Hello, friend!
Welcome back. It’s been some three years since I’ve been active on this website.
Why? It got stale.
I was really pleased with the visuals of my then blog, back in 2013 and 2014, and still love Jeniffer Lilya’s illustrations we envisioned to represent my life then – a New-York based blogger fueled by the magic of the city, fashion and travel.
But times have changed, and so have I. Starting with a three-months trip with little access to Internet, moving back to Europe after a decade in the United States, and personal life changes to focus on, the blog took a step back.
I’ve instead felt a bigger pull towards freelance travel journalism, chasing stories that feed my soul and far-flung travels around the world. Quite simply, I was at a loss of how to redefine myself, let alone the site. I was still searching for my place and mission in this industry, and I certainly didn’t want to be another American (or Romanian) that moved to France. I didn’t quite talk about it. I just couldn’t see where I fit in.
But as I came into my own in recent times, I finally got the domain that was taken for years, and I started tearing down the old walls. I made the switch from monica-suma.com to monicasuma.com.
And then, I moved back to Romania after 12 years abroad. Talk about another culture shock. Of reversed culture shock of how much my native country had positively changed; of feeling a sense of loss for my former life, while also sheer joy to be back home again.
It’s been an exciting, nerve-wracking, enriching journey. Filled with big city lights and challenges, of marriage and divorce, of becoming a New Yorker and a world traveler, of living in a few countries and many different apartments, of discovering who I am and what I like. Of relationships, constant learning and evolving. It’s through these different homes and long-term travels that I came into my own. With each experience, both good and bad, adding to the richness of this thing called life.
Often times in the past three years, I’ve felt as if living three parallel lives. The identity that I was born in, that of a Romanian, the one I became an adult in through my twenties in New York, and most recently, learning to love France and all its quirks. The reality of being a constant expat and making a life somewhere else, of adapting to where I am, of building new communities. Which is no surprise today, that this Romanian thinks like a New Yorker and eats like a French (well, sort of).
And so, what’s next on www.monicasuma.com? It’s back to rediscovering my own country and making a life here. I’ve traveled far and wide and yet some parts of Romania are less known to me than others at the end of the world.
Which is why when Ioana from The Fab Squad and I met, I knew she was the person I needed to put some clarity into my thought process. She had a similar journey living abroad, working in places like Shanghai and New York, as an architect, brand consultant and make-up artist. For all that talk of having a niche and narrow focus, I just can’t pretend to be single minded. There are so many things that define and interest me as a person, and duality is one of them. As a Gemini, a versatile personality, a chameleon thirsty for all cultures, not just my own.
Just as before on the blog, I’ll be focusing on travel and lifestyle, but with a bigger focus on food & drinks, as well as design in various forms, and what I consider to be a modern, new Romania. I’ve met a solid roster of change makers that are reshaping the spectrum, Romanians as well as expats: brilliant designers, restaurateurs, illustrators, festival curators and I could go on and on. All the people I didn’t expect to find. All the people that deserve praise and need to be talked about more on an international level.
As for Bucharest, the city has become so dynamic and eclectic, it never ceases to amaze me, or bore me for that matter. I’m all for that hidden, bohemian Bucharest, hip (and delicious!) cafes & restaurants and architectural treasure hunts.
You can also have a look on my updated About Me, Portfolio, and Work with Me pages.
Aside from that, my quest for discovery and storytelling continues. There are many adventures I want to share with you here, that I largely kept for myself (or wrote for other publications), such as crossing the United States, attending Burning Man, falling in love with America’s National Parks and its red-hot Navajo Nation deserts, traveling solo in Australia, saying yes to a trip of a lifetime in Papua New Guinea, returning to Cuba, discovering Scandinavia for the first time, the incredible South Africa and so much more.
Thanks for stopping by, and as always, I wish you safe, whimsical travels!
