If I Travel All My Life And I Never Get To Stop And Settle Down

Annnnnnnd guess who spent Halloween weekend at Dracula’s castle in Romania? Yep, your faithful blogger/total crazy person over here!

I shared it with amazing new people!

Home for the night!

Music makes a home, as the VonTrapps

So let’s do this right. First I took a bus to Varna and stayed in this pirate themed hostel, and after I got up very early to take a 7 am bus to Bucharest. It took about 6 hours to get there, we stopped in Rousse along the way which was interesting. The bus driver kept speaking to me in Bulgarian and before I could even say “I speak very little Bulgarian” literally all the bus yelled at him that I didn’t speak Bulgarian so cut it out. He wasn’t the nicest guy. But this couple behind me spoke English and he demanded they translate so I got the gist. And 6 hours later I was in the International bus station in Bucharest. Where….my debit and credit cards were turned off. I call my companies and they say

“We know you are in Bulgaria but…”

Me: No, I’m in Romania

Companies: ….they aren’t the same country?

Me….NO…

Yo-Ho-Yo-Ho

Eventually it got sorted and using the wifi at the station I contacted my hostel which was really fun (Umbrella Hostel, try it out!) and they said to grab a taxi and come over. But all the taxi’s either wouldn’t take me “that far” or would rip me off so instead I walked to the nearby mall to grab some food (and found this really cool 90’s style sweatshirt that I am loving!) and waited a bit before walking to my hostel. I walked awhile then grabbed a cab and when I arrived it was totally worth the wait. I basically morphed into Lorelai Gilmore at this hostel, the following are conversations that occurred between me and the guy working throughout my stay:

Him: I managed to grab you a bottom bunk!

Me: That’s great, thanks, I probably won’t fall off now…most likely

Him: You’re kidding right?

Me: yeah, like 95%, don’t judge me it’s been a hard day.

I left part of my heart in Romania!

Him: You got lost? How did you get lost!

2nd Star to the right and straight

on 'till morning

Me: I told you I needed the bigger map!

Him: You didn’t need the bigger map, you needed to not get lost!

Me: Which I wouldn’t have if I had the bigger one I read streets, not tiny little tree symbols that tell me I need to find a park. Nature hates me. Seriously, ants plan out their attacks months in advance to take me by surprise.

Him: Just read the map next time.

How instructive!

Him: (As  I arrived) Did you just take a picture of the sign?

Me: yes…

Him: but inside has a better view

Me: And I’ll take a photo of that as well, where’s the sign that says only one photo?

Him: …ok.

Long live the Revolution!

Yeah…if you were there you’d understand. But it was great. I mean my dorm mates were boring and didn’t want to do anything. I took the map, that had FEW street names btw, and hit the road. Got lost a bit but saw the sites including the second biggest building in the world next to the pentagon. It was their state house place I believe. Super cool, incredibly huge, and they filmed an episode of Top Gear there! Went to a ton of book shops trying to find a copy of Dracula in Romanian for my friend Kinney, but each time they thought I was crazy since I don’t speak Romanian and unfortunately they didn’t have a copy anyways.

Weird statue!

Toured the city and finally found the free walking tour which was fantastic! I got to meet some Spaniards and we communicated using Spanish and English and I didn't realize how much I remembered so it was a wonderful experience of bonding. Plus, I mean really great, we saw all of old town, and the weird statues that celebrities joke about, the churches that were moved, and statues of Vlad. If you are ever in Romania take the free walking tour! I made a really lovely friend, Linda. She works in Romania for a theater company working on diction while teaching German. Honestly meeting her made my trip, she is just so kind and it was wonderful taking the tour with her. She and I invited our tour guide for some dinner after and we had a wonderful time trying Romanian food and talking. I was sad when I had to head back and pack up.

Beautiful people!

Not my stop!

But the next day I grabbed a train to Brasov where Bran castle is, the castle of Vlad Tepes, who you know as Dracula. Getting the train was an adventure in itself and I am always worried I won’t get off at the right stop but I’ve learned a few tricks now to help. I set an alarm for 20 minutes before my ticket says I’ll arrive and then I get ready then, so I can enjoy the country side without worry.

You don't find this at home!

When I got there I followed the instructions my hostel, Kismet Dao, gave me to get there by taking a #4 bus, but it said get off on the 5^th stop. Funny thing about Romanian buses, they can just skip a stop if they like and so I got off a stop late because of this. Instead of griping though I walked back and found my way really enjoying the view. It was amazing to see Brasov. And I took my sunglasses off that have a rose tint, put them in front of my camera and took pictures so I could always remember things the way I saw them as I walked around.

