Wow, how am I so good at sitting down doing nothing? I’ve been on this bus from Vienna to Prague for almost two hours and I’ve just sat there staring out the window, lost in my thoughts and in the scenery, occasionally wondering how the bus manages to squeeze through the streets of tiny countryside towns. The course of my thoughts seems to have been zooming by as fast as the bus, but I do remember some things enough to actually write down here.
• The countryside is beautiful, and small towns really are quite cute. I see their appeal. I wouldn’t mind having a rest in one for like a week, but after that I need to keep moving.
• It’s June 30, 2016. Exactly three years ago I left France and have thought about it every day since then. In one month I will finally return. Obviously, I don’t know how I’m going to react to that, though in my speculations it’s going to be pretty emotional. That being said, I really hope it’s not going to be anticlimactic. In the event that it is, though, I know it’ll be because it’s going to be as if I had never left and all that time had never passed.
• Lol, here I am leaving Vienna again. I’ve left it every single weekend since I arrived, going to a different country at each time, and thinking about this made me realize that I never even wrote on here about those places I did visit. Oops. So let me finally get around to that for the rest of this entry, since I’ve finally found the time!
Romania (June 10-12)
Actually, this could basically take up an entire blog entry. But I’ll keep it in this one since the ones to follow won’t be anywhere as long. My first weekend of the program, I found myself in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. Before I continue, let me give some background as to how this ended up happening.
When I was an elementary schooler living in the Philippines, my family one day got this CD of dance music. There were a lot of songs on it I really liked, and one of them was “Dragostea Din Tei.” I later came to know that it was a very well-known song in Romanian, though of course at the time that meant nothing to me, because Romania was a pretty obscure place I wasn’t sure existed.
Romania came up again after I moved to the USA and was part of my high school’s speech and debate team. It was my freshman year of high school, and I was at what I’m pretty sure was my second (of so many) speech and debate tournaments ever. One of my events that time was poetry reading. At some point, I ended up talking with a fellow contestant, a girl named Adela who went to a different school. I noticed she had an accent, so I asked her where she was from. “I’m from Romania!” she replied. After we found out we were both of foreign origin and had lived in the USA as immigrants, a friendship that I consider one of my most valuable from my time in Oregon began.
Adela and I continued to keep in touch even though we went to different schools, and would make an effort to have regular lunch meetings to catch up on each others’ lives. We would idly speak of taking a friendship tour, in which I would go to Romania with her and she would go to the Philippines with me. I figured (and still do) that it would happen at some point. Except as it turns out, I ended up going to Romania first.
Fast forward to my second year at Harvard, where I met Luca and added yet another Romanian to my list of close friends. When he invited me to see him in Bucharest by flying in from Vienna, I seriously considered the possibility because Romania had already been on my list of places to visit. Plus, I would be there experiencing it in the way I like to experience new places best–through the eyes of people who call it home.
But wait, before I actually end up in Romania here, I have one more anecdote.
The evening we were to find out what our job assignments for the second week of dorm crew were, I was walking back to the quad. I had basically told myself that if I got a decent paying job, then I would get the tickets. So there I was, not yet knowing whether I had gotten the job or not, when I saw an adorable little shi-tzu on the quad lawn.
I, being the dog lover I am, approached the dog and its owner, who was with two little girls (her daughters). I greeted them and asked if I could pet the dog, and the lady said of course I could. As I was petting the dog, she would speak to the little girls in some language I didn’t recognize. I, being the language lover I am, asked what language she was speaking in.
“It’s Romanian!” she replied.
If that wasn’t a sign, I don’t know what could have been.
Long story short, I did get a job, and that same evening I bought my tickets.
Oh and I have to mention that I did that thing again where I get tickets somewhere and don’t tell my parents. At this point though, they aren’t even surprised, and as long as they know I know the people I’m staying with, all they ever tell me is to have fun.
Upon arriving in Romania, Luca met me at the airport and I was super excited to see him, although it had only been a month since we had last seen each other. Neither of us could believe that I was actually in Bucharest. But rather than dwell on the disbelief, I just tried to take it all in and fully enjoy whatever it was Luca wanted me to do with him around his city.
The thing about my weekend in Bucharest was I didn’t really go see any sights or do anything a visitor would do. I kinda just accompanied Luca as he went about his normal life with his family and friends. If anything, it made it all the more authentic, despite the fact that I don’t speak any Romanian (besides a few words that I picked up, of course). I honestly couldn’t have been more pleased with that whirlwind of a weekend. All those lovely familiar sensations I would feel as an exchange student–of being a foreigner amidst people who know the place better than I ever will, of getting to know it and finding more to love about it, of making memories with its people–returned for brief instants.
