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There are some Asians in Iași, but not many. Racism against East Asians is usually mild, often centered around stereotypes and eating habits rather than notions of superiority. However, Romanians are much more tolerant than in the past, their tastes have broadened, and the international community in Iași has expanded recently. Older generations know very little about South Korea and might not speak English at all, while younger generations are somewhat familiar with K-pop and Korean cuisine and can converse in English. Food options for Asian cuisine are limited here; there are only two Asian shops, which have more of a souvenir shop atmosphere.
Overall you'll be safe here and I would worry more about Romanian bureaucracy.
I see, that's a relief. Actually, I am studying Romanian diligently before I go, so I hope to be able to communicate in Romanian rather than English. I haven't tried Romanian food yet, but I guess I'll have to get used to it)
For Asian stores, there's Taste of Asia near Moldova Center, and two Miniso (one at Palas Mall, one at Iulius Mall). There should be at least one other but I'm not familiar with all of them.
Also there are plenty of Asian restaurants, including fast-food types. Kung-Fu, By Li, La Cao and others.
On top of this, you will also find most asian-specific ingredients in Supermarkets: soy sauces, shiitake mushrooms, nori, ginger, sesame oil, rice vinegar etc.
Hope this helps!
Also this shop in Palas Mall dedicated to Korean Food. [https://www.instagram.com/kfood\_friends\_iasi/](https://www.instagram.com/kfood_friends_iasi/)
1 I don’t know
2 Iași is a very safe place, as long as you’re careful with your belongings in public transportation. On the racism issue, you’ll be welcomed here, but expect people stare at you, because we don’t see many Asians here, even we have a very diverse medical school here.
I would say that most foreign students in Iasi are from Arabic countries, but I started noticing more Asian people recently so I don't think it's going to be very hard to integrate here. What I wanted to add is that in general the foreigners don't mix a lot with the Romanians here, I would say maybe because of the language barrier. But most Romanian young people do speak English and are welcoming to foreigners. Also about the staring, yes it might happen, but Iasi has started being more diverse very recently and some people might not be accustomed to that. I hope you have a nice and safe stay in Iasi!
even there are many international students in Korea who have a hard time blending in too. However, I am determined to overcome this, so I am currently studying Romanian diligently. I hope to achieve a B2 level before attending the university. Anyway, thank you for the good advice!
>even there are many international students in Korea who have a hard time blending in too.
As an Romanian expat myself in the west, I can say being a foreigner anywhere, even in the most tolerant western countries, is still a challenge. The language, bureaucratic and cultural differences are there and you'll feel them as you can always run into people willing to take advantage of you as a foreigner. There's no sugarcoating this, you'll have some good times and some bad times, it's inevitable, doesn't matter if It's Romania, Korea, Germany, Netherlands, etc.
The good news is there's no racism or negative opinions about Koreans in Romania, quite the contrary, everyone worships technology and entertainment from there. The thing to note about Romanians compared to other westerners is the sense of humor and banter here is really unfiltered and turned up to 11. As in, some might call you Chinese/Japanese, not to insult you but just to mess with you, or ask you about eating their dogs or how your leader King Jong Un is doing, or other stereotypes like that, not because they're racists, but people here like fucking with others for shits and giggles, it's a national sport.
I had a couple of Korean neighbors here growing up in the 90's who moved to set up a Daewoo branch here, and I remember them liking it despite the 90's being really bad here compared to today, so I think you'll enjoy your time here. Also, can you bring me an S24 Ultra? :D jk
Yeah, I completely second this. Expect to be the target of some jokes, we all love to banter about the dumbest things imaginable. It's all in good fun though, I doubt most people will actually have a genuine problem with you.
I have a friend over here from Palestine, we would probably both get kicked out if anyone heard the racist jokes we come up with. Hell, if you joke about our culture and... certain problematic groups, you're bound to get a couple laughs and fit in even better.
2: depending what bubble of people you interacted with in Korea , you will find Iaşi to be Very diverse.
There are Arabs ( pretty much every variety from Syrian to Iraqi to Palestinian ) , Turks, Israelis , Africans from different places,Americans , French , Italians, Ukrainians, diferent types of Asians (Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesians ) and quite a bit of south Asian people working.
The thing is they mostly stick with their international crowds, so if you stick with a bubble of other students from your year only … you are probably not gonna meet too many of them
Actually, I don't particularly like the idea of studying abroad only to stay within a group of people from the same ethnicity. In fact, this might be the reason why I am investing most of my time in studying Romanian. I think it would be great to go to Romania and converse in Romanian. Of course, it will require a lot of courage
By all means, go for it, then. Most people here are fine with whoever if they're a cool guy/gal, although people do have their own groups of friends, and it's going to be tough to integrate into a fully romanian group without knowing the language.
That said, since you're studying it you'll probably be fine. We don't take any issue if you're a bit slower and/or we have to say something in a different manner, if anything we take pride in teaching you dumb shit in Romanian. Just being able to hold a conversation will take you a looong way over here, I'd wager.
