Fulbright Time

After B and I returned from Milan last Monday, we only had 2 days to rest and (for B) to be productive. On Thursday, B and I attended an all-day Fulbright orientation. The Fulbrighters who arrived in September attended a very similar orientation at that time. However, since September, B and I arrived in November and 4 Fulbrighters (and 1 wife) arrived in January, so this was mainly for our benefit. Fortunately for us, all of the Fulbrighters were asked to attend this orientation so we were able to see some of the ones we had met in December. While the actual orientation was what one might expect, we really enjoyed getting to know the new Fulbrighters and getting to know the others better. We got a chance to really socialize with them on Friday and Saturday during an excursion planned by the Fulbright commission.

We boarded a bus on a rainy Friday morning with the other Fulbrighters and were taken to the town of Sinaia in the mountains-about an hour or hour and a half north of Bucharest. While on our way out of the city, it began snowing. This made for some beautiful views of the mountains and smaller towns we passed. The Fulbright folks had also arranged for a tour guide to accompany us and while she was quite nice, she seemed to feel compelled to fill all the driving time with information and chatter. I and several others really wished we could just enjoy the beautiful scenery in peace and quiet, but it was not to be. Before we exited the bus, our guide informed us she would carry a red umbrella up in the air so we could find her, therefore some in the group dubbed her "Red Umbrella Lady" for the remainder of the trip. In Sinaia we toured Peles Castle, an old castle that was beautifully furnished and showed the grandeur of Romania pre-wars and Communism. After the castle, we had a very nice 3 course lunch at a hotel restaurant in Sinaia and then re-boarded the bus to the town of Bran. We arrived around 5 PM and went straight to our pension. We settled into our room, which was very beautiful with lots of space and a large, beautiful and very modern bathroom. In addition to having such nice accommodations, we also had a beautiful view of the untouched snowy hill opposite the pension. Before dinner, B and I hung out with a couple of the Fulbrighters and took the chance to get to know them better. Since our group filled the pension, we took the entire small dining room and had another lovely 3 course dinner. It was very relaxed and people really got a chance to get to know each other even better. Dinner took a couple of hours and since we were expected to be at breakfast by 8 AM, B and I decided to settle in for the night after dinner. I had a wonderful warm and relaxing bath in the luxurious bathtub and B took advantage of the cable TV.

The next morning, bright and early, we joined folks for a traditional Romanian breakfast. The entire weekend was filled with traditional Romanian cuisine, which is mostly fine. However, for me, Romanian breakfast leaves something to be desired. Their idea of breakfast includes cold cuts and hot dogs and plain soft bread. The yogurt they seem to prefer is plain, so with some added honey, it turned out to be a fine start to the day. After breakfast it was time to leave the pension and we headed to Bran castle, a few minutes drive away. Bran castle is the tourist attraction for all things Dracula even though the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes, probably only spent 3-5 months total at this specific site and the interior of the castle is pretty sparsely furnished. The tour of the castle was nice and short. The castle is situated on top of a hill and the view of the town below is quite nice. At the bottom of the hill, there are several peasants who have stalls set up to sell souvenirs. Some handmade, some not so much. B and I looked around and bought a few things, including a table cloth for our table when we return home. I was even able to bargain for the tablecloth all by myself IN ROMANIAN!

After leaving Bran we drove about an hour to another town, Brasov, which has some very clear German influences. We were meant to tour the Black Church, but several of us had had about as much of Red Umbrella Lady as we could take and B and I were invited to take a walk around the old town with the other Junior Fulbrighters. We ended up at an Irish pub and had fun hanging out with everyone. After the pub, we met up with the rest of the gang and headed to our last group lunch. This area of Romania definitely thrives on tourists and there are several hotels/restaurants set up to cater to groups. This was the type of place we ate at and were again filled with a 3 course Romanian lunch before seeing several folks off at the train station in Brasov and then heading back to Bucharest. B and I were both impressed with Brasov and hope to visit the Fulbrighter who is assigned there and to get to see more of the city.

We had a great time getting to know folks better and hope to be able to get to spend more time with them either in Bucharest or other parts of the country. Now that our travels are over (at least for a bit), we will be getting back into the swing of things and hopefully be able to get some pictures of our trips out to folks soon. -S