NFL season starts tommorow, on Voyo

Posted on September 6, 2025 by Fatca Pop

Do you have a streaming service in Romania?  The best for sports is normally Digi.  But perhaps you don’t use Digi, or you had problems with it, so you just want a television service and not to change your mobile.

Well, Voyo claims they have some exclusive NFL games in Romania.  We already advised against travelling to Britain and France for the next couple of weeks, so if you are watching the game tomorrow, it might be time to consider Voyo.

Voyo is a Romanian service, so subtitles are only available in the Romanian language.  There are other limitations, but we found that it generally works quite well (we have not tested it in 4k or anything like that.)

There are limited options in English, usually B-movies like Sharknado (I am not sure I saw Sharknado on their line up, it is just the level of film that I did notice reminded me of Sharknado.)  But for Romanian sports and contemporary “comedy” it does have something.  However, if you are not interested in the NFL, you might find more entertainment on Youtube (yes, even in Romanian.)

Our favorite shows on Voyo, La Bloc and Ce spun Romani, are both available on YouTube.  That said, a subscription to Voyo might help some people focus on learning Romanian, as the available shows in languages like English are not very good.

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Travel disruptions to Britain or France?

Posted on September 6, 2025 by Fatca Pop

If you are planning to go to Britain in the next couple of weeks, prepare for possible disruptions.

You might have heard of protests in London planned for September 13th.  Well, allegedly, so did some travel companies, and rail tickets are being cancelled.  (Or, perhaps the train drivers are going to the protests.)

If you are not going for the protests, you might find roads blocked, especially in London.  But, on the flip side, any going for the protests might be disappointed by low turnout.

If you travel by air around the time of the protests (the closest available days we found include leaving September 11 and returning on the 16th), you will find that the return ticket is less than a tenth the price of the leaving ticket.

If you plan to arrive after the protests, you will save a lot of money, but it will still be significantly more expensive to go to London than to return to Cluj. That is probably because there are more Romanian students travelling to London than British students travelling to Romania.

Will the protests in London attract people from all over Europe?  It may bring home a few British expats, but more likely the majority of people from outside of London will be from the North of England.

You will find disruptions if you are travelling to France.   The Prime Minister of that country is planning on stopping two national holidays.  So, on the 10th of September, French drivers and others are planning to strike.

The first cancelled holiday is Easter Monday.  The other is VE day.

We expect the French strike to be much bigger disrupter than the London protest.  Why?  Well, first, the French are more likely to get what they want over protests.  Back in the 1990s, Britain and France protested over petrol prices, and the French government backed down, while the British one didn’t.  (Tony Blair famously sent in the military to stop the strike.)

Second, the French are more unified in the strike.  While some British people oppose immigration, others support it. And on both sides, many people do not see immigration as an important issue.  In France, almost no one supports getting rid of Easter Monday or VE day.

That said, if you can choose when to travel to either country, we recommend waiting until after all planned strikes and protests.

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Are international students being sold fake promises?

Posted on August 28, 2025 by Fatca Pop

With changing demographics, a lot of Universities are facing falling numbers.  And private organizations are partnering with universities.  When it becomes about the money, sometimes even an educational institution will prioritise quantity over quality.

Romania is on both sides of this equation.  While Cluj attracts a lot of foreign students, it also sends many of its own students abroad.  If you speak English in Cluj, your children will likely study in an English speaking university.  But, you probably also are not a native speaker, so they will be “strangers in two lands.”  Are students going to countries like Britain because of the quality, or simply attracted by false promises that the English speaking world has something special?

Well, Britain signed an agreement that Canada refused to sign.  Canada has become infamous for luring foreign students, especially those from India, to second rate universities (some would even say fake universities) with false promises.

A year ago, the Indian media seemed to wise up to the fact that Canadian universities were not up to scratch, and that the cost of sending students there may not be worth it.

But has anything been done about the countries that did sign the convention?  I mean, Britain, America, and Australia have a lot of universities per capita, and it seems pretty easy to found a new one in those countries.  (It is easier to start a new university in Canada than it is to open a bank account in Romania, but even Britain has more universities than its population could ever need.)

Now the question for students going to Romania is, will the same thing happen here?  Perhaps not.  It is much easier to immigrate to Romania without using the student excuse.  And Romania’s bigger problems seem to be student drop outs.  About half of university students leave their courses, and 

Why is this?  Is it linked to the cost of living?  Do students spend too much time working second jobs to support themself, and have little time for study?  Or do they lack motivation to finish their degrees, especially after hearing university is useless stories from gurus like the (college graduate) writer of “Rich Dad Poor Dad?”