The main thing I would personally suggest is to try to find your groove fairly early on. I'm not sure if it's different in non-Romanian uni classes, but people come up with their friend groups fairly early on, and it's kind of difficult to get into an already established group as you might expect. The Palestinian friend I was talking about in the other comment is kinda in the same situation, and I'm trying to get him into my uni group, and it's a bit difficult.
That's a very realistic problem. I actually think it's likely that everyone already has their own groups. So, it will probably take a lot of courage to fit in there. Well, even so, I should give it a try
About racism... under 0% . This is not western Europe. The city have some asians, i meet some Taiwanese and Japanese they study medicine. Yes are not to many... but you can make some friends .
No ideea about the school . But i am pretty sure it's ok .
Just keep in mind this is a small city .
Hello,
1 I have graduated at this university, Photogtaphy, Film and Image Processing 8-9 years ago. Matei Bejenaru is the best professor and is the one who "administrate" it.
2 you will be fine, i bet there will be people who will want to know more about your culture.
If you need more info let me know. Btw i think there are this summer the admission exams, so good luck
Ah, I see. Nice to meet you! If I enter the graduate program, it seems that my advisor will be Matei Bejenaru. If you don't mind, I have a few questions.
1. What is Professor Bejenaru's personality like?
2. Is there a darkroom at the school where I can develop film?
3. Do you have any advice for me before I join the program?
Matei Bejenaru is an awesome person, a good man, an international artist. In my opinion there are no worda to describe this man.
There was a dark room, quite nice when i study there. I bet there still is one. Ansel Adams will be proud :)))
I don t know much about this program but i bet there will be fun. For me it was 3 nice years
Haha, it would be great if Ansel Adams thought so. And Fortunately, knowing that professor is a good person makes me feel a bit relieved. By the way, does this university offer not only 4-year undergraduate programs but also 3-year programs? And what is the atmosphere like in the department? Is it more collaborative and friendly, or is it individualistic?
Not sure about the lenght of the program, i graduated a lot of time ago.
In the photography and film department is kind of fun. There you will meet open minded professors(artist) like, Andrei Cozlac, Mr. Teodorescu, ms. Lavinia (this one haven't liked me :))) but she was like an opened book of informations). All the staff there is helfull and kind. I made a lot of friends in that university from all kind of departements.
The photography departement is more like collaborative, they will do their best to help and guide you.
They also do colabs with lot of gallery exhibitions and you can post there your work.
I was surprised to find that the quality of the works on Facebook was much better than I expected. When I was attending a photography university in Korea, I also didn't receive good grades because my artistic style didn't match that of my professor. However, I think this is an inevitable part of studying at an art university. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that the atmosphere in your department is cooperative!
1. Good enough. I know people who graduated and they're awesome artists.
2. I must say there are a bunch of Asians around, I have no problem with them wing here. I am actually glad. English should be fine. Also, the city is not actually huge, so if you're used to riding a bicycle, set your mind on using it here as well. No proper bike lanes and infrastructure, the mayor is a corrupt hole who hates trees and cyclists, but you can get around just fine.
You definitely need to explore the city and surroundings before deciding on a place to rent (I assume you won't get a bed in some university-provided dormitory).
Small areas, but depends. A building could be totally all right, and the next one crawling with drugs and low-end prostitution. Anyway, the idea is tat it's safe to say that over 95% of the city is safe (and often safer than it looks).
For the most part, it's safe. The closer to the centre, the less you have to worry about.
There's a couple of "unsafe" areas worth mentioning, although it's more of a "walk faster till you leave" rather than avoiding it at all costs. The only place with that rep is Dallas, it's a neighbourhood across Bahlui River with a large graffiti'd wall blocking it.
You'll probably want to hold onto your stuff near the trainstation. There's a bridge going over the tracks towards another neighbourhood, the small area that you enter the bridge from on the station's side doesn't have a good rep. Lots of cheap bars, cheap food, and smells like crap. Odds are you'll be fine, but probably a good idea not to stay there for too long.
Dacia, another neighbourhood across the river from Dallas, also isn't the best. It's fairly safe during the day, and especially on the main road, but do avoid messing around the smaller streets at night. I actually got chased by "minorities" there at some point, so yeah.
I'm not sure how up to date this is since I don't frequent that road anymore, but a couple years back there was a section of Pacurari Street also filled with "minorities". It's between Blocuri Pacurari bus station, and the bridge Octav Bancila, give or take. Take this with a grain of salt though, their house got demolished I think.
That's all I can really think of right now. If anything though I suggest trying stuff out - a lot of places look "unsafe" and like they'd give you food poisoning, but they're surprisingly good, provided you can speak some amount of Romanian. A lot of my best experiences eating/drinking out were had in these trashy old man bars.
Thanks for the good information! If I find a place to live, I'd like to get one around Byulchae or the square. Do you happen to know how much the monthly rent is?
