As life in Bod comes to a close, looking back, planning ahead

The old saying goes, "all good things must come to an end," and I can definitely place my house-sitting time in Bod as one of those "good things" that I'm not quite ready to leave.

When I left for my trip, I wasn't exactly sure what would happen after December. This awesome 2-month opportunity landed in my lap last fall, and it's been a great break from hopping from one city to the next and working on farms.

View of an eastern part of Brasov

One of the things that I miss most about my life back in the United States is routine- knowing when you're going to wake up each morning, when you're going to eat/work out/go to work/etc. Traveling has helped me worry less about routine, but throwing my backpack in a closet and sleeping in the same bed for two months has definitely filled some sort of yearning I had for consistency. I can wake up in the morning, drink my coffee, and know then pretty much what the rest of my day is going to be like. Now that might not sound very exciting, but after constantly being on the road it's been a nice respite before I head out again.

Peles Castle, in Sinaia

So, in summation, here are some highlights of my time in Bod:

Going on hikes, then eating donuts

A few weeks ago Allison and I finally discovered the hiking trails near Brasov, and have several times hiked up to the top of the hill/mountain/whatever you call it near the city center. There's a giant Hollywood-style Brasov sign on top, and trails behind, so we've been having fun exploring. Furthermore, there's a cronut-style donut shop near the city center, so we've rewarded ourselves appropriately for our adventures.

Glorious, flaky, buttery, chocolaty donuts. This was not a vegan day.

Visiting friends

I was fortunate enough to have several friends stop by the Bod Abode over the course of our stay here. Jonathan, a French Canadian ("Frenadian") I met in Bulgaria stopped by for a while on his way to Moldova. Allison and I were still settling in to the area so we just bummed around and visited Brasov a couple of times.

Kristen and Elizabeth from the University of Minnesota visited, and I got to play tour guide for a while when we visited Sinaia and Sighisoara. I had already visited these places last fall, but it was really fun to take new people there. With all four of us being connected to Minnesota in some way, it was really fun to hang out together. A little slice of home.

#bodsquad in Sighisoara

Last weekend, my friend Dan who I met in Targu Mures last fall  visited, and we went on a crazy hiking trek through the hills/mountains from Brasov to Poiana, where the ski slopes are. Like the last time we met, it was a crazy fun adventure. It started out nice and warm and dry, until we got to the snowy parts of the mountain, and found ourselves dodging melting snow falling from the trees and scrambling up snowy slushy hills, wondering if we were ever going to make it to our destination. All in all a fun time, and very Instagram-worthy. Of course, post-hike donuts were involved.

The red sweater

Colin left behind a bunch of clothes to donate, but said we could look through them first. Allison and I picked out about a half-dozen fleeces and sweaters, and leave them around the house in case we suddenly get cold. These were deemed "communal fleeces" but I've commandeered one almost exclusively. It's riddled with holes and now has multiple curry splotches down the front (I'm afraid to wash it), but it's been my second skin here in Bod. I'm still torn as to whether I should bring it with my to next adventures.

Classy enough to wear out of the house

Walks and runs through the village

People in villages don't typically walk for long distances without destination, and they especially don't run. Allison and I get plenty of weird looks when we're out jogging, and if I'm walking alone, I usually get offered a ride to the next village over. I decline politely, and attempt to indicate that I'm walking just for the walk. The area itself is not particularly pretty, but on a clear day you can see the snow capped mountains in the distance, which is pretty nice.

A kitchen + hand-selected groceries

Furthermore, having a kitchen to cook in has been unbelievable. Being able to buy all my ingredients from the store has been awesome. I haven't had an opportunity like this since I've been in Europe, and it made me realize how much I appreciate having those two things I really took for granted in the states. I've really been able to experiment more with my vegetarianism, and work on being vegan a couple days a week. It sure is easy when you don't have to buy pre-made food, or only buy things that will last in your backpack for a day or so! Fortunately, Allison has been a willing patron of my cooking, and enjoys veggies as much, if not more than I do.

Coconut curry with rice noodles (who knew you could find coconut milk and rice noodles in Romania?)

Having time to work on personal projects/future planning

Without much responsibility, it's been great to be able to focus on projects for longer periods of time. Perhaps the most intensive of these has been studying for the GRE. I tend to log 2-3 hours most days, depending on my motivation level, and use vocabulary apps while on the bus or bring math problems to work on when I head to the city. I take the test in two weeks in Bucharest, and I'm "almost" ready for it, though I'm pretty confident in myself. I'm just thankful I've had this much time to work on it- last spring I planned to take the GRE a few weeks before I left, and realized that I didn't want to use my last months studying when I could have been spending time with friends. I'm very glad I made that decision now.

Future planning mostly involves researching graduate schools, and planning out the next legs of my trip, including my mother's visit in a couple of weeks. I'll be more detailed about all that fun stuff in my next blog post.