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Writings from the Hearth


Where Residency Is Most Accessible in Eastern Europe
If you have a strong itch to leave for Eastern Europe, what matters most isn’t where you can land for a 90 day short stay — it’s where...

Jillian Aurora
Sep 20, 20253 min read


Finding Your Way to Residency in Eastern Europe
Imagining a move abroad can feel overwhelming in so many ways. A long distance move is already stressful without considering if a country will even let you stay - that's daunting. But in Eastern Europe especially, there are multiple ways to build legal residency. Unlike Western Europe's high income requirements, skilled job requirements, or other deterring factors, Eastern Europe's requirements are often more reasonable and realistic for the average American.

Jillian Aurora
Sep 19, 20253 min read


Fun Facts about Transylvania
Here are just a few of the amazing things that make Transylvania the hidden gem that it is: 1. A Living Medieval Town Sighișoara is one of the last inhabited medieval citadels in Europe. Families still live, work, and raise children inside the fortress walls, surrounded by towers, cobbled streets, and pastel houses. 2. Vampires Without Dracula Bram Stoker, author of Dracula , never actually visited Transylvania. His depiction was pieced together from secondhand accounts. Loca

Jillian Aurora
Sep 19, 20252 min read


Mental Preparation for an International Move
When I look back on our move, the hardest part wasn’t the logistics—it was how much I underestimated the mental and emotional toll. I miscalculated time. My time-blindness made me overly optimistic about important deadlines, and I leaned too heavily on paperwork while other practical tasks were pushed to the back burner. Although I had a few, I still didn’t build enough back-up plans. And nothing—absolutely nothing—could have prepared us for the grief: the loss of our home, o

Jillian Aurora
Sep 18, 20253 min read


Protecting your hearth, identity, and freedom of movement
HearthFinder has two objectives: helping you find home and safeguarding the one you’re in now. Lately, I’ve been watching two developments that could squeeze both your freedom of movement and your safety more than many realize - so we must pay attention. Passport Revocation: A Quiet Shift There’s a proposal in Congress—through the State Department Policy Provisions bill—that would give the Secretary of State power to refuse or revoke passports of U.S. citizens for material s

Jillian Aurora
Sep 18, 20252 min read


Wednesday in Transylvania: A Story Only This Land Could Tell
There’s something about Transylvania that you can’t quite capture in a photograph or even in words. The mountains stand heavy with shadow, as though they’ve been keeping watch for centuries. Forests stretch deep and dark, with paths that feel like they’ve been walked a thousand times before you ever set foot there. The castles rise out of the landscape like stone guardians, carrying both history and legend in their bones. It’s no wonder this land has been woven into stories f

Jillian Aurora
Sep 18, 20252 min read


Lessons from Rwanda: Warning Signs & Resilience for Today
HearthFinder is about building and protecting hearths, whether that means starting a new life abroad or finding ways to stay safe where you are. Part of tending the hearth is remembering history, because history has much to teach us about resilience in times of upheaval. One of the hardest but most important stories to revisit is Rwanda. A Brief History Rwanda is a small country in East Africa with a long history of farming, family, and tight-knit communities. But colonial po

Jillian Aurora
Sep 17, 20255 min read


Guarding the Digital Hearth: Staying Safe Online in Uncertain Times
In times like these—when conversations about civilian-on-civilian violence, even public executions, are no longer unthinkable in the...

Jillian Aurora
Sep 17, 20253 min read
Where memory, meaning, and magic simmer
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