4 Weeks To Go

As the title of this post implies, I have four weeks left in Bucharest. My impending departure has inspired a lot of mixed feelings. It's coming up soon, but at the same time, it's still a long way off. It seems like a long time when I'm bored at work or when I'm lonely and missing my friends and family back home. But it seems like it isn't enough time when I think about all the things I still want to do and see here. I still need to find an Adrian Mutu jersey for Alex and other gifts and souvenirs. I'd like to visit the seaside and go hiking in the mountains, and I still have research to finish up for my thesis.

But on the other hand, there are times when I wish I was going home tomorrow. My American friends here are leaving town one by one, and my Romanian friends are often very busy with their own lives (the fact that I recently lost my cell phone doesn't make it any easier to make plans with them...). It will be great to be home where I speak the language fluently and I have my friends and family, and my Bloomington roommates nearby, but at the same time it will be an adjustment. After getting used to Bucharest, returning to the U.S. will be a culture shock (not to the same extent as moving to Bucharest in the first place, but unsettling just the same).

I've been learning a lot here. My Romanian is improving, and I've been learning a lot about the Foreign Service and about Romanian politics through my job at the Embassy. And I've been learning a lot about myself as well. Over the next few weeks, I'll do my best to post more often, hopefully with pictures from my adventures in the mountains and at the Black Sea.

Love and miss you!
Erin