Craciun Fericit

MERRY CHRISTMAS = CRACIUN FERECIT

Well happy holidays to everyone who reads this. Christmas in Romania is going great, but it's weird. It doesn't feel like Christmas. In America, we put up a Christmas tree a month before Christmas, and there are always Christmas movies on. Plus going to get Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate with my friends was a bonus also. While missing all of that one really does realize though how appreciative they are of things at home, and here. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now. I have come to love my new exchange family, the other girls in Valcea are my adopted sisters now. The kids in my class are all very kind, and they have been singing Christmas Carols for most of the week. Although being with my host family is new and awkward, all is going well. Ramnicu Valcea is lit up like no other city I have seen. There is a miniature market in the center, in which they sell this amazing round cake stuff that is covered in sugar. The only thing I would wish for now, is snow...

 

Aren't my host puppies just so darn cute!

Well it's three days till Christmas, and I have been making plans in preparation. Actually no I have been sitting here and saying yes to everybody else plans. I will be spending Christmas with my host family and their friends. For New Years I was supposed to go party with Interact for five days! Then Mr. President of the Rotary Club cancelled our fun. Now we're hoping to go see Lucky Man Project in a club here! Still excited for whatever I do!

Well tomorrow I'm going to go Christmas shopping with Lexi, and then afterwards go ice skating :D. The ice skating rink is very cool because it is on top of the mall which is well over 5 or 6 stories. Although you will have to wish me luck, and I will probably need my Advil after this.

Turul de Romania!

 Well I got back last week from probably the most awesomest 10 days of my life. The other exchangers and I went on Romania tour! It was a tour throughout Transylvania. First we drove up to Alba Iulia. This was the meeting point for everybody. It looked like Narnia, and it was some of the first snow I saw here. Just for review there are 9 exchange students total. Lexi (USA), Liz (USA), Shelby (USA), Alex (USA), Milena (Brazil), Marco (Mexico), Louis (Mexico), Paul (Taiwan). We arrived there around dinner time and everybody was all happyish and yeah. We also got to go clubbing, mom don't freak out. I was safe.

 All the pictures on the left hand side of the screen right now are of Alba Iulia. We went to this really cool castle, which then again looked like Narnia. We also got to see a changing of the guard. That was very interesting to see, although it was FREEZING.

 Then there was a beautiful church, but I have learned that in Romania all church's are pretty haha. After we got to see all of this wonderful stuff we left for Sibiu! I have already been to Sibiu before but it was just as beautiful as before. We talked at some high school to teenagers. We got to go back to the Museums and go through the towers again

. They also had a "christmas" market in the main square of the city, which we got to walk around a little. We also got to go clubbing, again. It was actually pubbing. 

After Sibiu we left for Bran Castle....A.K.A Draculas Castle! AHH so exciting! Bran was so amazing I wish we had had more the 40 minutes in it! It was huge! Yet, the door sizing was more dwarfish people. Not really tall. For some odd reason there was a guillotine.... I don't know why.

After that we went to Brasov (my favorite) and we went to another ROTARY MEETING! oh so much fun. Only thing they had some weird tasting hors d'oeuvres.

The next day we got to walk around the city a little bit, which was so much fun! We also had an amazing lunch. We also realized that the day before, when we were at Bran we celebrated Shelby's birthday. We discovered she told us the wrong day for her birthday and that that day was actually her birthday... The next day we went to Targu Mures, which weirdly enough I didn't get any pictures of haha. We went clubbing there too and we got to see the new wing of the university. Marco and Alex want to go into a medical profession so they really enjoyed that because the university was for medically things. The next day we left! I don't think we spent over 12 hours in Targu Mures ha :D After that we went to Sighisoara, which we have already been to but I love it there! Plus it was winter...ish. No snow yet but thats okay. We ate lunch at Sighisoara and then we went to a church. Walked through a graveyard. Then we left :(

Fun Funs haha

This is probably one of the prettiest views in Sighisoara besides in the clock tower which sadly was closed this time.



After Sighisoara we went to Bistrita, which was fun, but there wasn't too much to see :(. The Rotary club there though was very nice and I enjoyed that night very much! After Bistrita we went Sighet. The last city. I loved Sighet because it had so much culture. We also went to a club here. The only not so fun part about this is we always get like 3 hours of sleep :(. The next day we went to a monastery which was AMAZING!

They also gave us funny hats... O_O

After that we went to a traditional house.... we watched a traditional pig slaughter......
We named him porkley :(


At first we ate some food, then we got hot wine. Yummy. Then we watched Porkley get murdered.

Porkley after

Porkley before

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Then we got to watch some traditional singing and dancing which I loved. Then we did traditional fire dance ;) haha Overall it was a pretty good night!

The next day we sadly had to say goodbye to each other :( I miss my exchange family soooooo much!

