Summer School

"Picture says thousand words."

No, seriously. Instead of saying "There is a big fountain behind us. Every night it shoots water in a pattern synchronized to a music, and several lamps illuminate water in different colors, blah blah blah", I can just show you the picture.

Here you can't see much of the fountian, though.


One of the training classes.



Another one of my classes.



That's right. This is me.


AIESEC Pitesti, everybody!

Memories of my traineeship

Meet the employers. Wow!


My Messy Room

TV in the dormitory? Me likey.


I'll never forget this view. Beautiful!

See what I mean? It's vaaaaaaassssttt, son!

Of course the other side of the room is also important.

What happened in the bus

I woke up and looked around.

I was in a bus to Pitesti.

I looked out the window.

We were going through a road along a river, and there were steep mountains at the other side, covered deeply in thick green trees. Some mountains were pretty misty, forming a vignette I have never seen before.

I had a chance to think about why I am going to Romania, what was waiting for me there. I had watched a lot of clips on Youtube, and they were extremely, well, extreme.

The driver looked at me. He saw a tired guy, trying to write something on a bumpy ride.

There was another man looking at me. He introduced himself as Nikko. Like me, he was going to Pitesti from Czech Republic.

A bit drunk, yet friendly, he kept me informed about the journey -- and his life story. We understood each other in a mixture of Romanian, Czech and English.

After Nikko talked to the driver for awhile, we got off the bus at the gas station. Uhh... It's not the bus stop. It's a gas station. Why are we stopping here? Nikko keeps guiding me to go somewher, helping me with my luggage. Wait a minute! I have a feeling that this guy is going to mug me after taking me somewhere.

So I wrote a text message to the AIESECer who was supposed to pick me up. He must have been waiting for me at the bus station. Then I fared well with Nikko, after exchanging our numbers.

I am a paranoid but paranoia is competing salesman over naivety. So here I am, waiting for the hosts to pick me up. It's already a nightfall, and the streets are dark; I search for a lighted place and find an ATM of Societe Generale Bank. After having texted the AIESECer that I was here, I wondered about what they look like, how many of them were waiting for me. Most of all, I wondered about what was ahead of me that summer -- in Romania.

First Impression of Romania

Sibiu city. Romania. 02:00 pm. 09.06.2008

As soon as the bus stopped, I got off immediately and deployed myself in the public loo of the bus station. Coming back, I found out that I had to stay adn wait for another bus.



And there I was, sitting on the bench in front of a bus station...

*Yawn*

hmm... Romania...

It's time to make my first impression about the country. OK, afraid of being mugged, I tried to look rough (you should have seen my travel mates), and avoided eye contact/ smile.
I didn't give the beggar kids anything. But now, I feel guilty. They are just people like us. You can feel their hospitality from their curious stare. Actually some of them tried to approach me, but were hesitant.

Ahh, such a nice people! *Cough* -- Except for the smokers.

Almost everyone on this bench is smoking, and I feel sick -- very sick.

I've gotta find somewhere else to sit... That's better...

OK, I have synchronised my watch. Damn, I've gotta wait 4 hours...

*Fast Forward*

Really? two more hours?

*Fast Forward*

Ahh! The bus (a small one with a trailer behind it) is finally here. I am sitting in it, right now. I am inclining... ZZZZZZZZZ....

Wow! that's 7 hours in total, and not a bit of food on my tongue...

Goodbye, Zlin! Hello, Prague!

"I got lost in Prague the moment I got off the bus."

But mind you! Imagine living in a monotonous life for two years in a small town, and starting a new day in a freaking metropolitan city. But I got hang of it in the afternoon, though. And thanks to Milan from AIESEC CZU Prague, I was guided and accommodated in a dorm with incredibly cheap fee, and boy was the dorm diverse!

Yay!

My roommate was a British guy called Dave, and we shared a bathroom with two Hungarian girls, Melinda and Andrea. I thought I was lucky -- to make friends with people so friendly and charismatic like them. I got invited to Andrea's farewell party, enjoyed spending the evening with them. I had interesting conversations with all of them, but the girls guided me through the city, and Dave helped me until I went to the Florence station -- second time.

One of the most memorable experience was that I was asked to choose between either the Prague castle and a small museum. Well, I chose the second one. It was "Sex machines" museum.
What did you think it was?

My departure was delayed when I missed my bus to Romania, and

• a) I couldn't believe it.
  
• b) I was mad at myself.

The next day I made my decision and sold my laptop in pawn shop for 3,500 czech crown, in order to buy a bus ticket. I hated my laptop anyway!

Going to Prague

I was not asleep when it was 2:30 am, obviously because I was nervous. Breaking my habitual cycle, I went to the bathroom, and looked at the mirror. The dark circle had already appeared…

2:55 am. I am walking down the hill, where my dormitory is. My suitcase is making a rattling noise on the cut stone textured cobble road. When I arrived at the bus station, there was a bus already waiting for me. This is how I went to Prague by “Student Agency” bus on 03.06.2008.