Belgium to Romania

I met with Celine, the French professor whose class I will "teach" next week. She was late and I amused muself talking pictures of Piata Unirii. When she came, we went to Friends, my favourite cafe. We both laughed at how bad the service was, but you can't argue with good tea!

We had a lovely chat. She's only two years older than me and we had a good laugh talking about Romanian and Belgian stereotypes. I spent a lot of time in Belgium and we discussed mussels, fries, chocolates, the Belgian travel "fear" (long story) and various falsities about Romania.

I told her how two classmates of mine went to Romania last summer to travel and work, and of the horror stories they brought back to me: that they needed body guards, that Romanian girls were afraid of being alone, that they were constantly checking to see who was behind them and always paranoid of pickpockets. Both Celine and I feel very safe in Timisoara and we laughed at how scared we were when we first came. I told her how I was sure there were muggers and killers hiding in every dark allyway, and how I imagined wild rapid dogs snapping at my heels. In reality, I feel safer here than in Strasbourg!