Lupeni and Romania

So here we are just a little over a week away from our semester in Romania ending, and our trip back to the United States. I really cannot believe how quickly this semester has gone. I feel like it was just yesterday that I got off the plane in Bucharest, and now it’s almost time to go back. While the semester has gone very quickly, I feel like I have learned a few things about Romania, and more specifically the area we are staying in. So I thought I would share a little bit of that with you.
Just like other countries, not all of Romania is the same. After having traveled to a few different parts of Romania, the truth of that statement is very clear to me. While there will always be some things that remain the same in a culture, and more importantly in the Romanian culture, certain events and people change other people’s experiences, depending upon where they grew up, and what area they are from.
For the Romania Study Semester abroad, we as a group are stationed in Lupeni, Romania. It’s in the Jiu Valley, an area that can be pretty cut off from the rest of the country. It is also an area that can be very different from the rest of Romania. While I have not been to a lot of places outside of the Jiu Valley, some of the major places have been Timisoara, Cluj, and Bucharest. It is apparent that these places are all very different from Lupeni. One major aspect is that they seem to be moving forward past communism much more quickly than Lupeni is. While all of these places still have a long ways to go, they have made more progress than the Jiu Valley. They are cleaner, more available to tourism, have more options available to people, and even often have a different feeling about them. People feel more welcoming, and less cautious of foreigners, and also tend to be more globalized than Lupeni, which I believe can be both a good and a bad thing.
While this is true, I have found that once you get past what can seem to be a rough exterior of many Romanians, the people of the Jiu Valley are warm and welcoming. If you are a guest in their home they work to make you feel comfortable and accepted. As you spend more time here, and become more active in the community though IMPACT and New Horizons, people start to recognize you and will often stop you on the street to say hello. Also, when walking I have come to enjoy looking at the area around the city. The area around Lupeni is all mountains, and is absolutely beautiful. The more time I have spent here, the more I have come to love it. While Lupeni, and the Jiu Valley in general is often different from the rest of the country, it is a part that is worth seeing and experiencing. I am glad to have had the opportunity to study and live here, and will miss it when we leave.