..Still getting caught up!

So, back to my second day in Cluj! After going out and exploring on my own a bit, I returned to the hotel and enjoyed the room I have there (really nice by European standards, and even by American standards for hotels..) After sitting a while I came up with a to-do list. Encouraged by advice I read in my guide book (Rough Guide to Romania, I met the author last year at Julian's place) I headed out again with a map of city and a list of internet cafes.
I was glad I had that list, because the cafe, like many locales in Romania, was not all that well advertised, and the signage and location would ensure a business's failure in the US. But tucked in a decrepit courtyard off the main street in the far back corner was indeed a very large computer lab with ridiculously cheap rates (2.5 lei.hour = less than $1/hr) and I was reunited with my Gmail account.
Then off to buy a cell phone, and by the time I had finished with that, I was returning to the hotel to meet Carmen. When I got in, Domnica and her son were there too and I was SO thrilled to see her. She said she would come with us to see the apartment and then we'd eat dinner together (yayyyyy!).
The apartment was just... mehh..... Ceasescu apartment bloc, horrifically drab and dirty staircase, coffin sized elevator, and then the place itself looked and smelled old and was not particularly large. With Domnica encouraging me to try better, we left for the Dacian restaurant. After a night with people who spoke English (and could understand my Romanian!) I felt a lot better and was excited for my next trip- down to Bucharest!