Cluj-Napoca from an Erasmus student's point of view

In the distance, on the most crowded street of Cluj-Napoca, a colorful moving dot is making its way into the people who too were in a rush to get somewhere. That dot of color turned out to be Myrthe Koster, one of the many foreigners who chose Romania as their Erasmus destination.

Myrthe is originally from The Netherlands and decided upon moving to Romania out of pure pleasure for her studies and because she thought it would be a challenge she needs to embrace. She came to Cluj in September and in February she will head back to Nijmegen.

How come that out of all the countries available you chose Romania? What is there to see?

That’s a very good question (laughs). Uhm, I got a bit tired of living in The Netherlands, especially in Nijmegen, because is such a small town and I was thinking how I never went too far east. Coincidence or not, Cluj offers a great programme for Anthroposophy and there was no point in saying that I filled in the papers immediately.

Did you set any expectations before coming here? If so, was it like you expected?

To be honest I tried not to expect anything and just come and see for myself because people have very different opinions about this country. I have heard things like ”they have horse carriages on the streets of cities even” to ”you will come back as a totally different person once you’ll discover that hidden treasure that lies within Romania”. So yeah, I was kind of confused and I decided not to let others influence me and just create my own memories and opinions. So far so good!

What does a typical day or week in your life here look like?

Haha, tough question this one. Well, it depends really. I try not to get stuck in a routine, but basically, I just attend classes, hang out with my Romanian, Dutch and French friends, go to parties with them and enjoy the city. It has a very different vibe from the university cities back home.

Do you feel like you made the right decision coming here?

Totally! These past months have been the best so far, I got to study what I love in a very different environment compared to what I have at home, I met lovely people and I visited wonderful places - Cluj is one of them and definitely has my heart.

Do you plan to come back?

I might come back for a master’s degree in the future. I heard that Bucharest has nice perspectives for my field of studies, but I can’t know for sure yet. What I would like is to come here during summer, when you have all those cool music festivals and the city is more alive than ever. I haven’t got the chance to experience it yet.

Irina Georgescu