There is no legal way for me

to get a passport.

I can’t get a job without a buletin here.
I can’t get a buletin without having residence in Romania.
I can’t get a passport without a job or residence.
I can’t get a passport with residence in the US if I’m a Romanian resident.

After walking around Bucharest for a few hours, trying to find the right office where passports are made for people with residence in other countries, I finally found the building and the office. When I walked in, the secretary simply refused me and asked me to leave. She said, “You are in the wrong place. Go away.” The funny part is, that for the first time that day, I was in the right place. She insisted for a while that I did not have residence in another country. She didn’t even know me, ask for ID, nothing. She was just trying to get rid of me. I pretty much stayed there and glared at her until she let me enter and talk with someone who understood I was a US citizen and obviously confirmed I was in the right place. But then they took my passport fee and refused to submit a request for a passport for me because of a random loophole in the system they decided to penalize me with.

I feel like you can’t get anything done here without punching people in the face. Don’t get me wrong, I like Romania and staying here has been a great and fun experience, but the poor attitude that is prevalent here is inexcusable. This is the only reason Americans and the rest of Europe hate Romanians. It has nothing to do with race or class or money. Some Romanians have a bad attitude about everything and that makes nobody want to associate with them.