and all we got was this t-shirt. . .

So far we’ve survived:

• a 48-hour journey to Romania with absolutely no sleep and a stop in Amsterdam that most of us don’t remember.
• living with a Romanian family who speaks no English while we spoke no Romanian.
• 10 (of 11) weeks of intensive language and culture training.
• riding on every flavor of Romanian train — from the super fast and air conditioned train to the overnight train without a bed to the super slow stinky stereotypical Eastern European train.
• being sick twice when we’re far from home and have a worried bunica watching over us.
• bouts of homesickness, bouts of excitement, bouts of being blah and cranky, bouts of smile-from-ear-to-ear happiness.
• being the “old married couple” of Group 26.
• sweating our way through Târgovi?te f?r? air conditioning.
• having ciorba (a Romanian soup) every single day despite the 100 degree heat.
• being followed and stared out because we look “different.”
• being mooned by Romanian teenagers.

There’s more to “survive” or experience but definitely, our list is growing. And there will be more to come……