Robert Kiyosaki is probably one of the worst influences on Romania today.  His bad advice books often top the charts under “financial literacy.”

We need to take another approach.  We need to recognise that some universities are complete scams, especially in countries like Canada that see students as a cash cow to help their economy.  Even within good universities, there are often bad apples with departments that don’t teach what they claim to teach.  Like junk food, there are also junk degrees.  Some degrees have as much educational content as coca cola has vitamins.

But we can also recognize that the right kind of education can help students.  Like good food, there are good degrees.

All European and North American universities could benefit with better standards.  More inspections should close down bad colleges that fail to teach or motivate their students the way inspections close down fast food joints that do not follow sanitation regulations.

I’ve spoken to international students and instructors.  While almost all of them can remember some form of inspection at international secondary schools, none can remember external inspectors at universities.  (There were external examiners who looked at marks students had for assignments, but no one seemed to inspect the safety or suitability of the buildings, the teaching process, or the resources available to students.)

In secondary schools in Romania, we can also expect more teacher strikes.  Funding for schools can have a knock on effect with how students perform in university (if they make it that far).

Romania seems unique in that it is facing the challenges of Canada as well as those of India.  It has trouble retaining its youth, while at the same time it can feel like there are few opportunities at home when cheap foreigners compete for the same jobs.  And when Romanians do go abroad, many feel underemployed and discriminated against.  Universities in the West do not always provide students with degrees that are respected in the Western job market.  But even when they do, some nationalities may seem more likely to get the good jobs than others.

Does this have an impact on the relationship between Romanians and expats?  Perhaps a future episode of Living Ironically in Europe will provide us with an entertaining attempt at an answer.  

Just as different ethnic groups in Romania have different reputations, so do different countries.  Students do not seem to be at the center of these stereotypes, but they might be affected by them.

But back to the quality of universities.  I am more likely to look favorably on a degree from a Romanian university than one from a Canadian one.  When foreign students account for more than half your students, your university is probably junk.

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UBV (not UBB) recruiting students

Posted on August 16, 2025 by Fatca Pop

If you stood by the bus stops in Cluj Napoca recently, you might have noticed two things.  One, is that despite the no smoking signs, tobacco is still on sale right by many bus stops.  Two, is that it is hard to hear the adverts over the oncoming traffic.

One of the ads is inviting you to visit the Hungarian Days.  Another invites you to go to Sora shopping centre, a safe place to shop.

Another talks about registering for a university course, in law, sports education, or economics.  At first hearing, it sounds like they are saying UBB, but if you listen long enough for the traffic to die down, it is clearly not Universitatea Babes Bolyai but Universitate Boagdan Voda. Continue reading →

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helen Keller’s letter to Cluj

Posted on July 16, 2025 by Fatca Pop

Letters to Kolozsvar

Before Cluj was Cluj, it went by other names.  When Hellen Keller was alive, the town was widely known as Kolozsvar.  Keller was very popular here, and she communicated with some of the towns residents.

(1903)

Helen Keller in Far countries….
Professor Boros, of the University of Kolozsvar, Transylvania, wrote a letter asking for permission to translate Miss Helen Keller’s “Story of My Life” into magyar…
In those days, not only did books have forwards, but letters did to.  Professor Boros had Dr Edward Everett Hale provide one.

The publishers, Doubleday, Page and Co, received the following from Dr Edward Everett Hale:

“Professor Boros says: – ‘I had a copy of one of the year books of Miss Keller’s school containing a most touching account of her marvelous life, and I wished to make a public lecture on it, but did not find it quite sufficient for the purpose. If I could get this book, I could do some good service for our very young and yet very poor institute of the blind, which is connected with an older one of the deaf and dumb in Kolozsvar.” You see, they think they are behind us in such things in Hungary. If you like, you may repeat what Baron Orban, one of these Transylvania gentlemen, said to me in 1873: He said it in Latin, ‘Do you know what we were doing in the eighteenth century, when Western Europe was surpassing us in her achievements of the higher civilization?’ And then in English he said, ‘We were keeping the Turk off your back.’ This is exactly true, and it is to me interesting that the people who kept the Turk off our back in 1680 should now be studying our benevolent institutions in the hope of improving their own.”

(1905)

It seems George Boros got his permission.  Two years later, it was widely reported that Professor George Boros of Kolozsvar had translated Helen Keller’s “Story of My Life” into Magyar. “is read with deep interest all over Hungary.”

