After I had submitted the application form to the FHDW together with a letter of motivation, CV and a current overview of my grades, I received notification of acceptance five weeks later. So I had certainty at the beginning of April and enough time to organize everything else.

At the end of April, I had an information meeting in which the International Office informed me about all the steps I still needed to take. In general, the International Office was very helpful and provided support and assistance with any questions I had. I had to postpone my next practical and theoretical phase a little for the FHDW. This went absolutely smoothly. By swapping the 3rd and 4th practical phase, I was able to spend a full semester at the RAU and then had the opportunity to write the practical thesis after the 3rd theoretical phase. This was actually scheduled for November/December 2019.

After a short time, the RAU contacted me personally. They were very friendly and sent me information about the university, accommodation options and the campus. The FHDW then selected the courses that matched my FHDW courses and sent me the Learning Agreement (LA), which I had the RAU sign. This also went smoothly and I received the LA back a few days later. As I hadn’t been to Bucharest before and didn’t want to look for an apartment online without being able to view it on site, I decided to accept the RAU’s offer of the campus’ own hall of residence.

A visa for Romania is not required. EU citizens have 90 days free stay. After that, you must apply for a registration certificate at the relevant immigration office, which will allow you to stay longer for study purposes. The RAU can also help you with this and provide information about the deadlines. In terms of insurance, I already had my own liability and accident insurance. I also took out travel health insurance for the period of my mobility. In addition to the European Health Insurance Card, this also covers, for example, any necessary return transportation to Germany.

The RAU recommends arriving a week earlier to acclimatize. For me, however, the two days were more than enough. I flew with Wizz Air. If you book early, you can get relatively cheap direct flights from Dortmund or Hanover. I informed the RAU of my arrival time in advance. That way, the security guard knew when I was coming and had the key to my room ready. The student residence has 24/7 security, so it was possible to arrive at any time.

The first few days of lectures were a bit disorganized. The lecture schedule was already online, but there was no information about an opening event or anything similar. Some lectures also did not take place as planned in the first week. Don’t panic in this case, or if you can’t find all of your selected courses on your lecture plan. The semester at the RAU is divided into two modules. This means that you may not have some of your courses until the second module (2 modules of 7 weeks each).

The first week is still a bit dominated by organizational matters. But the professors have that on their radar, so it’s all good. The lecture plans are divided into faculties and study programs. Depending on which faculty and from which study programs you have selected courses, you will have to look at different course schedules.

In general, the courses at the RAU are structured somewhat differently than at the FHDW. Before the module ends (7 weeks), you have the opportunity to complete the course with so-called pre-sessions (can be coursework, presentations or exams) without the actual main exam. The RAU has a points system from 0-10, so if you get at least 8 out of 10 in the pre-session, you no longer have to take the exam and have completed the course beforehand. I personally found this quite good, as it keeps the exam stress to a minimum and you don’t have all the exams in one week like at the FHDW.

For €110 per month, you can get a bed in a 3-bed room at the RAU, including your own bathroom. I had planned to live there for the time being and possibly look for my own apartment later. But I didn’t do that because I thought it was pretty funny in the student hall of residence. You had already made contacts there before university started. Later on, the advantage was that you always had Erasmus students around you. This meant you could do things together straight after university. You also only had to take the elevator down to the lectures and were practically in the lecture hall, which I particularly liked. The RAU tries to accommodate all foreign students on one floor.

The RAU does not have its own network for Erasmus students. However, the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) of the University of Bucharest is also responsible for the RAU. The RAU provided us with links to Facebook and WhatsApp groups of these networks. ESN has organized many leisure events, parties and excursions for Erasmus students.

There are a total of three networks in Bucharest. They usually organize events together. For example, I took part in excursions to Transfăgărășan Mountain Road or to Transylvania. I can only recommend taking part in all the events, especially in the first few weeks. You get to know lots of people from different nationalities and can make lots of contacts. In total, Bucharest hosted around 500 international students during my semester.

ESN also organizes a few sports activities such as paintball or laser tag. The RAU also has its own fitness studio on campus where you can work out at a reasonable price. However, I personally found it too small. That’s why I looked for another gym nearby. Monthly contracts are no problem at all in Bucharest. Unlike many gyms in Germany, you don’t have to sign annual contracts. In some cases, you can simply pay per training session.

In terms of a mobile phone contract, I got a prepaid card from Telekom. This gave me unlimited data volume and 100 free minutes per month for €6. You have 4G reception pretty much everywhere. In the RAU, shopping centers and cafés there is usually free WiFi and thanks to EU roaming you can also simply use the German SIM card.

For mobility, my advice – especially when arriving at the airport – is not to use public cabs, but Uber or Bolt. Cab drivers often charge foreigners more than usual and with Uber you can see the fares in advance.

With a student transport card, which you receive from the RAU after about a month, you get a 50% discount on monthly public transport tickets. This includes buses, electric buses and streetcars. Unfortunately no subway. But there is no subway station at the RAU. For the first month, I simply bought the monthly bus pass without the discount. For 50 lei, just over €10, it’s pretty cheap even without the discount.

Unfortunately, there is no kitchen in the student residence. However, you can eat well and cheaply in the RAU canteen. We ordered a small fridge for our room so that we had some sausage and cheese for breakfast. At the weekend or in the evening, when the canteen is closed, you can also eat well and cheaply at Baneasa or in the AFI shopping center. There is a lot to choose from there and also a kind of fresh cuisine. The nearest supermarket (Mega Image) is a 10-minute walk from the RAU and is open 24/7. There is also Lidl or Kaufland in Bucharest.

You can get by for a month with the following:
Student hall of residence = €110
Food (without cooking yourself) = €300
Prepaid card, if applicable = €6
Public transport = €5

Of course, if you do a lot of things, you should add something extra and if you have your own apartment, for example, the cost of rent is higher but the cost of food may be lower, as you don’t always have to go out to eat if you have your own kitchen. In general, Bucharest is quite cheap compared to German cities.