Life in Valcea: CHRISTMAS TIME! There are lights everywhere and it is very gorgeous. We also just celebrated my birthday :D I'm switching host families today. Also I met my third host family last night and they're very very nice and I'm excited to have them! Wish me luck today :D

Vienna and Budapest

So I just took an email I sent out because I am lazy now :) I included pictures :D

Sunt leneşa = I am lazy 

this is only for females

We planned to leave Ramnicu Valcea at 1 oclock, straight after school, but Romanians and their timing skills meant we left at 3 oclock. We arrived in Timisoara around midnight. Timisoara actually has some historical significance because it was where the revolution started in Romania in 1989. As always once we got there instead of sleeping, we ate. After not so much sleep we got up the next morning and started the trek to Budapest. We probably arrived in Budapest around 1 ish. Then after we checked into our "rented out" apartments, we went to go eat...again. We went to a restaurant the the guy at the "apartment" suggested. It was very nice there, and the food was amazing. The only downside was that we stayed at this restaurant for 5 hours! We might have had to order dinner if we stayed longer. After that we went for a walk through Budapest. We went through the main square around the little side streets of shopping. Then we went for a walk next to the Danube that has the perfect view of the palace. We then went to the palace, it was very cool because to get there you walk on one of Hungary's most famous bridges. It connects the Buda side of the city to the Pest side of the city. Once we finally got to the palace it was amazing. I learned that even some of the most famous Emperors had lived there including: Maria Theresa and Franz Joseph. After this we walked home and it was probably close to 2 am. The next day we took an all day long bus tour. It was quite fun, but for some odd reasons my host parents thought I was cold the WHOLE time I was on the bus. We got to see everything including the palace, the main orthodox church of Hungary, the main Basilica of Hungary, and the Parliament Buildings. Buildings? Budapest, Hungary is the only city in the world that has three parliament buildings that a person can see all at once. After an all day bus ride throughout the city of Budapest we stopped and ate...again. Then we went on a boat ride. Which was really beautiful but some creep sat next to me on it, this little section leads to more awkward stories that I won't get into. The next day we were on the road to Vienna. We arrived in Vienna probably around 4, but we ate before we crossed the border in Hungary. We had all the time in the world to see Vienna. Thank god we actually did. We walked around for 6 hours, which was amazingly fun. By the time we stopped we were at a pub called the Centimeter. At this particular restaurant you can get 1 liter beers, and 2 meters worth of sausage. There was a lot of beer.... The next day we went shopping for the WHOLE ENTIRE DAY.... I have never spent 6 hours at a motorcycle shop before. We went to the mall, where I have eaten the best mall food in the world, and we shopped some more. At this point though they were just dragging me along and trying to convince me to let them buy me things, but I still refuse. We went to a different restaurant that night one that was a lot closer. Now an insight to my host family and I's relationship is that I can never order for myself, I can never go find a bathroom for myself, I can't do anything for myself. So he orders me this huge meal, in which I happily eat. The next day, my favorite day, my host father took me to the Empress Sissi Museum. The Museum was split into three parts; their silverware (OH MY GOD), Empress Sissi, and the royal apartments. You were only allowed to take pictures of the silverware. It was very interesting to learn about the young empress. It was my host dad's birthday that day, and he kept getting phone calls. I waited an hour for him in the gift shop.... After that museum my host parents took me to a famous wax figure museum. I got pictures with Empress Sissi, the Pope, Freud, the Queen, Mandela, Gandhi, and of course my host parents made me take a picture with President Obama. Also all the famous actors and actresses were there including; Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Will Smith, and Lady Gaga. After that we went to the apartment for an hour to look at other pictures that he had taken of the city. I don't get romanian thinking half the time. After that we went with the other family we were with for another walk. We walked backed to Centimeters....where interesting things happened. The next day we left early in the morning and had a LONG car trip back. It was wonderful weekend and I attached some pictures for you!

Viata

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything, I'll try to keep it regular but it can be hard. I'm busy all the time!
Well I don't know if I mentioned in my last post in Rănca. Then my purse was stolen. I had to cancel all my debit and credit cards and now have no way of getting money. Then I went to Rotary where they felt the need to criticize me for an hour....

I don't like Rotary.....

Anyways that was my mini rant

Things that I have done here lately.

I have gone to school, slept, and eaten.

That is my life.

November in romania

Actually a couple of weekends ago we had American Night where we taught our Rotary club how to play beer pong. That was quite fun. Also in school everybody is so nice, and I don't feel quite alone. Although I'm still confused half the time, and wishing that I spoke romanian the other half, it's not bad at all. Tomorrow I leave for Timisoara, Budapest, si Vienna with my host family! I'm SOOOOO EXCITED!!!! I'll do a bigger post after the weekend is over! : D

Shubsters

American Night
The mount Everest of Meat loaf

.....
It's a church in a salt mine
I don't know what Lexi is doing :D

What happens in class

With '60 hair style
Aren't we glamorous

MUNTE

Well I'm sorry I haven't updated you....a lot has happened since Arad. First we had a week of school.....

that part isn't too intresting haha. Then this last weekend we went to the mountains at a place called Ranca. It was beautiful!                                 

As you can tell it was beautiful. It was for a motorcross that my host dad was participating in.

We found the cutest puppy

Then we partied a little...

Then there was a cute kid

We got back home on Sunday, then I went to Interact. Interact was very fun, and I can't wait to go this next time. On the way to Interact, I saw an awesome house.

Then there was an interview of national television..... Shelby said in romanian, "I don't have a girlfriend" when they asked her why she was blushing about them asking her about the no dating rule.....hahahaha.

Shelby, Lexi, Me, Angelo, Teodora, Sebastian, and the Interviewer

Teodora, Angelo, and Sebastian were all very nice. They are Romanians that went to US in the past :D

Then we had another week of school. School has actually been great this week. We have a new classmate named Teodora, she's awesome. The others are awesome too, including Dre and Martha :D

Dre, Teodora, Martha

Teodora si Martha





Me and Dre :D