What do you mean by Byulchae? I can't tell what area you're referring to.
As for rent, I'm actually not sure - my guesstimate is around 300 euros, but that's only based on hearsay from friends, I don't actually rent. Ideally someone pitches in here.
1. From what I know, it's not the best one in the country, but I believe it's been through some major progress in the last few years. I guess I'm gonna see you around, the next month I'll be applying for a Photography Master at this university as well. If you wanna meet up, you can dm me anytime.
2. I don't think you're gonna face any problems regarding this.
Oh, I see. Did you major in photography in your undergraduate studies as well? I'm glad to know that we could be colleagues. However, I'm still deciding whether to go this year or next year. But regardless of when, I plan to visit the school sometime this year
I wont add anything to what people already said because they basically covered everything that you had to know :)))))))
I want to add something to what you said. UNArte is in Bucharest, UNAGE is in Iasi. Just so you wont confuse other people when you talk about your school. GOOD LUCK!:D
As a student that I’ve graduated there, but not at photography. I can tell you that most of teachers are kind and friendly. The vibe into the Uni is amazing. A lot of work at photography classes, and you ll have to pay your photos printed. Is well to create a lot of exhibition, and you will have at least 1 per year with your future class. at first yesr you will have to study anatomy and art history. Good luck!
Not actually. I had a few colleagues. I don’t remember how many in 1room. The bathroom is mutual, toilets same. I was at a party there and at the second floor was 4 in 1room. The dormitory is based kind of far from Uni (photography, mural, painting, sculptures are ) in Sararie 189 and the dormitory in Bularga street 17. The Uni started to build another dormitory very close to Uni (this area in Sărărie -Visual Arts) in Codrescu no8 but I don’t think they finished. Ungureanu is a very cool teacher from Paintings and have multiple titles in the “bureaucracy” of the Uni and he speaks English. You can contact him on Facebook. https://www.arteiasi.ro/studenti/cazare-unage/ for prices for dormitory. you can look on maps for “căminul c1 bularga unage”. The acces is pretty tight because the uni had a conflict with a building near so you have a short street to cross. A real inconvenience is that you ll have to use public transportation. But you can talk with Ungureanu and the cool women from secretary about a subscription from town hall( not sure if is applied for international students, I think yes but not 100% sure.The town hall paid a good procent of the subscription for public transport for students). But as someone else told you below, you will have to take care or your goods in public transport. A cool part is that (I think is still running) at painting we had a teacher that created a program for artists. I had a girl from Japan I think 🤔. That program was.. (we had at one moment money and provided to the artist a room for 1 month and ) he/she came and had interacted with us, we hanged out, and at the end of that month the artist created an exhibition). We had artists from a lot of countries and wed some friends from photography). Ioana Palamar is called. Once you will start to study at Uni, ask at secretary. I think it will be cool for you to meet different artists. Not all of them was on paintings.. On top of that Uni has Erasmus programs.
I'm just writing to add up the number of feedback. You might think that there aren't enough answers. Basically, everything that people said in comments is true. There are many foreign students in Iași, it is a safe city , everyone speaks English. Good luck!
Although it's not my direct experience, both my parents and my sister are UNAGE graduates and visual artists (sculpture, art theory, mural painting). As far as I got to understand from them, the photography-videpgraphy specialization in Iași is the best amongst the universities in Romania and they would recommend it.
Regarding racism, Iași has quite a few large universities and is the main city in this area of the country (Moldova) to attract people from other cities or villages, so you should expect all kinds of people and attitudes, although I would rather incline to see it as somewhat progressive and inclusive, especially for the youth here. As mentioned before in other comments, there should be little overt aggressive racism, especially towards Asian people. Of course, this cannot guarantee anything, but from my experience as a psychotherapist you could strive to understand that sometimes people are much more curious about foreigners and can hold introjected stereotypes but in a non-malignant fashion. Most people should be happy to understand if you feel like something is discriminative, they must have simply not have imagined how you would feel. I highly recommend this perspective as a cushion for you cultural adaptation and also wearing your identity with pride. You might as well become a star (many girls just love the Asian aesthetic).
Best regards!
Thank you for your kind response! That sounds acceptable to me. Of course, there will be some strange people, but there are some in every country. It would be nice if there are people who like Korean culture.
There is some racism but that's everywhere
There are like 2 hoods you should avoid
And if I were you I'd just study in Korea a country that is superior in every aspect compared to Romania or if you really want to study abroad just pick a country that is actually on the rankings, there are only 2 universities in Romania in the top 1000 and they are like number 900+
That's about it good luck
I don't know anything about arts, so I'll only answer the 2nd question. There are lots of foreign students, especially in medical school. Including from different parts of Asia. Korea in particular probably low number though. There are also a lot of Asians coming here for work (again, not Korea in particular). It's obviously not as diverse as a big city in western Europe, but it's also not 0 diversity. I'd say racism is mild and generally people will not manifest it in front of you, so your experience should be fine overall. Furthermore, lots of Romanians are very welcoming and curious about foreigners, so you should be able to find friends and stuff to do easily if you're outgoing. There are a bunch of Asian food restaurants (nothing specifically Korean afaik), but you can order Korean stuff online and cook yourself and there are also a couple of physical stores where you might find ingredients. I have (Romanian) friends that like Korean food and they are able to find ingredients they need in Romania to cook at home. But they will be rather expensive. I'm sure you'll find something to eat at reasonable prices if you're not Very picky and only like 3 things or something like that.