Then Professor George Boros gave a lecture Miss Keller’s teacher, Mrs. Macy.  Among the large Audience were some blind students, and they “sent their greetings” to Miss Keller (perhaps via George Boros).  Perhaps there was no return address on the letters which they sent to Miss Keller.

After reading about the lecture, the popularity of the translation, and the greetings, this was Helen Keller’s reply.

“I am so glad you liked my book. I am always pleased when people tell me that my story has interested them. The world I live in is so {…} different from yours {…} We read the same books, travel the same highways, smell the same flowers; but how differently!

“My ideas are grounded on experiences which you, who see and hear, do not have, and ideas make the world we live in. I am interested in all that I hear about Hungary. You have indeed faced the severest tests, and have shown splendid courage in your struggle for independence. You are the frontier of Western Europe against the southwest, and you deserve independence among the nations you have helped to defend. But, after all, the subject nation finds her highest freedom in the arts of peace. That state knows no bondage which mounts the bight heights of civilization.

“I received a touching letter from the blind students at the Kolozsvar institution. Will you please convey to them my loving greeting?

“There is a very strong bond between us who cannot see. We, like Hungary, are held captive from without; but we find our vision in our hearts.”

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Historic names of Cluj

Posted on July 6, 2025 by Fatca Pop

The Burgermeister was once offended By Cluj being called Klausenburg.  “Bizza!” he complained, in 1904.

“Bizza! Zurüd! Es gibt fein Klausenburg in Ungard. Der offizielle und historische Name is Kolozsvar. Bitte nach Kolozsvar, Ungarn, zu adressiren. Restorat der Universität Kolozsvar.”

That university is now called UBB, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai.

Not much has changed since then.  These days, we can get Pizza and burgers in many locations when we visit Cluj.  However, we can also get Langos and Palanets.

In English, Cluj was known as Kolozsvar or Klausenburg until about the first world war.  When the town was ceded to Romania, it eventually became known as Cluj.  (Although it was still called Kolozsvar in many US newspapers until the end of the second world war.)

But what difference does a name make?  Well, it helps to be consistent.

In about 1903, the British war office had their own lesson in geography. A British officer went to the capital of Transylvania. On his arrival, he duly reported to his colonel about his arrival in Kolozsvar.

Then he wrote the war office, and he headed his letter with his address, the Grand Hotel, Klausenburg, (the German name of the town).

The authorities immediately replied, questioning how he dared travel from Kolozsvar to Klausenburg without asking permission or even consulting them first!

Then, in the 1970s, Ceausescu decided to add the word Napoca, in recognition of the old Roman settlement.

This became useful to differentiate the city from the county.  The county is Cluj, but Cluj-Napoca refers to the city within the county.  So, Cluj-Napoca excludes surrounding areas like Chinteni, Florește, and Pata Rât, but those are all in Cluj county.

For some time, the signs to Cluj-Napoca were written in different languages, but not Hungarian.  Now, we see the Hungarian Kolozsvar is included in at least some of the welcome to Cluj signs.
<!–
Sources:  Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.), (24 July 1904). Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045081/1904-07-24/ed-1/seq-5/>

Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.), 07 Jan. 1903. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89081022/1903-01-07/ed-1/seq-5/>

Atlanta semi-weekly journal., October 09, 1902, Page 6, Image 6

–>

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Events you missed this summer

Posted on July 6, 2025 by Fatca Pop

We all know about Untold, Electric Castle, and TIFF film festival.  But there is more to Cluj-Napoca and Transylvania than just three events.  In fact, almost every day of summer has something going on, usually at least two or three to choose from.

Cluj theatre festival – a festival of theatrical events in Cluj.  These included representations of plays never before seen in Cluj-Napoca.

Guitar play-along dates – these past few days, in the centre of town, guitar players of all ages were playing along to great

Oradea:

4-6 July, Medieval festival – people came from all around Europe to dress up and reenact medieval culture.

If you missed those, you are not alone.  But there is more to come.

FITT – Festival International de Teatru in Transilvania.  (25-28 September)

The guitar festival will be in Sibiu in September.

But there will also be a guitar festival here in Cluj at the end of August. (27-31 August).  The Transilvania International Guitar Festival will be in Cluj-Napoca   Rather than a play-along event, however, the festival in August seems to be more about competing.  There are prizes for different age groups.  Yes, the July one was better, when you could just stop playing for a couple chords if your hands got tired, and be lost in the crowd of other talented players.

