ROMANIA

THE CAPITAL OF ROMANIA IS …

BUCHAREST

Population: 21.2 million.

Languages: Romanian is the official language, Hungarian and German have no official status but are spoken by ethnic minorities.

Climate: Romania is Transitional from temperate in southwest to continental in northeast. Average annual precipitation, 637 millimeters.

Country Code: +40 (+40 21 Bucharest)

Currency: 1 Romanian lei = 0.234384303 Euros

Borders: Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova,

Serbia and

Montenegro, Ukraine.

My name is .. Numele meu este ..My name is .. Ma cheama ..

What is your name (formal)? Cum va numiti? What is your name (informal? Cum te numesti?

Fine, and you (informal)? Bine, dar tu Fine, and you (formal)? Bine, dar dumneavoastra

Pleased to meet you (formal) Incântat sa va întâlnesc Pleased to meet you (informal) Incântat sa te întâlnesc

How much is it? Cât costa?See you later La revedere

Excuse me (formal) Ma scuzatiExcuse me (informal) Scuze

Hello Buna Goodbye La revedere Good morning Buna dimineata Good afternoon Buna ziua Good evening Buna seara Yes DaNo Nu Please (formal) Va rogPlease (informal) Te rogThanks Multumesc

I want to buy .. Vreau sa cumparI’m just looking Ma uit doarHow much is it Cât costa?It’s too expensive Este prea scumpDo you accept credit cards? Acceptati carti de credit?That’s all, thanks Atât, multumescIt is faulty E cu defect

Education :

According to the Law on Education adopted in 1995, the Romanian Educational System is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Research (Romanian: Ministerul Educaţiei şi Cercetării, MEC). Each level has its own form of organization and is subject to different legislation. Kindergarten is optional between 3 and 6 years old. Schooling starts at age 7 (sometimes 6), and is compulsory until the 10th grade (which usually corresponds to the age of 17 or 16). Primary and secondary education are divided in 12 or 13 grades. Higher education is aligned onto the European higher education area.

Religion

Romania is a secular state and has no state religion. However, an overwhelming majority of the country's citizens are Christian. 86.7% of

the country's population identified as Orthodox Christian according to the 2002 census, vast majority of which belongs to the Romanian

Orthodox Church. Other important Christian denominations include Protestantism (5.2%), Roman Catholicism (4.7%) and the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church (0.9%).The latter two religious organizations

suffered most severely under the communist dictatorial regimes established in power after 1947 as they were outlawed by the

communist government in 1948;later, under the Ceausescu dictatorship several churches in Transylvania suffered a worse fate being demolished.

Economy

Romania has a developing, upper-middle

income market economy, the 11th largest in the European Union by total

nominal GDP and the 8th largest based on purchasing power parity.

Romanian cuisine is a diverse blend of different dishes from several traditions with which it has come into contact, but it also maintains its own character. It has been greatly influenced by Ottoman cuisine while it also includes influences from the cuisines of other neighbours, such as Germans, Serbians, and Hungarians.Quite different types of dishes are sometimes included under a generic term; for example, the category ciorbă includes a wide range of soups

with a characteristic sour taste. These may be meat and vegetable soups, tripe and calf foot soups (shkembe chorba or iskembe), or fish

soups, all of which are soured by lemon juice, sauerkraut juice, vinegar, or traditionally borş (fermented wheat bran).

The category ţuică (plum brandy) is a generic name for a strong alcoholic spirit in Romania, while in other countries, every flavor has a

different name

Romanian traditional foods heavily feature meat.Cabbage rolls, sausages, and stews (like

tocanita) are popular main dishes.

Muschi poiana consists of mushroom- and bacon-stuffed beef in a puree of vegetables and tomato sauce. You can also sample traditional Romanian fish dishes, like the salty, grilled carp called

saramura.

tocanita

saramura

Soups

– made with or without meat, or made with fish - are usually offered on menus

at Romanian restaurants. Zama is a green bean soup with chicken, parsley, and dill. You may also encounter pilaf and moussaka, vegetables prepared in

various ways (including stuffed peppers), and polenta

Zama

Traditional Romanian desserts may resemble baklava.

Other pastries may best be described as Danishes (pastries with cheese

filling). Crepes with various fillings and

toppings may also be on the typical Romanian dessert menu.

baklava

danishes

Crepes

Transylvania produced a leader known as a defender of the Christian faith, a Romanian hero, and a subhuman monster. His name was Prince Vlad, but the world knows him by his nickname: Dracula.

