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









My brain este mamaliga

Well this week has been the best and worst week. Actually leaning towards the best. We started out our lovely weekend with going to inbound orientation. It was really fun to meet all the other exchange students, all eight of them! It was quite fun!

From right to left starting in the back row: Paul (Taiwan), Lexi (US), Alex(US), Moi(US), Shelby (US), Vini (Mexico)

Bottom row: Luis (Mexico), Liz (US), Milena (Brazil)

It was very fun, we even taught them....NINJA. We also taught our classmates, they love it haha.

Ninja 

10th floor at night

The mexican flag party

Day time 10th floor party

Also I'm getting pretty settled into school now, and I can understand more and more each day! Although today we got back our english papers and I didn't get 100%! The teacher then asked if we thought our papers reflected our knowledge. Haha then I went back through my paper and saw all of my stupid mistakes. My brain este mamaliga.

All the people in my class are very nice, and invite Shelby and I places. Although with Rotary/Gazda occupying our last two weekends this might be the first weekend we get to hang out with them!

Just some things we have seen. ;D

My Wonderful Weekend (Warning this is going to have a lot of photos)

I know this is hard to see
We started in Ramnicu Valcea
Went to Brasov
Went to Sigisoara
Passed through Medias
Passed through Sibiu
And ended back in Ramnicu Valcea

Well that was my amazing weekend. First we left in the morning around 8, we picked up all the others. Liz was sick so she had to stay home :(. We were on our way. It was very cool to drive through the rural areas and see the farming community. It's seems very different to us because it's very traditional. When I say very I mean very. I was talking to a couple of my classmates and it really is the more stereotyped Romania. It was very beautiful there. Then we went and saw a Monastery in Curtea de Arges.

I didn't take my camera, and I your not allowed to take pictures in the monastery so I found these on the internet. I was amazingly beautiful, and it the legend was very cool. Look it up because I could not tell it as well, and that would take up a lot of space :)

After that we went for a VERY VERY long car trip. Not that long probably four to five hours. It was beautiful but the road was horrible, romanian roads are not for the faint of heart or stomach. It was gorgeous though, it looked like the set of Lord of the Rings. If the shire wasn't in New Zealand and was in the mountains, thats where it would be. 

After that long drive we ended up at Bran Castle! We sadly didn't get to go in, but we will later this year!

We ate lunch their, my host family said it was a snack. So all of us tried to get small stuff. They said no. My host mom ended up ordering me a bowl of tomatoes? Oh well, they were good tomatoes. I think it was a confusion language thing.

After we left their we went to Brasov, where we didn't actually stay long. My host dad has a work project their, and there was something he had to take care of. We maybe stayed for 20 minutes.

Another 2-3 hours worth of driving after Brasov and then we were in the magical city of Sigisoara, which we still can't pronounce. 

It was too amazingly beautiful! We got explore a little bit on our own. We walked through the town, and the cemetery! After that we went around with my parents. That when we discovered that they were shooting a German independent film their about the nazi regime in France. It was very cool, we're going to watch it as soon as it comes out. We went up the clock tower, which was BEAUTIFUL and GORGEOUS.

This is the clock tower

it had all of these for all the major cities
O_O

After that we went and ate at Vlad Dracul's house! I'm not joking, I swear. He lived in the house for four years of his reign as king. I got this really delicious dish, that I don't even know what was in it. Polenta was!

We went back to the room after dinner and then Lexi, Shelby and I had very interesting conversations and probably didn't get to sleep until 1 am........ I was tired haha

We woke up and explored a bit and we saw these interesting people.....they were very nice, and very interested in the fact that we were American.

After that we left :(

We went to the fortified church, I have no idea where it is (in a very small town) but it was a very cool church. It was like a castle!

Then we were on our way home...but then we stopped and got more food!

The button that called the waiter

My bread soup

And dessert

Well we got home safe and sound, but two hours later we had a rotary meeting. yay! We got to meet these awesome british people. In fact I now know the coordinator for youth exchange in London and I am friends with her on facebook! I feel special when I know people. It was all fun, but it lasted till midnight, and the next day we had school. I wasn't very awake for school on Monday. Though on monday I got to go meet a lady from the embassy and peace corps members. We're having a Mexican food night this thursday and I cannot wait!

The most gorgeous view on the drive back

This next weekend I get to go to Arad to meet all of the other exchange students! You have no idea how excited I am for this!