ROMANIA: Secret Castles, Axes, & Snow
AUDREY SHAW '18: Today we went to this really old fort. It was super cold, but seeing the amazing views from the top of the fort was worth it! We threw axes and Lily and A.C. proved they were the strongest and the most precise and accurate! After the fort, we drove to the last monarch's palace and took a tour. It was beyond extravagant and the opulence was astounding. The snow in the mountains turned to rain as we descended to lower altitudes on the beautiful drive back to Pro Vita. Before arriving at Casa Tyrol, we made one final stop at Carrefore. Imagine Walmart, Target, Pentagon City Mall, and a movie theater wrapped into one and that is Carrefour, in the middle of miles of nothing but farming fields.
The Black Church
HUDSON ASHLEY '18: Today, we
visited the Black Church in Brasov. The church is an intimidating stone structure that towers over any building near it. There is one steeple that holds a huge bronze bell. Upon entering the
Passages and Pleasant Surprises
church through a ten-foot tall wooden door, you are greeted by vaulted ceilings and intricate stone carvings along the wall. I was stunned by the immense space. Your eyes point straight to an altar that has three beautifully drawn panels of the Holy Trinity. There is a fantastic mural of two saints and the Duchess of Aragon painted in 1476. The mural was to commemorate the royal marriage of the house of Hungary to the house of Arragon, as shown by the crests in both corners. Finally, a massive organ sits a floor above the entrance. I cannot possibly tell how long the pipes were! Romania has been full of pleasant surprises and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
staircase. One staircase would lead you to a roof, where you could look out over Transylvania and some remains of the fortifying wall. The tour finished in a courtyard with a well, a gong, and a medieval torturing device. After we left the castle, we had 20 minutes to explore Bran. On the way to our hotel, the party bus was filled with theological questions instead of DJ Rev's jams. The drive was beautiful, especially when it started to snow. The snow-capped mountains made a perfect picture. We had a great dinner with different types of meats. But the best part was the postdinner entertainment! All I'm going to say is that you should ask the teachers to sing when we get back.
Bran: Dracula's Secrets
On Being a Chef...and Saying Goodbye
A.C. VEITH '18: On the road to Bran
in Transylvania, the party can was LIT! Once we got there, we walked up a short hill to Dracula's Castle. The castle looked big from the outside but nothing extravagant...until you go inside! Just when you think a room doesn't have an outlet, it'll have a secret
Greetmin..g. s Fro
26 | SSSAS
LILY SMITH '18: This afternoon, we
went to help make doughnuts in the big kitchen that supplies all of the food for Pro Vita. Marta was asked to mix a huge bowl of oil and flour with her hands. After mixing the dough up in a giant bowl, we let it rise, rolled it out, cut
Roma
nia
that into strips, and then cut that into squares. Just one-eighth of the dough made over 100 doughnuts! At dinner that night, we had the doughnuts for dessert. They were so good! Following the dessert of the delicious doughnuts, it was time to finish packing and say our goodbyes to the people who had quickly became part of our lives. There were many hugs, sharing of emails, and a few tears as we said goodbye to our new friends. This was an incredible week filled with incredible experiences and definitely opened all of our eyes to a different culture halfway around the world. No matter the language we speak, the food we eat, or the religion we follow we were all able to make friends and memories with different people by smiling, playing, and laughing together.