This gave me a chance to look at all of the interesting things that were in my area. For example, there are many little parks and statues in my neighborhood. I even found a beautiful arboretum, which is an area like a park or garden that has a lot of trees planted in it. As I got more familiar with my surroundings, I felt much more comfortable with being so far from home.
Another big thing that has helped me to feel more at home in Romania is learning the language. I came here with very little knowledge of the Romanian language, which meant that something as simple as going to the grocery store or post office could be very stressful. Luckily, the university I teach at offers a Romanian course for international exchange students, so I signed up to take it. In the past few months, I have made an effort to study the language a lot and I feel much better now that I can have basic conversations with people.
Once I finally got into my groove, I started teaching, made some friends, found out how the Romanian university system works and discovered some fun local places in my city. I've realized that most people are friendly and helpful, and if I needed help with anything, I just had to ask!