As for Medieval festivals, well, you can always try Hungarian days in Cluj on the 19-20 of August.  But yeah, we also want to see the International medieval events in Oradea.

 

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Lidl’s design has improved

Posted on June 6, 2025 by Entertainment Reporter

In the past few years, we have noticed changes in the designs of Romania’s major supermarkets. Kaufland, Auchan, Mega Image, Profi, Carrefour and now Lidl have all added new self-checkout lanes or moved the self-checkouts.

Auchan’s seemed most drastic, with most lanes in the supermarket having self-checkout capability.  Yes, even the lines that have conveyor belts have self checkout capability, with a store assistant waiting on the side in case you need help.

Until recently, many Profi and Mega-Image stores did not have self-checkout capability.  Now, you can expect self checkout at almost any small supermarket (although a few of the micro sized stores still don’t have one.)

Lidls still have cashier-only lanes for those paying with cash or pushing large carts, but even those have changed.  They now have more space to put down your groceries!

It used to be that if you used a basket in the cashier-driven lane, you might not have space to bag your groceries. A few customers were putting full bags on the floor; others were pushing around carts just in case. Now, the area where you can bag your groceries has expanded to allow about three standard-sized bags.

This improvement means that those paying with cash can still use a basket to shop at Lidl.

Which brings us to another change that has occurred in the past few years. While Carrefour, Profi, and Mega Image still have the handy little hand-held baskets, the three other major supermarket chains seem to only offer large baskets with wheels. Auchan’s variety is taller than that of Lidl or Kaufland, but all are awkwardly large for those who might be walking home with their groceries. These larger baskets are more versatile than trolleys (or carts) and are easier to push around than small wheel-less baskets, but some other chains give their customers a choice of which kind of cart to use.

Auchan used to have a cool hybrid solution where handheld carts could be towed around in small trolleys.

That said, Lidl’s improvement in the cashier lanes is not the only improvement at Lidl.  They also have larger self-checkout options, like you might find in Western European Lidls.

One thing we found hard to find in any shop was ice cream cones (standard sized, without the ice cream). We found smaller than normal cones, and we found cones with the ice cream already in them, but if you want to scoop your own ice cream it looks like you have to order from a B2B or maybe even order from outside of town.  We will keep looking, and hopefully report soon when we find them.

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TIFF posters feature AI attrocity

Posted on June 3, 2025 by Fatca Pop

Posters promoting the Transylvania International Film Festival for 2025 depict an “audience” enjoying a screening beneath what looks like a futuristic fascist spaceship and accompanied by two robots, with Saint Michael’s church depicted with an evil eye above it.

This dystopian future is obviously made with A.I. The creators did not mean to show symbols that are used to portray communist and fascist alien species; instead, we can see by the unsightly artefacts that the image was made with A.I. They didn’t even clean up with distorted faces or the scrunches in the dress of the AI robots.

Does this mean the festival itself will be worse? Will films exhibited in TIFF be created by the AI? We hope not.

We have used AI ourselves a couple of times on this blog, when we didn’t think we had a good photo, and once even for a book cover. The main reason we did it is because when you start off playing with AI, it is fun. Just give the computer a prompt, and it gives you a result.

“Create an ethnic Hungarian pharmacist in manga style.” or, “Draw us Margaret Thatcher dressed as Cleopatra delivering pizza.”  Now, if I sent that to a real artist, it might cost a few hundred dollars and take a few weeks for the result. Some artists could do it quicker, sure, but usually artists of that talent are busy with other projects, so you have to wait. The AI produces an immediate result that is inferior to that of a talented artist.

Another advantage of the AI is that it sometimes seems to understand you better.

The worst problem, however, is with some artists using AI themselves; clients find unrealistic quotes on how long it takes to create quality artwork. The AI “artist” undercuts the competition in both time and price, then gets the bid, and finally doesn’t have time to complete the project properly.

AI is great for dystopian futures and horror because of the “mistakes” it makes. It is so close to photorealistic, but the slight differences make it uncanny. Uncanny means those little differences that almost look authentic but are frightening because they just look off and you can’t always say why.

In other news, the festival does appear to be showing some classic films, that are not horror.  These old films will ofset the fright caused by the AI material.

Hopefully, the fright of seeing the recent photos will cleanse the temptations to use AI out of our system.  We might still use it for a spell check or something, but AI art and writing is just unnecessary.  If you have nothing to say, just don’t say anything.  If you have no image, do not use one.

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18 gym, initial review

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Fatca Pop

I have only visited about 6 different branches of 18 gym. Sure, most gyms don’t have six different branches but when you are reviewing a name, you are reviewing the entire network.

