May 22 - Adaptation and Coping with Struggle

As per the theme for today I'll recap a few struggles I've had since beginning my adventure in Romania.

I was late for my flight in Amsterdam. Due to this my bags were taken off the plane and left behind. It took two days for my luggage to catch up to me in Cluj-Napoca. This morning I slept through my alarm, waking up 30 minutes late, and my shower flooded... I had previously worried about my shower since there was just a small curb like structure to retain the water inside the perimeter of the shower, where there was a drain in the floor. Outside the curb there was no drain and not much water would be needed to start going underneath the door into the carpeted area in my hotel room. I had been making it a point to watch the water level when I first arrived, never coming close to overflowing. I have no clue what the difference was this morning. The drain simply didn't allow for the water to drain very quickly and before I knew it I was standing in ankle deep water as it began flowing over the retaining curb. I finished up, turned the shower off, then started using every towel at my disposal, including my robe, to soak up water and wring it out back into the shower perimeter. Luckily I was quick enough that by the time someone came up to see how I was doing I only had to put my shoes on and zip up my suitcases.

Good karma here I come! And sure enough! Today was phenomenal!

Salina Turda (Turda Salt Mine)

The engineering was impressive! The presence of salt allows for moisture to rust metals especially quickly. I think it was for this reason most of the engineering in the salt mines utilized wood. Wood would rot and decay over time, especially in moist environments but I think they would've had to replace any metal used almost as often as they would've needed to replace any wood used.

Salina Turda was renovated to be made into a tourist attraction with electricity and an elevator. In the main excavation quarry they have introduced a plethora of attractions including: paddle boat rentals (there is a small lake down there), vendor booths, ping pong courts, an indoor soccer field, and a Ferris wheel.

I chose to play a game of ping pong with a student to 11 (17/19 not me) and I don't think I'll ever forget that experience, it was a blast!

Arrived at Sighișoara... Just stunning. This is a small city that surrounds a historic center. The historic center was built in the 12th century by Transylvanian Saxons. The historic center was recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to it's well preserved 850-year-old history, architecture, and culture. For our evening we chose to explore.

Browsing shops

Guild towers

Churches

Clock tower (with unique museums on each of the four floors)

Church at the top of the hill

Cemetery behind the church on the hill

We split into smaller groups for dinner and ended up running into the professors at the location we chose for dinner.

Hotel for sleep