Ma Numesc is Romanian for, “My name is..” Seeing as I’ve just arrived from Romania three days ago, I figure a little language lesson would be appropriate. It was truly fun to see the confused looks on my parents faces as I spoke the few Romanian words I knew to them. I’m sure the same look was on my face as I heard these phrases for the first time. Although most of the time the Romanian language sounded like gibberish, there were moments I would catch words here and there and understand what the conversation was about. It has some similarity to Spanish, and I’m not fluent in Spanish, but I know enough to get by.
Yes! I went to Romania! It actually had nothing to do with the world race, but at the same time I do believe it prepared me in a few ways.
On October 31st, my coworkers and I arrived at the Atlanta airport around 11. Our flight to Chicago didn’t leave until 1:15 so we had plenty of time to get to our gate and maybe even grab lunch beforehand. Once we arrived to our gate, we realized it had been changed to a different terminal. Not long after arriving to the correct gate, we hear that Chicago weather was not good and that other flights were being cancelled. We begin to wait and then realize delay after delay, we were going to miss our connecting flight in Chicago to Vienna. Our flight was pushed from 1:15 to 3:00, from 3:00 to 5:00, and it continued this way until we finally flew out of Atlanta around 9:30 PM. During this time, we waited in line almost 3 hours to find out that United Airlines couldn’t help us at all in regards to finding a different route so we could arrive in Romania in a timely manner. Not knowing what awaited us in Chicago, we decided to get on the plane and figure things out once we arrived.
After landing in Chicago, we headed straight for customer service so we could figure out our plan to get to Romania. We waited in line for what seemed hours, but it was probably close to an hour and a half. The woman who talked to us at customer service was clearly frustrated with her job. She not only dropped the F bomb a couple times in front of us, but went on to say how much she wanted to go home. She made it seem like we were making her job impossibly difficult. Lady, you aren’t the only one who has had a trying day. Of course I never actually spoke this to her. I actually tried to avoid speaking to people in Chicago because the few times I did, it reminded me how much I take southern hospitality for granted.
After customer service, we headed down to get our luggage. Now, this should of been first. Since it took a couple hours getting through customer service, our luggage had been tucked away by United Airlines and there was no getting to it that night. The woman at the baggage service couldn’t really tell us if we could get our luggage the next day or not so we had to come back in the morning. United airlines doesn’t accommodate for a hotel if weather is the problem. So, at this point you are seeing that United Airlines has not been helpful at all and I don’t recommend flying with them.
After all of these shenanigans, we arrived in our hotel room around 2:30 AM. The next morning we head to the airport to see if we can get our luggage. I had a feeling we weren’t going to get our bags and I was right. None of us could get our bags because they were already on the way to the next city. One of my coworkers (Melissa) had a different flight from Bianca and I. She flew out that Saturday morning while Bianca and I couldn’t fly out until Sunday. After we said our goodbyes to Melissa, Bianca and I headed downtown.
I had never been to Chicago before. but I have some friends who told us of some places we needed to hit. I was also told by a friend that as long as you stay downtown, you will be fine. Safety shouldn’t be a issue. Once you wonder on the outskirts, thats when you are in trouble. I suppose that would be true in any big city. Bianca and I actually did get off the wrong stop and we were a little outside downtown. We found some people who were obvious tourists and stayed close to them until we were closer to our destination.
We walked almost two miles to Giordano’s, which is a restaurant famous for its pizza. I will never think of pizza the same. I was full after eating one piece. It was amazing.
So, not only did I have an amazing time in Chicago, I got to know Bianca better. We had never spent time together and didn’t really know each other until this trip. We were sight-seeing from one spot to the next, and it quickly became clear how much we had in common. I was blessed spending this time with her.
After our flight Sunday, we arrived in Romania Monday evening. It was good to reunite with Melissa and to finally be at the University.
Going into this trip, I had no idea what to expect. Melissa was teaching at the University..but what was I doing there? I asked God this question multiple times while we were there. Finally, on friday[the last day of course] it hit me. Why haven’t I spent more time with the students? Why haven’t I invested in them? Where is the personal connection that can mold and shape someone’s life?
The three of us were viewed as ‘faculty’, by the students. It was a ‘hey, there is someone from the United States coming to teach!’ Not a ‘hey…there are some girls who care about you and want to invest in your lives.’ Although on friday after class, I attempted to make plans with some of the students later on that afternoon. As we were planning on having lunch on campus, one of the faculty members who has been taking care of us tells us she has plans to take us out to lunch. Now, I am in no way complaining of her hospitality and kindness. In fact, she takes us to a restaurant that has some of the best food I’ve ever tasted. The chef there was from France and he was known to be the best in the city. The point is that this lunch off campus made us miss our time with the students. We didn’t come back from lunch until almost 5:00 PM. By that time I didn’t know where any of the students were and I doubt they were still waiting on us.
I was able to share my heart with the two wonderful women who took us out to lunch on our last day. I told them that if I was to come back, I would love to spend more time with the students and help them grow in different ways. Not only did I become passionate about helping young women[a passion that was already there but became even more evident], but I began to think about school again. Shocker, I know! This trip made me think about what I could major in that could further contribute to trips such as this.
Although it was hard to have time with the students because of what was already planned for us, I wish I had made more of an effort to seek them out. I would go back to Romania and to that University in a heartbeat and simply do things a little different.
To my Romanian friends in Oradea reading this, I hope you are well and I miss all of you! Perhaps one day I will find myself in Romania again. 🙂
