Romania’s Biggest Stereotypes: Fact or Fiction?

[00:00:01][music] Hello my dears. I'm glad to see you. And for those who don't know me, my name is Oxana. I'm Ukrainian living in Romania.

[00:00:17]And today we are going to break down stereotypes about Romania that some people may have and that I heard before moving here. First stereotype is that Romania is a Balkcon country. Actually, geographically balcon countries their region starts south of the Denube and Romania is located on the north side of the river. It's not totally Balkcon, but it has some Balkan uh influence the same as some Slavic influence, the same as some other influences. So, yeah, it's uh partially false. The second it's everything cheap because of probably because of the movie Euro trip where people came to some Eastern European country. Uh but that they have like $1 and for this $1 they lived very rich life. Uh that's why a lot of westerns think that Eastern Europe Romania including is very cheap country. not totally true because probably yes something is cheaper than in Paris for example in in France uh or in America but it's not as cheap as you may think.

[00:01:33]It's just like consider Romania has the same prices as other European countries.

[00:01:39]a lot of um stereotypes about Dracula that Romania is the land of Dracula especially westerns they are crazy about it and yeah well Romania has uh some interesting ancient castles that attracts tourists who are looking for some vampire experience uh Vans Day was filmed in Romania for a reason because Romania has this gothic wipe. But actually, Dracula has never lived in Romania because Dracula is a fictional character. It was based on the um historical figure of Vlad Tapes, but uh it's not the same person. It's just that Dracula was based on the real historical person. So, and I as I heard uh Romanians are actually pretty annoyed uh when they asked about Dracula and when the brand castle is connected to Dracula in the minds of tourists. So, if you are planning to visit Romania because of Dracula, uh do your research first. Try to find out everything before annoying Romania. The next stereotype is that Romania is dangerous. As I understood uh it is outdated stereotype because um now uh Romania is considered to be one of the safest country. Um I told already in my previous videos that I feel very safe in Romania, much safer than I felt in Ukraine for example. So, so yeah, that's maybe it was true long time ago, but now Romania is really really safe. Maybe yes, in '90s it was a hard time where traveling alone to Romania considered to be dangerous, but uh now in 2020s, you can travel to Romania alone safely, so don't worry about it. The next stereotype is that Romanian cuisine is full with onions and garlic. Uh that's actually true, but I as a Ukrainian I don't see any problem [laughter] in that because we also love onions and love garlic. So I put garlic myself to every dish I cook. So yes, that stereotype is true, but come on, it's tasty. Why not? The next stereotype is that Romania is the land of gypsies.

[00:04:12]It's actually very popular stereotype.

[00:04:14]Uh and many westerns even confuse uh Romes with Romanians thinking that all people who live in Romania, all Romanians are Romes. Uh which is not uh true. Only 3% of population of Romania are uh Romes. I know that Romanians are pretty irritated by by this stereotype that so many people thinks that uh Romanians and Romes are the same nation.

[00:04:41]Of course, it's not. U Romanians are Romanians. Romes are only 3% of population of Romania. I hope I made it clear. The next um thing that I heard from u American, I know uh that Romanians speak Russian. Probably they got confused because of Choses and that era in Romanian history. But Romania has never been in Soviet Union. uh therefore they never were forced to leave to learn Russian. So they learned Russian in the period of uh Chaosco. Um but uh all I know that uh like people who were at school during the choses time uh they learned some Russian and um they just can say several words in Russian like they say uh malika something like this. So they know several words in Russian. So like a little group of elderries who were at the school at the time of choses, they know several words in Russian. It doesn't mean that Romanians speak Russian, okay? And I'm happy about it because um I prefer hearing Romanian and English in the streets than Russian. I actually um met more Romanians who speak Ukrainian than Romanian who speak Russian. So that's a false stereotype.

[00:06:10]Roads in Romania are bad. Again, I believe that it's mostly because of um ' 90s period where we had some problems and rods were bad. But um now but now I would say that it's partially true. Uh the rods here are not uh like a glass surface, you know, but uh they're not bad. they are much better than we have in Ukraine for example. So no um Romania has very few highways compared to other countries in the region but now the roads are way better than they used to be. So stray dogs are dangerous and there are many stray dogs in Romania. Uh I haven't heard this stereotype and as I said in one of my videos inclusion poka I don't see stray dogs at all. I maybe for more than a year I live here. I maybe saw one or two stray dogs. So that's like nothing. But uh when we traveled to one village uh again I showed it uh in one of my videos there were many stray dogs. They were just lying around. As I understood there was a problem with stray dogs again in this awful chesco times when whole neighborhoods were destroyed and people needed to leave um uh in a hurry uh their houses. That's why they left their dogs outside and um that's why there were many stray dogs at that time. But now this problem is fixed totally. So there are not many stray dogs and I don't think that you need to be worried about stray dogs going to Romania. The next stereotype, Romanians are very religious. Yes and no. because on the one hand they are much more religious than for example Ukrainians in my part of Ukraine. Uh for example I have friends who are married but they didn't take their marriage in church so they are not wearing the rings. So you can wear rings only if you took your marriage in church. And as I heard from this my friend that most Romanians take their marriages in church. It's like obligatory part. Uh in my country for example we have division. Uh eastern part of Ukraine we are less religious and western part of Ukraine that's closer to Romania and Poland uh they are more religious. So in western part of Ukraine they take marriage in church. In eastern part of Ukraine, most people don't take their marriages in church, but we all um usually baptize our children. So I wouldn't say that Romanians are crazy religious. I would say that it's like normal amount of religious. And I also believe that in bigger cities, religious religion is less than in smaller cities. Something like this. So yeah, they are not crazy religious. And the last stereotype is that there are many bears in Romania.

[00:09:22]There are many bears in Romania. For example, if you go to transfaran, you will see bears just along the road.

[00:09:32]They're just like walking in forests.

[00:09:35]And uh we went to the city Tumores where there is a zoo is located in part of a forest and on the trees you see a sign that be careful there are bears can be.

[00:09:50]So yes, there are many bears and unfortunately there are some accidents like last year uh on this Rasvagan road.

[00:09:59]A man saw little bears with their mama and uh he decided to feed them. So mama bear decided that he was attacking them and she killed a man unfortunately. And uh then this mama bear was uh killed uh because she now was considered to be a dangerous animal and her little bears uh left alone without mother. So uh please if you see a bear somewhere in a forest never ever try to feed it try to contact to it. There are no bears in cities. No, it will not be like you're just driving in Klujna Poka and in the center of the city there are bears. No, it doesn't work like this, but there are bears in forests and um you should be aware of them and never ever try to feed them or touch them or pet them or do anything with bears. They are actually dangerous animals. So that's all what I know about stereotypes of Romanian. If you know other stereotypes, please let me know in the comments below. And that's all for today. Thank you very much for watching.

[00:11:14]Goodbye. Take care and see you next time. Woop.

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