American in the land of Dracula

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club ("Window on America" Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) was a pleasant surprise for the regular members and new-comers. Our American volunteer Mr. Jason was back in Dnipropetrovsk from his trip around Eastern Europe and came to share his travel experiences.
It turned out that Jason is interested in Roman history and was fascinated with the legend about Count Dracula .So he planned a trip to Transylvania via Ukraine’s neighboring countries – Transnistria, Moldova and Romania.
 

The photos of Transnistrian towns Bendery and Tiraspol returned us back to the USSR, but Jason was rather interested in the artifacts of this bygone era. The stay in Moldova was not particularly exciting for Jason as he was not interested in wine tasting which is the main tourist attraction in the country .The greatest impression was produced by Romania. This big country boasts beautiful landscapes, Carpathian Mountains and rich history. One of the tourist brands nowadays is Transylvania and Dracula tours. Jason told the group a lot about the castles and fortresses that he visited in the homeland of Dracula. The legends about the famous vampire   became popular after the Bram Stoker’s book was published. But historical background was rather controversial.
 

The tourist’s story about Romania made the Ukrainian part of the group remember the facts about the neighboring country – the things we have in common and the things we dispute about. The session was educational as the participants immersed into the authentic American English speech and had a chance to evaluate their own skills of speech comprehension.
Number of participants – 25 persons.