Like most westerners, I knew nothing about Romania before I went there, except the usual silliness about Transylvania and Dracula, and some vague idea of the severe oppression under Ceausescu. But right from my first day in the country, I knew that it would be a richly rewarding journey. the great mix of faces in the streets, the layers of Central European history evident in the architecture and the artifacts, the variety of the landscape and the cities, and of course the beautiful, historic language, a completely alternative development of Latin through the centuries. No one can truly call himself a Latinist without studying Romanian, and no one can truly understand the multiculturalism of Central Europe without visiting Romania.

Like most westerners, I knew nothing about Romania before I went there, except the usual silliness about Transylvania and Dracula, and some vague idea of the severe oppression under Ceausescu. But right from my first day in the country, I knew that It would be a richly rewarding experience.

You might like to start by listening to

some Romanian. Listen to Radio Romania

radio stations. If you’re lucky, you might

find them playing Romanian music

pop in English... But that’s only if you’re

very lucky.

 

One of the sad facts about Romania

citizens have in the face of entrenched

homophobia both in the secular and the

brave people ready to take up the challenge.

 

Romanian history, like that of all Eastern

complicated at first, given the fact that the

empires, kingdoms and social movements

a fascinating history and worth the effort

to learn better.

 

The folk customs of the Romanian people

tell the whole story of Romania, where

Hungarians, gypsies, Germans and Jews

emblematic of this country and important

in their own right.

 

The Romanian language is a great cultural

tradition that goes back two thousand

years and more. Gain an entirely new

exploring this treasure.