Thursday

After breakfast we headed to Paclisa. Today I helped Skye with the mural after I did the side white wash over again. We jammed to music and it was fun. I also made whitewash before this. When we went to go get it, one of the residents came up behind Shelby and hugged her from behind, kissed her shoulder, and then smacked her butt! It was crazy! After lunch we finished the mural, and then it was back to dinner! Basically, we had bread and butter, cabbage, and these coconut bars like were like mini german chocolate cakes. Now I'm here talking with everyone and the professors. Then bed later!

Wednesday

After breakfast was left for Paclisa. Today Florin and I whitewashed the entire chicken coop. And even the outside! However, my clothes got white spotted and my finger that had a small cut on it, the skin was getting eaten away and turned green from the whitewash soaking through! After lunch Silvia and I washed down the chicken area but the drain area was flooding back because it ran into an existing ditch. It was complicated. Then I helped with the fence a little after it stopped raining. Then we left and had dinner. Somale and donuts!! Last I went to town to the market and got yelled at but a security gaurs for trying to take a picture of their honey display. Lol now I'm using wifi, but Facebook on my friends laptop still isn't letting me batch upload. May have to wait till I get home. :( then maybe some writing and off to bed!

Tuesday

Today, got up and ate breakfast. Headed out to Paclisa. Started out learning how to stretch barb wire for the fence. Then went over and started scraping chicken poop off the walls with Silvia and then Florin.  We did both sides and it was pretty gross. The chickens kept trying to get in the room too! And when we were trying get the coups away from the wall, there was a HUGE spider! Then we had lunch and a great desert that was like a custard pastry. Henbwnt back to work. Then I finished and went back to the fence, we came back, and ate dinner. We had fried soy, potatoes, pickles, and a candied fruit bread. Now I'm at the cafe using the wifi and then off to bed!

Monday

I got up for breakfast and had a terrible cramp and backache. Went downstairs and ate. Basically jam on toast, alittle eggs, cucumbers, and cheese. Then we got on the busses to paclisa. It's very old looking. In fact, There's an old building that they went into last year and it has old documents and stuff. But anyway, I got put in a group with silvia, Florin, Sohaila, Kristen, and Skye. We are doing the chicken area and whitewashing it and re barb wiring the fence. Other projects are sloping pig stalls, fixing roof, and demolish a shed. Lunch was good and i fed the cats peoples leftover shnitsel. It was interesting seeing how the patients there reacted to my friend Alex who is African American. One of the more rough girls was giving her the look over, and one asked if she could sing cuz she looked like Tina Turner. It was pretty funny. So then to fill time while they got tools, we moved rocks, branches, and windows. Then we came back and had dinner. It was spaghetti with a mushroom sauce, and then cherry crepes. Now I'm here trying to upload pics. So then later I'll go to bed!

Sunday

Got up and had my yoghurt for breakfast then packed up and got on the bus. We stopped for lunch and had fried cheese and french fries, rice, salad, and ice cream. Still not feeling hot. We got to Bethany House and it really does feel like an elderly home. The rooms have beds and a bathroom. The fed us soup, salad, mashed potatoes, fried soy(no flavor,cold and not very good), and cherry coffee cake. I'm now in town since we don't have wifi, but there is a random deer farm thing across the street... then I plan on going back and getting to bed!

Saturday

Saturday
This morning i woke up and had toast and one of my protein strips. Then we went the history museum which leads up to the bell tower. It cost $10 to take pictures so i just enjoyed it. It was interesting to see all the old stuff. The items were old things from the area and were all very cool. My favorite thing was the mini hat display of hatters used to advertise. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. Then we got to the top and there was the old figurines that moved on the hour. The view was pretty and it was also really interesting cuz they had signs on the balcony of how far away and the direction most major cities are from there. Then we looked at the weapons collection and the torture chamber.  They were creepy but cool too. Then i had some vegetable soup at a restaurant and then headed back cuz i have not been feeling well at all. So then i got back and ended up throwing up. So after some relaxing and Facetime with mom and dad, i went back out to get more souvenirs and then got yoghurt to drink for dinner. Then i caught up on these and then Facetime with mom and dad again and then went to bed.

