Cluj-Napoca, Capitol of Transylvania, Romania
It is my third day in Cluj, and in spite of some logistical problems, I am enjoying it. I’ll start with the bad news, and then fill you in on the good stuff.
The bad news: In the interest of protecting their customers from identity theft, both of the credit unions that I have cards from do not allow withdrawals from Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, and a list of 30 or so other countries. I did not think of this before I left, and I did not notify either bank that I would be in Eastern Europe. Therefore I have no way to access my money. I have been on the phone with both banks several times since arriving, and each time they assure me that it has been taken care of, but my cards still are not working at all. On top of the general frustration of being in a foreign country with no way to obtain money, it is expensive to keep calling the banks in the U.S. to try to fix things. Today after walking around for nearly two hours, visiting different banks trying to get a cash advance on my debit card (which the MSU credit union said would work), I reached the end of my rope and called my dad for help. (Thank you so much for your help, dad! I love you!).
The good news: Apart from lack of sleep and being a victim of identity theft protection, I love Cluj. I was a bit apprehensive about coming here, because I love Romania so much in theory, that I was a bit worried that I would be let down. Thankfully, I was not; Romania is delightful. Cluj is a beautiful small city with a very interesting history. Cluj is the capitol of Transylvania, which was part of Hungary until the late 1800s, but the majority of the population is Romanian. The architecture is fascinating, because it is a mix of beautiful old buildings (some of which are well kept ups, while others are very run down) and communist era monstrosities. During the 80s Ceausescu instituted an urbanization, moving people from the countryside to the city to work in factories. In order to house all of them, the government built huge, ugly concrete apartment buildings. I don’t think I haven any pictures of them yet, but I will be sure to take some.
We started class on Tuesday, and that has taken up a lot of my time, but we did get to do some sightseeing last night. We took a tour of the city with a professor of history at Universitatea Babes-Bolyai (Babesh-Boy-ay), and then we went to the opera. We saw Aida in Italian at the Teatrul National (National Theater), and the tickets only cost 3 lei (approximately $1)!
Here are the photos from my tour of Cluj:
Random shots of Cluj, to give you an idea of what we're dealing with here.
A statue of St. George slaying a dragon, located outside of the "Towerless Church"
The tower of St. Michael's Church with Romanian Flags (I am fascinated by Romanian Nationalism)
The inside of the Teatrul National where we saw our $1 opera
A view of the Romanian Orthodox Church from the top floor of the Teatrul National
The bad news: In the interest of protecting their customers from identity theft, both of the credit unions that I have cards from do not allow withdrawals from Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, and a list of 30 or so other countries. I did not think of this before I left, and I did not notify either bank that I would be in Eastern Europe. Therefore I have no way to access my money. I have been on the phone with both banks several times since arriving, and each time they assure me that it has been taken care of, but my cards still are not working at all. On top of the general frustration of being in a foreign country with no way to obtain money, it is expensive to keep calling the banks in the U.S. to try to fix things. Today after walking around for nearly two hours, visiting different banks trying to get a cash advance on my debit card (which the MSU credit union said would work), I reached the end of my rope and called my dad for help. (Thank you so much for your help, dad! I love you!).
The good news: Apart from lack of sleep and being a victim of identity theft protection, I love Cluj. I was a bit apprehensive about coming here, because I love Romania so much in theory, that I was a bit worried that I would be let down. Thankfully, I was not; Romania is delightful. Cluj is a beautiful small city with a very interesting history. Cluj is the capitol of Transylvania, which was part of Hungary until the late 1800s, but the majority of the population is Romanian. The architecture is fascinating, because it is a mix of beautiful old buildings (some of which are well kept ups, while others are very run down) and communist era monstrosities. During the 80s Ceausescu instituted an urbanization, moving people from the countryside to the city to work in factories. In order to house all of them, the government built huge, ugly concrete apartment buildings. I don’t think I haven any pictures of them yet, but I will be sure to take some.
We started class on Tuesday, and that has taken up a lot of my time, but we did get to do some sightseeing last night. We took a tour of the city with a professor of history at Universitatea Babes-Bolyai (Babesh-Boy-ay), and then we went to the opera. We saw Aida in Italian at the Teatrul National (National Theater), and the tickets only cost 3 lei (approximately $1)!
Here are the photos from my tour of Cluj:
Random shots of Cluj, to give you an idea of what we're dealing with here.
A statue of St. George slaying a dragon, located outside of the "Towerless Church"
The tower of St. Michael's Church with Romanian Flags (I am fascinated by Romanian Nationalism)
The inside of the Teatrul National where we saw our $1 opera
A view of the Romanian Orthodox Church from the top floor of the Teatrul National
posted by Erin Kay at 8:21 PM
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