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Naive College student new to traveling-- going to Arad, Romania. What do I do?

I am a 19 year old female college student going to Arad, Romania for an internship this summer. I am leaving in a month and am staying there for 6 weeks. Though I was born in Vietnam, I have been in the US for a long time and have never traveled by myself internationally.
From the food, culture, customs of Romania, to how to stay safe, to travel insurance and currency exchange, I am COMPLETE CLUELESS!

I'm trying to do internet research now as well as reading a few guide books to prep myself.
I feel completely unprepared, and although I am prepared to experience something new, I don't want to put myself in danger.

I'll be working with some English speaking college kids over there so I won't be on my own completely, but are there any key phrases I should learn? Is there a certain way I should dress? How much should I pack? Etc.

Basically, any knowledge or advice you can give me, THROW IT AT ME! It'll be much appreciated! Thanks!

Hi,

First of all, I would like to wish you "Have a nice trip" and I hope a lot of good memories will remain of this experience.

I'm Romanian myself, 27 yo and I , too, traveled out of my country, in the opposite direction ( to the USA) in my early twenties on a travel-work visa, for a few months.

I am not from Arad but have been there a couple of times. What I can say is that I'm glad you're not going to Bucharest, the capital and instead are going to a Transylvanian town. The area is quite beautiful and there are plenty of things to do/visit within a few hours drive from the city. I'm not going to give you a list - I myself like to explore, discover things off the charted map and maybe you are the same.

You might be surprised a bit because in Romania you can see horse driven carts on roads outside towns and five minutes later find yourself in lavish-looking suburbs with streets filled with the latest models luxury cars. There are lots of extremes to experience in most places in Romania, especially in the bigger cities (Arad would be a medium-to large sized city in Romania).

In some places, village life goes on as it did 100 years ago and you might think you traveled back in time. My grandparents live in a village like that and they have a very happy life.

One word of advice: a lot of Romanians might seem unfriendly or even rude at first sight. Don't be surprised if the cashier in a supermarket for example will not smile at all and also don't expect much customer service , it's not something Romanians excel at. Food-wise I think you'll be just fine. Most places serve European-International cuisine and you'll get good value for your $. Also groceries are not too expensive. You can get organic fruits/veggies at local outside-markets for a fraction of what you would pay at your local "Whole Foods Market". In most places tap water is safe to drink but I would advise you to have mineral water instead. It's quite cheap and some of the best waters I've tried in many other countries.

Currency exchange: you will get about 2.8-2.9 RON (Romanian LEU) for each USD.

Bus tickets for travel around the city of Arad are just 1.6 RON (~0.5$), a weekly pass is 20 RON (~7$). To travel to nearby cities, I would suggest getting on a train as they are faster than buses. Maybe you will get lifts from your new-found friends in Romania as well. Most families living in cities own a car.

Safety-wise, Romania is quite safe, there are some place which have a bad reputation for pick-pocketing but Arad is much safer than Bucharest, for example. But don't worry, there's not much serious crime going on.

One final word of advice: if you're Vietnam-born (Vietnamese parents ?) and have an Asian look, you might get a few stares. Most Romanian aren't much traveled-around folks and when they see a African or Asian looking person they might stare. Take it as a compliment :)

All in all, have the best of time there, don't over-stress yourself and I hope to hear that you had a lovely experience

Laurentiu
laubz83_at_yahoo_dot_com

"Halong Bay and the Monkey Island" Amyandtom's photos around Halong Bay, Vietnam (travel pics)


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