It's only fair to share...

One night, after getting away from work, I went to a pub in the city centre of Cluj Napoca, looking for a bit of relaxation after a long night of drinks. No, do not think about drinks that I had consumed, but drinks that I had prepared for almost 9 hours in a row. That is basically what bartenders do.

And that was the night I met David, a young man from Australia. At first, I did not have any idea where he was from, as the loud music did not allow us to talk too much. As soon as I found out, though, it had struck me that he came such a long way ahead and ended up in Romania. I could not understand why he chose exactly this country.

As I found out later, he visited our country based entirely on a whim, and also, that he knew almost nothing about Romania, rather than its location.

It was just the fact that two friends of his were at that time in Bucharest, convincing him later on to meet them there and take a trip to Transylvania.

In his view, the best assets of our country were the rich culture it offers, that type of contemporary lifestyle which is youth-oriented and the assistance for foreigners provided by Romanian people. As he related, he got lost in Brașov one day, trying to find the bus terminal for a day trip to the Bran Castle. Along with his friends, he entered a small convenience store, in order to ask for directions, the moment in which the owner just left the store unwatched in order to show them what way to go. Also, it was appreciated that even though the owner knew only a bit of English, he did an excellent job in order to provide him and his friends with all the needed information.

Comparing the culture of Romania to the culture of Australia, David said that it is more colourful and much deeper. According to him, the Australian culture is pretty much similar to the one encountered in the United Kingdom or the USA. Romania, though, has a unique culture, shaped by different people throughout the centuries.

A young man, travelling the world, but who would return to Romania as soon as possible. As described, it was an experience which managed to defy any expectation he had of this country. Who said Romania is not an experience people wish to live? It took only two weeks for him to say that Romania is the first place he wants to return to, after finishing all of his current travel plans and re-live everything. Maybe this would be the perfect timing for a rewind button to be invented.