sometimes more desirable than lei, but this is a different decade, so "your mileage may vary." Grocery stores are very similar to modern American ones. Don't know about drug stores, since I didn't need more than an aspirin. If you have prescriptions, try to get your US pharmacist to fill yours on a "vacation" basis (90 to 180 days) and get someone to DHS you your meds as you need them. I am not sure I'd trust a local pharmacy- too many knock-off meds in the world.
Moving your stuff overseas is possible, but very expensive. You'll need to ship a container that you fill or at least a lot of boxes that can fill part of a container. For this, you'll need a customs broker in the USA with connections in the port of Constanta, Romania's only seaport. Possible? Yes, but very difficult and I'm not sure worth the trouble. Got a couch and coffee table, a bed and dresser? Sell them or store them in the USA and rent a furnished apartment in Romania- they exist and you won't have trouble with non-compatible items by Romanian standards. Appliances might work, but you'd need a huge, heavy transformer to drop 240VAC to 120VAC; the two round plugs (or maybe flat British plugs) will need adaptors. Bottom line- too much trouble and not necessary to ship your stuff.
You won't want to get a part-time job. Romanians leave Romania for other countries because salaries are so meager. I hope things are better now, but many people were working for $100/month, full time in 1999.
Taxis will try to gouge you on price, but you'll get the hang of things when you do them. Grocery stores are pretty fixed- the prices are labeled and you get change. Malls? Each store will be different- some will bargain, some won't. Expect to find a lot of counterfeit commodities. That $100 Gucci bag is probably from China.
Apartment prices will vary immensely. I won't even try to give you a range. The key to finding a decent apartment is to meet the landlord/landlady in person and get them to *want* to rent to you. One commodity you'll have is English.
And that segues to your question about English speakers. You will be able to get along everywhere with English. Many Romanians have English capabilities. That's the good part. The bad part is, very few of them will be as fluent in English as you. If you're a university-educated American, you have a desirable commodity- you can help someone with English. This will be an ice-breaker everywhere. And it might help with your landlord. There are real-estate offices everywhere, touting terrific places to live at impossibly cheap prices. Use your judgment- make sure you're happy with the place before you make any commitment.
Hope you do things in the proper sequence- get accepted to a good university, then ask for the university's help with housing, etc. Students don't move in with their own "stuff" apart from clothes and maybe a microwave. Everything else is usually in the furnished apartment. If you find you need a small desk or a comfy chair, you'll find one locally, once you get "connected" with some locals. Romania is a wonderful country, though its economy is limping. There is culture, literature and history there. You'll also find beggars, thieves and scammers. You'll find everything you need there- soap, food, toilet paper. What you might run out of, from time to time, is dependable electricity or hot water. Or even cold water, occasionally.
Lastly, I see your Romanian translator made some errors: "Doresc" requires a compliment, either a noun or a verb. Your first sentence should be, "Doresc (a obţine) o viză, ..." And a common word for "job" (as in part-time) is "slujba." But you'll learn a lot in university. Good luck!
Answered By: going_for_baroque - 2/14/2011 |