The quickest way to describe 18 Gym is to say that it is like Basic Fit in Romania. There are differences, of course, but serves the same market (lower cost gym subscriptions), and has the same subscription model (it is easier to sign up for a year or a month than a day, you subscribe to all gyms at once, entry is with a card or QR code, and so on.)

Now, I only tried six so far, so I might have another review when I’ve tried more.

Subscription model

When you subscribe to basic fit, you get entry into their gyms.  This does not include personal training, and it may not include classes.

Usage times

Usage times are available on their apps.  While there used to be 24 hour gyms in Cluj, these no longer exist, the earliest seem to open at 6 am.  

Also, they closed for a few days for the Easter weekend.  This is a Romanian thing, of course, just be aware that gyms are closed on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and I think Monday of Easter. We expect them to be closed Christmas (maybe Boxing Day) and perhaps New Year’s Day, but we didn’t try them or check the app at those times.

The app tells you when a gym is reaching capacity and the opening times.

The gym spaces

The gym spaces vary in size and scope. Most include a dip/pull-up bar, some kind of pulley, squat racks, benches for doing dumbbell exercises, and a large variety of fixed-motion weight equipment.

 We read one review complaining of a lack of pulley machines. There are pulley machines, and sometimes you might have to wait a bit if another body-builder is using them.

Free weights

Whenever I went, there were dumbbells available, but it was not always easy to find a set of 12s. It really depends. If your strength level is popular, then you might have to wait.

Squat racks always seemed to be available.

Dumbbell benches, with adjustable inclines, were always available.

Bench presses were available most of the time, but once in the afternoon it seemed like a wait.

Free weights were generally easy to find, and if a machines

Free machine fixed movement machines

Something I didn’t see much in other gyms that are common at 18 gym are machines that move your seat up and down, and use freeweights in addition to your body weight for resistance. These actually seem more common at 18 gym than pully-operated weight machines, and they are probably safer in some ways.

Aerobics

Aerobics machines vary; most have some kind of treadmill and a stairmill. You can walk all the way up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Whenever I went, there were always those kinds of machines available. The stair machines are easy to set to variable intensity for those interested in HIIT training. Other machines might have those settings, but I didn’t find them.

Aerobics classes are only available in certain locations, and might not take place in the locations near you.

Mats

There are also moveable mats for doing exercises like planks and push-ups without touching the floor.

Use rules

The primary usage rules include bringing a towel, bringing indoor shoes (if you need to walk around in outdoor shoes, there are blue disposable shoe gloves), and putting weights back after you use them.

Music

The music is similar to what you would find at Basic Fit. If English is your first language, you might blush at the lyrics and the amount of innuendo. Expect rap rather than classical, and there isn’t a lot of heavy metal, although we heard Nirvana once. And no, you probably won’t hear any Manele or Petrecere, or Frank Sinatra, but who knows?

I would like to see Rick Beato review the music at 18 Gym and Basic Fit; maybe he can tell the difference.

Locker rooms

Lockers

There are usually enough lockers available. However, be advised to bring a lock with you when trying a new branch.

While some gyms have lockers fitted with their own combination locks, others require you to bring your own lock. One even has fitted key locks, and they issue you with a key when you enter.

Locker space is adequate at most times, but in the busiest it is hard to find places to change. The lockers are cleaned regularly, so do not be surprised if the cleaner is in there when you enter the locker room. It seems all the cleaners so far are female.

Showers

The showers at all 18 gyms we tried are in good working order, clean, and adequate. The water temperature is relatively easy to control, and the water pressure is adjustable.

The showers are probably the most consistent thing about the locker rooms; while the lockers vary in size and format, the showers appear to be the same across all the branches we tried.

Variability

Not all 18 gyms are the same. Everyone we tried had enough equipment to get an adequate workout, but some are larger than others.

As we already mentioned, the locks are different in the changing rooms. Some lockers have a fitted dial to put in your own code; others require you to bring your own lock.

Some branches have boxing equipment, one had a rowing station, one had a strong looking decline bench press, and at least half had dip machines (seated machines that simulate the dip movement with weights that you push down.)

Most had some kind of “booty builder” designed to build the muscles in the gluteus maximus. And they also had machines to develop abs, leg extensions, leg curls, lat pull downs and lat rows, all the basic movements you expect from weight machines. But due to size variations, some had more options than others.

None had anything designed to build neck muscles, but that is expected for Europe.

Because of this, it is advisable to check your local branch to see whether it fits your needs.

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