Q: Age?
A: 18 years old.
Q: Were you born here?
A: No, in Romania.
Q: How long have you been here?
A: 17 years.
Q: Do you know how your life was like in Romania before you came?
A: I can’t tell because I have always lived here. But I have family there, so I know more or less how life is there. It is very different. I can tell you also because I have spent many summers there, and I can tell the differences. The cities are different, the way people relate to each other, how people think. One thinks it is all very globalized but it is not. There, people are a bit more closed.
Q: How are people different?
A: In Romania people are more traditional. I like that they are close, very real, they try to be close to each other, they are very hospitable, and very good in that sense. Here people are colder in that way. There people have a different life philosophy. They have their fields, their animals, their plantations, and work there happily. It is more industrialised here. There is a big contrast between city and town people. It is hard to describe. The culture is different. I can tell you only based on what I lived with my grandfather during the summer, usually I am with older people there, not people my age. They like to get together and help each other. Families get together here too, but it is not the same.
Q: Have you always lived here?
A: At first we lived in Guadalajara. My brother was born there. Then we came to Murcia, we lived in El Ranero and when I was 6 we moved here and lived here since. I have no memories of Guadalajara, but I have many of El Ranero.
Q: And what differences do you notice?
A: Well, there I was in the city. It was small, too, but my memories are of parks and dogs and walks with my dad downtown. And when we came here we were in a town.
Q: How is your group of friends?
A: At high school I was with Spanish people, I didn’t know people from Romania, and the few I knew where very different to me. I was very studious and they used to go and do other things, so I did not get together with them. At the university, I started this year studying Tourism, I met some people from my country and we talk now and then. It is good. They have been here for 10 years.
Q: Are they integrated?
A: They are two brothers. I go to class and talk with a lot of people, but they just go to class and don’t relate much with others.
Q: What relationship do you have with your family in Romania?
A: My grandparents stayed there, maternal side, because the ones from my paternal side died some years ago. My aunt too, my mother’s sister, we have a good relationship. The ones on my father’s side too but we don’t speak much because they are older. We speak more with the family of my mother. And also with my great aunt. With my cousins too, but as people in my country get married with 21-22 years old, you don’t hear much of them afterwards. We don’t speak very much. They get married and start having kids and you don’t hear more from them. That is another difference with Spain, it shocks me a lot, I think very differently. But maybe it is because as I am here I received another education and way of seeing this. In Romania they see it as something normal, to get married when you are 20. I think it is very weird, it is unthinkable. I am 18, just started studying, when I finish it I will have to keep on studying for a master, and then I can start thinking about it. It is a big contrast.
Q: How do you communicate with the people there?
A: We talk on the phone, I don’t know why I don’t like Skype, it makes me nervous. I prefer the phone calls. Usually they call me, like once a month, and we can talk for ten minutes, and we pass the phone from onte to the other in my family. We don’t talk much. Maybe sometimes we talk more because they tell us something interesting, but it is the usual “how are you” and “how is the weather there” conversation.
Q: Did they adapt to the new technologies?
A: That surprised me a lot. I have uncles that are more than 50 years old that are my Facebook friends and comment, it is surprising. They created a Facebook account to have family closer, and my 60-year-old aunts comment and post photos and use a lot the social networks. It surprised me because my father has refused to try it. But they are actualized and it scares me.
Q: How did your relationship with them evolve?
A: At first we talked more and it started decreasing. I used to talk more with my cousins, but with the years everyone has their own lives and we lose contact. We don’t talk anymore, it is rare. With the ones I haven’t lost contact is with my grandparents, that we talk each month, and with some of my aunts and uncles, that live with them.
Q: How often do you go to Romania?
A: Usually every two years, and we go during the summer. We stay between two week to a month. As we grow up, each time we want to spend less time there. Because now it is not the same. When we were little we had our cousins that entertained us, but now they grew up and left, so we don’t want to stay long.
Q: How did you manage the languages?
A: When I came here I was an year old. My parents taught me Romanian because it is what they knew, they knew no spanish. When I started kindergarten, my mom tells me, I came home stressed because the kids talked to me and I didn’t understand them. The teacher knew I was not from here and helped me and payed me a lot of attention. So in three months I was already speaking perfect spanish and being able to relate with the kids. When we are small our brain takes in everything, it is the best age to start learning. Although I remember being confused and mixing up the words. But with time I learned it.
Q: Do you speak in Spanish at home?
A: By inertia I speak in Spanish, because I speak Spanish all day. But I know perfectly well how to speak Romanian. When I go to Romania, my family is surprised that I speak so well.
Q: Are you open to the idea of living somewhere else?
A: Yes, totally, that is what I want, why I study Tourism. I like Spain very much, lived my whole life here, but I have always wanted to know other places. It is true that I am lucky because I am from another country, so I’ve seen from many different points of view what a country is like, I’ve known other cultures, other ways of thinking. I think I am very openminded, and I have travelled many times to my country and met people and saw places on the way, and I love airports. I was between two careers: Tourism and Fine Arts, 50-50 til the last minute, but decided Tourism because I thought I would like it best.
Q: If you had to leave Spain, would you live in Romania?
A: I wouldn’t live there, I like my country but not enough to live there for a long time. I enjoy being with my family, climbing the mountains, knowing places, but I think there are better options to live in. It is true that it is improving little by little, but I think there is still a long way to go.
Q: Do you say it because you inform yourself or because of someone’s experience?
A: A bit of both. I am pretty ignorant, but based on my experience and on what I know, I think my country has many things to improve. Infrastructure, politically, economically… People who govern have to improve a lot. And also the mentality of the people, they have to decide to improve. I have faith and hope that it will happen, because it has great potential. It needs good rulers and people that want to fight for what they believe in.
Q: What are the biggest differences between both countries?
A: The first thing I can think about is health. In Romania you enter a hospital and it seems you will get more diseases in there tan outside. I entered once because a cousin of mine had given birth and I wanted to see the baby, and when I saw that place I thought it was falling down. Broken walls, dirty chairs, I didn’t want to touch anything. I want to think that the rooms are fine. I think it is because they don’t invest on improving it. It is not a priority. Also, if you have something more serious, you have to go to a capital city or travel a couple of hours to get to a big hospital, here there are more and they are closer. Also, in Romania infrastructure is awful, the roads. From Spain to Romania, it is a three-hour flight. From the city I land on to my grandparents’ town, it takes me four hours to get there. The weather is different too. It is much colder here. In Romania it rains more, I’m not used to it because in Murcia it rains once a year. In summer in Murcia you can’t sleep because it is too hot, and in Romania it is nicer. Policemen and people like that in Romania are not that fair, you can bribe them a little and they overlook. It is not entirely reliable. Or they can fine you without reason. It is not as formal as here. It is not compulsory to put your seatbelt on, I think it is crazy. Here people dress up a lot and we are fashionable, and in Romania, in small towns and cities, they don’t care much. People don’t mind that much about their looks. Here it is all we can think about, we want to look good and dress well, people care too much. In Romania it is more natural, from what I’ve seen. Schools are also almost falling down, they don’t invest in those things, I think it is basic to invest in health and education, infrastructure. They don’t worry about it, I guess it is because of the government, that it does not prioritize it.