Transy-land

Most of you know that I graduated from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. And most of you can't believe that a school with that name actually exists, especially in the Bluegrass state. While there, and since, I have heard my fare share of the jokes and jests and have happily dealt with the doubters and naysayers. But I really did, and I have the Count's signature on my diploma to prove it.

So after arriving in Eastern Europe for the first time (Budapest, Hungary), I felt a calling, a pilgrim-like homage-paying kind of responsibility to venture to the original Transylvania and see what it was all about.

For better part of the second century, Transylvania was controlled by the Magyars and under Hungarian rule. But now, Transyland consumes a third of the Romanian countryside, defining their border with Hungary and stretching east towards the Carpathian mountain range. I arrived in the heart of this region bus-battered. There was a constant drizzle coming down and the streets were eerily empty and quiet on another Sunday morning. Church bells occasionally broke the silence, but the skies remained dark with slow moving clouds. This was Sighisoara, Romania - birthplace of Dracula.

Dracula. The man, the myth, the legend. In this case, all three truly apply. The man, Vlad Tepes, better known as Vlad the Impaler, reigned supreme in Transylvania during the mid 15th century. Vlad gets mixed reviews. Most Romanians deem him as a savior to their nation, while those on the outside are reminded of his gruesome form of torture and punishment (undoubtedly leading to death) - hence the name, the Impaler. His proper Romanian surname is Dracul (translating to 'Dragon' or 'Devil'). Bram Stoker ran with this. I never saw an over-sized bat fluttering through the moon light and I never felt an uneasy stare from a native, but there were plenty of souvenirs selling the myth and pushing the legend.

On Monday, things were different. Blue skies and fluffy clouds. Open windows and doors and open cafes. People enjoying the day. Sighisoara now stands as an exemplified medeival fortified town. It is the only city in Romania that is honored and protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage site, and rightfully so. This place boasts beautiful cobbled streets, ancient citadel grounds, colorful colored buildings, a central dominating clock tower, wandering side-alleys, lost cemeteries and the statue reminder of the man that haunted his enemies and continues to scare generations through his immortal lore. Transylvania lives on and I was moving on to see more of my college roots.