ROMANIAN TRAFFIC JAM - Michele lived with a host family that had a cabin called Diham in the Bucegi Mountains. One weekend in March, we stayed up there with Maria and Gigi, the grandparents of the family.

We took a very perilous hike through the snowy mountians with our guide constantly telling us that our destination was "immediat!" Only to reach it about an hour and a half later! Michele kept imagining in her mind a medical rescue mission for me because we literally walked along a narrow path that was only a foot-step wide with at least a meter of snow under us. At one point I couldn't see the path anymore and I told Nicu it was gone. All there was just a tree and the edge of the mountian. He said- oh simple- you grab the tree and swing around it!

The next day, I was romanced by young guys that came down on their caruta! Maria saw one of the boys talking to me and she immediately grabbed him by the ear making his face turn bright red and started yelling (in Romanian) "MY GIRLS! THESE ARE MY GIRLS!!!!" They offered me a ride on their caruta back to the main trail - you have to hike about 30-40 minutes by foot to reach the cabin. But I declined since carutas don't have breaks and there was a lot of snow and ice.

At the end we got caught in a little Romanian traffic jam!