The last time I wrote a post I had not yet been to Belgium,which seems like a long time ago. For the past week I have been taking a small vacation, to Brussels, Bruges, the Romanian region of Transylvania, and northeastern Bulgaria. I did not go to these places so that I could go on the computer.
My first evening in Brussels was great. I was planning to meet up with the group from RIAS, but they were already at a group dinner, at a restaurant that was quite a walk from the hotel. It was nine in the evening and I decided to look for some food nearer to where I was. I wound up in a small Italian restrant, watching the Netherlands v. Japan World Cup match with the Albanian wait staff. It was great fun.The next day was reserved for sightseeing the major attractions of Brussels. The food in this country was fresh and very good, despite the fact that they entire country is off-the-wall expensive. A cheap meal in Brussels costs me the equivalent of an entire week's worth of food in Romania. I also had a language scare, when I had to speak Spanish that day and forgot the word for book. Fortunately, there were a lot of Spanish tourists in Belgium and by next morning I was able to speak Spanish rather fluently again. Still, I am starting to worry that I might forget my Spanish if i don't use it.
I spent next morning in the town of Bruges and that evening I attended the farewell dinner for the RIAS group. Then all of us watched the U.S. lose to Ghana in World Cup.
Because my parents are paying for the majority of this summer, my mother came from Belgium back to Romania for the rest of the trip. She seemed rather skittish towards Bucharest at first and it took her about a day to warm up to it. I showed her around the Old Town and we had a nice meal.
We went with a car and driver the next day to Transylvania the next day, seeing some of the major sights in the country such as a Peles castle, Bran fortress, the town of Brasov, and Snagov lake. We went sightseeing in Bucharest the next day, and stopped by the embassy to get my certificate, which was signed by the Ambassador. I also got to go in the Palace of Parliament and the Patriarchal Cathedral, which I had not done yet. That night we took the train to Sofia, and had a picnic dinner on board.
I just remember being really tired my first day in Bulgaria but we saw all of the major sights and decided to go to Plovdiv, in the center of the country, by public bus the next day. The trip took two hours but was well worth it. The town in built on 3 hills, and has been used from neolithic times; therefore there are many layers of history piled on top of one another. We took the bus back that night. We had some trouble finding an ATM but eventually got money and stayed out untill after ten that night. Our last day in Sofia started on the outskirts at the 13th century Boyana chirch, which has frescoes dating from the 11th century. After that we went to the Museum of Foreign Art. This was a throwback to Soviet days, and the collection seems to be more concerned with espousing the political philosophy of that time, than with the quality of the actual works. We had an official minder the entire time we were in the museum. After lunch we prepared to head back to Bucharest. We got hassled by an 'information worker' in the train station, and had to give up our remaining Leva, the Bulgarian currnency. I changed some Lei to Lev after that, just so I could have a souvenir. The train ride back to Bucharest went through a river gorge in the Balkans and was absloutely spectactular. We got what sleep we could and arrived in Bucharest the next morning.
We are now catching up and prepariing for the next legs of our respective trips. For me, it's a language program in Poland. I got a look at the format of the placement test. It is a 2 and 1/2 hour monstrosity, which involves an essay. I came here with hopes of placing well from the outset. But after a look at this.... I'm very, very afraid.
