Have you ever seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding? If you have, then you have seen a small bit of what my family is like. Just switch the lamb for a pig and the Ouzo for Țuică and you’d have the perfect My Big Fat Romanian Wedding.
When I tell people I’m Romanian, they usually respond with “Oh, so you’re Roman? Russian? Armenian?” All followed by a gradually increasing look of confusion on the other person’s face and then when I explain that it’s a country in Europe that is shaped like a fish I get my personal favorite “Is that even a real country or are you just making that up?” Although these questions are entertaining for me, nothing will ever compare to the reactions when I say my mom has 11 siblings and I have about 40 cousins– a jaw should not be able to unhinge that far to the ground.
Okay, I’ll admit that information is shocking to most people but in the Romanian community it’s not a big deal. “So what makes my family so different from other families with a large number of siblings?” I would answer in three simple words: annual family trips. Every year in the summer my entire family (yes, all 33 of us) take a trip, stuff ourselves in a singular Airbnb and let the chaos ensue.
Once, in Arkansas (a popular family vacation spot to be sure) in the middle of the woods with basically no services, I shared a room with my cousins which had a ramp in the middle of it from the inclined part of the ceiling downstairs (the definition of picturesque, am I right?) and due to the amazing genes from my troublemaking uncles, my cousins love playing pranks. To put it lightly, I will never be able to smell Axe body spray for the rest of my life without having flashbacks (I can literally smell it as I write this so look up Axe bomb at your own risk). I could tell stories from these trips for hours but the real important thing that they have taught me is unity and the importance of it.
My family has taught me that no matter how many pranks or fights you get into, you need bonds with people, especially your family, because those matter the most. Even though at the end of every family trip I’m rejoicing at returning home and want to punch at least three cousins in the face (they know exactly who they are), deep down I know that they are a part of who I am that no superficial argument can erase.
Every part of my life has been influenced by being Romanian. My parents who grew up in communist Romania had no college education; therefore, it falls to me and my twin sister to have one. Every Romanian kid has to choose at least one instrument to play before age 5 (I genuinely have no explanation for this one) so I played piano for 12 years. Nadia Comăneci was a Romanian gymnast who got the first perfect 10, so I did gymnastics for two years in hopes I would be the next prodigy (I was terrible at it; sorry mom and dad). Because of the way my parents were raised, I was held to high standards in everything–specifically in academics. These qualities that have been instilled into me from a young age will always be of my character. The gifts that culture gives us can often be taken for granted but they truly make us who we are and that is something I will always be grateful for.
photo by: Bright Wall/Dark Room
