Alisa State has always exuded a crazy love for life. She cannot live too far away from nature, she’s always on the go, and has more than enough energy to love and care for her beautiful Latvian-Romanian son as a single mom in Brașov. She didn’t know much about Romania before she decided to change her life forever. But the decision to explore and make Romania her home remained one close to her heart. In this episode, we dive deep into Alisa’s love for the Romanian customs and traditions, her hope for its society, what makes Transylvania so great, the Romanian education system, and what Romania can learn from Latvia in dealing with its communist past. Listen to all of that and more in episode 6 of Wo/anderers. Happy audition!

Love is the magic word for the first Wo/anderers podcast of 2020. You will hear it come back again and again in today’s episode, because love represents the glue that binds together all of the dreams, aspirations, and experiences of our podcast guest, Damita Pressl. She is a Viennese woman to the core, with dirndls, Waltzing Balls, and a typical cosmopolitan attitude to match. She found out about Romania from Harry Potter, but it was love that immersed her in this culture for good. In today’s special New Year’s episode, we will talk about Damita’s love for Bucharest, why she thinks Romanian is an easy language to master, political corruption, the Colectiv case, and more. Enjoy the conversation in Episode 5: From Vienna, with Love

Abhishek Pandey, or Panda for his friends, knows all about Romanian adventures that change you. Currently working in the banking sector in Poland, Romania prepared Panda more personally than professionally. He came through a volunteering program at the age of 18 from India to Pitești, being drawn in by the educational impact that he could have on teenagers as a trainer. Little did he know he would end up falling in love with the country’s people, its hospitable culture, and its lessons in what it means to be human. He also was impressed by how important Christmas is in Romania. Listen to Panda’s journey through Romania and get some Christmas cheer with episode 4 of the Wo/anderers podcast!

Imagine an old man, taking care of his little coffee house next to the beach, talking to strangers and getting to know them better. This is Luis Garcia’s dream, inspired by his first out-of-the-country experience that took him to Romania. The Belgian-born, half-Spanish-half-Belgian is still in his early 20s, but is already aiming to achieve his dream of living life in a laid-back, relaxed manner as soon as he can. Straight after finishing highschool, Luis decided to adventure out into the world. Although planning to move to Cluj-Napoca, he eventually ended up living in Brașov, where he rediscovered his love for nature, his passion for snowboarding, and got to know himself more than ever before. Enjoy listening to Luis’ winter adventures in episode 3 of Wo/anderers!

A former soldier in the Royal Netherlands Army turned traveling gardening salesman, Bart Lunenburg from the Netherlands takes the stage for episode 2. He found Romania by accident in the middle of his soul-searching, at a time when he needed some drastic change in his life. Following a “why not” attitude and diving head-first into the unknown, Bart flew to Romania and never looked back. Living and working in Brașov, Bart got to find himself through beautiful friendships, road-trip adventures, and being touched by the unique Romanian hospitality and spirit. It was the best decision he could ever take. Bart is even reaping the benefits of his Romanian wo/ander now, in his current job – which he calls his dream job. He says his Romanian experience was the key to secure this opportunity. Overall, Romania carved a soft spot in Bart’s heart. We get to discover this together in episode 2.