I’ve just realized I’ve never told the story about coming home and about Polly’s visit in Romania.
It was crazy
I didn’t even realized how I ended up in the airport, trying to trade the return ticket for one 5 days earlier. Polly was with me, we both decided to head to Romania the next morning after the reunion with the teachers in Budapest. It was actually her birthday. I think Csaba was the one that helped me put all in balance and make up my mind about heading home.
Too many problems had piled up so even though I lost the rent and the plane ticket and many more, I still think I made the best decision.
The exchange ticket was way to expensive so we ended up at the train station, not even knowing if there were any trains. Imagine Polly and I running around the city with all our baggages, simply heading for Romania.
We waited 4 hours for our train to arrive and 10 minutes before the departure, we were running around the train station realizing that there’s no line 5, only 6, 7, 8 and 9. I almost started crying with desperation when some men helped us get to line 5. We were running and crying with our baggages after us, and finally managed to reach the train, 2 minutes before departure. What a ride!
We had to change trains in Arad, Romania. By the time we arrived there it was already midnight. Train stations can be really spooky at midnight but we managed to change money (we didn’t have Romanian money) and catch the train to Brasov. It was a 7 hour ride and we slept all the way. We were alone in the compartment so we close the light, the curtains and locked the door. I even took my pillow out of my baggage.
Polly and I finally arrived in Romania on 8th of August, my dad’s birthday. First thing we did was of course visit Bran, with Dracula’s castle and other famous sites.
We celebrated my dad’s birthday and the next day we headed to Sinaia, a city famous for it’s castles!
On our way back though, we got on the wrong train to Brasov, one more expensive. A really kind guy offered to pay our tickets in case the controller came and so he did. He was great! We also sat near an american who was studying archeology in Romania and another Chinese guy who (funny enough) was a trainee for AIESEC Bucharest, in an international internship in Romania, just like Polly and I were in Budapest. How cool is that???
Only on the third day did we manage to actually visit Brasov. Brasov is a very old historical city so there’s a lot to visit. A whole day wasn’t enough!
We visited around 10 museums, 2 towers, 2 mountain views, 1 fortress, council square and the most narrowest street in Europe. We also participated in the concert of the biggest organ in Europe (yeah, a lot of “-est” in Europe 
) and many many more. It’s a nice thing to do when you come home: visit everything that’s famous and beautiful!
In the last day we decided to visit Rasnov fortress which is a huge, recently renovated, amazing fortress on top of a mountain, with a lot of spooky stories and an amazing 360 degrees view. For example it is said that the fountain in the fortress is so deep that it goes throughout the mountain and if you throw a coin, you won’t hear it reaching the bottom!
From here there’s a 2 hour long road through the forest to Brasov, with amazing views like the centuries oaks, which are huge oak trees over 400 years old. On the way we stopped to the most famous winter resort in Romania, Poiana Brasov.
I know that most of the photos are with Polly alone but since it was just the two of us… i was her official photographer.
5 days through the trip Polly had to head back to Budapest so we bought a bus ticket and we went to the bus station. I still don’t know how but we managed to miss a huuuuuge buss and Polly lost her bus. Silly enough, we just realized this half an hour after the bus left. Panic was starting to settle in when we decided to go after the bus by car. My boyfriend’s dad just came to pick him up and all four of us got into the car and rushed after the bus, calling the buss driver every 5 minutes. We finally caught it 100 km away from Brasov while they were making a small break. The whole road I was praying for her to catch the bus. I don’t think I ever prayed for that long, lol.
I didn’t even say goodbye. I was so eager to see her on the bus that we just put her on it and the bus left so quickly. I still feel sorry for not being able to hug her goodbye… She told me she loved Romania and most of all, my mom’s cooking. Especially mashed potatoes. So if any one of you wants to taste internationally approved great food from my mom, just come visit!
Virtual hugs from back in Romania!
Mr dear, I almost cry when I read it.
Thanks for all the beautiful memory you gave me.
It is the best gift I received during the whole exchange.
And thanks for your effort for posting all the photos and the article.
Miss you always. =)