The past week or so has been a whirlwind of language tests, our swearing in ceremony at the ambassador’s house in Bucharest, after parties, packing, and finally goodbyes. It was bittersweet. While I can’t wait to get started with my service, there are plenty of things to miss about training. I have had such a great experience with my host family, and leaving the support of my fellow volunteers and their ability to speak English is hard. However, my last night in town, I had an experience that made it apparent that it was time to leave the city.

I was walking in the city late at night, which I try to avoid when possible. Unfortunately, I had gone out to celebrate my last night with friends and somehow forgot to bring enough money for a cab. I walked with a fellow volunteer to her home and had only a short bit further to go on my own, but at night a block or two can be dangerous because of the turf wars. No, I am not talking about gangs in the traditional sense. I feel incredibly safe on the street in terms of the people; I am referring to the dogs. While I have grown accustomed to them during the day, at night they run the streets. Every night for the past three months I have been able to hear them barking and fighting from the safety or my room, but now I found myself in their territory.

Suddenly, two dogs approached me. They were being oddly friendly. One came up and nearly forced me to pet it. Then it started to get slightly aggressive, biting my skit and pulling at it. I yelled at it in an attempt to scare it away while simultaneously trying to hail one of the passing cabs. No luck, in fact the dog just started to growl, and the cabs ignored me. I decided to just freeze and hope it left eventually without taking a bite out of my leg, and finally, after three terrifying minutes, it went away. I only had two more blocks left, but I knew there was still much ahead. I walked no more than 50 feet when another dog approached me, growling and braking. This time a cab came out of nowhere and stopped next to me, just in time. I pleaded with him to except all the money I had left, however insufficient it was. He agreed without second thought. On the short trip to my apartment, we passed at least ten dogs on the way, all of which barked and chased after us. I’m not sure if he the driver was trying to make me feel better, or just having himself a little fun, but for whatever reason he drove straight at them in an attempt to either scare or kill them, I’m not really sure. All I know is that if there is one thing I won’t miss about our training site it is definitely the dogs.