so it's 1:30pm and i've made it to the lobby of the hotel in Sinaia, and i'm just sitting here hoping that my computer battery doesn't explode or something, because the converter is buzzing, and while that scares me lots, (and is probably bad? can someone please tell me if that is very bad?) i really wanted to use the computer soo here i am.
i woke up at 7 to pack up my stuff, eat breakfast, and catch the "bus" out of Bucharest. (bus is in quotations because it ended up not being a bus, it was a van. A van packed with 11 people. but i'll get to that.) First of all, mom: sorry if i was a bitch on the phone this morning. i was actually ridiculously happy to hear your voice, i just don't do well at 7am, (as you very well know,) plus the jetlag = a mean me. supersorry.
Anyway.
Trip to Sinaia:
So I woke up, ate breakfast, got myself and my stuff ready, and left with my grandfather. We took a cab to the university where the "bus" was leaving from. We got there early, but Oana, my mother's friend through whom I got involved in the program, was already there, and so were a few other participants. Apparently a van of people had actually already left, and we were the second van leaving from Bucharest. By the time we left, there was me, 3 asian kids, another guy, and 5 adults. (plus the driver plus me = 11 people.) Bucharest and Sinaia are 180km (~112miles) apart, so the trip shouldn't have taken too long. But there was a ton of traffic getting out of Bucharest, which apparently was to be expected, and then bits of traffic here and there, and so the trip took between 2 and a half and 3 hours overall. Closer to 2 and a half I think. The van was HOT. it was hot and stuffy and sweaty, and i'm sorry to be a snob, but it really was. The asian kids fell asleep, and I don't know how good their Romanian is, but I'm relatively certain that they understood, because at some point Oana was speaking to them in Romanian. Oana also spoke to me in Romanian, but was constantly correcting me, and I was just reminded of how my Romanian sucks ass. Which was a really sad change from Bucharest, where I got lots of false-confidence from the fact that my grandparents never corrected me. I mostly understood when she was speaking, but not always. And mom/dad: I still really dislike her husband. He didn't come in the van with us, I think he's coming tonight, but I had a conversation with him and he was as annoying and unpleasant as the first time that I met him. (And stop thinking that I'm judging him too harshly for 2 5-minute conversations, because maybe I am, but it's not that hard to tell that he's got his nose a little too far in the air.) Anyway, so the asian guys didn't talk much, but the 4th student's Romanian was really good. And he's only been speaking since MARCH. So i was totally put to shame by him. It was just really overwhelming to be put back in that situation where I was the american idiot, and I know that I'm here to learn and I should just get over it and lalala, but I was frustrated. And every time someone spoke to me in english, i was so torn between being embarassed that they had to in the first place, and being so relieved to hear it. And I wanted to come home. And when I told Oana that I definitely overpacked, she was like, "well the program is long! you'll be there a long time!" And instead of being relieved that someone had actually just justified the ridiculous amount that I packed, I just mentally freaked out thinking that i AM going to be here a long time, and I haven't even been here for 3 days, and I just want to be home. Why is this even that important to me? To get in touch with my roots? To learn a language that barely anybody speaks? I don't know. I knew this was going to happen, that I was going to get here and question why the fuck i even did this, and I think it always happens to anyone that does something like this, and I know that it's going to pass quickly. (Or I guess I hope that it's going to pass quickly.) But gaah. Everyone/everything is intimidating. and difficult. Everything is difficult. I have yet to identify how to get a bottle of water, (though I concede that I haven't really put in such an effort yet...) and I'm probably destroying every electronic that I plug into this damn converter, and gyah. I know i'm being ridiculous. and a bit of a wimp. but 3 and a half week is a damn long time. and i'm not really sure what i'm doing here. errff.
aright. enough with the whining.
positive stuff:
the mountains are beautiful. and the hotel is quite beautiful. and the room has a balcony, and the view from the balcony is absolutely stunning. seriously breathtaking. i couldn't believe my eyes. I'm so angry that I didn't bring my usb cord so that I could load pix onto the blog. but there are all these kind of beat-up but awesome looking houses, against a background of these huugee green mountains, and it just looks gorgeous
random stuff:
moni: they played boney m in the elevator! there a brown girl in the ring, tralalalala.....
everyone else: they also played enrique iglesias...?
pomo: charmin is still america's best luxury.
tomorrow we have to take a placement test. cmu already gave me 3 of those. grrrr.
oh, speaking of cmu: you guys know how I can't even explain what information systems is in English? take a guess as to how well I can explain it in Romanian.
Instead of being down here, I really should be upstairs enjoying the couple hours I have before my roommate arrives. But writing in the blog makes me feel like i'm talking to you guys, which makes me happy, so I came down instead. My roommate is going to be a Spanish girl about my age. I'm calling the fact that she's Spanish major karma, since I chose not to take it in school and just gave like 3 people a speech on how the Spanish new yorkers should learn English. (wow i look like a nationalistic asshole in this post.) But I hope that she's cool. I haven't actually met anyone from the program besides the people that were in that van with me, (there are 30 students in the program I think,) so hopefully I'll meet some people tomorrow. There's nothing happening today since people are arriving at all different times from train stations and airports and such, and then tomorrow there's a meeting with the director of the University, (and the placement test is tomorrow,) and then classes begin on Monday. (We have Sunday off.) So it should be a quiet couple of days. Which is good.
adapter update:
it also got really hot. I'm going to assume that that's a bad thing. Maybe I'm doing this wrong. I put my plug into the big ivory adapter and then put that one into the little beige adapter because the big one didn't fit in the plug. And then I plugged that whole combo in. (that's only going to make sense to my dad, so dad, this is all directed at you.) Am I doing something wrong?
Aright. well venting was good. thankkss for putting up with that.
i'm gonna see if I can get some lunch. Oana mentioned that she was going to invite me to have lunch with her, since the first meal provided by the hotel is tonight, but I haven't seen her in a while, so I don't know what's going on. Maybe she looked for me in my room? I don't know.
I'll update tonight maybe; I'll definitely be online tonight.
This post was messy. boo. Perhaps I shall clean it up tonight.
-lots of missing. lots of love.-