They returned when I spent time with Luca’s family and family friends at the memorial ceremony for his grandmother, a social event known as “parastas” that celebrates an individuals’ life. (It also ended up being a birthday celebration for Luca.)
They returned when I got to know his friends, actually getting to talk face to face with the people whose names I only ever used to know from stories Luca would tell me.
They returned when I found myself strolling down the lively streets of Bucharest late at night with them, singing all of Dragostea Din Tei (and having them completely incredulous and entertained about the fact that I know all the words).
The fact that the Romanian language is both romance and slavic at the same time was something I quite appreciated. It made me giddy to hear/see words that I understood because I know French and (kinda) Polish, such as “ani” for “an” and “graniţă” for “granica.” It was also pretty to listen to, especially when Luca’s dad would give me little history lessons on the city of Bucharest which Luca would then translate. As a birthday surprise for Luca, I actually learned the Romanian happy birthday song and sang it for him with my ukulele and his parents. It was Adela who told me about it after I asked her if there were any traditional songs I could learn, and it was perfect. Speaking of which, she was super happy I got to see her motherland, and I’ll definitely go with her next time I go to Romania!
Luca took me back to the airport at the end of my stay. Even though I knew I would see him again in two and a half months, I can’t help but miss him a little and wish I had even just a little more time in Bucharest. But no matter–better to have experienced a brief taste of it than to have never gone at all! Considering 19 is my favorite number, and Romania is the 19th country I have set foot on, I think that secures it a pretty special place in my heart.(Which I know I said I lost in Bolivia, but let’s just speak hypothetically.)
Slovakia (June 18)
Jacinthe, one of my best friends from the Poland program I did last year, actually took a seven hour car trip from Stuttgart (where she’s doing an internship) to Vienna to spend the weekend with me. My family was also there, so she got to meet them as well. I’m pretty sure my parents were pleased to have been able to actually meet one of my international friends, since at this point they haven’t met most of the friends that I have, considering they’re scattered all over the world.
We took the bus to Bratislava and spent around five hours there. It was a cute little eastern European city. Well, I guess it’s not that little, since it’s the capital, but compared to other capital cities it really was quite small. That meant it was easy to visit.
The first time I visited a Slavic country during my exchange to Poland, I felt completely lost surrounded by a close to unintelligible language. However, this time around, Jacinthe and I delighted upon seeing words we could understand based on the Polish that we knew, which made Slovakia seem familiar. It was also such a joy to spend time exploring a new place with her, a fellow female traveler who understands me so well, who sometimes forgets that I’m not French like her. It was also funny trying to listen to her speak English to my family, though she did quite a good job. It was also nice to hear how much she enjoyed spending time with them. Well, I’m sure it was nice for my parents to actually be a “host family” to one of my international friends for once, rather than me always being adopted by new families all over the place LOL. Slovakia’s a kinda random place to go, but why not, you know? Also, as my sister pointed out, those people in the movie Eurotrip visited it. Hm, I’ll have to watch it again soon.
Hungary (June 25)
Ok so my mom kept on mixing up “Budapest” with “Bucharest” and saying things like “What time is our train to Bucharest again?” because at this point, she can’t keep track of all the places I go anymore.
For a day, I went to Budapest with my family. It’s a city popularized by a song called “Budapest” by George Ezra, this very handsome British singer who I actually saw live in Washington DC last year.
Anyway, over there we met up with my friend Ágota, a Hungarian girl I met also on the Poland program last year. She lived in Budapest for five years, so there was nobody better to show us around!
It was also really cool to catch up with her, and to share knowing glances whenever we walked by Polish people who were visiting the city. Also double nice for my parents to meet yet another one of my international friends!
Throughout our visit, I could see how much Ágota loves the city, and it was such a pleasure for me to have her show me around during my first visit. Her pride for her city reminded me of what I feel for Boston and how I so badly want someone to visit me there, so I can show that same hospitality and take someone on a tour of that city I adore. (SERIOUSLY WHEN IS SOMEBODY GOING TO VISIT ME?) Even though it was blazing hot, I still had a memorable time, and besides, it probably made the cold drinks we had even tastier.
Budapest was a fabulous place, and I could see then how it's totally capable of inspiring a song. Ágota, being another girl who loves travel, left the city to go to her hometown and will be traveling to Rome in a bit, so I’m really glad to have caught her and have experienced the city through seeing a little of what she knows of it.
