In retrospect, my time in Romania was the closest I came on my trip to assimilating to a European culture. I arrived in Iasi and meant to spend about a week with friends, but the hospitality of Cristina and Marius was addicting and I ended up spending about 14 days with them. For that time, I was almost always with either Cristina or Marius (or both). They were happy to tell me about the history of their country and their city - even when I didn't ask them to. I have the highest respect for Romanians and their struggle to become a recognized power in the New Europe. In 10+ years, when Romania is in the EU and growing rapidly in a strong capitalist state, I will look back and remember living (albeit for two weeks) there when times were hard but the aggressive will to succeed carried them forward.
I cannot even begin to imagine being in Iasi alone as a backpacker. I happily stayed naive to possible dangers and let my friends keep me away from problems. They helped me assimilate by letting me borrow Romanian clothes (I didn't have any cold weather clothes) and helped me learn some basic Romanian. I only talked when I needed to and never spoke English in certain areas (sometimes by request from Marius or Cristina). But I was taught why this was important, as well as dozens of other reasons why Romanians do what they do.
Example: Always have a few thousand Lei (about US$3-4) on you when you drive so that you can pay off the police if they pull you over - even if they pull you over for no apparent legal reason.
In my time in Romania, I saw no other backpackers. In fact, other than a few Peace Corps. workers, I met no other Westerners. Even though I did run into some problems during my time alone in Romania, I highly recommend visiting the country. As my Romanian friend Marius put it, "Romania is Europe's version of the "Wild West."
P h o t o s
Iasi 1
Iasi 2
Palace of Culture
