Living in Galati

      We didn’t know what to expect of the everyday life in Galati but we had enough time to discover it.

      The city is an industrial city due to the arcelormittal plant, being the first steel producer of Romania and employing about 7,000 employees in Galati, it is a pillar of the local economy.

      The center is rather small and the city is not really modern overall, but it has its appeal. Sadly, there are a lot of old buildings that are being abandoned, either because the state or the private owner don’t want to bother spending money on maintaining such a building.

      To move inside the city you can walk, I find Galati’s streets charming, but for longer commute there is a well developed bus network (the ride costs 0.45€), there is a tram but it only operates about 3 times a day or there are the taxis, these are everywhere across Romania and they are really cheap (these are 0.42€/km), the 2 main companies in Galati are SAMATAXI and AS, and going around taking a cab is mainstream all over Romania.

      We thought we would meet a lot of people in our student accommodation, but it hadn’t been the case. Most of the peoples we tried to speak to there were Italians or Romanians that surprisingly did not speak English. We met Kevin tho, he’s an Albanian studying Romanian and economics in Galati, we spent quite a few times with him.
      We were also introduced to a WhatsApp chat group of erasmus students from Galati. They are staying in other accommodations in Galati. They where what we had in mind when thinking of erasmus students. They are from all around the world, namely Turkey, Portugal, Greece, Italy, France. We had the occasion to go out all together and they all are wonderful people.
      François and I had the chance to work on the same floor as Alina in the office. She’s a Partner Operations Coordinator for Wind River, and she massively contributed to make our stay more pleasant. First of all she introduced us to the foodies list of our floor, that consists in ordering food to be delivered for the whole office’s floor and to eat it together. She also took us on exploration walk over Galati during lunch breaks, and even guided us through the Galati’s history museum.
      Besides, she planned and took us, with her husband Gabi, on a road trip across the Macin mountains and the Danube’s delta. Another one of these is planned for next weekend in Transylvania. If you read this, thanks a lot Alina !
      Pierre once met Mara, a Galati’s art school student, at his bus stop. They got along so well we met again with her best friend Iarina that speaks French pretty well. She introduced us to her friends Alex, Andy and Mihut who invited us to their band’s rehearsal. There was an art exhibit in the university building that we went to, and Mara was part of the artists that displayed their work. She also invited us to an excellent barbecue at her place !