1. cred ca se cheama unage, nu unarte, unarte este in bucuresti
2, rasisti mai putin, xenofobi, probabil mai mult ... daca nu cauti probleme nu vei avea probleme
1. food is good but not that spicy
2. what racism? most romanian people have smth against gypsies (take into account 5% of the population of romania are responsible for 50-60% of the acts not legal - kind of understandable why)
3. Asians, not so many here in Iasi, but there is a community if I remember correctly
4. Restaurants that I would like for you to review if you have the chance (at least in this way we from Iasi get a proper feedback on what is the best with respect to the Asian cusine):
Sushi Fusion. (3) Open Now. ...
Wok up. (6) Open Now. ...
Sushi Master. (22) Open Now. ...
Club 20 Bamboo. (14) Open Now. ...
Little Hanoi **Iasi**. (11) Open Now. ...
Otherwise, give a PM if you wanna grab a beer someday.
Ohh and welcome :)
Don't worry about racism, we don't have any :) Iasi is a cosmopolitan city , mainly due to the large number of foreign students as people mentioned before (there are about 50000 students in Iasi, not sure how many foreigners ) . On FB there is a group called "Expats in Iasi", you can get other people's opinions in there too. As fun fact, 4 or 5 years ago I met a Japanese guy who came to Iasi because his wife was ballet dancer in Iasi Opera and I found out there are about 10 Japanese ladies in Iasi Opera. Recently, a lot of Asians (especially from Bangladesh, Pakistan ) are coming to Iasi and get low-level jobs, like delivery guys or working in construction. Asian people are considered a bit exotic and Romanians have respect for you, especially when it's about work, discipline or cleanliness. Traffic is crazy (will be the same if you choose Bucharest or Cluj) so I recommend to stay in the Center where you have almost everything that matters : Theatre, Opera, 2 shopping malls, movie theater, Universities, restaurants, shops. As other people mentioned already, the worst thing to happen to you as Asian is that you can be a target to pickpockets in the public transportation as they can spot you are a foreigner, so they think you are a tourist not speaking Romanian, so a easy target (but that's easy to fight against, as you can pay by card / phone these days ). Good luck !
yed, 2002 to 2006. Been working as an Art Director/Graphic Designer since then. The teacher ftom photo/video Matei Bejenaru is very very good and he is a big artist in Romania
I studied there in Graphics - animation, but also had courses for drawing and painting and for engraving in the first year. I felt like I wasted 3 years of my life because I didn't learn anything useful and nothing from there could be applied at any job. Hell even the animation teacher used to only give us YouTube tutorials as assignment and during the classes too. She couldn't be bothered to make her own tutorials. Nobody needs a college to learn from YouTube wtf. In this college it was mostly to learn and discover everything by yourself and the teachers are just some almost useless people (with the exception of a few) that just tell you "this is wrong, you should have done this", but in a mostly philosophical sense instead of providing clear examples or teaching you personally like a good mentor would.
And yeah you would be the only Asian in this college. And one of the very very few in the city. Maybe less than 10 people in the city are from Korea. I never saw one.
How did you find out about Iași and this college?
I’ve met a few (not all) graduates from there and I wasn’t impressed, it was quite the opposite. If you do apply there try to find some place to practice, there are some studios And photographers in town where you can apply for internship or something similar, even get paid for small jobs, depending on what you would like to do next.
As for the second question, probably some people will think you are chinese and that’s about it.
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There are some Asians in Iași, but not many. Racism against East Asians is usually mild, often centered around stereotypes and eating habits rather than notions of superiority. However, Romanians are much more tolerant than in the past, their tastes have broadened, and the international community in Iași has expanded recently. Older generations know very little about South Korea and might not speak English at all, while younger generations are somewhat familiar with K-pop and Korean cuisine and can converse in English. Food options for Asian cuisine are limited here; there are only two Asian shops, which have more of a souvenir shop atmosphere. Overall you'll be safe here and I would worry more about Romanian bureaucracy.
I see, that's a relief. Actually, I am studying Romanian diligently before I go, so I hope to be able to communicate in Romanian rather than English. I haven't tried Romanian food yet, but I guess I'll have to get used to it)
For Asian stores, there's Taste of Asia near Moldova Center, and two Miniso (one at Palas Mall, one at Iulius Mall). There should be at least one other but I'm not familiar with all of them. Also there are plenty of Asian restaurants, including fast-food types. Kung-Fu, By Li, La Cao and others. On top of this, you will also find most asian-specific ingredients in Supermarkets: soy sauces, shiitake mushrooms, nori, ginger, sesame oil, rice vinegar etc. Hope this helps!