Friday

Friday
We got up in the morning for breakfast, said goodbye to our host families, and then went on the six hour Sigishoara bus ride. 3/4 through, we stopped for a lunch stop. I had margarita pizza and a fruit cup. The fruit cup was like canned tropical fruit with whipped cream and wierd clear gelatin. Then we checked unto our hostel and i got stuck with the crazy boys so Jamie let me share a bed with her. Then we had to walk into the fortress of the city. We walked around and went to a bunch of shops and stuff. Then we walked up the 175 some steps up to the church on the hill. There was going to be a concert there that night so they were charging admission to get into the church so we didn't go in. We also visited the cemetery on the hill which was interesting cuz their tombs are raised above ground like Louisiana too. We got to have dinner in Vlad Dracula's  house. It was neat and very gothic themed. Jamie and i split  dessert called the Dracula cuz it's crepes with all red fruit. Then we saw Dr.Russell and one of the bus drivers in the sqaure and i tried the wine he bought for us. Then we left and headed back to the hostel for sleep.

Thursday

Thursday
Right after breakfast, we went to the town hall and listened about the EU projects in partnership with farmers to own animals and they would help pay as long as the animal produced some sort of profit. Then we talked about our impressions of Vata de Jos. Last, the director of Heifer Romania talked about what they do and their many projects. I found out that they don't have problems with the bees and pesticides because they put them in areas where pesticides are not even allowed there. There are 500 beehives in the Hunedoara region of Vata de Jos.Then we had lunch and i had a nice long nap. My homestay mother got us all necklaces which was very nice of her. Then we went to a lady's house who has an award for best AI in cattle. We saw her cryo container and then looked around her farm.  Before we left, she insisted on bringing out cakes and juice. Well it wasn't juice, it was tuica. She started pouring it for everyone and i said no thank you but she kept putting it towards me so i took it and was going to give it to someone else. No one wanted it though. Then she actually brought out fanta. So i drank it really fast and then drank fanta. It was still nasty. Then she gave us some yummy cakes although some of the frosting i'm pretty sure was straight up butter. We came back and ate dinner. Chip kept messing with me at dinner during dessert and alot of people were already gone, so i put a little frosting on his face, and but ofcourse being a boy, he retaliated with more and was obnoxious. Russell was like you two can leave if your gonna do that at the table and i was like its always me. But i was not near as trouble and others later in the night... we went outside and greeted our host families and talked for awhile. A lot of them brought tuica and ofcourse being the Romanians they are, they would not take no as an answer. The other girl that doesn't drink agreed to just drink the little bit followed by coke. So gross. One of the biggest things i wont miss is that crap. They were getting ready to light the fire and one of the girls was getting really drunk, so i ended up taking care of her for about 3 hours. Then i went to bed.

Wednesday

Wednesday
After breakfast, we walked down to the local veterinrian's office. He told us about how the vet practice is in romania. Basically, the biggest difference is that the veterinarians get paid back by the government  in romania for vaccines that are required by law for different animals. Otherwise it is fairly similar, though the vet sees mostly rural animals or "pets" on the farm. Normal pets aren't really common in small areas, more downtown. Then we watched him do a castration of a large pig. They don't use anesthetics because of cost. They hog tied it snd made two insicions and used a clamp tool. Then he sprayed antiseptic in the wounds and gave a tetanus shot. Apparently sutures are too foreign and will be rejected by the body. The inscions will heal in 5-7 days on their own. When Adela went to do the second one, and after the tetanus shot, Florin fainted behind us. He said he didn't know why he did and that it never happened to him before. Then we went over to his pharmacy which looks like a mini pet store, which is basically what i expected. There was a dog hanging around the clinic that followed us all the way back. Some of the girls decided to name it Manamana. They would try to lock it out of the gate and she would jump over it! After lunch, Russell called Adela, Lavinia, and I up to talk. Doc is wantimg to do some workshops in Romania and so he was talking to them about that and he wanted me to hear about how they really don't have the professors support and because it involved Doc. Then we left on the buses for firewood for the bonfire the next night. We had to walk halfway to the river where the wood was. I learned how to chop with an axe and after the second swing, i actually was pretty good at it. Then one of the guys from one of the Romanian families led us up to a cave which was a tough climb to get to between rocks and creeks and stuff. One girl almost passed out so a few girls stayed with her. Then some of us went on top of the cave and was a very crazy time down. I lost my footing at one point and ended up sliding down about two feet on my butt. It was very ironic thst i was wearing my mud club shirt that day too. I rode back on the bus on a towel cuz i was so muddy. We had dinner and then we had our pool party at Ponor. I swam a bit and then enjoyed the sauna. I went on the internet for awhile and then went to bed.

