Romania is situated in eastern Europe between Hungary and Serbia - Montenegro to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the north and east and Bulgaria to the south. The Danube River represents much of its southern border. It has a 225 km stretch of coast along the Black Sea, where, not surprising, quite a number of beach resorts are located. The capial city is Bucharest and some of the major cities are Costanta, Timisoara, Satu Mare and Cluj-Napoca. The landscape of Romania is quite varied and ranges from plains in the west, south and east to mountainous regions in the central zones; much of the nation is forested, while about 40% of the land is arable.

The history of the area comprised in modern-day Romania is extremely rich and complex and a summary would not do justice to the 1600 years of history from the Middle Ages to the modern period. Important to note is that between 1947 and 1989, Romania was part of the Communist Block and was, thus, socially and economically underdeveloped. As of 1990, Romania has a republican government, currently headed by President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu.

Following the revolution in December 1989, the country was transformed from a communist state into a democracy. This meant many novelties for Romanians. FIrst and foremost, Romanians were finally free to believe and express what they really felt and were free to move within and outside of the country. Second, they became owners of property: city-dwellers who had been assigned state-controlled apartments based upon the size of their families and social status came to own the apartments they lived in; farmers who had toiled on state-owned land within a cooperative system were given parcels of land. There was a market economy and greater dealings with western Europe and North America began to take place. But the economy was in shambles and despite the ownership of land, people possessed little else. Farmers had land, but were without tools, while most workers maintained the positions they held under the Communists, but were without adequate infrastructure or resources.

Despite these handicaps, Romanians are extremely generous, ingenious and determined. Many people have attended or are attending university and some young adults have had the opportinuty to study or participate in internships in the United States. American concepts of business management and marketing are of great interest to Romanians as are science and engineering. It is difficult to predict when Romania will catch up to her western neighbors (it took southern European nations several decades to recover following WWII), but recent increases in foreign interest and investment in Eastern Europe are assisting in the road to recovery.

Personal safety in modern-day Romania is no different than its western European counterparts. There has been no civil strife since the fall of the communist dictatorship. Visitors (and residents) may encounter petty crime such as pick-pocketing in the major cities, just like in Rome, Paris and Berlin. Still, it is best to travel in pairs or small groups.

For a more complete geographic, political, social and economic information about Romania, see the CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ro.html