Also this shop in Palas Mall dedicated to Korean Food. [https://www.instagram.com/kfood\_friends\_iasi/](https://www.instagram.com/kfood_friends_iasi/)
1. No clue as I studied something else. 2. There are plenty of foreign students in Iasi. Like really many of them. You should fit right in.
Oh, I see, that's a relief. Thank you for your reply!
You're welcome. Feel free to dm me if you want to know more things about Iasi.
1 I don’t know 2 Iași is a very safe place, as long as you’re careful with your belongings in public transportation. On the racism issue, you’ll be welcomed here, but expect people stare at you, because we don’t see many Asians here, even we have a very diverse medical school here.
Oh, I see. Actually, staring seems to be common in areas where other races are unfamiliar
I would say that most foreign students in Iasi are from Arabic countries, but I started noticing more Asian people recently so I don't think it's going to be very hard to integrate here. What I wanted to add is that in general the foreigners don't mix a lot with the Romanians here, I would say maybe because of the language barrier. But most Romanian young people do speak English and are welcoming to foreigners. Also about the staring, yes it might happen, but Iasi has started being more diverse very recently and some people might not be accustomed to that. I hope you have a nice and safe stay in Iasi!
even there are many international students in Korea who have a hard time blending in too. However, I am determined to overcome this, so I am currently studying Romanian diligently. I hope to achieve a B2 level before attending the university. Anyway, thank you for the good advice!
>even there are many international students in Korea who have a hard time blending in too. As an Romanian expat myself in the west, I can say being a foreigner anywhere, even in the most tolerant western countries, is still a challenge. The language, bureaucratic and cultural differences are there and you'll feel them as you can always run into people willing to take advantage of you as a foreigner. There's no sugarcoating this, you'll have some good times and some bad times, it's inevitable, doesn't matter if It's Romania, Korea, Germany, Netherlands, etc. The good news is there's no racism or negative opinions about Koreans in Romania, quite the contrary, everyone worships technology and entertainment from there. The thing to note about Romanians compared to other westerners is the sense of humor and banter here is really unfiltered and turned up to 11. As in, some might call you Chinese/Japanese, not to insult you but just to mess with you, or ask you about eating their dogs or how your leader King Jong Un is doing, or other stereotypes like that, not because they're racists, but people here like fucking with others for shits and giggles, it's a national sport. I had a couple of Korean neighbors here growing up in the 90's who moved to set up a Daewoo branch here, and I remember them liking it despite the 90's being really bad here compared to today, so I think you'll enjoy your time here. Also, can you bring me an S24 Ultra? :D jk
Yeah, I completely second this. Expect to be the target of some jokes, we all love to banter about the dumbest things imaginable. It's all in good fun though, I doubt most people will actually have a genuine problem with you. I have a friend over here from Palestine, we would probably both get kicked out if anyone heard the racist jokes we come up with. Hell, if you joke about our culture and... certain problematic groups, you're bound to get a couple laughs and fit in even better.
Ah, I see. Thank you for good information! I will buy the Galaxy S24 first and think about it haha
2: depending what bubble of people you interacted with in Korea , you will find Iaşi to be Very diverse. There are Arabs ( pretty much every variety from Syrian to Iraqi to Palestinian ) , Turks, Israelis , Africans from different places,Americans , French , Italians, Ukrainians, diferent types of Asians (Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesians ) and quite a bit of south Asian people working. The thing is they mostly stick with their international crowds, so if you stick with a bubble of other students from your year only … you are probably not gonna meet too many of them
Actually, I don't particularly like the idea of studying abroad only to stay within a group of people from the same ethnicity. In fact, this might be the reason why I am investing most of my time in studying Romanian. I think it would be great to go to Romania and converse in Romanian. Of course, it will require a lot of courage
By all means, go for it, then. Most people here are fine with whoever if they're a cool guy/gal, although people do have their own groups of friends, and it's going to be tough to integrate into a fully romanian group without knowing the language. That said, since you're studying it you'll probably be fine. We don't take any issue if you're a bit slower and/or we have to say something in a different manner, if anything we take pride in teaching you dumb shit in Romanian. Just being able to hold a conversation will take you a looong way over here, I'd wager. The main thing I would personally suggest is to try to find your groove fairly early on. I'm not sure if it's different in non-Romanian uni classes, but people come up with their friend groups fairly early on, and it's kind of difficult to get into an already established group as you might expect. The Palestinian friend I was talking about in the other comment is kinda in the same situation, and I'm trying to get him into my uni group, and it's a bit difficult.
