Why I Have a Love-Hate Relationship With My Country (Romania)

[BoraNicol]

First of all, I'm not from America, England, etc...I'm from Romania.

This little country is almost near Russia and has a very complicated story. I'll talk a little about the history: At first it wasn't Romania how you see in that picture. First it was 3 lands: Transilvania, Oltenia, and Moldova. We had fights with Turkey, Austro-Hungary, etc.

And......after 1859, we're how you see in the picture.

Why do I dislike my country?

First, to steal is a national sport. The politicians are stealing from the european money and from the money people are struggling to win. I hear every day on television: The politican x is accused of money laundering or accused of bribery etc.

The politicians are so....corrupted, that they made laws just for their own safety. For example: They wanted to make an emergency ordinance in which they can steal less than 200.000 euros and to not be in jail. Is that right? Of course not. People have protested. Just in Bucharest there were almost 200.000 people in the street in January.

Politicians want our country to be like the others from the west but how can you be like the west when many villages don't even have water or a toilet in their homes, when the public hospitals are infected and people die because of the bacteria from the hospital, not because of the illness? How can you be like the west when you haven't even repaired the schools? In some places, the students are learning in a class where the walls could fall in any second (this is everywhere) and most importantly, how can you be like the west when you build just one km (or even less) of freeway in more than a month?

The salary.....Dear Lord. Honesty, in some jobs the salary is bigger but the minimum is 1500 lei, like less than 400 euros or 500 dollars. Can you live like that? No....that's why people go to other countries to work, because you can't live with less than 400 euros.

I'll continue with the good parts because it can last the whole day to say the not so normal things that happens in my country.

The good parts are:

My country is still safe. You can walk without worries on the streets knowing that nothing will explode in front of your face.

The landscapes are amazing too.

Here the health insurence is free until you are 18 years old. That means you have free controls, medications, and if you must have an operation and you go to a public hospital it is almost free.

Romania is the home of the legends with vampires and werewolf.

There are many romanian athletes: Nadia Comaneci is the ferst ever athlete who has the note 10 at gymnastic.

We have many important writers here too. Mihai Eminescu, Ion Luca Caragiale, Liviu Rebreanu and many others.

And...I don't know what to say anymore. The thing is, there's A LOT of things to do in my country. The saddest part is that many people have died in the revolution.The revolution was in December first in 1989. And they died to change something but it has past almost 28 years and nothing has changed.

[Waffles731]

Romania is the home of the legends with vampires and werewolf.

Yes and no, the vampire and wwerewolf have been around since before ancient Greece, but they all took different forms, youve got your own, Scottish myth has a werewolf who spends all day fishing and occasionally leaves his catches on the window sills of very poor families who are having a hard time affording food

[DarthLadyKiller]

Yes! Big Twilight fan too, lol.

[Jackblue]

There is only one Vlad Tepes though.

[Waffles731]

@Jackblue true

[FýrdracaDócincel]

Haha the one female downvote who can't accept facts.

[Anonymous]

Well, you forgot to mention that immigrants fear this place, so no bombings and we also have the fastest internet from Europe (trăiască Digi 😂). 😛

[JimRSmith]

I've been to Romania twice, and was hoping to go again this year, but it hasn't happened.

I've found it a fascinating country. As you say, the scenery is spectacular, the place is teeming with wildlife (saw a bear quite close up), and the architecture is a real mix of styles.

The people there were also always pleasant to me, and I have recommended to a number of people that they should visit.

But none of this is the same as living there, I realise. My money went a long, long way, and I didn't have to deal with the local bureaucracy, the local politicians, or have a relative need to be treated in hospital. I can certainly understand why you might have a love / hate relationship with your country.

But it is a place of great potential, held back by the people who govern it. Unfortunately, it's not alone in this respect.

[ATuairiscean]

Interesting take - Many post Soviet bloc countries experienced a lot of problems when they broke away - The post communist structure is ripe for corruption not to say that there isn't in other political environments - In economic struggling countries the power remains in the hands of the few and they want to keep it that way because they get rich of it - In my country we essentially became free but we did not really find our feet and some say we have made a mess of that until the 1990s which is what 70 years later.
I never have been to Romania but have talked to people who have and they liked it - I worked with a Romanian girl and talked to other Romanians who all were very nice.

[MrOracle]

Sadly, I think it's going to take several generations or more to reform the country, but I think that "greed" (the motivation to have what other countries around yours has) will ultimately result in a more lawful country where people can succeed and grow and prosper.

The current culture is almost anarchy - every man for themselves - and few people will ever be able to succeed that way, and certainly it would be impossible to build a middle class that way - a middle class is only possible in a lawful country.

It IS a beautiful country, though, and I'm sure many people are great people - but the culture is toxic and is holding the entire country back, and that IS very sad.

[Phoenix98]

It's a beautiful country though, very rich history and mythology, folklore
which has survived since pre-medieval times and dark age times a lot of which is still very much alive and believed to this day. And it's one of the safest places in Europe.

so for all the bad things that may plague the country at least you have the above things going for you.

