Located in Eastern Europe, Romania borders the Ukraine to the North and Moldova to the East. The Danube river passes through this nation-state and empties into the Black Sea that harbors some of its Southern part.
This country used to be made up of three principalities; Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia. In modern times, because of close historic ties to Moldova, Romania has tried to bring unity to the two — but agreements have not been made. The two countries have traveled down different paths politically, leaving divisions to be worked out. But overall, the two take interest in each other congenially.
Romania was proclaimed a republic and remained under the USSR’s control until the late 1950s. It wasn’t until the coup in 1989 (lasting a week) that they could overthrow the Communist regime, in what they call the Romanian Revolution. Post-1989, the nation-state made political/economic reforms and eventually joined the EU on January 1, 2007. So this means Euros my friends.
Euro is the currency! The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar to the Euro has become increasingly bleak due to economic shortcomings West of the Atlantic. As of today it is; U.S. dollar 1.00 – 1.54 Euro.
Two pieces of architecture worth finding is the Bran Castle, known as Dracula’s Castle, and Voronet Monastery. Stephen the Great erected the latter in Cura Humorului, Moldavia in 1488.
Romania has four seasons and is mountainous. Also, football (soccer) is a big deal!
The Ethnic minorities are Hungarians at 6.6% and the Roma (or Gypsies) at 2.46%.
Romanian is largely the language spoken throughout the country. Next would be Hungarian and then Rroma. Romanian interestingly enough is an Eastern Romance language as opposed to Western; which would include French, Spanish and Portuguese. Italian is the closest family member of the Western, to Romanian.
Ok, so let’s take a brief look at the language. (Unfortunately, I don’t have all the appropriate accent marks)
*limba româna*
Buna dimineata! = Good morning!
Boo-na deemee-neh-atah
Imi pare bine! = Nice to meet you!
ee-mee par-eh bee-neh
Da = Yes
Nu = No
Ce faci? = How are you?
cheh fa-chee
Pa = Bye
If you’re interested in learning more Romanian, like pronunciation, check this site out:
http://www.romanianlessons.com
Once more, the majority of the information was from Wikipedia.
I’m glad to hear your responses about this being helpful.