That's a very realistic problem. I actually think it's likely that everyone already has their own groups. So, it will probably take a lot of courage to fit in there. Well, even so, I should give it a try
About racism... under 0% . This is not western Europe. The city have some asians, i meet some Taiwanese and Japanese they study medicine. Yes are not to many... but you can make some friends . No ideea about the school . But i am pretty sure it's ok . Just keep in mind this is a small city .
Hello, 1 I have graduated at this university, Photogtaphy, Film and Image Processing 8-9 years ago. Matei Bejenaru is the best professor and is the one who "administrate" it. 2 you will be fine, i bet there will be people who will want to know more about your culture. If you need more info let me know. Btw i think there are this summer the admission exams, so good luck
Ah, I see. Nice to meet you! If I enter the graduate program, it seems that my advisor will be Matei Bejenaru. If you don't mind, I have a few questions. 1. What is Professor Bejenaru's personality like? 2. Is there a darkroom at the school where I can develop film? 3. Do you have any advice for me before I join the program?
Matei Bejenaru is an awesome person, a good man, an international artist. In my opinion there are no worda to describe this man. There was a dark room, quite nice when i study there. I bet there still is one. Ansel Adams will be proud :))) I don t know much about this program but i bet there will be fun. For me it was 3 nice years
Haha, it would be great if Ansel Adams thought so. And Fortunately, knowing that professor is a good person makes me feel a bit relieved. By the way, does this university offer not only 4-year undergraduate programs but also 3-year programs? And what is the atmosphere like in the department? Is it more collaborative and friendly, or is it individualistic?
Not sure about the lenght of the program, i graduated a lot of time ago. In the photography and film department is kind of fun. There you will meet open minded professors(artist) like, Andrei Cozlac, Mr. Teodorescu, ms. Lavinia (this one haven't liked me :))) but she was like an opened book of informations). All the staff there is helfull and kind. I made a lot of friends in that university from all kind of departements. The photography departement is more like collaborative, they will do their best to help and guide you. They also do colabs with lot of gallery exhibitions and you can post there your work.
I was surprised to find that the quality of the works on Facebook was much better than I expected. When I was attending a photography university in Korea, I also didn't receive good grades because my artistic style didn't match that of my professor. However, I think this is an inevitable part of studying at an art university. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that the atmosphere in your department is cooperative!
2. Some old ladies might stare a bit in public transportation but other than that you should be fine
1. Good enough. I know people who graduated and they're awesome artists. 2. I must say there are a bunch of Asians around, I have no problem with them wing here. I am actually glad. English should be fine. Also, the city is not actually huge, so if you're used to riding a bicycle, set your mind on using it here as well. No proper bike lanes and infrastructure, the mayor is a corrupt hole who hates trees and cyclists, but you can get around just fine. You definitely need to explore the city and surroundings before deciding on a place to rent (I assume you won't get a bed in some university-provided dormitory).
Yes, I plan to rent a place outside of the dormitory. Are there any areas or streets in Iași that are unsafe?
Small areas, but depends. A building could be totally all right, and the next one crawling with drugs and low-end prostitution. Anyway, the idea is tat it's safe to say that over 95% of the city is safe (and often safer than it looks).
For the most part, it's safe. The closer to the centre, the less you have to worry about. There's a couple of "unsafe" areas worth mentioning, although it's more of a "walk faster till you leave" rather than avoiding it at all costs. The only place with that rep is Dallas, it's a neighbourhood across Bahlui River with a large graffiti'd wall blocking it. You'll probably want to hold onto your stuff near the trainstation. There's a bridge going over the tracks towards another neighbourhood, the small area that you enter the bridge from on the station's side doesn't have a good rep. Lots of cheap bars, cheap food, and smells like crap. Odds are you'll be fine, but probably a good idea not to stay there for too long. Dacia, another neighbourhood across the river from Dallas, also isn't the best. It's fairly safe during the day, and especially on the main road, but do avoid messing around the smaller streets at night. I actually got chased by "minorities" there at some point, so yeah. I'm not sure how up to date this is since I don't frequent that road anymore, but a couple years back there was a section of Pacurari Street also filled with "minorities". It's between Blocuri Pacurari bus station, and the bridge Octav Bancila, give or take. Take this with a grain of salt though, their house got demolished I think. That's all I can really think of right now. If anything though I suggest trying stuff out - a lot of places look "unsafe" and like they'd give you food poisoning, but they're surprisingly good, provided you can speak some amount of Romanian. A lot of my best experiences eating/drinking out were had in these trashy old man bars.
Thanks for the good information! If I find a place to live, I'd like to get one around Byulchae or the square. Do you happen to know how much the monthly rent is?
What do you mean by Byulchae? I can't tell what area you're referring to. As for rent, I'm actually not sure - my guesstimate is around 300 euros, but that's only based on hearsay from friends, I don't actually rent. Ideally someone pitches in here.
90% of people are romanian. Some arabs at the medicine school. Asians are very few and far between. The racism against asians is almoust non existant.
