Your first days in your home in Romania

Well, my first residence in Romania was the apartment my new bride lived in.  It was on the 4th floor of an apartment bloc built in the late 70's, with no elevator, minimal lighting in the stairwell which often smelled bad.  So navigating the stairs on a daily basis was difficult, especially with groceries or packages, or our newborn shortly later.  Adjusting to the size difference between living spaces in Romania compared to those in the USA took a few months.  It was already furnished of course, but we did give some of the furniture to family in town, and we opted to buy some new furniture that suited us better.  That helped with some of the crowding inside.

About 2 years later, we moved to a brand new apartment across town near the airport (my wife was a cabin attendant), which made her commute quicker, it had an elevator that made our lives easier getting to now the 7th floor, and it was obviously more modern and comfortable. 

Down the line a while later, another baby was on the way so we needed more rooms and space, and we were in the process of building our own home just outside Iasi, so we moved to another new apartment in a new building that was on the ground level, so no more elevator needed.

With all the apartments, a common hassle was of paying the administrative fees and water each month.  The administration has a set day or 2 each month, for a few hours on those days where you can pay your fees, but it's also a session for all the neighbors to complain and argue about whatever.  My wife dealt with that nonsense.  She usually tried to be there first or last so as to avoid the neighbor's in-fighting and arguments against the admin (usually over their failure to pay previous months). 

Also with all the apartments, everyone has their eye on everyone else....they see what kind of car you drive, what you buy from the stores, what you wear, to judge your social and financial standing or whatever.  But this isn't exclusive to apartment living at all, it's just more obvious.

As for advice, I suppose it's the same regardless of the country....find a place that has the amenities or location you need, and fill the place with things that you're comfortable with and if you don't like it, move and try again.  Isn't that what expats fundamentally do in the first place?

Romaniac

@Cheryl

After visiting România 10-12 times (a telenovela în itself) I decided to move here. I was comfortable with several locations, București definitely not being one of them. I had the strongest connection to Focșani, having been a major contributor to the local library. (Another telenovela.)

A connection had arranged a splendidly-located unrenovated fourth floor apartment at an incredibly cheap price, but which was wholly unacceptable.

While having lunch in a local eatery a friend's husband wandered by and after haltingly communicating to him my dilemma he walked me to the businesses of a number of his friends, asking for an apartment for me. A few days later a call came and his accountant had just built a new house and he and his wife had moved into it. They left behind a fully-furnished, well-designed first floor apartment, near bus lines and the train station that was available at a reasonable price. With an open balcony! The landlord is extraordinarily easy-going and takes care of all the administrative and utility details.

I had enquired at the Chicago consulate about pre-applying for residency as a retiree with pension. I was assured it was not necessary, as I would be welcomed without a problem. I discovered this was not the case, and I needed an acceptable documented reason to be in România.

My previous contacts included several organizations which had volunteer opportunities and I was able to get a necessary contract, along with the joy of the activities. The other requirements included confusing interactions with the bureaucracy to satisfy the other items. One benefit of being in a small city is that the running back and forth was confined to a small geographic area.

Since then I have renewed my volunteer status annually, with the hope of a 5 year document this time.

I avoided going the route of starting a business because I am terrible at keeping records and for me it feels like running an admittedly legal workaround that I couldn't sustain. So, professional volunteer is my raison d'etre.

I had to get accustomed to the ways of commerce here, where desired items are generally only available in specialty shops. All-in-one places like Walmart are unknown, though they give it the college try with Carrefour and Kaufland, though I give them a 5/10 score on their success. An advantage i have is that I know of the private shipping system that exists berween the US and România that costs 90% less than the post or UPS and provides door delivery. I use it about once a year to obtain difficult to obtain or hyper-expensive to buy here. (I sneak in a bag of Crunch Cheetos or a box Spicy Cheezits.)

I have visited Bucharest for a week to see which area I wanted to live in and basically just walked around to discover (long live 25.000 steps per day). Eventually I chose Herastrau as the area I wanted to live in, so afterwards I came back for another week to visit actual apartments which I found on Imobiliare.ro. Fast forward I will move to Bucharest in the beginning of June. I have found a very nice place to live in Herastrau although quite expensive (2.500€ / month), but it is brand new, big, has some nice Italian furniture and 3 terraces. I guess Bucharest prices in Herastrau are what they are even though high, but there is no point complaining about it because it is simply the best area. In Bucharest cash is king so it all goes very smooth (and in English!). A much easier proces than moving to Spain was.

Cannot wait until my car arrives and I can cruise on Victoriei 🏎️