5 Interesting Ways Romania Blew My Mind

#1 Romanians don’t fit the “eastern European” stereotype

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know Brits and Romanians are completely different — they don’t speak the same language for starters. But even with this knowledge, I was still shocked by what I experienced during my time in eastern Europe.

I was fighting two battles internally before I got on the flight. The first was that I’ve never traveled alone. The second was that my first solo trip was going to be to an ex-communist country. I honestly didn’t know what to expect or what I’d gotten myself into.

We hear a lot of negative stuff about communism in England — and probably the entire western world — but I try to take news outlets with a pinch of salt. It is all propaganda after all. Even though I knew communism had ended in Romania, I was still concerned, but I’ll get to this later.

I made it a requirement to document my experience; I noted 5 things I found insanely interesting from my time in Romania; Here they are…

#1 Romanians don’t fit the “eastern European” stereotype

The response I got when I told people “I’m going to Romania” varied, but they all implied the same thing —

“Be careful.”

We have a stereotype of eastern Europe. I don’t know if it’s held just within black communities or whether it’s renowned around the world. The stereotype is simple: eastern European countries aren’t so friendly towards people of color. Everyone around me, including myself, thought Romania was one of them.

My rationale for continuing my journey was, “it’s not like the UK wholeheartedly accepts black people” — a story for another day. My parent’s freaked out when I told them I’ve booked my flight. They tried to make it about the war in Ukraine, but I reassured them Romania is a NATO member.

I guess it’s reasonable to assume the Kremlin is doing what it can to avoid direct war with NATO.

Still, many of my friends and family were cautious about my decision. They constantly expressed their concern, and to be honest, I get it. It’s not like there’s a large pool of black people risking their lives to get into Romania. The same can’t be said of countries in the western part of Europe (i.e., UK, France, Germany, etc.).

When I got there, I was dumbfounded…

Nobody gave a shit that I’m black.

I was expecting stares. NOPE.

I was expecting random people to ask for photos. NOPE.

I was expecting people to throw racist insults at me in Romanian. I was with a native Romanian, he didn’t catch a single sneak diss. I told him how shocked I was about the reception I got, and all he could respond was, “Dude, it’s 2023.”

The people of Bucharest were so friendly; they made me feel comfortable. Maybe they were amused by a black guy trying to adopt their culture (i.e., speaking Romanian, trying their food, etc.), but overall, everyone was super friendly.

#2 Pedestrians wait for the green man crossing sign before they cross the road

I know this sounds like the normal thing to do, but I’m from London.

Everyone in London is in a rush— even while crossing the road. If there’s an opportunity to cross, you take it. It doesn’t matter what color the light is; you never know how long you could wait if you don’t take the opportunity.

I brought this same attitude to Romania. My friend and I approached a crossing. No cars were coming, so I proceeded to cross. He grabbed me — “wait, it’s red.” I looked around. “No cars are coming, it’s cool.” He said, “No, it’s usually safer to wait.”

I felt so stupid.

How on earth was I going to come back from that?

We waited…

About a minute went past before the man turned green.

The craziest thing about it is there was no button you could incessantly press to make it feel like you have some sort of control over the lights. They were automatic.

You literally just stood there waiting for the sign to give you permission to cross.

… And everyone obeyed it. Seeing someone cross when the red man was showing was rare. I was so gobsmacked.

To make things even crazier…

Cars were still coming even when the green man was showing. It’s not like in London, where all the lights for cars were Red and pedestrians had priority.

Lights could be green for cars at the same time as when the green crossing man is displayed. Their cue to stop was when people started crossing.

#3 Romanians are super exposed to the western world… Kind of.

Romanians know a lot about the western world. My Romanian friend explained that the American hip-hop culture has a major influence on the youth. I struggled to wrap my head around this since Romanians aren’t native English speakers, but to my surprise, the sheer number of people wearing Nike trainers helped drive home the message.

There’s also a ton of western businesses; Pizza Hut, KFC, Mcdonalds, Marriot Hotel, and Novotel, to name a few — I guess it makes sense since Romania are part of the European Union (EU).

The reason I say they’re “kind of” exposed falls back to our earlier discussion. There’s not many black people in the country. Romanians may encounter herds of black people on social media and in popular culture. Still, few have met a black person in real life — even in the capital, Bucharest, where I’m staying.

My Romanian friend openly told me he’s never sat down and spoken with a black person before, which sparked a whole leap of interesting conversation — we both learned so much about one another's cultures.

This distinction makes it tricky for Romanians to distinguish between black people — at least, from my understanding. To Romanians, black is black.

They aren’t aware of the nuances among black people; for example, they may be unable to tell the difference between African Americans, Caribbeans, and Africans, but to most people in the western world, the distinction is pretty clear.

#4 It’s super peaceful

I had to ask my friend if road rage was a thing in Romania. I was genuinely confused; Everything seemed so peaceful in Bucharest. He assured me road rage is a thing, but I didn’t see it.

Let me put things into perspective. I arrived in Romania on Friday the 3rd at 2 pm. The first time I heard an emergency services siren was the next day at 11 am, and it wasn’t even the police— it was an ambulance.

This was insane for me to wrap my head around. My friend couldn’t understand why I was so surprised, so I explained it to him like this —

“Within your first 15 minutes in London, you can expect to see road rage, constant police sirens blowing off, an argument, and depending on what part of London you’re in, a robbery.”

I think he got the message.

Romania is completely the opposite; It's like everyone hits a blunt before they leave their house, and they’re just cruising through the day, carefree and happy.

#5 Ex-communist parents vs. Democratic youth

I’m a second-generation immigrant to African parents; I know about discrepancies between parents and youth. My parents never forget to remind me how privileged I am to be born in England — “I used to walk 2 hours to school, barefoot!”

But this discrepancy is different from what I observed in Romania. For starters, both parties are born in the same country. I can’t relate to my parents when they say they had to walk to school because the UK has free public transport for those under 16 — I could easily put their struggles down to being raised in a less economically developed country.

You can’t use that excuse in Romania since the youth, and their parents are born in the same country.

The only difference is the events that occurred when they were born.

Most of the youth in Romania have parents who are direct descendants of the Ceaușescu communist regime. Their parents have shared their experiences with their children. Since many of the remnants of communism still exist, especially in Bucharest, the youth find it much easier to empathize with their parents.

For second-generation immigrants of African descent, respect is built through discipline. But from my observation of the Romanian youth, respect is built through empathy.

A week in Romania taught me this:

We have preconceptions about things we don’t know. We may even push these prejudices onto others out of “love.” But it’s important to take time to question why you believe certain things and if the justifications have grounds.

Going to Romania taught me that the best way to formulate an opinion is through experience. If something is not worth getting the experience, then you don’t need to have an opinion about it.

Before I came to Romania, I was skeptical; I thought it was a risky move due to my skin color, but my experience has completely lowered my guard. While 7 days may not be enough to generalize an entire people, it was certainly enough to throw many of my misconceptions out of the window.

I feel energized and more curious about other European countries I’ve picked up prejudices about. I’m keen to learn about their cultures, but this time from a first-person perspective.

Thanks for reading!

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