Oh, I see. It's a relief to hear that there isn't much discrimination
1. From what I know, it's not the best one in the country, but I believe it's been through some major progress in the last few years. I guess I'm gonna see you around, the next month I'll be applying for a Photography Master at this university as well. If you wanna meet up, you can dm me anytime. 2. I don't think you're gonna face any problems regarding this.
Oh, I see. Did you major in photography in your undergraduate studies as well? I'm glad to know that we could be colleagues. However, I'm still deciding whether to go this year or next year. But regardless of when, I plan to visit the school sometime this year
I majored in visual arts - graphics at another university. Cool, I wish you the best no matter what your decision is going to be.
I wont add anything to what people already said because they basically covered everything that you had to know :))))))) I want to add something to what you said. UNArte is in Bucharest, UNAGE is in Iasi. Just so you wont confuse other people when you talk about your school. GOOD LUCK!:D
Oh, I see! Thank you for letting me know!:)
As a student that I’ve graduated there, but not at photography. I can tell you that most of teachers are kind and friendly. The vibe into the Uni is amazing. A lot of work at photography classes, and you ll have to pay your photos printed. Is well to create a lot of exhibition, and you will have at least 1 per year with your future class. at first yesr you will have to study anatomy and art history. Good luck!
I'm glad to hear it's a good atmosphere. Do you happen to know what the dormitories are like?
Not actually. I had a few colleagues. I don’t remember how many in 1room. The bathroom is mutual, toilets same. I was at a party there and at the second floor was 4 in 1room. The dormitory is based kind of far from Uni (photography, mural, painting, sculptures are ) in Sararie 189 and the dormitory in Bularga street 17. The Uni started to build another dormitory very close to Uni (this area in Sărărie -Visual Arts) in Codrescu no8 but I don’t think they finished. Ungureanu is a very cool teacher from Paintings and have multiple titles in the “bureaucracy” of the Uni and he speaks English. You can contact him on Facebook. https://www.arteiasi.ro/studenti/cazare-unage/ for prices for dormitory. you can look on maps for “căminul c1 bularga unage”. The acces is pretty tight because the uni had a conflict with a building near so you have a short street to cross. A real inconvenience is that you ll have to use public transportation. But you can talk with Ungureanu and the cool women from secretary about a subscription from town hall( not sure if is applied for international students, I think yes but not 100% sure.The town hall paid a good procent of the subscription for public transport for students). But as someone else told you below, you will have to take care or your goods in public transport. A cool part is that (I think is still running) at painting we had a teacher that created a program for artists. I had a girl from Japan I think 🤔. That program was.. (we had at one moment money and provided to the artist a room for 1 month and ) he/she came and had interacted with us, we hanged out, and at the end of that month the artist created an exhibition). We had artists from a lot of countries and wed some friends from photography). Ioana Palamar is called. Once you will start to study at Uni, ask at secretary. I think it will be cool for you to meet different artists. Not all of them was on paintings.. On top of that Uni has Erasmus programs.
One more is UNAGE, not UNARTE. UNARTE is at Bucharest
I'm just writing to add up the number of feedback. You might think that there aren't enough answers. Basically, everything that people said in comments is true. There are many foreign students in Iași, it is a safe city , everyone speaks English. Good luck!
Is that so? That's a relief. Thank you for your kind response!
Not everyone, let's be realistic...
Ok, not 100% . More than Cluj though:)
🙃
Although it's not my direct experience, both my parents and my sister are UNAGE graduates and visual artists (sculpture, art theory, mural painting). As far as I got to understand from them, the photography-videpgraphy specialization in Iași is the best amongst the universities in Romania and they would recommend it. Regarding racism, Iași has quite a few large universities and is the main city in this area of the country (Moldova) to attract people from other cities or villages, so you should expect all kinds of people and attitudes, although I would rather incline to see it as somewhat progressive and inclusive, especially for the youth here. As mentioned before in other comments, there should be little overt aggressive racism, especially towards Asian people. Of course, this cannot guarantee anything, but from my experience as a psychotherapist you could strive to understand that sometimes people are much more curious about foreigners and can hold introjected stereotypes but in a non-malignant fashion. Most people should be happy to understand if you feel like something is discriminative, they must have simply not have imagined how you would feel. I highly recommend this perspective as a cushion for you cultural adaptation and also wearing your identity with pride. You might as well become a star (many girls just love the Asian aesthetic). Best regards!
Thank you for your kind response! That sounds acceptable to me. Of course, there will be some strange people, but there are some in every country. It would be nice if there are people who like Korean culture.
