Curious enough I have been craving for cultural shocks since I came to Cyprus. Before arriving in spring of 2017, I was under the impression that Romania and Cyprus don’t have too many common traits, but I was deeply mistaken, as I was soon to find out.
The bureaucracy is more or less at the same level, and using the public health system is in both countries a bit of a nightmare as it is overburden by the number of patients per doctor.
But what is more surprising is that people are extremely similar, being very warm and friendly and always ready for a chit-chat, though, maybe Romanians are a bit ruder.
What is different though, is that, if you cross the street at a random spot, drivers are slowing down and stopping without making a fuss. Also, another difference can be found in the style of life, as it is more stress-prone in Romania than in Cyprus; where people have the “siga, siga” philosophy.
Also, Romanians like to walk and have a decent public transportation system, while the Cypriot one is “under construction” as the Cypriots are addicted to their cars which they don’t want to leave even for a 5-minute walk.
Maybe I am mistaken, but Cyprus seems like the richer and more relaxed cousin of Romania.