We gathered here some useful information for your everyday life in Iasi. Sort of a Q&A section, but far from being exhaustive. Keep in mind the info on this brochure is also available online, at orientation.umfiasi.ro. The website includes a dedicated forum where you can ask your own questions and actually get answers from intensively trained personnel in survival techniques (but don’t tell them that, they’re shy).
RESIDENCE PERMIT
If you decide to stay more than three months in Romania, you must absolutely have a residence permit. For this, you need 2 passport photos, a rent receipt, a copy of your passport, and a few dozen lei for the various expenses incurred. You must report to the police for this residence permit. The building is located on str. Costachescu, 5 mins from Super Copou.
MONEY EXCHANGE
Changing money can be done directly in a bank or in a money exchange office. Beware at the prices charged, some exchange rates are prohibitive. Exchange rates are updated daily. It’s up to you to hope for a “good” day if you change large sums of money at once. There are also exchange offices in most of the shopping centers around Iasi.
SHOPPING
Located in the historic core of the city, near the Palace of Culture, the PALAS ensemble is a charming retail promenade, with restaurants and cafes everywhere, a chic area which turns downtown Iasi into a cosmopolitan area. Another shopping center is Iulius Mall, located in Tudor Vladimirescu neighbourhood, famous for its CinemaCity, where you can enjoy the latest blockbusters. Throughout the city you can find a lot of Lidl, Carrefour, Kaufland or Profi supermarkets. You should know that most of the shops open at 9 or 10 am and close at 11 pm except on Sundays when they close at 10 pm! You will also find some little shops that are open 24/24 and 7/7.
FURNISH OR TINKER
This is the list of hypermarket chains offering home improvement and do-it-yourself goods: Dedeman, Praktiker, Leroy Merlin, MatHaus and Arabesque.
EQUIPPED FOR WINTER
In Iasi, the temperature can drop to -15 ° C and the snow may reach up to 25 cm. We reccomend warm clothes with fairly high shoes, one or two duvets for the bed, and you can also purchase on site a small electric heater if needed.
MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
University will provide you doctor’s smock, free of charge. You may buy other medical lab coats at the University shop. Another shop is located on the Bd. Independentei, near Piata Unirii.
MEANS OF TRANSPORT
Iasi is one of the busiest cities in Romania in terms of car traffic. Therefore, you can enjoy a less stressful journey by letting someone else do the driving. Here are your options:
- use public transport (https://www.sctpiasi.ro/)
- use taxi companies: Euro Taxi (0232217217), Lux Taxi (0232255255/ 0740255255), Delta Taxi (0232222222), Parma Taxi (0232941941), RVR taxi (0745555949), Taxi For You (0232222444).
- car-hailing apps such as Uber and Bolt
PHONE
The entry code for Romania is 00 40. The call sign of Iasi is 0232 (for Rom Telecom) and is always composed of six other digits. For the mobile phone, the main operators on site are Orange and Vodafone, Digi and Telekom.
INTERNET (if your apartment is not already equipped)
For the Internet, there are 3 main companies, Rom Telecom, UPS (shop on Bd Independentei) and RDS (shop on the main avenue leading to the station). For sports fans, with RDS you can take a TV pack with French and European football matches. Internet with maximum range is 39 Lei per month, or about 10 euros.