Hm, I think that’s pretty good. I have just a little less than an hour left on this bus ride, and I’ll be content just sitting there doing nothing, knowing that I’ve written all of this. Hooray for that addiction to feeling productive?
I’ll write again soon!
• The countryside is beautiful, and small towns really are quite cute. I see their appeal. I wouldn’t mind having a rest in one for like a week, but after that I need to keep moving.
• It’s June 30, 2016. Exactly three years ago I left France and have thought about it every day since then. In one month I will finally return. Obviously, I don’t know how I’m going to react to that, though in my speculations it’s going to be pretty emotional. That being said, I really hope it’s not going to be anticlimactic. In the event that it is, though, I know it’ll be because it’s going to be as if I had never left and all that time had never passed.
• Lol, here I am leaving Vienna again. I’ve left it every single weekend since I arrived, going to a different country at each time, and thinking about this made me realize that I never even wrote on here about those places I did visit. Oops. So let me finally get around to that for the rest of this entry, since I’ve finally found the time!
Romania (June 10-12)
Actually, this could basically take up an entire blog entry. But I’ll keep it in this one since the ones to follow won’t be anywhere as long. My first weekend of the program, I found myself in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. Before I continue, let me give some background as to how this ended up happening.
When I was an elementary schooler living in the Philippines, my family one day got this CD of dance music. There were a lot of songs on it I really liked, and one of them was “Dragostea Din Tei.” I later came to know that it was a very well-known song in Romanian, though of course at the time that meant nothing to me, because Romania was a pretty obscure place I wasn’t sure existed.
Romania came up again after I moved to the USA and was part of my high school’s speech and debate team. It was my freshman year of high school, and I was at what I’m pretty sure was my second (of so many) speech and debate tournaments ever. One of my events that time was poetry reading. At some point, I ended up talking with a fellow contestant, a girl named Adela who went to a different school. I noticed she had an accent, so I asked her where she was from. “I’m from Romania!” she replied. After we found out we were both of foreign origin and had lived in the USA as immigrants, a friendship that I consider one of my most valuable from my time in Oregon began.
Adela and I continued to keep in touch even though we went to different schools, and would make an effort to have regular lunch meetings to catch up on each others’ lives. We would idly speak of taking a friendship tour, in which I would go to Romania with her and she would go to the Philippines with me. I figured (and still do) that it would happen at some point. Except as it turns out, I ended up going to Romania first.
Fast forward to my second year at Harvard, where I met Luca and added yet another Romanian to my list of close friends. When he invited me to see him in Bucharest by flying in from Vienna, I seriously considered the possibility because Romania had already been on my list of places to visit. Plus, I would be there experiencing it in the way I like to experience new places best–through the eyes of people who call it home.
But wait, before I actually end up in Romania here, I have one more anecdote.
The evening we were to find out what our job assignments for the second week of dorm crew were, I was walking back to the quad. I had basically told myself that if I got a decent paying job, then I would get the tickets. So there I was, not yet knowing whether I had gotten the job or not, when I saw an adorable little shi-tzu on the quad lawn.
I, being the dog lover I am, approached the dog and its owner, who was with two little girls (her daughters). I greeted them and asked if I could pet the dog, and the lady said of course I could. As I was petting the dog, she would speak to the little girls in some language I didn’t recognize. I, being the language lover I am, asked what language she was speaking in.
“It’s Romanian!” she replied.
If that wasn’t a sign, I don’t know what could have been.
Long story short, I did get a job, and that same evening I bought my tickets.
Oh and I have to mention that I did that thing again where I get tickets somewhere and don’t tell my parents. At this point though, they aren’t even surprised, and as long as they know I know the people I’m staying with, all they ever tell me is to have fun.
Upon arriving in Romania, Luca met me at the airport and I was super excited to see him, although it had only been a month since we had last seen each other. Neither of us could believe that I was actually in Bucharest. But rather than dwell on the disbelief, I just tried to take it all in and fully enjoy whatever it was Luca wanted me to do with him around his city.
The thing about my weekend in Bucharest was I didn’t really go see any sights or do anything a visitor would do. I kinda just accompanied Luca as he went about his normal life with his family and friends. If anything, it made it all the more authentic, despite the fact that I don’t speak any Romanian (besides a few words that I picked up, of course). I honestly couldn’t have been more pleased with that whirlwind of a weekend. All those lovely familiar sensations I would feel as an exchange student–of being a foreigner amidst people who know the place better than I ever will, of getting to know it and finding more to love about it, of making memories with its people–returned for brief instants.
