Thanks to Erasmus who financed our trip/internship during these 2 weeks!
All the photos on my blog were taken by me !

FIRST WEEK

We took a plane to Romania, the 8th June 2024, from Lyon "Saint Exupéry" airport.
Our flight was in the start of evening.
We flew with the airline "Wizz Air."
The flight lasted about 2 hours and 30 minutes to 3 hours.
The flight was a bit delayed because there were more tickets sold than seats available on the plane.

We arrived in the evening in Bucharest, rented a car, and stayed at a hotel called "Taxi Hotel" in the suburbs of the city.
That night, we went to a small restaurant in the neighborhood, where we had a great meal, and they served us a very good sea bass.

On the second day, we took a short tour of Bucharest and visited the Parliament.
The Parliament of Bucharest is one of the largest administrative buildings in the world. Built during the Communist era, it is a symbol of Romania's history and a popular tourist attraction.


After that, we drove to Brașov.
In the evening, we arrived at the dormitories of the school where we are staying, an agricultural school in Prejmer.
Prejmer is a small village in Romania known for its fortified church, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is located near Brașov and surrounded by beautiful countryside.


On the first day of my internship (Monday), we woke up at 7 a.m. to go to the fish farm where I’m doing my internship, called "Salmontana."
I was with Benoît and Bastien, two of my classmate at the Salmontana fish farm.
We met Ana Maria, one of the employees at the fish farm.
We went to the processing workshop, where we gutted some portion-sized rainbow trout.
After that, we prepared the farm's specialty, "Zacusca." This is made with smoked fish; we removed the flesh from the fish bones and put it in boxes to make pâté.


On the second day (Tuesday), we fed the fish and refilled the feeders.
After that, we gutted 300 rainbow trout to prepare for smoking on Thursday.

On the third day (Wednesday), we spent the day sterilizing and labeling jars of pâté and Zacusca.
We processed approximately 4,000 jars.
In the evening, we went to Brașov for a visit and took part in a treasure hunt.
I bought some souvenirs for my family and took many photos of Brașov.
Brașov is a historic city in central Romania, surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains. Known for its medieval architecture, it features landmarks like the Black Church, Council Square, and the old city walls.
It was very beautifull and has a unique charm !




(Black Church clock and a magnet I bought)

On the fourth day, I packaged the 300 smoked rainbow trout portions from Tuesday using a vacuum-sealing machine.
After that, we gutted and decapitated 60 large rainbow trout, each weighing around 5 kg, to make fillets.


(Photo of Ana Marian and me)

On Friday, I helped an employee and the boss repair one of the circular pools at the fish farm.
We welded the metal plates and then added thermal insulation for the winter.
After that, I joined the others to debone the fillets, as it was a large order for a restaurant.

This weekend, we did many activities.
On Saturday morning, we visited a bear reserve. The bears there had been mistreated in the past—locked in too many cages and abused.
Now, in the "Millions of Friends" reserve, they can live a new life.
We saw many bears; they were beautiful, and some of them were very large !
Their story were very sad and touching.

In the afternoon, we visited Bran Castle, the famous castle associated with Dracula/Vlad and also one of King Ferdinand's residences.
The castle is beautiful and very well renovated, though it has lost a bit of its original authenticity.

After that, we ended the day in Brașov (again) with 2 hours of free time!
I love Brașov because it’s a charming city with many beautiful buildings and a lot of history.
I walked around the entire city and visited many monuments on my own.
Brașov has magnificent little streets and hidden buildings with beautiful typical facades.

On Sunday, we went fishing at a pond owned by the company Doripesco.
It’s primarily a carp pond, but there are many other species of fish, like roach, perch, and others.

(Mathis with a silver carp)

THE SECOND WEEK

At the start of the second week, on Monday, we began at 2 p.m. because Ana Maria wasn’t there in the morning.
In the afternoon, we caught 284 trout for smoking.
We cleaned and gutted all the trout in 4 hours. It was a short task.

On Tuesday, we fed the fish and then helped clean two barns full of materials.
It was hard work, but we finished on time.

On Wednesday, we met a Romanian student who came to do an internship at Salmontana.
The day was short; I vacuum-sealed 300 trout, and then we caught 30 large trout. The others gutted them, and I made some Zacusca.

Today (Thursday), we spent the day fishing for fish to transform into various products.
In the afternoon, we went to Brașov. I visited the Black Church, a beautiful 13th-century cathedral.
The Black Church is a famous Gothic-style cathedral. It got its name after a major fire in 1689, which blackened its walls.
The history of the cathedral is very interesting, with the many conquests of the city and the great fire.

This Thursday morning was our last day at Salmontana.
We didn’t do anything special, but at the end of the day, we said goodbye to all the employees.
It was very emotional, especially with Ana Maria, who was very sad to see us leave.
They gave us many souvenirs and goodies from Prejmer, as well as some products from the fish farm.
We were very happy!

In the afternoon, we returned (again) to Brașov!
We took the cable car to the top of Brașov, where we could go behind the large "Brașov" letters and take a short walk.
We visited the ancient ruins of the city's fortifications.

After that, we visited the very interesting Museum of Communism.
I really liked this museum because it shows what life was like in Romania during the communist "dictatorship" and how people lived at the time.
And about the leader of this dictatorship : Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was the leader of Romania from 1965 to 1989.
He ruled as a dictator and controlled the country with strict laws and repression. Under his leadership, Romania faced poverty and many people suffered. Ceaușescu also built large projects(like the Parliement), but they came at the cost of the people's well-being. He was executed during the Romanian Revolution in 1989.


To finish the day, I went with Gabriel to the Starbucks in the Council square of Brașov, near the Clock Tower, where we had some Frappuccinos.


On our last day in Romania, we visited a salt mine in Slănic.
Before the mine, we went to a restaurant, and it was very good!
The mine we visited is the largest salt mine in Europe.
There are many tunnels and shafts in the mine.
We went down with a minibus and reached a depth of 200 meters.
Inside the mine, there are many activities, such as mini-golf, a restaurant, and more.
It was very impressive, with a ceiling height of about 40 to 50 meters—it was enormous.

(Photo at the entry of the mine)

Tomorrow morning, we will leave early from Prejmer to go to Bucharest to catch the plane.
Before boarding, we ate pizza and bought some last-minute souvenirs.

It was a beautiful trip and a great internship. Everyone in the class loved this experience, and we have many wonderful memories!
We also many typicals new methods of production in fishfarm !
It was very different to France but it's interesting to see the differences between the West and Eastern Europe on cultural aspects, ...

Thank you for reading my blog and thank again Erasmus for this opportunity !

BURDY Aidan