Tuesday

Tuesday
After breakfast, we headed to a sheep farm. We took the buses up the mountain and it was kinda scary because we kept going to the edge so we didnt get stuck in the mud. When we finally got up there we split up and i was on the lamb catching team. I was very good at it! We would bring them to the vet students for them to deworm. The others did the same thing but with the adults and then released them. We also helped corall the others. Then we had lunch and had some sheep cheese from the sheep farm. Then we walked back to the buses and headed home. Then we went to another sheep farm to see the milking process but they werent back yet so we listened to an old farmer complain about the government and then went to visit the sheep which they were shearing some. Also, in both sheep places, there were was a watch donkey, they are apparently very protective. But then it started to rain so we had to wait to leave. When we got back we had dinner, relaxed, played a fun game of charades, and then went to sleep.

Monday

Monday
I got pretty behind on doing these. Basicslly, after breakfast we just moved our big bags over to Ponor and Skye was my new roommate.  Then we had free time till we left for the creek. We waded the creek in our boots and picked up trash around the water and along it. We went back and showered and ate lunch. Then we had freetime till dinner. After dinner we went to the center of town for the Saint Elena and Constsntine festival. There was music snd carnival like food. I had a cotton candy and a Hungarian bread like thing. Then we all went to the bar and i tried a little of the white wine someone got and it wasnt too bad, but i got a fanta. We just relaxed and talked until walking back and we saw a stork nest on top of a light pole. Once we got back, i went to bed.

Sunday

We woke up for breakfast later today since it was sunday and then walked over to Vata de Sus. We went to an Orthodox church so we had to wear pants and long sleeves. The ladies all wore long skirts with sweaters and scarves around their heads. It was kinda wierd since we didnt know what they were saying. The guy sang talked while the priest did blessing stuff im assuming behind the curtain. We left pretty early. We saw an interesting one log bridge with a stick rail and walked across on the way back. After that we rode our bikes all over the place. It was alot of riding and we even went up big hills and dirt roads. My butt was so sore the next day! We came back and ate lunch and then just relaxed and went on wifi till dinner and then more relaxing then sleep!

Saturday

Today we got up and had breakfast, then went to the barn. We milked Stella then brushed the ponies. The one mean pony stepped on my foot! My one toe is a little roughed up. We then went horse back riding again. It was a lot less scary for me this time and i went around a few more times. We headed back and ate lunch then we took Luchia on the wagon and picked up Russell and Ebner for a ride and to show them the barn. After we took them back, we went back to the farm and tackled the pony stall that had to have at lest a foot of packed down poop and straw. It was some crazy hard work and i mostly used the pick axe to pull up and break ground for the rakes. We even found an old looking bell deep in it. After that we came back smd showered and ate dinner. We visitied with Russell snd Ebner and had a lomg coverstation about religion and politics and what not. Then we all used the interenet for a bit and went to bed!

friday

Today we got up for breakfast and then headed out to the barn. Breakfast was awesome! At the barn, we first split up. Morgan is now with our group for the work part since she is living at the pension with Ebner and Russell, cuz no family could hold 5. One group let out thr horses and clened the stalls while thr others brushed the horses in the other stalls. Then we all took turns milking the cow. The others then cleaned their side. We all then brushed the ponies. Thy were dirty! We went back to change and hsve lunch whuch was as usual, delicious. We decided to go to the market "downtown" and picked up Morgan and Ebner on the way. I tried this street food which is like an elephant ear without the sugsr with salty cheese shredded in it like a taco. It was tasty! I didn't buy anything becsuse they said it was cheapo there. Then, we saw Silivia's group who had been there all morning cuz their homestay said it was too cold outside to work. Psh... Before we headed back, we got some apples to snack on and Ebner got milk. We then headed back to the barn where basically all we did was fill the trough from the well for the ponies. We tried to take the cow Stella out for a walk but she flipped out when she had to walk past the dogs and she ended up tramplinglig and prancing all over. It was hilarious. Last, we all took turns riding the best tempered horse, Luchia.  It freaked me out cuz it wasnt a western saddle with a horn and the first time since like i was 12 maybe, and had gotten thrown off, so i only went around once. We then returned to our rooms, showered snd ate an amazing dinner. After dinner we went to go see Morgan and danced all the way there. She had a a headache and wanted to go to bed but we stayed on the porch and talked. Russell made us try the traditional tuica. 18 is the legal drinking age here. I only had half of a shot. It burned and was gross. Ebner, referring to its high proof, calls it surgical grade alcohol. My face and ears burned for awhile, so i guess  red face from alcohol runs in the family. The only neat thing about it is that every family makes their ouwn tuica.  The one i had, the guy puts a pear branch in the bottle and lets a pear grow in it first. Then we came back, used the wifi, i facetimed my parents briefly and then went to bed.

