The City and the Senses

[Florina Codreanu]

Cluj-Napoca
The City and the Senses


The taste
by Rebeca Chiorean and Maria Ghiuruţan

Have you ever wondered what your city tastes like? Well, if I were a
tongue, I would travel all around the city just to find a mosaic of
tastes and flavours perfectly combined. Overall, I believe that the
city has a bittersweet taste - a blend of old and new aromas. In
certain places I would also spot international flavours, which
contribute to creating a unique combination of savours. While walking
down the old streets, along the oil buildings, I would taste an old-
fashioned but nonetheless interesting flavour and I would wonder: "How
did this city taste like in the past? Would the people back then
recognize their own city in this new amalgam of flavours?" Also, the
city's taste changes along with the seasons: a combination of too many
flavours, with spicy and sweet accents during summer, an earthy, toned
down savour during autumn, winter is quite bland but with overwhelming
flavours during Christmas and New Year's Eve time while spring has a
fresh taste.

The touch
by Bianca Marcoci and Ioana Trifu

You are in the bus, on your way to the city centre. You feel the cold
bus pole and the handle of the little window above your head as you
try to let some fresh air get in. Everybody is pushing against you and
as soon as you get off, you feel the cold, refreshing air against your
face. Next, you walk towards the ATM, where you withdraw some money
and you feel the buttons of the ATM as well as the money. You enter
the first shop you see. As you check out some clothes, you feel the
different textiles: silk, cotton, wool, leather... Next, you stop at
the coffee shop and order a cup of tea - you feel the warmth of the
beverage; or a glass of juice, if it's summer - you feel the cold
glass. You buy then a "kürtős kalács" and you feel the sugar as it
melts on your fingers. You decide you're in the mood for a movie so
you go to the nearest cinema: the comfortable armchair is the best
place to be that moment. Tired from all the shopping, you grab a cab
on your way home. Unfortunately, you can feel all the holes in the
road. Finally, once home, you feel the warmth of your own bed and
leave behind the cold of the city.

The noise
by Roxana Salomie and Eliza Şerban

We live in a crowded city. Because of this fact, in the rush hours,
the most annoying noise is coming from the traffic jam. Also you can
hear a background noise made by everything surrounding us. For
example: people talking very loud in the street, crying babies, loud
music from different cafés, from somebody listening to music in the
car, constructors, heels on the pavement and so on. A fact to notice
is that during the night or Sunday afternoons, the city becomes quiet
as if it is asleep.

The vision
by Sabina Ilea and Iulian Sabo

Cluj-Napoca is a city situated in the West part of Romania. It is a
historical city with a great importance because it is the cultural
centre of Romania. Cluj has a lot of old buildings, historical sites
that unfortunately remain neglected because of the government's
inability to raise enough money for this cause. Although most of the
streets are overpopulated there are also streets that are quite tidy
but if you go towards the peripheries you can expect to find dirty
streets. In the town centre one can find a lot of vehicles that show
that people no longer use bicycles as a way of transportation, even
though they should, because many cars lead to congested traffic.
Modern time buildings now have between 9-20 storeys in comparison with
the old ones that have not much than 10 storeys. These new buildings
are usually situated right next to old ones and they appear uneven.
There are also homeless people that are mainly peaceful while a few
others cause some disturbances in some neighbourhoods.

The smell
by Raisa Rusănescu, Mădălin Pălăcean & Tudor Giuglea

Smelling something is equivalent to our olfactory function that we all
need in our daily lives. In my opinion, to sense a smell is important
because this human function can make our days good, bad, disgusting or
maybe wonderful. For example, if I wake up in the morning and smell
fresh bread, fruits and coffee I can be sure of the fact that I am
going to have a very good day... at least, it starts well.
Unfortunately, in Cluj-Napoca the smells described above are not the
only smells you can sense. You can also smell sewers, homeless people,
garbage in a few places and I don't know about the rest of my
colleagues but I hate the smell of school toilets in the morning
because they are over cleaned with chlorine. Anyway, on my way to
school, on the bus I can sense the smell of elderly shopping bags:
onion, cheese, meat... It doesn't sounds so bad but it sure doesn't
smell well! On my way home I can smell the odour caused by traffic and
above this smell the absolute smell of food. I didn't figure it out
why, maybe because I am always hungry after school. I could go on
forever talking about flavours I sense but I think the smells
described above are the most common... I shouldn't forget about the
flavours of summer: sun-creams, body oils, flowers, ice-cream, etc.