by Adelina
Last weekend my friends and I headed over the border to the city of Cluj-Napoca, which is located in the Transylvanian region of Romania. The main reason for the trip was that one of my coworkers needed to do a border run. Most people are allowed 90 days of visa free travel within the Schengen zone and then after that you either need a work permit or a residence permit. AIESEC arranged for a residence permit for me which is why I can stay in the Schengen zone until the end of my internship. However, my co-worker needed a work permit and it hasn’t come through yet. So keep her current, we needed to leave the zone for a little bit.
This trip was such a spur of the moment decision. We knew we had to go out of the Schengen Zone, but we didn’t know where we were going. Our two main options were Croatia or Romania. I felt more comfortable with going to Croatia because it seems like a friendlier country. The idea of Romania kind of scared me and everyone seems to have a horror story related to the country.
We ultimately decided on Romania because a) none of us have been there before b) it seems like a random adventure and c) it seemed like the more affordable option. Plus, if you’re going to Croatia, you’ll want to go to the coast and we just didn’t have enough time to get to the coast and back again over a weekend. So Romania it was!
And boy was I sure surprised. I had the loveliest and relaxed weekend. It really was a weekend getaway. When I had to go back to work the Monday after I felt so relaxed. I didn’t want to do anything at all. It took so much effort to get my head back in the swing of things.
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