I'd very much like to visit it someday, my own family came a small village in the Carpathian mountains which is fairly close geographically to Romania.

So visiting either would give me the chance to visit both the mountains and Romania, something I'd like to do.

Plus I'd like to see if the village is still there, probably abandoned but still, worth a shot right?

[Alexandrubaschet08]

TANTI, IN 1859 TARA ROMANEASCA SE UNEA CU MOLDOVA DE LA DREAPTA PRUTULUI.

CELE 3 REGIUNI ERAU MOLDOVA, TARA ROMANEASCA (MUNTENIA+OLTENIA) SI TRANSILVANIA!!! UNIREA CELOR 3 PROVINCII S-A FACUT DE 2 ORI, UNIREA >MICA< 1600< SI IN 1918 >MAREA UNIRE.

ROMANIA 1918-1940

PANA LA RUSIA TREBUIE SA TRECI DE 1 SAU 2 TARI, E DEPARTE RUSIA DE NOI.

Mai invata geografie si istorie.

Si faptu ca urasi Romania ar trebuii sa iti fie rusine. Parlamentu si Guvernu nu reprezinta poporul in conditiile in care numai 30% din populatie voteaza.

[i_am_a_nerd]

Well, things are not different in India. Even here we are governed by corrupts, with the usual fear of getting molested or mugged or having something exploded in your face.
No system is perfect. Either you change the system or the system changes you.

[Anonymous]

Been to romania last year, to me and my friends it was really really cheap we were amazed how cheap thing were in romania and we liked that, the building are not that good of a quality, bucharest is nice but needs some repairs here and there , the salaries are quite low , been to brasov and sinaia as well, beuatiful scenery and nice people however you get this feeling that the country is very poor, its just... not on par with other western countries, for example iam from israel and if you come here you wouldn't last for a day with the amount of money you make, for comparison, the minimum wage here is around 1300$ which is 3 months worth of salaries in romania.

the country itself is beuatiful its just way too poor

[Kilapan]

The situation in Latin America is similar. Our history is also similar, you lived under the oppression of the USSR, we under the oppression of the United States. In 1990 we got rid of the capitalist dictatorship, but the mafia continues to control under the shadows.

[Tasos96]

I feel the exact same for Greece ! In addition to that I have a better relationship with my mother, who is English, than with my father, who is Greek. So another thing other than wages and political situation in Greece that I hate is the small-minded mentality of Greek people which is portrayed to me within my family. English people are more open and easy going than Greek people who can just be rude and basically bitches ! Can't wait move out of this shithole !

[usernamer102]

I heard of the issues within Romania from my Romanian friends. In all honesty, it isn't the land that you hate but rather the people in it or at least running it, correct?

I'm still trying to understand some of the culture and how people behave/act. I'd love to understand in order to connect with my co-workers and friends more.

[errorgoodnameunfound]

I never knew so much about Romania. But it makes me wonder if maybe it's taking a turn like Russia? It seems like many small and not as powerful countries in Europe seem to suffer from past Russian influence. Could this be part of it?

[TheDevilInside]

I feel you. Although when people hear "I'm from Romania", they probably hear less ugly associations compared to when they hear where I'm from. People just don't take Indonesians seriously and look down on us.

[Barrabus_the_Free]

Romania is one of the few places in Europe that I still want to visit. It hasn't been overrun with muzzies and feminazis yet, so it may still be a nice place to go. And I'm not going to lie, I want to see Transylvania.

[Ninja667]

I am Hungarian and i love Romania. But the living conditions are disgusting. Rats running in houses and people are really poor. It's always the government

[damnwinter]

Rats running in houses? You are exaggerating quite a bit.

[Ninja667]

@damnwinter nope. I went into some peoples houses and what i saw was disgusting

[damnwinter]

I guess you can find that in every country. But to imagine that this is what Romanians live like is too much. Especially since you live so close to it, might as well be better informed about it.

[Ninja667]

@damnwinter i am. Have you ever been to Romania before? Have you lived there before?

[damnwinter]

I was born there and only a few years ago did I move away. Honestly. Don't talk about things you don't know.

[mamamai]

This was great :) thanks for writing. I hope to visit your country someday

It is sad about politics, every country seems to have corrupt politics. Although your's maybe a bit worse of then some

[wankiam]

i was in romania just a few days ago. i do wish they would get that motorway finished ;) i mean i love rm valcea but those roads are crazy.

[Nik1hil]

and you have a reverse imbalance sex ratio, number of women's is higher then men on avg,
i think i am moving to Romania

[Anonymous]

Si eu sunt romanca si iubesc Romania. Cred ca fiecare tara are partile ei bune si rele..

[abundantlyrich]

The country is beautiful in sight but too bad corrupt people are fucking it up.

[Megalyssa]

Such a beautiful country. It is sad the country is going through all these. Thank you.