Romania - a big adventure

Bună ziua!
I am happy to write about two special weeks in my life in which I visited a country I had no idea about - Romania...

It was kind of a school project. A company wanted to send two kids of my age to Sibiu where this German company has a sub company. People wanted to give us the chance to be introduced to a textile company and its duties. Also the visit was to get to know the country.
We were two girls going on an adventure! It was all organized by the company: Flights were booked, we got a flat of someone from the company in Sibiu, they picked us up and brought us home, they payed for meals and the best thing was bringing us in contact with two wonderful girls who showed us the city.

What is so special about Sibiu?! It is the old town! I was nearly 18 years old and haven´t seen something like that before. The city was not just old, it was beautiful. The town´s hall was magnificent and covered with gold. The church was tall and towered above the city.

When I heard that Sibiu has been the "City of Culture" from the EU in 2007 I could totally agree.
Sitting in bars in the old town with cobblestones, watching music videos on streams, seeing groups of our age meeting and having fun, just seizing the sun was amazing!
I didn´t know that I would experience this kind of an old town some years later in Poland...
I saw the progress Sibiu went through and I was very impressed. But then there was also the other side of the medal: the main streets were perfectly built, but the other streets had big, big holes. We saw parts of the city in which people seemed to be rich as hell, because the houses were immense. Those houses were bigger than I was used to here in the province of Germany. But we knew that there were also other parts... Everywhere we saw dogs, actually with a good health. Where the company was located we saw a dog with its puppie everyday and the workers fed them. But later I got to know from another friend from Romania that the streets are dangerous because of the wild dogs...

However, we felt save and passed a wonderful time, thanks to our new friends. We went to a zoo, to a great museum in which houses were built as they are from other ages and of course we went shopping.

Besides, there were also coworkers of the boss (who speaks perfectly German) who took us on a trip to an amazing place up a mountain. On our way with a car we passed some villages in which time seemed to stay still and people lived like they would live in 1920ies or so. That was one of those other experiences we had...
The street up the mountain was that winding, that we were just able to drive 20 or 30 km/h. As a proof, please check the picture below.

In the end we came to "Balea Lac", a crystal clear water lake in hundreds of meters height. We had bad luck with fog, but anyway it was gorgeous. Nevertheless it was cold up there and we were used to 30°C in Sibiu. However we were able to shoot some nice pictures. I am very happy that we had those amazing moments. 

Sometimes the fog let us the valley.

We learned a lot about the culture of the country, especially from our friends, who are speaking perfectly English. For example we learned about the struggles of farmers who have to act like the European law says. The young Romanian generation is clever and proud and fights for their dreams.
I also remember that we were invited to a birthday party in the house of the Dobrota family who made our little adventure unforgotten. It was really a pleasure for us girls from Germany. I am very thankful, that we met them.

Therefore I am very thankful that I went on this adventure in which I experienced a country that is trying to improve, but also wants to keep its culture and history!
I hope I can encourage others also to travel to some countries you have no ideas about. In the end the outcome for yourself will be fantastic!
Pa pa! Tschüss ;)