The Order of the Dragon

Vlad, or Dracula, was born in 1431 in Transylvania into a noble family. His father was called "Dracul," meaning "dragon" or "devil" in Romanian because he belonged to the Order of the Dragon, which fought the Muslim Ottoman Empire.

"Dracula" means "son of Dracul" in Romanian. Therefore young Vlad was "son of the dragon" or "son of the devil." Scholars believe this was the beginning of the legend that Dracula was a vampire.

Warrior in Chains

Dracula lived in a time of constant war. Transylvania was at the frontier of two great empires: the Ottoman Turks and the Austrian Hapsburgs. Treachery, vindictiveness, and revenge ruled the day, as young Dracula soon discovered.

Dracula was imprisoned, first by the Turks, who hauled him away in chains, and later by the Hungarians. Dracula's father was murdered, while his older brother, Mircea, was blinded with red-hot iron stakes and buried alive.

From 1448 until his death in 1476, Dracula ruled Walachia and Transylvania, both part of Romania today. Twice he lost and reclaimed his throne, once by fighting his own brother, Radu. Although the Vatican once praised him for defending Christianity, it disapproved of his methods, which soon became infamous.

Dracula earned another nickname, "Vlad Tepes" (pronounced tsep-pesh), which means "Vlad the Impaler." Dracula's favorite method of torture was to impale people and leave them to writhe in agony, often for days. As a warning to others, the bodies would remain on rods as vultures and blackbirds nibbled the rotting flesh.

During one battle, Dracula retreated into nearby mountains, impaling people as he went. The Turkish advance was halted because the sultan could not bear the stench from the decaying corpses.

Another time, Dracula was reported to have eaten a meal on a table set up outside amidst hundreds of impaled victims. On occasion he was also reported to have eaten bread dipped in blood.

Vlad the Impaler

Defender of the Faith

At that time it was believed that religious charity, and a proper burial, would erase sin and allow entry to heaven. Dracula surrounded himself with priests and monks and founded five monasteries. Over a period of 150 years, his family established 50 monasteries.

Killed in December 1476 fighting the Turks near Bucharest, Romania, Dracula's head was cut off and displayed in Constantinople.

The Corpse Disappears

Dracula was buried at the isolated Snagov Monastery near Bucharest, which was also likely used as a prison and torture chamber. When prisoners prayed before an icon of the Blessed Virgin, a trap door opened dropping them onto sharp stakes below.

In 1931 archaeologists searching Snagov found a casket partially covered in a purple shroud embroidered with gold. The skeleton inside was covered with pieces of faded silk brocade, similar to a shirt depicted in an old painting of Dracula.

The casket also contained a cloisonné crown, with turquoise stones. A ring, similar to those worn by the Order of the Dragon, was sewn into a shirtsleeve.

The contents were taken to the History Museum in Bucharest but have since disappeared without a trace, leaving the mysteries of the real Prince Dracula unanswered.

CULTURE In spite of these modern developments, Romania still offers a variety of customs, traditions, and forms of folk art. Wood carvings, brightly ornamented costumes, skillfully woven carpets, pottery, and other elements of traditional Romanian culture remain popular and, with the onset of tourism, have become known internationally. Folk art is characterized by abstract or geometric designs and stylized representations of plants and animals. In embroidery and textiles, designs and colour schemes can be associated with particular regions of the country. Special folk arts of Romania are the decoration of highly ornamental Easter eggs and painting on glass, which, however, is becoming a lost skill. Folk music includes dance music, laments and ballads, and pastoral music. Major instruments are the violin, the cobza (a stringed instrument resembling a lute), the tambal (a dulcimer played with small hammers), and the flute. Folk melodies are preserved in the music of modern Romanian composers such as Georges Enesco.

Romanian culture is largely derived from the Roman, with strains of Slavic, Magyar (Hungarian), Greek, and Turkish influence. Poems, folktales, and folk music have always held a central place in Romanian culture. Romanian literature, art, and music attained maturity in the 19th century. Although Romania has been influenced by divergent Western trends, it also has a rich native culture. Romanian art, like Romanian literature, reached its peak during the 19th century. Among the leading painters were Theodor Aman, a portraitist, and landscape painter Nicolae Grigorescu. Between 1945 and 1989 Romanian art was dominated by socialist realism, a school of art that was officially sponsored by the Communist government, and through which socialist ideals were promoted and advanced. A notable contribution to modern concepts of 20th-century art was the work of Romanian-born French sculptor Constantin Brancusi.

The Danube river

Peleş castle

Black Church

Palace of Parliament

National Museum of Contemporary Art

Thank You !