The story of a young woman who moved from Bucharest to Cluj-Napoca, and after three years spent in the Transylvanian city says that her boyfriend remains the only reason that keeps her here, has sparked controversy on social networks.
The National Theatre, one of the emblematic buildings in Cluj-Napoca. Photo: Cluj-Napoca City Hall.
“I moved from Bucharest to Cluj and learned to appreciate much more the city where I grew up”, writes a young woman born in the capital, after living in the Transylvanian city for three years.
The Bucharest native told her story on the Reddit platform, adding that she made the decision to leave the capital because she felt “suffocated” and that her friends told her how “cool” it is in Cluj-Napoca and what a dirty city and Bucharest is unfriendly. After several visits, she adds, she fell in love with the Transylvanian city and decided three years ago to move here.
The young woman said that she works from home, being satisfied with this, and that her boyfriend from Cluj-Napoca is the reason why she decided to stay in Transylvania, but after three years spent here, she feels that she revives every time she visits The capital, where his family lives.
Here is what the young woman says on Reddit about her life in Cluj-Napoca:
– City: it was too small for me. I am a person who likes walking very much. I’m tired of walking in the same places every day. I learned the city by heart from one end to the other. You can reach the Old Center in 15 minutes on foot. In Bucharest, I can easily take 20,000 steps and not even leave a sector. I feel that I have done everything there was to do in Cluj, on the other hand, after 20 or so years of living in Bucharest, I am still discovering new places.
Image 1/9:
City of Cluj Napoca, autumn Photo Cluj Napoca City Hall Facebook (7) jpg
– people: initially, it bothered me in Bucharest that everyone pays attention to you. After 3 years in Cluj, I can say that I miss “small talk”. People are much colder, more polite, but at the same time, they are quite rigid.
– The pride of Cluj: finish me off I have never seen anywhere else people more proud of their city than the people of Cluj. I understand the idea of appreciating the city you live in, but you can do that without saying how shitty the other cities are. I’m sure that after this post there will be comments like “we already have enough wines in Cluj”, “because of you, Cluj is ruined”, “you can’t adapt here, go home”, something that will only strengthen me perception. Yes, it’s different in Cluj, but not necessarily in a good way.
– event: Cluj is a small city. A city that demands a lot and offers little. There are cultural events, terraces, but they cannot be compared to those in Bucharest, and rightfully so, when Cluj is as much as 2 sectors from Bucharest. There’s not much to do on the weekend. If I don’t want to leave the city and go to the forest, I can only go out to the overpriced terraces in the center with mediocre service or to the same street food festival once every 2 months. Although there are more terraces per capita in Cluj, it doesn’t really feel like it. There are not many exhibitions, fairs, etc., and the ones that exist are for money, compared to Bucharest, where you can find a lot of activities without taking $$ out of your pocket.
– Lack of green spaces: very few parks, compared to Bucharest. Apart from the Central Park, the Cetățuia, which is still a little too small, and the Botanical Garden, there are not many parks where you can walk for more than 10 minutes (Clujenilor Forest Park is not even included, because that is not a park…). Besides that, there is almost no shade in Cluj, at least in the center. Although Bucharest is much hotter in the summer, at least there are trees.
– The fact that there is nothing to do outside the center. Most neighborhoods are bedroom neighborhoods. Apart from Mărăști and Mănăștur, where you can find a thrift store, a restaurant or a second-hand store, the other neighborhoods barely have a Profi and a Mega Image each.
– Prices: I have nothing more to say about it, because it is already full of news about the prices in Cluj. Living here for a while, it had come to seem normal to me that a 50 square meter apartment would cost 150,000 euros (apartment that I wouldn’t be able to afford even with a 30-year loan). Shock and horror when I looked at the prices of apartments in Bucharest and saw that things are not quite like that and that, on average, in Bucharest they are cheaper by 1000 €/sqm. Yes, maybe they are not in such good areas, but at least you don’t have to live in rent or move to Florești for the rest of your life. It seems even more hallucinatory to me that I saw many comments on Facebook from Cluj, on various posts about real estate, where they are proud that the real estate market is so expensive in Cluj. I see how hard some of my friends struggle to survive from day to day and wonder if it’s really worth living here. They pay half their salary on rent and go out once a month, because every penny they earn is well calculated.
Cluj-Napoca, cleaner than Bucharest
Unlike Bucharest, she notes, Cluj-Napoca is cleaner, it does not have so many potholes and dilapidated buildings, a fact due to the smaller size of the city in Transylvania. At the same time, Cluj’s infrastructure leaves much to be desired, the airport in Cluj doesn’t really have destinations, and in the last year about eight of them have been removed altogether. If you are not an IT specialist or have your own company, you are not doing very well, the young woman believes.
Bucharest, autumn. Photo: Wikipedia
“Bucharest has developed quite a lot since I left and I can’t wait to return to my homeland. I can say that I feel more depressed in Cluj than I ever felt in Bucharest. In Bucharest I only felt nerves, because of the chaos, the people in the traffic or the mess. I understand that if you are moving from a smaller city to Cluj it may seem wow or if you want a quieter life than what the capital offers, but I don’t think that was the case for me and I realized quite late that I feel so lifeless“, concludes the Romanian.
His story sparked a wave of reactions on the Reddit network. Some Romanians told him that, after two years spent in Cluj-Napoca, they were shocked by how cold the people are, in their opinion. Cluj-Napoca is the most expensive city in Romania, commented another Romanian.
Another inmate mocks the young woman: “You’ve moved from a bigger city to a smaller town and you’re surprised that it’s small…”
