I probably should have stayed in Cluj another day since I had such good company there, but I wanted to leave on a very high point.
I had met this Serbian guy named Ernest the night before in Cluj and we realized we’d be staying at the same CouchSurfer’s place in Brasov. It was good traveling down with him since he spoke some Romanian.
Jason would be hosting us. He’s a peace corps volunteer who’s been in Romania for a few years. Really generous guy, very laid-back, and willing to help. There were already two other girls staying with him. Two Americans from FSU. Oh man, it was like they just stepped out of a alternative frat party. American Apparel, hairy legs and armpits, politics, and mostly talking about wanting to get “tanked” or how they were “tanked” in some other European city. It was pretty embarrassing.
I started talking to them about how I was concerned for the safety of the US if Obama gets in power. Their ears pricked up immediately: WHY?! I told them that he’s Muslim … hello!!! And that his name rhymes with Osama, and his middle name is Hussein. He’s probably a terrorist. I kept a straight face for a while. They were getting charged up about it. Really wanting to fight a political battle. Then I busted and gave in. It was great messing with them like that.
Ernest and I headed out early the next morning after those American girls had just gotten back at 7am from a night out getting tanked. Party!! We went to Bran Castle and Rasnov Castle. The heart of Transylvania, and there was a good amount of Dracula merch. Not all that memorable though.
Possibly the most memorable part was hitch-hiking from Bran to Rasnov.
And I picked up a hat.
We hung out in Brasnov for a while and saw the city. Then we met up with Jason and the others. Jason had picked up 5 more people to stay with us that night, a total of 9. And his apartment was pretty small. One disgusting bathroom with a toilet seat that wasn’t connected at all, and a permanent towel at the base of the shower, soaking up all kinds of wet and dirt for weeks, probably.
These other people that would be staying were all kind of annoying travelers, really feeling important about it. Really open-minded and stuff. And really cheap. These Italians were hitch-hiking all over Romania and saying how 10 lei (~$4) lasts them about a week, really proud. Then they were parasites the rest of the night, trying to get people to buy them drinks and promising to pay them back tomorrow. Bullshit.
After a night with 10 people in a small, dirty apartment, I was ready to get out of there. I left for Bucharest and Bulgaria.