There definitely are, also from my past experience with teaching students (both high school and university)
There is some racism but that's everywhere There are like 2 hoods you should avoid And if I were you I'd just study in Korea a country that is superior in every aspect compared to Romania or if you really want to study abroad just pick a country that is actually on the rankings, there are only 2 universities in Romania in the top 1000 and they are like number 900+ That's about it good luck
I see, thank you for the good feedback
I don't know anything about arts, so I'll only answer the 2nd question. There are lots of foreign students, especially in medical school. Including from different parts of Asia. Korea in particular probably low number though. There are also a lot of Asians coming here for work (again, not Korea in particular). It's obviously not as diverse as a big city in western Europe, but it's also not 0 diversity. I'd say racism is mild and generally people will not manifest it in front of you, so your experience should be fine overall. Furthermore, lots of Romanians are very welcoming and curious about foreigners, so you should be able to find friends and stuff to do easily if you're outgoing. There are a bunch of Asian food restaurants (nothing specifically Korean afaik), but you can order Korean stuff online and cook yourself and there are also a couple of physical stores where you might find ingredients. I have (Romanian) friends that like Korean food and they are able to find ingredients they need in Romania to cook at home. But they will be rather expensive. I'm sure you'll find something to eat at reasonable prices if you're not Very picky and only like 3 things or something like that.
parca era un magazin pe la palas
Thank you. It would be much better if I could eat Korean food in Romania. Thanks for the great response!
Beleave me is the best option. The cost of life is loe, the universities are very good!! Good luck!
2. No problems regarding racism towards Asian students. Or, at least, no problems I've heard about
1. cred ca se cheama unage, nu unarte, unarte este in bucuresti 2, rasisti mai putin, xenofobi, probabil mai mult ... daca nu cauti probleme nu vei avea probleme
1. food is good but not that spicy 2. what racism? most romanian people have smth against gypsies (take into account 5% of the population of romania are responsible for 50-60% of the acts not legal - kind of understandable why) 3. Asians, not so many here in Iasi, but there is a community if I remember correctly 4. Restaurants that I would like for you to review if you have the chance (at least in this way we from Iasi get a proper feedback on what is the best with respect to the Asian cusine): Sushi Fusion. (3) Open Now. ... Wok up. (6) Open Now. ... Sushi Master. (22) Open Now. ... Club 20 Bamboo. (14) Open Now. ... Little Hanoi **Iasi**. (11) Open Now. ... Otherwise, give a PM if you wanna grab a beer someday. Ohh and welcome :)
Don't worry about racism, we don't have any :) Iasi is a cosmopolitan city , mainly due to the large number of foreign students as people mentioned before (there are about 50000 students in Iasi, not sure how many foreigners ) . On FB there is a group called "Expats in Iasi", you can get other people's opinions in there too. As fun fact, 4 or 5 years ago I met a Japanese guy who came to Iasi because his wife was ballet dancer in Iasi Opera and I found out there are about 10 Japanese ladies in Iasi Opera. Recently, a lot of Asians (especially from Bangladesh, Pakistan ) are coming to Iasi and get low-level jobs, like delivery guys or working in construction. Asian people are considered a bit exotic and Romanians have respect for you, especially when it's about work, discipline or cleanliness. Traffic is crazy (will be the same if you choose Bucharest or Cluj) so I recommend to stay in the Center where you have almost everything that matters : Theatre, Opera, 2 shopping malls, movie theater, Universities, restaurants, shops. As other people mentioned already, the worst thing to happen to you as Asian is that you can be a target to pickpockets in the public transportation as they can spot you are a foreigner, so they think you are a tourist not speaking Romanian, so a easy target (but that's easy to fight against, as you can pay by card / phone these days ). Good luck !
Good school, good teachers, especially on photo video
Thanks you for your reply\~! Have you ever been a student at this school?
yed, 2002 to 2006. Been working as an Art Director/Graphic Designer since then. The teacher ftom photo/video Matei Bejenaru is very very good and he is a big artist in Romania
Regarding 2. people might ask you if you know karate and pretend to fight you. And that's about it.
Haha, I see. That's interesting
You can totally shut those people mouth with your taekwondo roundhousekick to the face... just kidding
I studied there in Graphics - animation, but also had courses for drawing and painting and for engraving in the first year. I felt like I wasted 3 years of my life because I didn't learn anything useful and nothing from there could be applied at any job. Hell even the animation teacher used to only give us YouTube tutorials as assignment and during the classes too. She couldn't be bothered to make her own tutorials. Nobody needs a college to learn from YouTube wtf. In this college it was mostly to learn and discover everything by yourself and the teachers are just some almost useless people (with the exception of a few) that just tell you "this is wrong, you should have done this", but in a mostly philosophical sense instead of providing clear examples or teaching you personally like a good mentor would. And yeah you would be the only Asian in this college. And one of the very very few in the city. Maybe less than 10 people in the city are from Korea. I never saw one. How did you find out about Iași and this college?
I’ve met a few (not all) graduates from there and I wasn’t impressed, it was quite the opposite. If you do apply there try to find some place to practice, there are some studios And photographers in town where you can apply for internship or something similar, even get paid for small jobs, depending on what you would like to do next. As for the second question, probably some people will think you are chinese and that’s about it.
It's a shithole, don't come here. Save yourself the trouble and go to a place where they'll actually teach you smth.
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