Romania viewed through my telescope

Hello, Rebecca here!

Now I feel like I’ve been in Romania for long enough to have a clear opinion of what kind of country it is and what it means to live here, so let’s talk about it for a bit.

At first, when I arrived here, I thought Romania was not that different of a country from the one I left, but with time I started understanding it more deeply and having a more complex image of it. So, here we go.

First of all, a big difference between Romania and Italy is the countryside. In Italy we have countryside, of course, but it’s not as wide and fascinating. If you take a car and start driving through Transylvania, this is what you’ll see: one single road in the middle of non-ending fields, mountains in the distance. Every once in a while you’ll see a horse-drawn wagon on the street, people sitting in it and carrying wood or something else. Then you pass through a village: houses on the side of the road, a church, few small shops. My question will always be: what came first, the road or the village? The egg or the chicken?

Anyway, you’re driving through this valleys, no factories, no towns, no buildings. It’s calm.

This village thing is really fascinated for me, it is such a small reality. People leave out of agriculture, farming; everyone knows everyone. People gossip about each other, but there’s a strong sense of community. Even though young people usually move out, to have more opportunities, people who grew up in a village sometimes stay there their whole life; they have space, they’re connected to nature.

It’s the big difference between life in the city and life in the small village that makes you wonder how can it all be the same country.

The dynamics of the cities are pretty much the same of the ones of the cities I’ve seen before. They are different one from the other, some of them are really beautiful, some of them are not that interesting and it feels like there’s not really anything to do or see. I have my favourite ones, of course, and if we want to drop names, here we go: Brașov, Sibiu and Oradea. There are other really cool and beautiful cities, but they are not my kind of cities, especially those that seam to be made for the cars and don’t really feel like a livable place. One of this places, for example, is Bucharest.

Trains and accommodations in Romania are way cheaper than in Italy, so it’s actually possible to visit other cities without having to sell your kidney. Many times the trains are really old and late, but it’s part of the adventure. Anyway, thanks to this, I and the other volunteers had the opportunity to visit much throughout these months.

One thing that I love is going back to a city I’ve already visited, to see it in a different light. If you see something under different circumstances, times and occasions, it becomes more real and true to you. It’s not two-dimensional anymore, and it takes on a different shape.

It’s when I go back to a place here in Romania that I feel that I’m not just passing from here, but I am actually living here.

Me, personally, I live in Harghita county, which is a region in the north-centre of Romania, known for its cold and for having the biggest Hungarian community in the country. For this reason, not only I got to know Romanians, but, also and mostly, Hungarians. I learnt more Hungarian than Romanian and got to know the Székelyek (Hungarians living in Romania), their culture and traditions very closely. They are a bit of strange people to me, because they can be cold and close towards others (a local friend of mine told me once that the cold weather makes people more cold), but once they get to know you they are warm and nice. Living in a small city, they are not used to foreigners, and when they meet someone from abroad, either they close theirselves to you, or they show interest and ask you how the hell you ended up there. You never know what kind of reaction you’re going to get, but in a few months you’ll start appreciating the surprised and curious people, and not care about the others.

You’ll be glad to hear that I don’t shit my pants anymore when ordering in a restaurant or trying to understand what the rapping cashier is trying to tell me. People (as all people around the world) can be rude to you as a foreigner, but for this reason is so sweet to encounter those who are kind and welcoming.

Romania is a cool and interesting country, this I have learnt. It has crazy beautiful landscapes, I’m going to miss so much the train rides here, the clean sky at night and the city where I live, Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda in Hungarian).