Pics

Last night at dinner was peas in a flour cream sauce with fried zucchini and a kolrabi soup and Pantone, some sweet bread, cookies, and a little chocolate . Forgot pics. Same with lunch today, pickles, pickled green tomatoes, bread, a veggie soup, and cherry filled crepes

Sorry

Sorry I just saw that Wednesday's didn't upload. Hope to catch up on these tonight!

Thursday

Day four we had breakfast at the Cantina again, but had hard boiled eggs instead of poached. Then we left for Vata de Jos. We met some cute strays at the gas stop on the way. When we finslly got to the city, we had lunch at Pension flori which is like a bed and breakfast. I had bread, pickles, mashed potatos and gramcracker desert. Then we went to the town hall and all families, program, and the mayor was introduced. They ended up changing Siliva snd Jane out for Adela and Lavinia so one family had all the vegetarians. We arrived at our pension called Ponor. We hsve basically just a house mother. We also have a dog outside named Arina. So we went to our rooms and soaked it all in. Next, the farm hand took us to th farm which is about one mile away. They have 4 horses, 4 ponies and one foal, and one dairy cow. We came back and had an awesome dinner of fried cheese, romanian salad, and wholemade french fries. The dessert was apple and sweet cheese pastries. Then we used our wifi and went to sleep!

Day 3/Wednesday

Day three began with breskfast at the Cantina. As a vegetarian i got two poached eggs,  two pieces of bread with butter and apricot jam,  three slices of cheese, a small cup of coffee, and a mug of delicous berry tea. Almost no added sugar! Then we met with the vice rector professor Darabus and some of the college faculty. They showed us around all the different departments like food science where they gave us fresh baked lemon cookies they just made, genetics, soil science, vet, etc. Then we went to the extension part ehich was kinda interesting like our 4-h extension ag area. I had alittle of some very very strong coffee too. The interesting thing was i recoconized most of the lab equoiment as well as some words. The equipment and facilities are very similar to ours but on a much smaller scale. Some of the equipment was more modern than ours and visa versa. The vet area was just like my clinic aside from i guess what you could say as slickness and homeyness. The anatomy lab was cool and even had a male wolf reproductive tract specimen. The hands on discescion lab they onserve parts of horses. Some things i learned were: They are better at regulating their vegetables as far as food safety goes. They dont have undergrad so instead it is 6 years of vet school. The most common parasite is both types of mange, snd parvo for infectious disease. After the tour, the class went to the library for Wi-Fi. However, since the cantina didnt have anything vegetarian today,  Dr. Ebner and Dr. Micu took Josie,Lavinia, Adela, and i to a vegetarian indian restaurant downtown. The food was good thiugh not exactly what i expected. Then since we had time,  we went to a small tsvern like coffee place. Since Ebner was cracking ginger jokes, Lavinia went and got us ginger beer which is basically ginger ale , or as Ebner calls it, thr drink of my people. Dr. Mircu told us about how he didnt smile in a photo once and asked his friend if he could fix it and the next day, the guy sent him the picture with Tom Cruz's face on his body. We met up with the group in thr square at the museum of art. It was neat but ee couldnt take pictures. It was also very hot in there. Then we went to thr Catholic church which was very pretty. Then we went to walk around where we went to a shoe place cuz Josie's shoes were falling apart , souviner shop, and then the Orthodox church. It was neat but they just have seats outlining the walls named after saints andthe rest of theoeople stand for two hurs during the mass. There was also a tiny saints body in glass, though yiu only saw his robes,  snd in a small part on the top was one of his fingers which was supposed tovsmell perfumey, but i didnt smell anything. Then we went to Shoarma which is like fast food for them. I got a yummy falafel this time but next i want to try the actual shoarma minus the meat. IT'S THE SAME RESTAURANT THAT THE AVENGERS WENT TO IN NEW YORK AT THE END SCEN! Yes i am  a dork. Then we went to the opera house for what we all thought wasto be an opera but it was actually a ballet called Giselle.  It was good.  We also went on the balcony during intermission to see the sqaure. It was beautiful. Then we all returned to the dorms and went to sleep.

