1. OVERCOMING PREJUDICES THROUGH FAIRY TALESCOMENIUS school partnerships 2012-2014 Rgas Juglas vidusskola Riga, LATVIA Avcilar lisesi Istanbul, TURKEY Profesionalna gimnaziya "IVAN HADZHIENOVKazanlak, BULGARIA Grup scolar CONSTANTIN BRANCOVEANU Horezu,ROMANIA

2. Romania is a country, located at the crossroads ofSoutheastern and Central Europe, on the LowerDanube, north of the Balkan Peninsula and thewestern shore of the Black Sea. Romania shares aborder with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraineand Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgariato the south. 3. With 238,391 square kilometres, Romania isthe ninth largest country of the EuropeanUnion by area, and has the 7th largestpopulation of the European Union with over 22million people. Its capital and largest city isBucharest the 6th largest city in theEuropean Union. 4. The coat of arms of RomaniaAs a central element it shows a golden eagle holding across in its beak and a mace and a sword in its claws.It also consists of the three colors: red, yellow, andblue, which represent the colors of the national flag. 5. Romanian currencyThe leu, plural lei,is the currency ofRomania. It issubdivided into100 bani.Romania is among the fewcountries in the worldwhich use plastic orpolymer banknotes. Theyare cleaner, more difficultto forge and last longerthan the paper ones. 6. Romania has magical castles, medieval towns andamazing mountain trails to go hiking. Brasov,Sighisoara, Sinaya, Sibiu and the Danube delta areplaces full of charm and favourite tourist destinations. 7. Bucharest was alsoknown as the LittleParis. With a quarterof the population inRomania having studiedFrench and Romaniabeing the mainFrancophone country inthe region, its notamazing that you canfeel the spirit of Parishere. Romanians havetheir mini Arch ofTriumph, RomanianChamps-Elysees andCharles de Gaullestatue. 8. Historically, French was the predominant foreign languagespoken in Romania, but English has since superseded it. 9. The Palace of Chaushescuor The Palace of Parliament -the second largest administrative building inthe world after the Pentagon. 10. The Palace of Parliament It took 20,000 workers and 700 architects to build it. Thepalace boasts 12 stories, 1,100 rooms, a 328-ft-long lobbyand four underground levels, including an enormous nuclearbunker, and another four in different stages of completion. Itwas built at the cost of 3.3 billion dollars and the demolitionof nearly the whole historical part of Bucharest twentychurches, two monasteries and a stadium. 11. Romania was the only Eastern Bloc countrywhose Communist government was overthrownviolently. 12. In most international rankings, Romania is among the firstplaces in the world based on the speed of its Internetservice, being surpassed by Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan,and Latvia.There isnt underground cabling in Romania, so itscommon to see cables hanging above your head inthe cities. 13. There are bicycle lanes almost everywhere inBucharest. In some place they are even two-way! 14. Romanian creativity is impressive the park in front of the Palace of Parliament has turnedinto a real jungle of tyres. 15. The horror story of Count Dracula was inspired by Vlad III,Prince of Wallachia, who lived in the 15th century andwhose reputation for excessive cruelty spread all overEurope and brought him the name Vlad the Impaler. 16. Oin is a Romanian traditional sport, similar in manyways to baseball and lapta. 17. Some traditional Romanian dishes are chifteles, mici, sarmale,pork stew with garlic and onions, doughnuts with cream andcheese, various ciorbe, iahnie de fasole and various appetizersmade of eggplant, peppers or other vegetables.Some of the dishes were influenced by Turkish cuisine as Romaniawas under the rule of the Ottoman Empire for 276 years. 18. During the centuries Romanians have dealt with trade pottery, furriery, weaving. 19. Foreigners are greatly impressed by Romanian hospitality.The Italian traveler Niccolo Barsi said There arent peoplemore hospitable than the Romanians. 20. Mrior (Martenitsa in Bulgarian) is an old Romaniancelebration similar to Bulgarian Baba Marta. On March the1st, people give friends and relatives talismans made fromwhite and red thread or wool.According to a legend the custom dates back to the 7thcentury and is connected with Bulgarian Khan Asparukh. 21. Bulgarian-Romanian relations 22. Mamaliga, Roma, Chaushescu, Danube bridgeand the Romanian Revolution, broadcast live on TV,form the popular image of Romania among Bulgarians. 23. The oldest extant document written in Romanian isNeacu's letter (1521) and was written using Cyrillicletters. The Cyrillic alphabet remained in use up untilthe late 19th century. 24. During Bulgarian Revival a lot of Bulgarianrevolutionaries found refuge in free Romania inBucharest, Braila, Brasov Bulgarian national heroeslike Hristo Botev and Vasil Levski prepared from therethe liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire. 25. Today two bridges over the Danube connect Bulgariaand Romania, shortening the distances and drawingthe two peoples together.Danube bridge 1 TheBridge of Friendship connectsRuse and GiurgiuDanube bridge 2connects Vidin and Calafat. 26. The two neighboring countries joined together the bigfamily of the European Union in 2007. 27. The economic crisis forced a lot of Bulgarians andRomanians to emigrate abroad in search of better-paidjobs, parting with families and friends. 28. The most common stereotypesthat Bulgarians have about Romania 29. 1. Romania is a place, haunted by vampiresThere are no vampires in Transylvania. Also, theres nothingcreepy about it and people living there dont have thatfunny accent youve heard in Hollywood films. Whatvampires really do nowadays is attracting tourists andbringing money into the country. 30. 2. Romanians were under Russianinfluence during the CommunismRomanians dont speak Russian. People were forced tolearn Russian during the Communism but this hasntbeen the case since 1990. 31. 3. Most of Romanian population are RomasRoma people (so-called Gypsies) make up only 2.5% ofRomanias over 22 million people. A surprising number ofpeople seem to think Romanians are the minority. 32. 4. Budapest is Romanias capital cityBucharest is Romanias capital city, while Budapest isactually Hungarys. This is something that many peopleget wrong. 33. 5. Younger Romanians want to emigrate into a WesternEuropean country and admire things modern andWestern, while the older generations tend to recallthe security of jobs and life that Communism offered. 34. From Bulgaria with love!