Blogs from Cluj, Transilvania, Romania, Europe

18 juillet Je commence à croire que cette histoire de vampires n'est que mensonge après tout. C'est qu'il y en a eu aucun où je croyais en trouver: ni dans le fond des bars, ni dans les châteaux transylvaniens, ni même dans le bourg natal de Dracula lui-même. Je me demande où sont-ils tous cachés maintenant. Bon. Réfléchissons.... Exposés au soleil, les vampires s'enflamment et meurent: ça, on sait ça. Donc, plus éloignés du soleil ils sont, moins ils mettent leur vie (leur immortalité) en danger. Alors, suivant cette logique... plus on est au creux de la terre, plus loin nous sommes du soleil... et moins les vampires sont en danger. Intéressant... Donc, pour assurer leur subsistance, des vampires ont certainement dû se terrer dans une grotte, une caverne... ou une vieille mine peut-être... Une vieille ... read more

I can't say that today has been my favorite day of this trip, but it has had some good points in spite of the long train ride and the disappointing city I find myself in. In spite of getting to sleep really as late as I wanted (since my train didn't leave until after 11), my mind got to going around 7:30. So, I got up, checked the email, did my stretches, and got my post cards in the mail. The breakfast at the Hotel Sighisoara was not the largest selection, but I did enjoy the sausage omelette particularly. I also had a cup of English breakfast tea, which ends my caffeine-free streak. I also had a coke on the train, so I blew it out of the water. The hotel was kind enough to call ... read more

We waved goodbye to Bug City, not a bad campsite and although there were so many people pitched it didn’t feel overly crowded. The bugs were a pain and we wouldn’t miss them. Two nights worked out 10,200 HUF – sounds a fortune! (Approximately £28.00 GBP). Woolly says – I enjoyed the lake but it was very crowded and the bugs even followed me to the toilet! We set of in search of the two castles we had found on our map, they seemed to be hiding or had been moved before our arrival and were nowhere to be found. Deciding to look for other points of interest and stop on the way we set course. The scenery remained very English in layout and look but much drier, we were driving in an average temperature of ... read more

Time be flying! Almost feels like a just wrote the last post. Cannot believe it's been two weeks! Time is really starting to fly over here, heck I wouldn't even be able to tell you what day it is. The last post came from Amsterdam just after the queens day calibrations. Since then I have covered a lot of ground and had a many adventure!From Amsterdam I was headed towards Berlin and after somehow missing two trains, I finally got my stuff together and arrived in the ever changing city before nightfall. After grabbing some grub and meeting people in my hostel, me and a few guys headed out to Dr. Pongs, a ping pong bar in Berlin. Literally a bar where you play ping pong against everyone in the room well chatting and meeting people. ... read more

Today is the end of the third week here in Romania, with one week left before I head over to another part of town where we’ll be staying for the remaining five weeks of digging. Well, where I’ll be staying for those five weeks. One of the girls here, Elizabeth, is joining me for three weeks, but other than that I think the turnover is pretty quick, so I’ll be a veteran to the new kids by the time I leave! Of course, this program isn’t finished yet, and I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself, as next week looks like it’s going to be brutal also, as we still have all of the same lecture hours, lab hours, and Friday quiz, but we also have a 15 page paper and research presentation to do ... read more