Romania: The Lost Journal Entires Part 2

1-18-10

"The group decided to go play some paintball in the woods on our free day today. So we rolled out of bed at noon and drove into the woods. I was expecting some sort of establishment complete with a course for the event, but I forgot I was in Romania. Instead there was a car with two guys that handed out guns, paint cameo getups, and administered CO2 tanks right out of the sedan’s trunk. Felt more like black market paintball. However the price was dirt cheap, 1/5 of what it would cost to rent equipment and play back in the USA and it was a nice change to just go play in the woods.
Since we only took two a fraction of the group had to wait for the second trip to return home. Miles, Lance, Nate, Ryan, and myself were they unlucky ones. Since it was freezing cold we decided to walk down the road to warm up. As we were walking our empty stomachs growled and images of food and beer danced in our mind. Then all of a sudden, a small house appeared, with a sign glowing the triumphant letters B-A-R on its roof! Our wishes were granted. We remained there munching on snacks and drowning beers until our ride came to pick us up. Only in Faget, Romania."


1-19-10

"One word can describe today’s events; adventure. Verni told us this morning that Sears was sick and would not be joining us on our overnight trip to Maramures and that he had no idea where it was, what we would be doing there, or where we were stopping throughout the day. So we had to expect the unexpected. Ironically at the moment Dave Stevens fell down the stairs. I passed out on the bus listening to Lance puke in the background.

Stop one: a pizzeria in some random city for lunch at 10am, because that’s what I crave at that hour. Anger level rising

Stop two: A random wooden church, probably the tenth one I’ve seen on this trip. Interesting drawings on the inside, but once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. Angry level continues to rise.

Stop three: A prison that was turned into a memorial for the lives lost during the imprisonment throughout the communist regime. Not what I was expecting to see. I’ve been hearing throughout this trip from the presenters how awful living under the iron curtain was in Romania. But seeing the unjustified imprisonment in person adds a whole new shock level to the mental picture. It felt like a holocaust memorial…but in a way it was.

Stop four: The largest wooden church in Romania. Very cool in size, but it looked exactly like a larger version of the one we saw earlier in the day.

*So our guide says the distance to Maramures from the church is only a 30 minute drive, she was off by an hour. Angry level almost at full capacity*

Stop Five: Finally we made it to Maramures. We were forced to walk down this unpaved road for 500 meters leading to god knows where. Then all of sudden music is heard. I turn the corner and a lady dressed in traditional Romanian garments serves me shots of Plum Brandy! WIN!!!"


1-20-10

"I awoke from probably the best sleep I have had on this trip. I don’t quite remember how I got to my bed (I had a lot of plum brandy the night before) but I woke up refreshed and ready for anything. After the daily morning routine I meandered to the dinner room for my first ever Romanian breakfast. Once I saw the table I was speechless. Crapes, homemade jam and butter, fresh tea and coffee, and cheese omelets. Easily the best (and the probably only) breakfast of the trip.

After stuffing my face with delicious food the group commenced on the daily scheduled activities. Once again we had no idea what we were going to do/see, so we just went with the flow. Well it turns out that our first activity was a horse carriage ride of the village. It reminded me of a rollercoaster ride with its frequent changes of speed, sharp turns, and lack of safety constraints. Luckily it was just as much fun. We only stopped once to see another wooden church, great. After the tour by horse, we hopped on the bus to see, yet again, another goddamn wooden church, and then a monastery. I will say that the monastery was impressive. When we returned to the village we were treated with another delicious meal, packed up, and took the bus back to Cluj.

Since everyone was addicted to drinking the homemade wine the bus was forced to make a stop earlier than expected. We came to a halt at a barren, closed gas station with a restaurant next door. The women ran into the restaurant, but that was too far for the guys. So we all ventured to the back of the gas station and collectively pissed off the 15 foot ledge while waving at the awestruck Romanian family watching nearby. Why you might ask, because that’s how we roll in America. Go red white and blue."


1-21-10
"This morning was a somber one. Radu brought in one of his close friends to deliver a presentation on the Cluj square massacre that occurred on December 21st of 1989. Though her name escapes my memory, her story never will.

She was actually present at the square for the tragedy. At the time, she was a college student and was heavily involved in acting against the communist regime. The catalyst for the rebellious act at the city’s square was initiated by the shooting at a church in Timisoara a few days earlier. I won’t rewrite the story again in this entry because if you heard her presentation, you won’t forget the grim details. But I can tell you that her story was so captivating that you could hear a pin drop in the class room that morning. Once we came to the Q&A’s a lot of questions about life during the communist regime were asked. What we found out was that the rationalized food given to the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps was more per day than for a Romanian citizen. Makes you truly appreciate all we take for granted for life in America."


1-22-10

"My day started at 4:00am with taking a cab to the airport. Since today was the beginning of our free weekend I had to catch a flight with Otto and Button to Dortmund, Germany. The flight went smoothly and we arrived at the hostel around 8am, just in time for breakfast. Yup, you read that right, breakfast. OUR HOSTEL SERVED BREAKFAST! Just that alone made my miserly from only grabbing two hours of sleep disappear instantly. We then passed out in the room for a couple of hours before exploring the city.

Dortmund is completely different from Cluj. It has a more modern look and feel but it lacks historical architecture. The majority of people walking the streets were middle-aged or elderly, unlike Cluj’s heavy student body. We had difficulty finding our way around because less people spoke English, probably due to the city’s lack of youth. But we managed and were just fine. Our hostel was located in the middle of the downtown district which has shopping, a lot of shopping. Everywhere you looked there was clothing shops, sports shops, shoe shops, luggage shops, specialty shops, jewelry and watches outlets, etc. Hopefully we’ll be able to go the soccer game tomorrow at Idnga Signa Park stadium, which apparently holds over 80,000 spectators."



1-24-10

"My day started early with a 6:30am wakeup call in Dortmund, Germany. We had to catch an 8:30am flight back to Cluj, so we hopped in a cab and went to the airport.

Once back in Cluj nothing eventful really happened. Everyone was coming back from their excursions at various times and filled everyone else on the weekend’s details. Some stories were quite epic. Probably at around 8pm the entire class was back at the hostel all set to watch the NFL Playoffs. It was nice was to relax and grab a taste of America, even if it was only through a television with commentary in Romanian. Throughout the game I packed up my bags. Unfortunately my time in Romania has come to an end, for tomorrow I depart for Rome, Italy to study far a semester at the American University of Rome."