Last Vacation

Salutations. I say last vacation because I have some news. For those who do not know, I have been accepted into Graduate School at the university of Maryland for Public Health with a concentration in Environmental Sciences and I am planning to be home in early June. So if you didnt know, now you do. Bravo!

The last week or so, I spent in Brasov Romania with a few good friends. Ahmad, Sinh, Leisel, and I went over there and stayed 5 or so nights in a hostel and took in some beautiful sights. Many photos are posted. It was an outstanding way to spend our Easter, and final, break from school before we make the final push through the end of May and summer. Only a few (7 or so) weeks left of school and then I will be packing it in. But, we spent our time mainly eating and drinking alot, while meeting some truely great people. The main attractions were The Black Church, which was built in 1211 by the original German settlers. It is an amazing Gothic cathedral, but unfortunatly we could not take photos inside. Its amazing how beautiful and classical this center peice of the town is. another day, we hikied up a pretty decent sized mountain and made it up the the Hollywood style Brasov sign (see photos) which took the better part of the day and our energy. It provided a stunning view of the entire town and the surrounding landscapes. We also made our way to Draculas or Bran Castle. This was a very touristy sort of place, but one of the spots we really wanted to see. Again, a beautiful structure and alot of history packed into a Gothic building. Plus, this was supposed to be the home of Vlad the Impailer, or the Romanian Prince who was the influence for Bran Stoker to write and create Dracula. Very cool.

One another note, today was the Memorial Easter, where basically we headed to the grave site of family memebers and had a picnic. We headed to the village where my host mother grew up outside of our big town. It was grea tto learn a bit more about my host mom and see some plaes close to her heart. We went to her parent's graves and had a great picnic, or course indulging in the hosue wine. We were there with 2 of my moms sisters, one of their husband, and my host moms grand kids. I really fell in love with this celebration for many reasons. One is having a picnic outside, I am always excited about. Also, the remeberence and reverence Moldovans have for their family, both alive and dead, really hit home with me. We had many toasts to our decesed family members. I had a "This is Moldova" moment as we were walking to the cemetary. Just the simple village, beautiful view as we walked, and the closeness and importance of the whole celebration impacted me deeply and will not soon leave my memories. Today, I really felt the culture of the people here, and i found myself dazing into my own world and deeply thinking and realizing that I really am in Moldova, and the impact of being here is way beyond anything i will ever teach in school or any work I will ever do here. Just by simply being here and engaging in the customs and traditions, while sharing American customs is what being here is really about. Its a shame that I will be ending this experience soon, especially after such a personal influential experience. It will be a few days before I can really wrap my mind aorund the thoughts swirling in my head. Hope this finds you all well and happy. i miss and love you all more and more each day.

"Life is about people" - My Host Mom, Ecaterina Rogojanu