They returned when I spent time with Luca’s family and family friends at the memorial ceremony for his grandmother, a social event known as “parastas” that celebrates an individuals’ life. (It also ended up being a birthday celebration for Luca.)
They returned when I got to know his friends, actually getting to talk face to face with the people whose names I only ever used to know from stories Luca would tell me.
They returned when I found myself strolling down the lively streets of Bucharest late at night with them, singing all of Dragostea Din Tei (and having them completely incredulous and entertained about the fact that I know all the words).
The fact that the Romanian language is both romance and slavic at the same time was something I quite appreciated. It made me giddy to hear/see words that I understood because I know French and (kinda) Polish, such as “ani” for “an” and “graniţă” for “granica.” It was also pretty to listen to, especially when Luca’s dad would give me little history lessons on the city of Bucharest which Luca would then translate. As a birthday surprise for Luca, I actually learned the Romanian happy birthday song and sang it for him with my ukulele and his parents. It was Adela who told me about it after I asked her if there were any traditional songs I could learn, and it was perfect. Speaking of which, she was super happy I got to see her motherland, and I’ll definitely go with her next time I go to Romania!
Luca took me back to the airport at the end of my stay. Even though I knew I would see him again in two and a half months, I can’t help but miss him a little and wish I had even just a little more time in Bucharest. But no matter–better to have experienced a brief taste of it than to have never gone at all! Considering 19 is my favorite number, and Romania is the 19th country I have set foot on, I think that secures it a pretty special place in my heart.
Slovakia (June 18)
Jacinthe, one of my best friends from the Poland program I did last year, actually took a seven hour car trip from Stuttgart (where she’s doing an internship) to Vienna to spend the weekend with me. My family was also there, so she got to meet them as well. I’m pretty sure my parents were pleased to have been able to actually meet one of my international friends, since at this point they haven’t met most of the friends that I have, considering they’re scattered all over the world.
We took the bus to Bratislava and spent around five hours there. It was a cute little eastern European city. Well, I guess it’s not that little, since it’s the capital, but compared to other capital cities it really was quite small. That meant it was easy to visit.
The first time I visited a Slavic country during my exchange to Poland, I felt completely lost surrounded by a close to unintelligible language. However, this time around, Jacinthe and I delighted upon seeing words we could understand based on the Polish that we knew, which made Slovakia seem familiar. It was also such a joy to spend time exploring a new place with her, a fellow female traveler who understands me so well, who sometimes forgets that I’m not French like her. It was also funny trying to listen to her speak English to my family, though she did quite a good job. It was also nice to hear how much she enjoyed spending time with them. Well, I’m sure it was nice for my parents to actually be a “host family” to one of my international friends for once, rather than me always being adopted by new families all over the place LOL. Slovakia’s a kinda random place to go, but why not, you know? Also, as my sister pointed out, those people in the movie Eurotrip visited it. Hm, I’ll have to watch it again soon.
Hungary (June 25)
Ok so my mom kept on mixing up “Budapest” with “Bucharest” and saying things like “What time is our train to Bucharest again?” because at this point, she can’t keep track of all the places I go anymore.
For a day, I went to Budapest with my family. It’s a city popularized by a song called “Budapest” by George Ezra, this very handsome British singer who I actually saw live in Washington DC last year.
Anyway, over there we met up with my friend Ágota, a Hungarian girl I met also on the Poland program last year. She lived in Budapest for five years, so there was nobody better to show us around!
It was also really cool to catch up with her, and to share knowing glances whenever we walked by Polish people who were visiting the city. Also double nice for my parents to meet yet another one of my international friends!
Throughout our visit, I could see how much Ágota loves the city, and it was such a pleasure for me to have her show me around during my first visit. Her pride for her city reminded me of what I feel for Boston and how I so badly want someone to visit me there, so I can show that same hospitality and take someone on a tour of that city I adore. (SERIOUSLY WHEN IS SOMEBODY GOING TO VISIT ME?) Even though it was blazing hot, I still had a memorable time, and besides, it probably made the cold drinks we had even tastier.
Budapest was a fabulous place, and I could see then how it's totally capable of inspiring a song. Ágota, being another girl who loves travel, left the city to go to her hometown and will be traveling to Rome in a bit, so I’m really glad to have caught her and have experienced the city through seeing a little of what she knows of it.
Hm, I think that’s pretty good. I have just a little less than an hour left on this bus ride, and I’ll be content just sitting there doing nothing, knowing that I’ve written all of this. Hooray for that addiction to feeling productive?
I’ll write again soon!
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