Unpacking my baggage

Quick Post. Need to head off soon! I will post up photos when I come back. This is everything (in literal form, not visual, sorry) I remember about the past two weeks in a nutshell: Spent 5 days and 4 nights in Bran villa. Got completely plastered on the very first night. No recollection. Did maybe about four shots of this traditional Romanian homemade 60% alcohol among other things. That shit was AWFUL. Hungover all of the next day. Visited Bran castle (apparent home to Dracula...but we all know vampires don't exist, right?). Visited the Peles castle in Sinai. Hilarious day. Jimmy decided to be our tour guide for the day but failed miserably. First instant: We couldn't find our bus - Jimmy walks up to the information counter and asks the lady about it. She informs him bus will be there. Jimmy in a fit of rage and desperation: "WHERE IS IT?!?!?!?!". HAHA! Second instant: Train was delayed for an hour. Third instant: Jimmy desperate again and walking up to a bunch of t...

Did a quick interview with a local TV station today! They wanted to interview the international trainees and in particular, our contribution to the AIESEC Global Village this month. Global Village = fare where there are stands for different countries and you present your country. People walk around and observe. Work = frustration. Won't go into details yet. Romanian men: Remember how I said they were persistent? Last Saturday, this guy kept coming around and asking me to dance. I said 'no' a few times, so he moved on to my gorgeous blonde friend. She accepted out of sheer boredom. The night ended with him abashedly handing a piece of paper with his email address scrawled on it to one of our Romanian friends - "Can you please pass this on to the blonde girl for me?" "Why don't you do it yourself?" "Because I can't speak English" "Then how the heck are you going to communicate with her through email?!" "I will find a way. I...

Almost two weeks in and living in Romania has become the norm. It feels so comfortable that there are times where it borderlines boring. I'm settling into a routine and have adopted certain lifestyle practices - have essentially immersed myself into the culture and it doesn't feel like I'm really a tourist anymore. Beautiful field of sunflowers!!!! I have decided sunflowers are my new favourite flowers :) Here's everything in a nutshell: - My weekend was eventful - too much alcohol in my system. Literally drinking something everyday. I've been trying to learn how to drink beer since Romania is pretty heavy on their beer intake...So let's just say, I can get by now. I still don't LOVE the taste, but I'm better than I was before. PROGRESS. - Thursday night we had dinner at a friend's dormitory and got to meet a bunch of people from Cameroon and Senegal. Friendliest and warmest people ever. Friday night, went out Salsa dancing...but I should be more spe...

The city is beautiful. I flew 30 hours, including the 2 stop-overs, then I caught two buses that took an hour, then finally a four hour train ride. I was f-ing exhausted and was on the verge of tears. I felt obscenely out of place and uncomfortable. I had had difficulty reaching Galati, Romania (where I am now) and I was thirsty and hungry on the train ride. I was cheated of my money and just so overwhelmed. First two days, I was a mess. I won't pretend things fell right into place immediately, because it didn't. I hated it here. I loathed the country, the people, the accommodation. I was homesick and just so disappointed. I guess I had somewhat ambiguous but high expectations. ANYWAY, six days on and I feel fantastic. I've settled in and I'm enjoying the experience. I've adapted to the culture and it's wonderful to meet people from all over the world - Turkey, Japan, Hong Kong, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Cameroon, Romaniaaaaa. I love hearing stories about...