I think that you know already that everything is relative. It’s all about luck! I lived 24 years in Romania in different cities, I know the countryside and I visited a lot of Romania.

I can begin with:

On this world there are good people and bad people too. In Romania you’ll be surprised to see how many good people are here, who would help strangers unconditioned and being so helpful and hospitable. It’s true that there are many bad people too and I can explain why.

It’s because after the communism period we were very poor and disoriented, trying to find something to do to survive and to take care of our families. We were used before ‘89 to get whatever we needed from the State: house, job, etc, we were treated like small kids who cannot think and take care of themselves. Then we were controlled all the time, we didn’t have freedom of speak, freedom in general… we were afraid to not say something wrong to anyone about our leaders or our State to not go to jail.

Ceausescu destroyed the beauty of the Romanian cities by demolishing all the people houses (who were taken… you were not allowed to be rich… you had to be like everybody else… have only one house/apartment) and building ugly blocks of flats everywhere and moving almost all people from villages to cities. So the villages were almost deserted (like now too, or they have only old people living there). Because of Ceausescu it was destroyed the equilibrium and people had to adapt to the new lifestyle in the city. Many didn’t succeed in doing that so you can see now in cities people raising hens in their balcony, having small gardens in front of their block where they have vegetables, cleaning their carpets in the balcony and throwing all the dust on people going by under their balconies… I think you got the picture… they were behaving like they were used in the village.

All the cities were industrialized and there were many factories… and many workers of course. The local people didn’t react very well seeing all the peasants in their city, having the same jobs like them, didn’t matter if you were smart or not… you had the same job. It was better to be stupid and follow the orders. The former rich people were made poor, their kids were not allowed to attend university or have good jobs, the intellectuals were controlled to not say something the socialists didn’t agree with. Everybody who was trying to change something, to open the others eyes, to see that it’s no freedom, etc they were put in prisons, beaten, threat, maybe killed. It was an entire system… where people were bought or blackmailed or brainwashed to do political police so one was afraid to speak free in front of their family or neighbors or friends or colleagues etc. They were afraid to trust anyone.

So… after ‘89 there was no control anymore… freedom… but people didn’t know what to do with this freedom… they were like kids on their own facing the cruel world. The persons who had high positions everywhere started to steal, they wanted to get rich very fast. The workers saw that so they started to steal too… Because of this the factories (all State owned) were closed or full of debts, sold for nothing, the corruption became so big that even today we cannot get rid of it. Till 2004 we were still ruled by ex communists and people were not trusting their leaders, the economy was down, no jobs anywhere… so everybody went abroad to work or to live there. There were very hard times in the 90’s and even today in some cities.

We had many gypsies and when they didn’t have jobs anymore it was easier for them to start stealing. So 70% of them were and are doing only illegal things, mostly stealing. When everybody went abroad the gypsies went too, not to work off course, it’s not in their nature to do that, so we got to be associated with the gypsies because all of them were from Romania. Only 6-7% (1,5 millions) in Romania are gypsies.

We began to have many foreign investors so today we are looking good regarding the economy field, but it’s looking like a globalization because many foreigners established here in the last years. Everything changed! Many investors came but a lot of bad people came to live here too to start their illegal businesses, bribing the authorities, etc. People start to move to the big cities, which started to develop… like the capital, Bucharest, which is a very ugly city in Romania.

You can imagine after living all of this that you start to not trust people, to find a way for you and your family to survive, to become cold or mean.
We were famous for our hospitality… and you can find many warm kind people who would help you in a second, but it depends on your luck.
Almost every foreigner I met said that we are very hospitable and had good experiences in Romania…is a very very beautiful country, we have so many beautiful women (we are famous for this too), but many people are uncivilized and we have a lot of thieves and people who want to cheat you.
One more thing: in Romania the hitchhiking is not free! :) I guess that in some years we will have an equilibrium again and we’ll be like the countries from the west of Europe.

In the end I would like to wish you guys a lot of good luck in your trip and to learn as much as possible from all your experiences. Think positive and everything will be ok :)

Take care of you!

Andreea