Buna! (7) This blog entry is about what we learned while visiting Romania! Romania is occasionally spelled as "Rumania" and formerly spelled "Roumania". The capital (and biggest city) of Romania is Bucharest. (12) Bucharest is the 6th largest city in the European Union (EU). The size of Bucharest is 88.03 sq. miles. Another major city that we visited was Constanta. Constanta is 48.22 square miles. One other city that we visited was almost half the size of Bucharest, but it was still very interesting. We visited Timisoara. Romania is a country in Eastern Europe that is located below Ukraine and above Bulgaria (1). It has a very diverse culture and is economically based on agriculture. Romania is filled with castles, old churches, beautiful mountain ranges, and lakes. Romania was once a communist country but the communist government was overthrown in 1989 during the Romanian Revolution (5). Over 1,000 men died in their effort to free Romania from its communist oppression. Day 1: After landing in Bucharest, Romania, we researched some safety advice on visiting Romania. The U.S. State Department travel advisory said that Romania is largely free of terrorist attacks and credit card and internet fraud are two of the most common crimes regarding tourists. (17) We did not worry much because we had only cash and planned to not use much internet during our trip. After arriving at our hotel, we were very jet-lagged so we went straight to sleep. Once we woke up, we got ready to explore Romania. Our first stop was a restaurant (of course), to eat breakfast. We did not try Romanian food so we went for a regular American breakfast. Once we finished, we visited the Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral (13), a cathedral located on the Dealul Mitropoliei (Roman for Metropolitanate Hill). Since it was on a hill, we had to walk for about 5 minutes up the hill. Our tourist guide, Luca, informed us of many things about this old cathedral. He said its structure began in 1654 and was completed in 1658. The cathedral is said to be the center of Romanian Orthodox faith and also a national symbol. In the massive church, we saw many pieces of artwork such as beautiful frescoes painted on the walls. Because we visited Romania in November, we experienced St. Andrew’s Day. (8) St. Andrew’s Day is on November 30th and is celebrated because of Saint Andrew. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Romania and was the first apostle called by Jesus. During this day, people have the day off from school, work, etc. Some Romanians bring out garlic to ward off ghosts and some eat a special type of salty bread in hope of dreaming of the person they will marry. While in Bucharest it was around 41ºF. We packed long sleeved clothing and warm jackets to bear through the cold. The cold temperature made the celebrations somewhat less enjoyable because I forgot to wear long pants our first day (4). We also saw this man on T.V. a lot, and found out that he is the President-Elect of Romania! His name is Klaus Iohannis and is going to be the President of Romania, starting December 22. He won with the help of social media and is the most popular European Politician by Facebook followers. (18) Our internet was filled with articles about Klaus Iohannis. It honestly got pretty annoying. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/romania/11249449/Romanian-presidential-election-does-Klaus-Iohanniss-victory-prove-social-media-can-win-an-election.html Day 2: We woke up bright and early in Bucharest because we needed to get to Timisoara. While walking around in the streets of Bucharest, we saw a woman in sunglasses and a hat with men surrounding her. Austin wanted to know if she was a celebrity of some sort. So Austin “asked her for directions”. He found out that her name was Alexandra Stan. We searched up her name and saw that she is a Romanian singer and model (6) One of her accomplishments as an artist was that her song “Mr. Saxob eat” sold more than 10,000,000 copies in less than a year! We started driving to Timisoara in the early afternoon after we had a bowl of ciorba (9). Ciorba is a soup with a sour taste. it consists of a vast assortment of meats and vegetables. I (Austin) didn't enjoy it very much but John loved it. On the road we stopped at Retezat National park to see Taul Tapului Lake (15). This is a glacial lake located in the Retezat Mountains also known as “Land with Blue Eyes”, because of its many lakes. We played a quick game of Romanian football (soccer) by the lake. Soccer is a very common pastime of Romanians. Romanians enjoy many sports such as soccer, basketball, and rugby. (19) On our way to Timisoara we noticed a lot of wooden carriages. The rural natives haven’t changed their lifestyles in quite a while so they still travel in more primitive forms (10). We also noticed people dressed up in some weird clothing. We assumed it was Romanian traditional clothing. I (John) asked the people to explain the clothing. The men were wearing Căciulă, Romanian fur hats. They were wearing 3 different types of Căciulă. (11) Căciulă țuguiată, cușmă rotilată, ăciulă joasă. Căciulă țuguiată is a high conical cap made of four pieces joined together. Cușmă rotilată is a round low cap made of a long band forming a cylinder and a round top sewn to the upper edge of the cylinder. Căciulă joasă is a cylindrical fur cap with the top greater than the base. This is also called a mocănească, rotată, retezată or turtită. Once we arrived in Timisoara we decided we wanted a little Romanian culture so we decided to stop by Liberatii Square (14). Liberatii Square is filled with monuments and fountains dedicated to the Romanian Revolution. It is also filled with many plants and is covered by a ceiling of umbrellas. after walking around for a few minutes we decided it was getting late and we needed to rest up for the next day. Day 3: There was a very big and buff man we asked for information from. While talking with him, I (John) looked away at times, feeling scared, but he told me that eye contact is important in Romania. It is taken as a sign of respect. Looking away is taken as rude. After informing me, he also said that in Romania, most people are very reserved and formal with strangers. So he said to not be too “over the edge” with strangers because they do not trust other strangers at first. (3) On our way to Constanta we decided to see an old Transylvanian castle. There was one in our root called Corvinilor Castle (20). it was near the city of Hunedoara which used to be a huge iron exporter in Romania. the castle was built as a fortress for a powerful family in Romania and it “somewhat resembled the castle of Hogwarts to me” (John). It was a very interesting tour and we learned about the powerful families of Romania. After visiting the Corvinolor Castle, we also stopped by a small village called “Copsa Mica” because it is known as one of the most polluted places in Europe. And that title was very accurate! The cause of the pollution was because of two factories located in the village. Because of the pollution, the life expectancy rates dropped about 10%-20% in the last 7 years the factories have been open. That made us not want to live in Romania as much as before. (2) Day 4: On our last day we visited Constanta by the Black Sea. After about an hour of frollicking on the beach, we decided to see the old Roman mosaics next to the National History Museum. They were created in the 4th Century and have been decaying over the years. Only about one third of the original mosaic is still in the city, the rest was destroyed over the years. (16) There are now more than 9,000 square feet of mosaics even though there was originally around 3,000. We flew home from Constanta at 2:15 in the afternoon and returned home very satisfied. We hope you had a fun time reading (7) about our Advent ure in Romania! Adio!!! About the Authors: John Kang: Blogger John Kang was born in Seoul, South Korea and currently lives in Houston, TX. He would like to explore Asia in the future. He attends Memorial High School and is uncertain of his future career. John enjoys listening to music, watching TV/movies, and procrastinating on the internet. Austin Norris:
Austin also lives in Houston,TX. He enjoys long walks on beaches with the people he’s closest to. He is currently attending Memorial High School and is on the Junior Varsity B soccer team. He thoroughly enjoyed his trip to Romania and would love to go again.
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