Honestly I don’t know how many more ways I can continue to say that I keep meeting foreigners who are here for tourism, business or both and just how much they really love this country. But since the message is worth telling, I will continue to write these kinds of posts.
We’re having an absolutely beautiful summer this year, long sunny days with deliciously cool breezes at night. It’s the perfect time to travel here and see festivals, concerts and to take a trip on a bus or a train or hitchhike and see all the gorgeous variations of the Romanian landscape. It’s the perfect time to meet fellow travelers, exchange stories, and to meet locals, chat with them, drink with them, go out dancing with them and maybe even start a romance with them. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing and I absolutely love meeting new people who fall in love with my country, each in their own way.
In the past few weeks I’ve met people from all over Europe, Britain, from Australia, North America as well as from China and Korea. The story they tell is always the same – “wow I knew so little before I came here but I really love it”. And indeed it is no mystery to me nor to anyone else with eyes to see why that would be so.
This past week I had a chance to meet a remarkable young woman. She’s an experienced traveler and this is her first time in Romania. But as she told me, “there’s just something I really like about this place”
She has a wonderful website called Ou est Jamon? If your French is a little rusty, it means “Where is Jamon?” It’s a photo blog where she posts pictures of her stuffed (de pluș) bull whose name is Jamon (it means “ham”). You can see that these are some really amazing and creative photographs.
Below is one taken right here in Unicorn City. But my favorite part is knowing just how wonderful it is that all of these people who get to travel, get to see other cultures, get to try other foods and most importantly, make new relationships. The world can be an awful, terrible place sometimes but when a German or a Canadian or a Romanian is no longer some mythical person in a far off land but a real person, we take one step closer to remembering that we’re all in this together.
If you’re a Tumblr person, I recommend subscribing or following or whatever the term is.
ENJOY!
All Things Romania 
O fi vara frumoasă acolo la Cluj. :) Zilele lungi şi însorite sunt minunate atunci când e potrivit de cald afară. Dar vara de la Bucureşti (de unde scriu eu) şi în general din toată partea de sud a României nu e chiar acelaşi lucru. Zilele sunt lungi şi toride până în punctul în care ai senzaţia că stai într-un cuptor cu microunde. Iar serile sunt… la fel. Dacă ai noroc, în unele zile aerul devine respirabil pe la 1 noaptea. Dacă nu, următoarea ta şansă e pe la 4-5 dimineaţa. Şi mai sunt zile în care dimineaţa la ora 8 afară e deja prea cald…
Dacă mă crezi, mi-e un dor nebun de o ploaie de aia sănătoasă, cu picături de apă cât pumnul şi cu fulgere şi tunete. N-am mai văzut aşa ceva demult.
Aşa că da, e frumos să călătoreşti prin România vara, dar mai ales în jumătatea ei nordică. :D Sau la munte. Sper ca în concediu să ajung şi eu în vizită la Cluj şi să am parte decâteva seri răcoroase.
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Oh, nice. The statue of Matyas Hunyadi is really impressive. On the other hand, since he’s now on display, allow me to ask him something: Where went those 7000 men you promised to a certain ally of yours, you sneaky, two-faced, lying, ahem, king?! “scowling ferociously”
Whew. That felt good. Thanks, Sam
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Don’t worry, Sam, these “Remember, Romania can be a really cool place” posts really do have their purpose: they remind me, as a Romanian, that I should stop bitching and enjoy my country!
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well goody :)
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