Turing Scheme & Arts Lab 5.0: Raphaelle Kent, UK - Month 5

The second to last month of this project went very quickly, we finished our final residency, had many cultural nights and my family visited me from the UK. We also had mid term training in Bucharest for a few days, then with Violeta and Hajer we spent a few extra days exploring Bucharest and Sinaia. 

It was a busy month with lots of good memories! The first of my family to visit were my mum and grandfather, I went to collect them from Iași airport, my grandfather wearing his traditional Scottish kilt. We drew a lot of attention on our way back to Târgu Frumos, lots of baffled stares and some giggles from children. When they arrived to our house we had a question time with my grandfather and it was so nice that they were welcomed by my friends in to our house. 

We had a great few days showing them around the town and also hosting the UK culture night together. I was so lucky to have my mum there in real life to help me make an afternoon tea. My grandfather David wore again his traditional Scottish kilt and read some poems to us by Robert Burns, we finished the evening with a surprise birthday cake for Davids 84th birthday. It is a memory I will cherish forever to have my family visit the place where I spent such an important 6 months.

A week later my brother visited en route to another visit he was taking in Romania. We went to see the monasteries of Bucovina in the rain, which was great as we were the only ones there and had some nice conversations with the nuns. 

As well as the trips with my family, during the few days off we had after the Rroma museum, I went on a spontaneous road trip with Carlita and Violetita. We drove to the mountains near Piatra Neamț to climb up to a waterfall in the forest. Last minute before leaving we decided to pack our blankets and sleep in the car that night. We left a bit late to hike in the forest and so came back in the dark. There was a shape in the path and Violeta was terrified it was a bear... after 5 minutes of panicking in the dark we walked on to find a tree trunk. After some food, we drove to a random place with trees around us in a clearing next to the road. We slept surprisingly well all 3 of us in the car, and woke up to some big lights of a truck at 6am. It was so foggy we couldn’t see a thing but we went out the car in the morning sun wrapped up in our blankets. Soon to drive home listening to reggae music. It was a fun adventure I won’t forget. 

Raphaelle Kent is from United Kingdom and she is participating in a six-month volunteering program within Arts Lab 5.0, a project co-funded by the Turing Scheme UK and by European Union through the European Solidarity Corps.