This semester has already brought so many new changes and challenges. Coming into this experience in Romania, one of my biggest fears was that I was going to be stuck eating food I didn’t like for four months. On one of the first nights in Romania, I was eating at a restaurant and order fried fish. When the fish came out as the full fish, with the head and eyes and skin still attached, I had a bit of an inner-meltdown. I was so worried that I was going to be eating the strangest food for four months.

Although some of the food was not was I was expecting, I have been pleasantly surprised so far. One of my favorite dishes is traditional Romanian stuffed cabbage rolls called salmale. I’m not even a fan of cabbage but the stuffed rolls are amazing! I am also a sucker for carbohydrates, so when I learned that all the bread and pastries are homemade, with a store on every corner, I knew I was going to like it here.

My other challenge that I have come across so far was our five-day hike in Retezat National Park. The five days of hiking was very difficult but very rewarding. Growing up in Iowa, with the only views of corn fields and rolling hills, the mountains were a completely different landscape. I really enjoyed getting to be among something so different and so beautiful. Being able to see the progress and the hard work that we were doing was very accomplishing and rewarding, and something that I will never forget.