Well after about 36 hours of travelling I finally made it to Iasi! All of my flights were rather uneventful so all I have to say about that is I am dreading the long journey home because those were the longest 36 hours of my life. I flew from Portland with another girl from Oregon and we met up with two other girls in Amsterdam on our way here. Once we made it to Bucharest (the capitol of Romania), we were greeted by my head teacher and our bus driver. Our bus driver was the best! He was so energetic and has been trying to learn English so was happy to practice on us. He was so welcoming and kind and wanted us to feel very comfortable. When we said goodbye to him I was sad that we would not see him again. We soon found out at the airport that five of the girls had issues with multiple of their planes and were going to have to stay in Paris for the night (what a horrible place to stay right? Wrong! I was so jealous). So the rest of us gathered into a bus and headed for Iasi! What we didn't realize is that the bus ride would take 8 hours to get there. It was about 7 o'clock p.m so we didn't get to our apartments until 3 a.m. We tried to sleep on the bus but because of the 10 hour time change, I didn't sleep at all. It was also dark outside so we drove all the way across Romania and couldn't see a thing. FINALLY we got to our apartments.
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| This is the outside of my apartment. The buildings all look old but have a certain type of beauty to them. |
My apartment was pretty much what I expected. I have three roommates who I really like! I share a room with one of them, another has her own room, and the third sleeps on a broken couch in the living room. So obviously the sleeping arrangements here are very poorly planned. My kitchen is the same size as my very tiny bathroom so I am very thankful that I will hardly do any cooking in it. The appliances are old and we have the most random assortment of plates, cups, bowls, and utensils (including only 2 forks about about 20 spoons). My bathroom is even scarier. Literally. Whenever we turn on the bathroom light it flickers about 8 times before fully turning on. At night when it is pitch black I feel like I am in a horror movie. Our shower head doesn't have a place to hang on the wall so it's like using a hose with a spray thing on the end. Throughout the apartment there are random cabinets filled with weird glass figures and books in languages we don't know. The other two apartments are much nicer and more up to date but I have come to realize that my apartment has a lot of character which I appreciate, and it has already made me so grateful for everything I have at home. It makes my semi-bad future apartment in Provo look like a Palace.
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| This is my room for the next four months. The bedding options were very limited and I'm still working on finding a comfortable blanket. |
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| My creepy bathroom. |
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| This is a tiny park we walk through every day. There is a huge tree in the middle and surrounding it are many tables where these old men come and play chess, checkers, and other games all day long. They always look so happy and greet us with warm smiles. |
Speaking of Palaces, there is a humongous Palace just up the street from my house. Inside is a museum which I hope to take a tour through soon. Right next to it is a giant mall and grocery store which is like a Walmart and Costco put together (it even has samples!!). I feel ridiculous buying things because they try to talk to our blank faces and we share a mutual feeling of panic over the lack of communication. However, the people here have been so kind and helpful. I guess it's really obvious that we are American because they try speaking in English before we even open our mouths. Along with the Palace there are several beautiful churches and monasteries scattered throughout the city. I am excited to explore more of them soon.
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| This is the Palace in Iasi. It is huge and so beautiful. There is a big courtyard and fields of grass in front where families are constantly spending time at. |
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| A beautiful church. |
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| This runs right through the city. We walk right along it to get to the orphanage and church. |
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| The buildings are beautiful! |
This morning I went to church! This is something that I was really excited for and was such a cool experience. The church was in a very small building about a 20 minute walk away. The branch has a set of Sister missionaries and a set of Elders along with about 10 church members. They were so happy to see us, however none of the members spoke any English. Singing the Hymns were cool because the tune was the same but it was absolutely beautiful in Romanian. Those poor members had to listen to us girls try to sing in Romanian. My favorite part however was the Sacrament. The prayer was spoken in Romanian and the words to the Sacrament prayer ran through my head in English. I have heard them my entire life but I didn't realize that I knew them word for word. I was immediately overcome with love and gratitude. I already love this city and the people here and I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity. I could feel the Spirit so strongly and it hit me that no matter what culture you grow up in, no matter where in the world you are, and no matter what language you speak, the Spirit can always speak directly to you. We had the missionaries translate for the rest of the meeting and it was great to finally understand and communicate with our fellow brothers and sisters.
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| This is the building I went to church at. It is on the corner of a cute little neighborhood. |
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| Me in front of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" plaque. |
The food has been pretty great (especially the Gelato!!). We get catered lunch and dinner and receive money for breakfast which we can save and use to eat out. There are several cute little restaurants nearby that I want to try so I am going to try and save as much as possible. We start working in the orphanage next week which I am so excited for! I love all of the girls who are here with me and I can't wait to get to know them, the city, the people, and hopefully the language a lot better these coming weeks. Thank you all for your love and support!
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| Me showing how happy I am about the cheap, delicious, and large amount of Gelato they have here. |
