Blogs from Cluj, Transilvania, Romania, Europe - page 2

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Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca June 19th 2011

Ok, here were my adventures yesterday. We caught the train at ten forty-ish in the morning. It was actually on time, which is kind of amazing around here, apparently, so that was cool. But stepping onto the train was like hitting a wall of heat and smell (not good smells). We were hoping that the heat would get better when we started moving, but even with all available windows open it was still awful. Three of us were seated with a little Romanian family, which was cute. They kept trying to talk to us but our Romanian is limited to "thank you" and "please" and they had no English, so there was a little bit of charades going on, but we all gave up pretty quickly. Actually, nobody had any energy to do anything but wilt ... read more

Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca June 12th 2011

I had a great day yesterday, preceded by a good Friday. Our discussion on Friday was great, and a nice break from the morning lecture, and then our quizzes were not as bad as I was anticipating, although I haven’t got the grading back. I’m more familiar with the bones that we are working with, to the point of actually identifying a few of the bones, which was really cool. I'm getting more confident in the labs and preparing myself for the lectures better so that I'm not overwhelmed during the note taking. Yesterday was even better. We went on an arranged tour thing with one of the hostel people, which was fun because it was just the seven of us and the guide, who was a really awesome, chill guy. He took us to a ... read more

Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca June 7th 2011

June 7th Wow. This is going to be INTENSE! Our lecture today covered the general purpose of the skeleton, the cranium, and the axial skeleton. And by that I mean we had at least five and a half hours of straight lecture before we were allowed to get our hands on any bones. I think this is a little unusual, as the general schedule is supposed to have lecture just in the morning, and then a good four hours of lab work, which will be far preferable to the marathon we did today. I have switched my project from dental pathology to post-cranial variation, which means that I will be working with the bones that are not part of the cranium to try to identify age, sex, etc. I found out that we will not be ... read more

Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca June 6th 2011

June 6th The train ride was beautiful, and I tell you what, our room is so gorgeous! I was expecting pallet-style beds in a dorm room, and instead we have an awesome attic apartment to the three of us with our own really nice shower (it has jets!). Apparently it was just renovated. It's kind of nice that the three of us have stayed together (Jaclyn made sure of it) but there are already serious cliches based on who managed to meet Budapest, and it would have been nice to mingle a little more in terms of rooming together. Ah well. At least I'm not rooming with a monster, so that's nice. The whole group is here now. There are nineteen of us, including another student from UW! Weird! Her name is Tessa. Our intro to ... read more

Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca June 5th 2011

Our epic night the other night definitely meant that I slept well last night, though not for long enough. I had to repack and such, so I didn’t get to sleep until after midnight, and I had to be up to catch the train at five. Gross, but I think I’m on track with this whole time zone thing now. I’ll be totally flattened when I get back though! So my adventures yesterday. Let’s see. We went and bought our train tickets so that we didn’t have to do that super early in the morning. It was a very good idea, as I was barely functioning when I woke up today. Then we went for a little walk to Ste. Elizabeth’s Cathedral. Those buildings are so beautiful. This one was a fairly small cathedral, for a ... read more

Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca August 7th 2010

Budapest to Cluj-Napoca, Romania 490Km Well today had it all. Spotted hookers in the lay-by (adds some meaning to the term - lay-by that is, not hooker), then wanting to give up and go home, then an hour later elation riding through Zaleu amid rolling hills and singing “The Hills are Alight…” and then being exposed on the top of a bare hill with cell towers in a lightening storm. Fortunately, all I suffered was a complete soaking through my semi-waterproofs I suppose this is what it is all about but it was a grueling day on the road no question. I had an enormous breakfast as usual. This serves three purposes a) it saves money since it is usually included in the room; b) time change makes it seem like dinner-time; c) It lasts me ... read more
Yes it sTrue
The Graveyard

Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca November 26th 2009

Well, I now have another country to add to my list of places I have visited. I spent 2 weeks in Romania working. And I do mean working. During those 2 weeks, I had about 120 hours worth of billable time! Needless to say, I was exhausted when I got home! But, I did have some fun over the weekend. So, here are my impressions and thoughts of Cluj. The city is an interesting mixture of old-time building and what we would consider "communist" buildings. The latter are the concrete buildings that look pretty ugly. A lot seemed to be missing chunks of the building (like parts of the balconies). But some of the buildings were built before the Communists took over and are beautiful. There are a lot of colors. I did hear one local ... read more

Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca September 21st 2008

Today was exactly one week from the day we left the Enbankment. James (one of the tour leaders) pointed this out at the exact (GB) time and so I felt a bit homesick at first. This abated pretty soon, as there was plenty to distract me, although I'm still missing everyone and lookijng forward to seeing them, even though I don't want the trip to be over too soon. Obviously, with the four hours spent getting replacemnt passports for Paul and Nichola and the killer traffic jam yesterday and the killer traffic jam, we didn't get to look around Budapest when we arrived on day seven. Instead we had a very brief driving tour and stopped to get postcards at the citadel. Which was fine, because the delay wasn't Ozbus's fault and could have been so ... read more

Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca August 14th 2008

Today was the last day for me here in Cluj... Camp was bittersweet as the kids loved the activities but didn't want to leave. We exchanged contact information so hopefully I will be able to stay in touch with them a bit.. Yay email!! Ioana and I celebrated our last girls night by making french fries from scratch here at the school. We then went to visit her cousin and her cousin's son who just got out of the hospital with a throat infection. Funny how kids go from deathly ill to up and running around as soon as visitors come over. I met Zcack's (yes that's how you spell Zach here) hampster named tutu and watched some cartoons with him as Ioana and her cousin cought up... Then it was back to the school and ... read more
Face Paint!!
Cards & Leis

Europe » Romania » Transilvania » Cluj » Cluj-Napoca August 13th 2008

Well Well Well... Tomorrow (Thursday) is my last day in Cluj. I'll be taking the train to Timisoara on Friday and starting the last 2 weeks of my trip. I've loved Cluj and totally admire the kids I met. They're so amazing and wonderful and I cannot thank everyone here in Cluj enough for making my stay so great. A few of the kids even brought me traditional-type Romanian gifts... One is a hand size statue from the Catholic chruch in town of one of the hero's against the Hungarians. Another is a woodan farm scene. I love both of them and will but them on my special shelf where nobody can touch or hurt them. I'm really excited to meet the next group of kids and see life in a smaller town... I hope all ... read more
Cats Cradle
Cats Cradle again
Crazy Monkey Girl




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