My last post was a bit long, and I understand that perhaps you, the reader, become overhwhelmed at the daunting task of reading several paragraphs. For your sake, let me summarize my time in Romania in a clear, concise list. (Truth be told I'm just feeling lazy)

-Arrived by train to Brasov, Romania after taking a short detour to the next town over. You see, dear reader, there are things called time zones. Crossing one while going east will skip you an hour forward. This is important to remember when trying to match arrival time with destination. Instead of thinking you have another 30 minutes until your destination, a properly set watch will inform you that you're train is actually 30 minutes late. Lesson learned!

-Checked into my hostel, dropped off my pack, and headed up the nearby mountain to the Brasov sign. It's the same idea as the Hollywood sign, only shorter because clearly, the town's name isn't so big. Somehow I was surprised to learn that Romanian hiking trails might not be clearly marked, so instead of taking the short route back home, I began a trek that took me deep into the unknown Carpathian mountains with no end in sight. I realized my mistake and turned around (eventually) but will never understand why two VERY different trails would use the exact same symbol to mark the way...

-Somehow between crawling into bed and waking up in the morning I managed to misplace my locker key provided by the hostel. They have a spare, but I sadly lose my key deposit upon check-out.

-Participated in two tours to nearby areas. The first, Bran Castle, is advertised as Dracula's Castle, or more accurately Vlad the Impaler's Castle, but is actually neither. He spent some time there locked in the dungeon, but his real castle is in ruins somewhere not too far from here. It was surprisingly small for "castle" status, but still a decent tour. The second tour was to Peles Castle a bit further away. It was one of the most insanely extravagant buildings I've seen, and they made us wear slippers over our shoes while walking inside. Taking pictures cost 6 times more than the actual entrance fee of 1 euro, so sadly I don't have any photos from inside.

I leave tomorrow evening by train and have over 24 hours of travel before arriving at the train station nearest my cousin, but I am very excited to get there so I'm sure the trip will go by quickly. Until then!