Things to note:

Drivers here have received personal invites to run down every person within a 10 yard radius of their car. They are INSANE. Sometimes I say “100 points if you hit them!” Referring to someone taking their sweet time walking across the parking lot, but drivers here have more motive than that. They drive where they want, when they want. Sure there are rules, but not a soul obeys the rules, so it works. Kinda. It’s like Bountiful High’s parking lot, you have to go with the flow at all times or else you will die. That’s why parents in that parking lot are the number one crash victims. They just don’t understand the logic! At first I thought seeing cars parked on the side walks was pretty funny, now I’ve realized if they parked anywhere else their car would be demolished, without question, within 5 minutes. I haven’t figured out how the natives know which cars flying in your direction will stop, or at least slow down, and which ones won’t, so for now I’m just crossing the street when other people do.

There are stray dogs EVERYWHERE in Iasi. Not the gross mangy kind with matted hair and goopy eyes. The adorable ones that look so soft and melt your heart when they walk over to you. I want so badly to pet one, but I’m scared of getting fleas! If they keep starin’ me down with those puppy dog eyes of theirs I am going to have to cave. I can’t resist some puppy lovin. When we got off the plane in Iasi two little kittens greeted us. I'm glad there aren't kitties everywhere though...cats are kinda gross.

The men here...oh dear...let’s just say the theme of this trip is the 2 B’s. Babies and Boys. The men are SOOO attractive. They don’t come like this in the United States!! Stylish, but not gay. Tall, dark and handsome, yet not rugged enough to be a cave man. Last but not least, foreign. I think that is the main reason I’m attracted to every person on the street with a dominant Y chromosome. There are simply not men like this available in Utah. I feel like Provo in particular, has a very cookie cutter assortment of guys. Not a lot of variety. I’m sure the Romanian natives might say the same thing about themselves, but hey, this girl doesn’t mind.

Since we are discussing appearances, let me just say how blonde I am. Not in the way I act since, ya know, I’m trying NOT to draw attention to myself, but just me-my natural self. I am blonde. And lemme tell ya, blonde hair and blue eyes sure stick out like a sore thumb in Romania! I think it’s fair to say that even if I spoke fluent Romanian and didn’t walk around with a herd of other girls, people would still stare. I went from the cliche blonde haired, blue eyed, tanned and semi fit girl that lives in EVERY apartment complex in Happy Valley, to the minority. No one wants to be a clone, but no one wants to be a freak show either. Where’s the happy medium on this?! What happened to the golden mean?

Grocery shopping is a blast. If I was betting on myself I would bet that grocery shopping and shopping at the piatza would become one of my favorite things to do while living here. Normally I hate going to a new grocery store because basic items are on different isles, and even after a year I continue to search for said items on the old store’s isles. Problematic item number 2- they don’t stock the same brands. Well, when you are living in a new country you don’t know jack squat about the grocery stores! You don’t know what foods are good, what foods are even considered normal, and you don’t know where to find a single thing. Lucky for you though, prices are in the exact same spot so you can still spot a bargain. There are so many new foods I cannot wait to try! I don’t even mean things as exotic as cabbage rolls or stuffed peppers. I want to eat all the traditional foods too, but I’m talking about grocery store purchases like juice, cereal, yogurt, bread, and cheese! So. Much. To. Try. Another quirk that will make grocery shopping fun, you have to buy your grocery sacks! It’s not like good ole’ Smiths Market where they bag your grapefruit in a different bag than your bananas and yams. When you begin to check out you tell the cashier how many bags you want, she scans them, and then scans your food while you bag it all up! We can also only buy as much food as we want to carry home so that’ll prevent me from gorging myself and coming home looking like a beached whale that they have to roll out of the airplane...yea food...yea fitness...

I swear you'll hear about the planes, the plane food, the plane people, the lack of plane sleep, and plane delays, but there's a lot to say so it might be a while.