Welcome to my new blog!

Hi and welcome to my Romania blog! This first post will provide a little background info. on the trip and what I'll be doing while there.

A couple of months ago, my mother-in-law got in touch with me about coming to Romania with her (and a group) to work with some kids. To make that long story short, there is a group of doctors and nurses going on this trip to give shots and checkups (among other things) from the hospital where my mother-in-law works. I have wanted to go to Romania for years because I have always been taught that the orphanages and centers there are not so good (i.e., poor adult to child ratios) and I've wanted to see it first hand. So of course I jumped on this opportunity to go when it was offered to me! As a result, I'm going as a childcare "expert" or an extra helping hand to help with the children as needed.

As for the trip details, I leave in the afternoon on September 22nd and after a long flight and a 4-hour layover in Amsterdam, I arrive in Bucharest, Romania in the afternoon on Sept. 23rd. Since the rest of the group is from Fort Worth and will coming from there together, I'll be meeting up with them at the airport a few hours after I arrive. From what I've gathered from a few emails back and forth, we will be in Severin, Romania (where our hotel is I think... about 8 hours from Bucharest) and from there, we will visit orphanages and centers in the villages of Rogova and Lupsa (good luck finding those on a map; Grandma, you might have to start using maps online to figure out where those are!). While the medical people do clinics, I'll have the chance to explore the centers and play with the kids. I went to Walmart a few days ago and stocked up on some cheap school supplies (crayons, markers, etc.) to bring over and give to the children. I don't really have any other specific details as of yet but as I find out more, I will post them here. The trip is for about 10 days and I return to the states on October 1st. I have a slightly longer layover in Amsterdam again (5 hours) and because the timing is perfect when I fly through (in the morning), I'm planning on leaving the airport and going to see the Anne Frank house/museum during my layover (which I am super excited about). If I also have time, I'll prob. jump on a canal tour but I'm going to have to play that one by ear. On a side note, I will of course be taking tons of pictures on this trip and will link this blog up to my Picasa albums right before the trip.

So, that's where everything is at for now! I am really excited to be going on this trip because I not only want to see what it's like there but I also hope that it helps to remind me that there are more important things in the world than just what's going on in grad school and in my life. I'm grateful to get this chance to refocus my energy on something more like this and I absolutely cannot wait to go. It's less than a month away!