Bucovina

Here's a quick update to let you all know where I am and what I am doing! I am currently in the town of Gura Humoruliu in the Bucovina region of Romania. Bucovina is in northeastern Romania. If you look at the map, it is the orange region at the top-right. Gura Humorului is a little over 30 kilometers west of Suceava, which is on the map. I haven't been able to update lately because it is a very small town, and I haven't much hope of finding somewhere that has wireless internet. Therefore, I am writing this update from a computer in Gura Humoruliu's one "Internet Cafe" (which is less of a cafe and more of a room full of computers where adolescent boys sit and play video games). However, I have been taking lots of pictures and writing detailed updates on my computer, which I promise to post as soon as I can. Unfortunately that may not happen until I am back in the U.S.


The study abroad program is over, as I may have mentioned before, and I am now traveling with my friend Patrick. He is a photo journalist, and he is in Romania to develop a story on the Painted Monestaries of Bucovina and tourism in this region. If you'd like to see some of his previous work from China and northern Michigan, visit his website at www.pwellever.com. Today we visited the first of several monestaries, Voronet, which is also the most famous. At 4 kilometers outside of Gura Humoruliu, it is the easiest to get to from where we are staying (we are staying in a hotel room that costs aproximately $14 per night!). Tomorrow we will visit the next nearest, which is called Humor, and from there we need to decide how we are going to get to the other monestaries (all of which are out of walking distance). It is wonderful to be back in Romania, and the hospitality here is amazing. I don't know how I'm going to leave to go home!

Thanks for all the comments and emails! I love reading them!

Noapte Buna! (good night)