My life has been quite twisted until now... Learning foreign languages has been my goal since I was some 8 years old. That was under Communism at that time and all we could get in here was Chinese boxes of cocoa and colored pencils. I could barely write in Romanian and I was spending so much time copying the Chinese ideograms from those boxes.
I am born a small town some 120km north east of Bucharest, called Buzau. 1989 and the fall of Communism came when I was 10 years old. I can't say if that was very hard on me and on my brother (I reckon it was hell on earth for other families) because our parents had never had any contacts with people/relatives abroad, never knew/spoke any foreign languages ever and therefore, they were no menace for the regime, so the Securitate didn't bother to control my family almost at all. I remember about the long lines (queues) for the food, but that didn't feel as hard when you are a kid: you'd just go there with the parents and play around the shops and all. When I was 11, I started study German in school and the teacher called my parents at school. The teacher asked my parents whether they speak German in the family, whether I get private tutorship for German, and my parents answered "No, she studies on her own! We can't help her with this at all!" My elder brother was learning Russian and I have learned from him the Cyrillic alphabet. Years have passed and at 14, I made my choice to become a primary school teacher, and go to a 5-year specialized highschool for that. There was no German available to study in that highschool... I could only study English with a teacher who was always saying to me: "You work a lot, do exercises and write in English, but you have no talent for that!" Well, I didn't get upset with that, it only made me stronger and eager to work more and learn more... After 5 years, I have passed an exam and I got the best position in the town of Buzau as a primary school teacher. Before the results of the exam, I thought that since there were only 4 positions as teachers in the city of Buzau, and perhaps all were bought already, I might have no chance than go and teach in my grandfather's village, a place in the mountains where you can only go in rubber boots because of the mud in the roads, most of the year. But, the exam was correct (my parents have medium to low income: they could never afford buying an exam for me) and I get the best position as a primary school teacher in Buzau. People were saying I should stick to this and not go to University anymore, as this is such a good job...
But I listened to myself and gone to University of Bucharest to study English and some other languages. We have here an entrance exam, and again the rumor had it that one had to buy the exam. I got in without buying any exam. When I got to Bucharest I wanted to study any other foreign language I could lay my hands on. But in the University of Bucharest, everything was available from Corean, Japanese to Turkish, Arabic and all. So, I had to make a choice and I started with Hebrew, Swedish, Dutch and German again. And the obligatory courses had over 30 hours a week and after one semester I could only follow up Swedish and German. I liked Swedish a lot, and after 3 years, I got what I call now THE CHANCE OF MY LIFE: I was awarded a scholarship to go to Sweden for 4 months. That was in 2001. Everything was paid by the Swedish state for that scholarship: food, accommodation, school and even pocket money. But not the air fare: at that time, it cost a fortune, US$ 305. It was too much for my parents and I decided to look for a job to get that money. I got hired to work as a receptionist in a hostel in Bucharest. I had no idea what a hostel was until I got in that one. I learned and after a couple of weeks I could only wish that I would have liked to have a hostel some time. Anyway, I went to Sweden in January 2002 and stayed there until May the same year. I found it hard to come back to Romania, Sweden seemed to me like the dream country. All I wanted was to get my B.A. (due by June 2002) and look for a job, anything; I felt like sweeping the streets in Stockholm, only to be able to live in there. I didn't have "that chance". It was hard with jobs and foreigners in Sweden, even if I spoke perfect Swedish. So I have decided to try to do something in my own country first and promised myself that if I get too many kicks in the bxm, I'll definitely go to Sweden, never to come back.
This hostel, initially called CLASS HOSTEL and then HIGH CLASS HOSTEL (as most of my guests suggested!) I managed to start in 2003, and I did get many kicks in the bxm... In the beginning it was harder than hell to get people to come here, after the first year I was bankrupt, but still some will was shining in me. And I am still here trying to show the best of Romania to the daring backpacker who makes his/her way up here. You see, I am the kind of person who gets bored of doing the same stuff day after day: well, one thing is for sure, I am not bored of doing hostelling or explaining and doing the tours to the painted monasteries, the unique beauties like Moldovita, Voronet, Humor and Sucevita monasteries. I think I have been to these places some 300 times so far, and I think I'll still go there for another 500 times more and then I decide whether I am bored or not. But I think there is still a lot more for me to see in those marvelous frescoes and therefore a lot more to explain to my guests.
TESTIMONIES FROM MAIN TRAVEL GUIDEBOOKS:
"It may not be centrally located, on the edge of the city, but you feel as if you are in the country in this peaceful, spacious and ultra-modern two-floor house. Monica, the interminably good-natured host, is not only a top-rate tour guide and hostel manager, she's also an excellent cook: breakfasts made with produce from the garden and local farms, are worth writing a diary entry about! She can arrange monastery tours or show you around the city. It's a super-friendly hostel, one of the country's best, 1km west of Gara de Nord." (LONELY PLANET ROMANIA & MOLDOVA, July 2004, page 287 - AUTHOR'S CHOICE FOR ACCOMMODATION)
De loin la meilleure adresse bon marché. Au nord de la ville, une petite auberge de jeunesse sympatique, assez confortable, bon marché et bien pratique puisqu’on pourra vous y organiser votre tour des monastères. Recommandé par de nombreux lecteurs.
@ (le courier des lecteurs) «Sur recommandation d’un autre voyageur rencontré précédemment, je me suis rendu au Class Hostel, une charmante petite villa gérée par une personne don’t l’hospitalité, la disponibilité et le dynamisme ont dépassé tout ce que je pu connaître dans mes étapes précédentes.» Benoît Ernst, Rouhling. (LE PETIT FUTE ROUMANIE, 2006/2007, page 413.)
"Moldavia's only true hostel. Monica, your interminably good-natured, problem-solving host, can arrange monastery tours. The rural Str. Aurel Vlaicu location will close in November 2007 in favour of a city center location: a flowery villa on Str. Mihai Eminescu, five minutes walk from the bus station." (LONELY PLANET ROMANIA & MOLDOVA, May 2007, page 273 - again AUTHOR'S PICK FOR ACCOMMODATION)
"On a quiet street (fork left at B&B Restaurant), this is a clean and friendly hostel with bunk-bed dorms, with glassed-in balconies, one double room, bathrooms uptairs and down and a kitchen (plus barbecue in the garden). Monica leads excellent trips to the monasteries. A simple breakfast (8 am to 2 pm!) of jam butter and bread and unlimited coffee and tea all day is included in the price; a full breakfast is extra." (ROUGH GUIDE, June 2008 - AUTHOR'S CHOICE FOR ACCOMMODATION)
Numerous editions of "LET'S GO EUROPE" and "LET'S GO EASTERN EUROPE" have also highly recommended HIGH CLASS HOSTEL SUCEAVA, BUCOVINA, ROMANIA
COME AND CHECK IT OUT YOURSELF!
