This weekend I went to Brasov to stay with Neah, a Fulbrighter and a fellow Pacific Northwesterner, for an early "American birthday" celebration. Why American, you ask? Well, in Romania, it's the birthday girl (or boy) who pays for everything. And quite frankly I like the American way of doing birthdays better, and so did my fellow Americans, so I didn't complain.

Brasov is such a beautiful town. Situated in Transylvania, it was influenced heavily by the Austro Hungarian monarchy, and the architecture is solid proof of that. It even has a German name, Kronstadt, and many of the street signs were in German. Needless to say, I felt quite at home there.

Saturday morning Neah and I joined one of her university students for a "Thanksgiving Celebration" at her church. It was a Seventh Day Adventist church, and Neah's student, who is in her early 50s, is the pastor's wife. A Romanian girl around our age sat in between Neah and I and translated the whole service, which, while not being a traditional service, was a cultural experience nonetheless. After a few hours of spontaneous thanksgiving and beautiful a capella music, we climbed three storeys to the attic space of the church for the harvest meal. Seventh Day Adventists preach vegetarianism, so of course the meal had no meat. But if I could eat such delicious food everyday, I wouldn't mind being a vegetarian at all!

After the church service, Neah and I took the cable car to the top of Mount Tampa, the mountain with the Hollywood style "Brasov" sign at the top. The trees were just beginning to turn all shades of autumn colors, and the red shingles of Brasov in the valley made for a breathtaking view.

Sunday Dan, another Fulbrighter living in Bucharest, and Neah and I met another of Neah's students who took us on a hike out into the hills west of Brasov. We started in the main square of the town, and just kept walking until the flat city roads turned into dirt paths with ever-increasing inclines. Pretty soon we were using all fours to climb to the top of "Solomon's Rock." It was a gorgeous 360 degree view from the top, but of course my pictures just don't do it justice.

Monday morning we (Neah and I) took the hour-long train to Fagaras, where we presented on study opportunities in the US at Radu Negru High School, the top school in the town. The whole thing was quite the production. The local television station was there recording the whole thing, and interviewed us and a few of the 60 students present. Afterwards, a few of the 11th graders walked us through the town, and took us on a tour through the Fagaras Fortress, which, by the way, is closed on Mondays. Unless your celebrities like us, I guess.

It was the first time in a while that I had been outside of Bucharest, and it was perfect timing for such a trip. The weather was gorgeous, and a good dose of the great outdoors (and a slow-paced, walkable town) was just what I needed to prepare for the cold snap in Bucharest. But Bucharest is growing on me, slow going as it might be.