Romania

Here’s the gist of every conversation I’ve had so far: 

Me: “I’m headed to Romania.”

Everyone else: “Why on earth would you want to go to Romania?”

Basically from the worried remarks of people and the things that I have heard, I pictured Bucharest (or Romania in general) to just be a land of thieves and pickpockets and gypsies who would harass me on the streets. But I went anyway. And wow was that such the wrong impression. I mean Romania does have a lot of gypsies- which isn’t really an individual description or temporary life phase like “being homeless” but it is actually more similar to an ethnicity- a people with their own language- one you can only learn if you learn it directly from a gypsie because it’s not recorded anywhere. Super interesting culture to learn about. But they can also be deceptive and slumdog millionaire-esque. But overall throughout my time and adventures in this country I met the kindest and most helpful people. 

So there you go- that’s my rant about that and how wrong my misconceptions were. People are people and despite a few bad eggs in this world, there’s a whole bunch of good ones. And I don’t plan on missing out just because of the few bad ones. If fear controlled my life, life would suck. But with that said, I was still extremely cautious the whole time. 

I arrived in Bucharest dying for a nap but as the hostel life always goes, you meet people and you hang out. So I had lunch with this guy from Brazil and another guy from South Korea because they were able to convince me that I needed sustenance and could nap later. So we ate and explored city some and that night I was able to collapse in my bed and sleep in until 11 the next morning. 

Yummmm

I had met this super sweet girl from Moldova on my flight who was staying with her cousin for the night so the three of us got lunch and she told me I should come stay with her family in Moldova. Y’all people are just so kind and generous and it’s a beautiful honor to witness it. Maybe some day, Lilia. 

New pals 🎉

The next day I went on a day trip out to Peleș Castle which was a breath of fresh air from city life because it sits a couple hours north in the carpathian mountains. Also if you need a little lesson in Romanian- it’s pronounced “pelesh” because of that mutant “s”. Anywho we’ll take a moment to say thank you Jesus for answering moms prayers for my safety because the tour after mine was a huge group of US marines… el oh el.

My last day I was determined to see the parliament building which is the second largest administration building in the world- second to the Pentagon. So I was headed there with this cool Israeli guy from my hostel. Tour, adventures, dinner- time flew and finally what I had been waiting for- MY NIGHT TRAIN. See ya later Bucharest. The best decision I’ve ever made (more or less). It was just so calming to be trekking through the Romanian countryside staring up at all the stars from my little bed, hearing the rickety wheels on the track. I woke up to fog covered fields and misty hills and once again snuggled up with my pillow and blanket by the window and watched the sun rise over the fields. The. Best. 

The train finally made it ~2 hours late lol to my next destination- Timisoara. If you’ve made it this far you’re probably either thinking: “I hope she wraps this up soon” or “where/what the heck is Timisoara”. 

Well Ryan Air just started flying there so the latter is basically what everyone in my hostel had been thinking as well. It was so funny because the majority of people had never heard of it, they just popped over for a weekend because the flight was five euros or something ridiculous. 

HOLY WOW TIMISOARA. 

First of all, I would literally go just to hang out at the Freeborn Hostel if I could. The guy Raul runs it and he’s there in the evenings and his sweet mom is there during the day. Some of the absolute kindest people with hearts of gold. I mean he runs a hostel and volunteers for a cancer organization in his free time. Why didn’t I find out if he’s single???!!!!! Ugh. Anyways… Back on track. 

Timișoara. 

Let’s see if you’ve learned you’re lesson, kids- how is that pronounced? That’s right. timiSHoara. Good job team.

I spent most of my time there exploring with this guy from Belgium and this other guy from Brazil and it was super fun. Fun to hang out and explore (witness a wedding lol) and just be at ease in good conversation. Plus Eastern Europe is so cheap you can get a huge meal and drink for around 5 euros at a nice spot. And the classic local food- Sarmale and Mamaliga- SO GOOD. Adventures during the day and then tea and mario kart at night. Not a bad life. 

THE CUTEST TOWN.

The day before I left Denner (the Brazilian) and I adventured into Transylvania to see Corvin Castle which was maybe the coolest castle I’ve ever been to. It’s rumored that Vlad the Impaler (inspiration for Dracula) was imprisoned there and they also had a dungeon and a bear pit. A BEAR PIT. So medieval. “Throw him to the bear”. Thankful I live in the 21st century. 

Moving on- somewhere along the way Denner and I discovered that we both went/ he still goes to IBC (international baptist church) in Germany. Mine in Stuttgart (obviously) and his in Berlin. Crazyyy but so cool that we could be making our way through the Romanian countryside by train, seeing crazy cool Transylvanian castles, AND have awesome conversations about how much we love Jesus and what He’s doing in our lives. Life is awesome. 

And he wasn’t flying back to Germany until the next day so I decided to stay ANOTHER night in Timisoara so that we could hang during the day and I could hang with Raul and some other peeps that night. 

In total four nights more than I had planned in Romania but SO, SO worth it. 

Finally I managed the willpower to leave Romania even though I had grown so fond of it. So I hopped in the van and made my way to Serbia.