Bucharest

Big week. It was a long one. It started out Monday with our exam that I briefly wrote about...I was pretty afraid of getting the results back because I am notoriously bad with writing in German, but to my pleasant surprise, I did quite well. It was such a great feeling! I don't mean to brag or anything...

As a consolation for taking the test, my class took a trip to the Haribo factory here in Bonn. I just finished up all the candy I bought last night...! It was such a happy place. The tagline is "Haribo macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene ebenso" which means that Haribo makes children happy, but adults just so. It rhymes in German so it's cooler. We had a great time...I bought too much candy but otherwise it was nice because we spoke only German as it was technically a class outing. I found out Monday after class that I had been recommended for the DSH preparatory course (the German proficiency test that one needs to study for a Masters here or become a citizen), which meant that I did really well on my exam! As a result of that mixed with impulse mixed with an idea that a couple of my friends spoke about...I decided to do a blindbooking on Germanwings. Let me explain: a blindbooking is when you pick a date and an airport to leave out of and Germanwings then tells you the times and city you will be visiting. You have a little bit of control over the situation, like I chose Eastern Europe as an overarching area. I called three other girls from UW to take the plunge with me, and we booked it! After I put in all my credit card information to pay the 65 Euro fee, I found out I was going to Otopeni International Airport. Where is that you ask? I didn't know either! It was unnerving to have to google the name of the airport you're flying into...
Anyway, it turns out it was in Bucharest, Romania. I never would've thought in a million years I'd end up in Romania! So, with two days left to figure out where I was staying and what we'd be doing, I finished up the short week in Bonn and flew off to Romania. Our flights made it so we'd be spending a full three days there but only two nights, which was amazing but also kind of hassle because the busses weren't running early enough for us to catch one to the airport. (Or from, for that matter, hello 5 am!)
We arrived in Romania and found our hostel after a tense encounter with a creepy taxi driver. The hostel was amazing though! The people were so friendly and helpful and willing to answer dumb tourist questions. Our room didn't have a door, but rather a curtain so I guess that was a little bizarre. You can see Zerina and Hannah here, in front of our room. So after settling in, we took to the streets of Bucharest and explored.

Eastern Europe is subtly different from Western Europe...and somehow Romania just looks Communist. The architecture was really reminiscent of Eastern Germany (if you've ever seen movies/pictures, etc) and there were random infrastructure problems, like potholes in the middle of the sidewalk, halfway finished buildings (as there were in Kenya) and lots of stray animals. It was a weird blend of the modern world and a really poverty stricken underdeveloped country.
Anyway, the next morning we headed off bright and early to Transylvania to see a couple beautiful castles (one was Dracula's castle! That's right! I've been to Dracula's castle!)
School starts next week, which I'm so excited about! Also, I'm going to see SARAH in less than a week in Barcelona! I booked my tickets last night when I got home. Then my dad is coming next Tuesday (in a week and a couple days!) I'm really excited. But I'm also a little sad that I'm not spending more time in Bonn...I totally missed here when I was gone and I was so excited to come home. :)
I'll leave you with a few more pictures und ich wünsche euch eine gute Anfang der Woche!