I left without strangers!

I got to the hostel and got bad news, the bus that was suppose to take me home no longer runs and so my return home got much more complicated but hey, it’s me. I just said “ok, whatever it takes and can I have a map to go site see please?” Then settled in. I was in the “Tiny room” which wasn’t actually tiny at all but rather large. I tried to lie down and take a nap for a bit, pretty tired from my journey but there were these two people in my dorm talking and I decided to just sit up and join in. GREAT DECISION. Stephen is form Australia, he has been working in London for awhile as a Physical therapist from my understanding and is now returning home for his dads wedding, and Lauren works in Paris as a type of guide who canoes, does rock climbing etc. We got dinner together and it was fantastic!

The Addam's Family came!

Readers if you haven’t backpacked anywhere before take it from me, there is no sweeter moment than sitting at dinner with new friends and realizing you never got their names because you were instantly just discussing things in common or dying to know about what it is like to pass your kayak exam. We got dinner and found this desert that I remembered having in Prague a lot and shared it. We

I thought of my sister!

operated on the motto “if we get lost we get lost together.” I was truly grateful to meet them and just have this joyous experience of sharing out totally different lives from all over the world and just enjoying. Lauren quit school at 15 and hit the road, while Stephen got his license to do what I understand is PT. And I just sit there, the Bulgarian high school teacher taking in this people that I am lucky to meet!

Stephen drinking the "blood"

Change me or Kill me?

We made it back to the hostel and then it was time for me to find my way to Dracula’s castle for the Halloween party. It was a half an hour away but the Australian came with me and it was amazing. We got to tour the creepy castle at 11 at night, drink the “blood of the victims,” take pictures with Vlad who was dropping in on our tour screaming, and then hit the Halloween party on the grounds. 

My first big Halloween party!

Paaaarty!

At midnight they played “Thriller” and it was crazy! You have people from all different nations dancing with each other, celebrating Halloween and magic. It was really great, and totally worth spraining my ankle that night! (Which either happened when this woman accidentally kicked me and I snapped down on it, or later when I fell down a staircase while being ill.) Stephen and I grabbed a hot drink while we waited for our taxi driver to return and it was the best hot chocolate I have ever had. AMAZING. We headed back to the hostel and I realized I was getting very ill. I couldn’t sleep, I had to keep dirnking tea and I fell down the stairs. Finally it hit me that I never truly recovered from my virus a few weeks before and now it was back with full force. I skype called my mom and she talked me into flying to Sofia instead of taking an 18 hour bus (it was a very complex situation, you don’t want to know) and I contacted Fulbright. Originally I was going to have to teach on Monday and this was Saturday but I knew I needed a Dr. and couldn’t go back to Burgas right away so I asked if I could still attend the 20^th Anniversary of Fulbright being in Bulgaria and stay in the hotel with the others. Thankfully they had room for me and I packed up.

Tea makes everything better

The next day I went to a pharmacy and they told me my ankle was badly sprained and the fact I could walk was a testament to my extreme pain tolerance. I got on a train to Bucharest with Lauren and her friend Jace and we kept each other sane on the train ride back, then grabbed Subway together before I left for the airport and got on my plane to Sofia. Leaving behind the Romania I had already become so attached to, and the beautiful people I had, had the honor of meeting. Romania was Prague and Budapest put together and I want to return one day for a much longer stay! 

BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER

I bought a flag!

Don’t get me wrong there was tons of other stuff along the way like the guy who stupidly tried to pick my pocket, the African sports team that tried to talk to me but it just wouldn’t work across language lines, the souvenir shop woman who helped me choose things for my family and told me I was a good friend, and the security guard who didn’t get my Young Frankenstein joke about “walking this way” when I had to hobble through security. But if I told you all about my travels I would have no memories to hide away for myself, and you would be reading for hours!

Halloween Party at Dracula's!!

I made it to Sofia, after literally throwing up in: Planes, trains, and automobiles! I was very ill but I made it to the Renaissance hotel and seeing my Fulbright friends has never felt so much like home. But more on that in my “20^th Anniversary of Fulbright in Romania” post!

Tonight’s song is “You’re My Home” because I realized on all the trains I took, and the times I used my passport that it isn’t about having a set home, it’s about the perspective of what a “home” is and how you perceive it. <3

Anna

I love tagging in foreign countries, it enriches my journey!