HI. Woohoooo another post! This past Saturday my group went on a small day trip to a fortress and 3 monasteries, and I loved seeing each one. We left at about 8 am and got back around 6 pm. Mario (our coordinator here who helps with everything) got us the same bus driver and bus who took us from Bucharest to Iasi when we first got to Romania, and he was awesome! He went with us each time we walked around the areas we went, and he told us about the history of the place. It took about 2 hours to get to the first place, but I loved the drive there because we went through little towns and some really pretty open fields. One thing that I really love about Romania is the amount of greenery here. There are trees and plants all around the city. Everywhere we went on our day trip was in the middle of a forest and surrounded by trees, and it was sososo pretty. 

The first place we went to was a fortress in the city of Neamt, and it was probably my favorite! The fortress was built in the 1400's, and it was so cool. There were a bunch of artifacts, pictures, and funny looking mannequins that helped you see what life was like back then. There's definitely not anything like this in America, so I thought it was so cool to be in a place that once was used for battlegrounds and living so many years ago. 

Me and my roommate Emma! Pissed bc she wouldn't take off her traditional Romanian shirt that morning and I had to unwillingly be twins with her ALL DAY. (lol jk love you emma).

My 3 roommates! Love dem. We watch a movie every night and eat Kinder Eggs pretty often, sooo we're pretty close already haha.

The next 3 places we went were all monasteries from the Romanian Orthodox religion, and they were all pretty close to each other. Our driver, Teo, was saying that there are so many throughout the area. All three were pretty similar, but each time I went inside the church I was blown away by the amazing paintings and detail that went the interiors. There were paintings of saints all over the walls that were really old and a bunch of gold detailing too. You felt very peaceful inside and definitely could tell it was a place of worship. I have much respect for those who dedicate their whole lives to their religion like the priests (I think that's what they're called in the Orthodox church?), and I loved how they all had these massive beards. Props 2 U. 

Overall, it was an amazing trip and I loved seeing it all! I'm sosososo excited for all the other trips we are going to take. 

Kara