How was Romania?!

Since returning home to Atlanta, GA from Romania, I’ve found it very difficult to adequately describe my experience abroad. If asked a specific question about something that I did or saw, I can go on and on, but when someone asks, “How was Romania?!” I am almost at a loss for words. I did so much in two short weeks. I learned about honey production, and dairy cows, and yogurt production, and small farms, and plumb distilleries, and about Romania’s history and culture, and I learned about myself, but no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to really make people understand just how amazing the trip was, because they weren’t there. They didn’t climb hundreds of steps to see Cluj-Napoca from above. They didn’t watch the cows come home in Salaj. They didn’t walk through Dracula’s Castle in Bran. They didn’t hear the Romanian farmers talk about how Open Fields, formerly Heifer Romania, and Danone Romania have changed their lives for the better with the Chance for All Program. They didn’t wander the streets of Bucharest in search of gelato and souvenirs. And they definitely did not eat polenta or sarmale. But I did. And so did the other people on the trip, including UGA students and faculty, master’s students from the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, and staff from Open Fields, all of whom I grew extremely close with in the short amount of time that we spent together. I am sure that I will never forget the amazing experiences that I had in Romania, but I also know that I will probably never be able to properly recount them to anyone who was not there to experience them with me.