Four years ago I was living in Romania for six months.
I decided to go there on the first day of my second degree year... it was decided, next year I will live there, and it was what I did.
On 18th of September 2011 I was taking a flight from Madrid to Bucharest. And I can say that these months were the best months of my life so far. When I arrived there I didn't understand anything, so anything people did, I just smiled and nodded.
The university told me that the classes would be in English, but when I arrived there, I realised the classes would always be in Romanian. Even English classes, which where my only hope, were in 4 languages!! The teacher was a bit crazy and she wanted to listen to the musicality of each language. So the classes were in French, English, Romanian and Spanish (it was crazy!!). I was the single Erasmus student in this university, so everybody knew me and they made me feel like home. Day by day I could understand a bit more of the Romanian language.
As I said I was the only Erasmus, and I didn't know people from other countries, so my life became a Romanian life completely. All my friends were from there, I always ate the typical Romanian food, I went to my friend's towns to spend some weekends there, I met their families and I went to a wedding!!
This is one of my favourite parts... My flatmate's friends invited me to their wedding, and I was a bridesmaid!! In Romania people first make the civil wedding, and another day, the orthodox wedding. It was really funny to be a bridesmaid, because I didn't know what I should do in each moment, and I was obesrving the other bridesmaid, and I did the same as her.
The best part of the wedding was the feast. I think that I ate for one year!! The waiters didn't stop serving food, and between the different plates you should dance.
I'm a lousy dancer, but they taught me the typical Romania dance, and after that they put on some flamenco music for me. The problem is that I don't know how to dance flamenco music, so I went to the middle of the dance floor and everybody began to imitate what I was inventing. All of us had a lot of fun!!
Romania is a beautiful country, and an awesome place to travel around. I was lucky, and I was able to visit some places there.
Here, I recommend you some places you should visit if you decide to go to Romania;
Bucharest:
I like this city because it was my home for six months. Bucharest has a really good transportation system, and you can visit the city in 2-3 days. It's a really cheap city, and you can find good places to eat the typical food from there. Also you have nice pubs and clubs to go out, and the beer is really cheap!! Bucharest is like the little-Paris. Ceausescu, the dictator, wanted to build a city similar to Paris. So Bucharest has an Arch of Triumph, a lot of gardens, a very big avenue and a huge palace called Palatul Parlamentului.
Sinaia:
It's a cute, little town where you can find a nice castle, called Peles Castle. Sinaia is 140 km far from Bucharest in the north direction.
Brasov:
Brasov is in the southeast of the Transylvania region. It's a really nice town, and you can visit a lot of monuments and buildings there.
Bran:
Bran is the town where you can find the famous Dracula's Castle. This is called Vlad Tepes (Dracula) Castle, but the truth is that Vlad Tepes didn't spend so much time there. His nickname was Tepes (The Impaler), he received this name because he loved to impale people as a form of torture. If you want to go there from Brasov, you can take a bus.
Sibiu:
Sibiu is a beautiful town, from 2004 this city was part of the World Heritage Site. Sibiu is in the Transylvania region and the most curious thing about this town are the roofs of the houses, the have like... eyes...
Sighisoara:
Sighisoara is in the Carpatos, it's a really nice town and here Vlad Tepes was born. The landmark of the city is the Clock Tower, and Sighisoara is one of the few fortified towns that are still inhabited in Romania.
They are some of my favourite cities from there.
The worst thing about Romania is the cold during the winter, but everything is beautiful covered in snow!!
The food is one of my favourite things from Romania, I even learnt to prepare some meals, to prepare them in Spain!!
I really miss my friends and my life there... I haven't seen my friends for 3 years, but they are true friends, we lived through a lot of things together and Romania and my friends will always have a place in my heart.
