Costs

The program fee is $5,470 which includes:

✔️ Roundtrip airfare to Romania from the U.S.
✔️ Visa (if required)
✔️ In-country airport pick-up and drop-off with your group
✔️ Housing
✔️ WiFi
✔️ Three at-home meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
✔️ Pre-departure + in-country training
✔️ Local support
✔️ 24/7 emergency assist line from ILP headquarters
✔️ International SOS membership
✔️ Hands-on education
✔️ Meaningful service opps

Additional items (like your passport and domestic travel to and from the U.S. group departure airport) and in-country costs (like vacations, shopping, and activities) are not included. See a more detailed list here. It depends on your personal spending habits, but most volunteers recommend budgeting around $1,500-3,500 for the semester to make the most of your time in Romania.

We have custom monthly payment plans to help you make it work. That can be especially helpful if you’re saving up little by little, by working or doing fundraising.

An ILP Humanitarian Trip

This type of trip means that the kids you are working with come from very limited means and would not otherwise be able to afford this extra support provided to them.

In Romania, the children you are working with come from homes without parents or from situations where their families are unable to provide the necessary care they require. The time you spend volunteering in the Orphanage Program is a free gift to the kids. Thank you for wanting to help our sweet kiddos in Romania!

Is Romania right for me?

Each location is unique and therefore has its pros and cons. What falls into those two categories will really depend on the person you talk to, but we’ve put together common complaints we hear most about volunteering here. Knowing the typical pain points that just come along with the experience will help as you consider which country is best for you.

All of the kids you are helping have their basic needs met. Your semester is more about providing positive human interaction for a better quality of life. The one-on-one attention as well as love, encouragement, and support you give does this.

• Many semesters result in small changes rather than milestones.
• The children you help are often in and out of the hospital or may even pass away during your semester.
• This type of service is so worthwhile, but is emotionally taxing.
• Because our program in Romania does not give you experience with the ILP teaching method, volunteers in Romania need to volunteer in a teaching program before they can be a Head Teacher in a location other than Romania.
• Because of visa requirements you may be required to have one of your short vacations outside the Shengen zone (e.g. to London, England).

About Your Group

This program has about 10-15 volunteers in a group which means you’ve got lots of new travel buddies! Our Romania program is the best fit for:

• Single females and married couples
• 18-about 25ish years old
• Volunteers from the U.S. and Canada
• No experience needed!

About Your City

Volunteers live in Iasi, a charming city located in the northeast, near the border of Moldova.

Your new home is filled with all the European highlights you’re looking for: towering castles, ornate palaces, cafes galore, and cobblestone villages hiding out in the countryside. However, there’s a twist — while you will certainly find these highlights in other European destinations, in Romania, you get all of them (and more) without the crowds. You’ll visit the painted monasteries and hillside cottages and wonder why you have these gems all to yourself.

For some reason, Romania is still off the radar, a bit of a secret for those who haven’t come to see the charm for themselves. It’s a major highlight of the semester here.

Plus, there are things you didn’t even know you could find in Romania. Spend a weekend at the beach, relaxing at a resort on the Black Sea. Play all day at an underground theme park. Make the trek out to a tiny village that looks like something out of a fairytale (seriously).

Your new home, the city of Iasi, also has quite a lot to keep you busy. It’s a city absolutely filled with churches: there’s a joke in Iasi that you can’t throw a rock without hitting a church window. Plan on lots of afternoons admiring stained-glass windows and intricate mosaics. Iasi is full of flowers in the spring, sprawling malls with plenty of gelato shops, as well as parks and cafes perfect for hanging out. We can’t wait for you to uncover all the things waiting for you in this country!

Glimpse A Day In Romania

Wake up in your classic Eastern European apartment — you’re living in a Soviet-Era apartment which is old, with so much history to share. It’s smaller, older, boxier, and complete with carpet that’s been around since forever. There are some quirky surprises, like light switches on the outside of the bathroom, in the hallway. And the fact that wallpaper is definitely still a thing here. Good thing you have a group of new friends to experience it all with you!

Groups in Romania are anywhere from about 10-15 volunteers. You all share a couple of apartments, right next to each other, so you’re never too far from everyone in your group.

After having cereal and yogurt for breakfast with your roommates, it’s time to make the commute to your volunteering apartment. Groups are volunteering in a series of apartments spread in suburbs around Iasi. Your bus ride may be 20 minutes, or more like 60+ minutes, depending on location, traffic, construction. You’ll be a pro at navigating the local transportation in no time! Though you will travel by bus, make sure you bring comfortable walking shoes because you’ll also be walking a lot during your semester.

You get there right before 9:00 AM, and volunteer until 12:00 PM, then head back to the apartment for lunch. Your whole ILP semester is all about an authentic Romanian experience, including the meals. You and your group will go shopping for breakfast things with a provided stipend at local grocery stores. Then, lunches and dinners are prepared for you and are all classic Romanian dishes. Haven’t had much Romanian food? Meals are full of potatoes, bread, cabbage, creamy sauces, and cutlets. Probably not what you usually eat at home, but this semester is all about giving you new experiences.

Since volunteering only takes up a few hours per day, there is probably more free time than you’re expecting. You can fill your afternoons how you’d like. Maybe you play games with your group in the apartment. Maybe you grab some of your roommates to explore the narrow streets of your little city. Go grocery shopping for the week, or get gelato near the Palace of Culture (which is your new fav hangout spot). You’ll have lots of opportunities to get out and explore the little city you live in and travel around Romania on the weekends.

So many of our favorite spots in Romania can be seen on a quick weekend trip, which leaves time for you to spend vacation days exploring the rest of the country + Europe.

The Backstory Of This Program

Our ILP Program in Romania has a pretty unique start.

Volunteer work at the orphanage actually began as a program through Brigham Young University that gave students the opportunity to work with the children there. BYU had made plans to discontinue the program, but some of the BYU interns who went to Romania loved it so much that they didn’t want to see the service end there.

One of the interns had previously volunteered with ILP as well and they felt like this might be the perfect solution.

They approached the ILP Directors to see if ILP would consider starting a program to take over the work that the BYU interns had already began.  

The ILP Directors were hesitant at first because our mission and experience had always been focused on teaching English, and this orphanage program would be quite different from that, but the BYU interns were persistent. In the end, the mission of service at the orphanage aligns well with ILP’s mission of helping others create a brighter future. The rest is history!

In 2014, we opened ILP’s first Humanitarian program! Romania has a special place in our hearts for many reasons and we hope you feel the same love for this country and the people there.