This summer I went to Romania to see my distant family: my cousin, uncle, grandma and grandpa. I have only talked to them through Skype on special occasions, so I was afraid that they wouldn’t like me. This was also my first time in a different country without my parents and it was pretty scary at first, but then I realized I was still with family and I had nothing to worry about.

On my trip I went to see the Sarmizegetusa Regia. These ruins belonged to the Dacians, the original people that lived in Romania before the Romans conquered it. The Dacians fought three big battles with the Romans. The first two they won, but they lost the third to the Romans. Then the Romans destroyed the Dacians’ settlement and took all of their gold. Here I learned that I could either be “the true Romanian” or be a bit Roman.

I also went to go see the Citadel in Deva, which is another set of ruins. It sits on top of a huge mountain and the only way we could go up was through an elevator. The citadel was a fortress, I saw the tiny windows that men would use to throw spears. I was also able to walk inside the citadel which was pretty dangerous because you have to walk on slacks of wood, that weren’t mounted, to get from one side to the other. It was worth it in the end because on one side of the citadel there was a big window with a great view of the city.

After Deva I went to Cluj, which is where my cousin lives. While I was in Cluj I went to see the Botanic Garden, which was full of beautiful gardens, a waterfall, a pond that was full of turtles and little fish, and a section that was filled with exotic flowers and trees. I also visited the college my cousin is going to and the church tower that looks over the city. I met all of my cousin’s friends who were nice and asked a lot of questions about America. They all asked me “Is highschool life in America like it is in the movies? Like with the popular girls, nerds, and football players?” They were all pretty shocked when I said “yes.” Their schools don’t have any athletic teams, so if they want to play a sport they have to do it outside of school. My cousin also took me to a club called Janis, and it was probably one of the biggest highlights of my trip. There was great music, the people were actually dancing, and I got to meet some more of my cousin’s friends.

After a week in Cluj, my cousin and I went back to Hunedoara where my grandparents live. While we were there we went to Lake Cincis. My cousin and I went in a hydro bicycle which was really fun, but I think we broke it because afterwards the pedals were not working as well as they used to. After Lake Cincis my grandparents took us to Arad and Ineu. Arad is where my grandfather was born and Ineu was where he grew up. My mom also spent most of her summers in Ineu with her grandmother and other family members.

Overall, I had a very wonderful time in Romania. I hope to go back in a couple of years to see my family and the new friends I have made. The greatest thing that came out of this trip was getting really close with my cousin! She is an amazing person and I hope I get to see her more in the future. We even planned for her to come to America and stay with me for a few weeks in the summer.