May 15 Day 2

We arrived on time to the Munich airport. It was really cool to see twist magazine in German to see who is famous there and I'm proud to say that yes 1D was on the cover, but so was BTR!:) I think I will have to get one of these on the way back,and theyhad good pics. ;) I bought a water and got my change in Euros. Anyway, I slept until the flight and then again on the little puddle jumper till we got closer and my ears were hurting. I sat next to a little old British guy. We landed and the Romanian. Students greeted us. They were really nice and Silvia even remembered my first and last name and gave me the "muah muah" kiss. We got on the USAB Timi. bus. When we got to the vet school, I was surprised . There were tons of stray dogs. I'm probably going to end up getting ringworm and pet them but I am resisting. Also, their buildings look old and run down on the outside but like our dorm is modern inside. It's just a weird mix. Then we went to dinner and socialized. I had two fried cheese slabs and a vinegary salad kind of like coleslaw but without the mayo. We also had sparkly water. Next,we went to Real which is like a Wal-Mart. It was weird to see the brands in some Romanian and some not. I got shampoo,conditioner,  face wipes, a Roma bar, and two liters of water. Since my credit card didnt work and i tried three atms,  Florin paid for me which was so sweet. It was 63 lei which is about 20$. Then on the way back, Chiprian pointed out the owls you could hear. Then we all met up and i went with Agata in her car. By the way,  seltbelts are actually not required in romania and they dont have yellow lights. Then we walked around the squares and saw the first European street lamp. Then we returned to the rooms, took a shower (no curtain so it was really wet as really tall to step up into. ) please excuse typos cuz this tablet doesn't have spell check.

Posting for Alex after her fist full day in Romania. No Internet access at the vet school. Greeted at the Timisoara airport by students friended on Facebook and greated with the European Muah, Muah, kisses. Credit card did not work. Apparently they thought I only needed it in Germany and not Romania like I put on the form! Mom called and got it fixed. iPhone adapter blew after a short time in the wall after going to bed. Tablet adapter should be okay but borrowing a converter. Legs sore from the long flight but getting better. Ate at Shaorma for you Avengers fans. Going on a home visit in the morning for four days. Nervous and excited. More to come. :-)

Munich!

Annoying teenage boy soccer team. The coach hitting on random ladies, the kids constantly moving around switching seats etc. Ate dinner which was ok . Pasta with fetechine sauce, tomatoes on top. Salad, cheese, chocolate pudding with white chocolate shavings. Then I slept for like 5 hours. Breakfast was blueberry muffin, fruit cup, kit Kat. Watched young adult which was wierd, an episode of modern family and 30 rock. At airport in Germany, waiting for flight. Time to nap.

So we get to the airport. Our flight reservations are cancelled. We think we have to worry about staying another night. So they do this crazy thing that half of us are gonna be on one plane and half on another. But then they have us check our bags with the first half since they were in the original flight, and there wasn't enough on the first plane but if people don't come, then we are good. Idek. Complicated. So we all finally get through and such and security scares me cuz they hold my backpack cuz of the Lenovo. They had to reboot it for protocol. And pone girl's pb got taken cuz it wasn't checked. So we get food, and I got the neopolitan pizza with mozzarella and a few other cheeses. Yum and a Pom-strawberry-blueberry Jamba juice smoothie. So then they come and tell most of our group, that their carry on is too big. Mine was fine at least. Others had to check them. Now it is 8:22 and over half of us still don't have our seating assignment for our 8:40 flight....

Leaving soon to pick up Josie then head to O'Hare. Flying Luftunsa to Munich then another to Romania with Dr. Russell, Dr. Ebner, Skye, Rachel, Josie, Sohaila, Alex P., Shelby, Tara, Lindsey, Kara, Amelia, Kristan, Jamie, Morgan, Jane, Elisha, Jackie, & Jessica.

All packed, just doing the final details.