Culture » Europe »
Southeastern Europe » Romania »
Romania
Culture & Identity
Romania's Personality
Romania is like your cousin who gets lost often and isn't
at all organized, yet somehow manages to thrive. Surrounded by the Ottomans,
Russians, and Austria-Hungarians
for much of history, Romania managed to remain on the map more often than not and
today holds more land than they did throughout much of their history. Even as these
foreigners immigrated into Romania there seemed to be little resistance (other than
by a prince or two, who were particularly fond of impaling Turks).
Romania has never really picked a side in a war, never
really fought for a cause, and never really known what it wanted, but rather just
chose the best path at the moment with little to no forethought. Long-term planning
is a foreign concept in Romania, yet somehow this strategy has worked for them (perhaps
due to their neighbors' aggression resulting in Romania getting their neighbors'
former lands) and today, following in tradition, Romania has decided to join the
European Union (EU)... based on history, that plan should work out just fine for
them, although no one's quite sure how or why.
Identity
Romanians typically identify as Romanian, and much like
their nation's history, the individuals have never really seemed to define this
term other than in ethnic descriptions. What the people do know is that they are
not Hungarian, not Serbian,
not Russian, and not Turkish,
but defining what they are will leave blank faces on most people you ask.
This page was last updated: February, 2012