The Romania trip was an experience I think nobody in our group had really had before. The stated purpose of the trip was to help the organisation Casă Dragă Casă build houses, but that was far from the only thing we did. In fact, I think that we learned and improved ourselves more than we helped out on the site, but by all accounts, what we did was good work. 

The trip started by flying to Budapest and then driving to Oradea, a small city near Transylvania. We then experienced working on two different building sites every day, tying rebar, pouring concrete, carrying cinder blocks, installing a ceiling, and more. Aside from the work on the building site, though, every day brought a different activity to help us understand more about Romania. 

The first day, we went to an orphanage called Caminul Felix to see the orphans there. After eating dinner there cooked by the children themselves, who were anywhere between being young children and nearly adults, we played some sports with them and spent time with them in general. It was a fun experience, but we also got to learn about the conditions orphans lived in in the nation. They were not in poverty, but they still needed all the help they could get. 

Half of the second day was spent visiting a local arts school, where we saw art students working on their projects and then watched music students perform for us. The children were incredibly talented at what they did and managed to impress everyone. The students from Rosey managed to make some friends there, and the visit in general was entertaining. That night we went bowling with those students, and had a good time then too. 

The third and fourth days’ evenings we passed in Oradea: we ate dinner there and explored the city. We got to see a centuries-old fort, the inside of an orthodox church, and ate at a restaurant which served the traditional dishes of Romania. We also got to see a traditional dance of the Romanians and even participate in it. The third day was special too because we worked on a building site in a nearby town, and even met the mayor there, getting a small tour too. 

We worked on two houses for two families, building the foundation for one and attaching drywall to the interior roof of the other. Though only one of the families were there, they helped us too and thanked us for our contribution. We returned on the fifth day after we arrived, going back to Budapest then to Geneva. 

Overall, the trip was a landmark in our lives, and we won’t forget it, or at least, the things it taught us about Romania, about people who have lost their parents, and about the help we can give others. I thank our teachers and the people of Caminul Felix and Casă Dragă Casă for allowing us to have this experience. 

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