Considering moving from NYC to Cluj

2POSTS

5 years ago

Hi All,

I was born and raised in Cluj until I was 16yrs old.聽 My heart never left but ended up having a pretty good life here in NY since.聽 I'm married to a native NY-er, we have 2 great kids, living the American Dream in the suburbs. It all sounds great; however we pay the price for it with two very demanding jobs and barely any social life. After not visiting Cluj for 17 years, in 2016 we made the trip for the first time with my husband and kids. Needless to say, my husband fell in love with Cluj , the place, the people and everything in between and it's the only place he wants to go to for vacation now. We also have my childhood home there which we are currently renovating and ton of friends and family whom we love spending time with.聽 Suprise, surprise, we started talking about moving back "home" for me.聽 I still speak some Romanian, fluent Hungarian and English.聽 My husband on the other hand does not speak any Romanian, understands a lot of Hungarian and has perfect English. My kids mostly only speak English (my son 12 some Hungarian but my daughter 7 only English).聽 I guess the reason I'm writing this post is because I'm looking for opinion's, recommandations or possibly looking for someone was in the same situation that made the move and can offer some feedback.聽 I know the answer whether we should or should not make the move is a grey area and only we will know what's best for us at the end of the day. Just thought maybe I could get some guidance from other expats that made such a big life change???

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atomheart Serial expat

614POSTS

5 years ago

Funny how we don't appreciate the things we have and crave the ones we don't. There's LOTS of people in Cluj that would gladly switch with you, you know this darn well.聽

I'm starting to believe that a constant (or at least a freqent) change (and thus experiencing contrasts) is what can keep us really happy.

If you think of the move like a definitive change, like move to Cluj for good and no chance of going back, then it's a difficult decision. Most likely it needn't be a definitive change, you could move to Cluj for a year, for two or three years. You could probably take a sabbatical. See, how it goes, if it doesn't work, you can move back...

kuki516 Member

2POSTS

5 years ago

Thanks for your feedback.聽 A temorary move is not an option.聽 We are well aware if we leave what we have now we will never have it back. Our kids might some day decide to come back or see what life has to offer them here but for us in the long run NY was never the place where we wanted to grow old. We also have extended family who live with us (my aunt and grandma who also moved from Cluj many many years ago and my father in law, who was born in NY).聽 My aunt would move back today if she could but she would only do it if we go as well and my grandma who is 87 still has sibling in Cluj as well. Moving to Cluj would give my husband and I a freedom in a way that we could never have here, yet we know there are many things that we would give up Cluj could never give back.聽

People from Cluj mostly think we are crazy for even thinking about it but people who have moved to Cluj from other places seem to think it was a great decision.