Romanian education has gained a poor reputation over the past few years. Presently, the entire Romanian educational system is going through a sort of revival, and the result is a very promising educational system from kindergarten through university.

The Romanian educational system consists of four levels of studies. These levels are kindergarten, primary, secondary and higher education.

1 Kindergarten

Kindergarten start as early as three years old and can stay until they are six or seven years old. The preparation class for children aged 6–7 became compulsory, and is a requirement in order to enter primary school.

2 Elementary school

Following kindergarten, children are whisked away to elementary school at the age of six years old. Most elementary schools are public.

Elementary school in Romania is slightly different from elementary school in Europe and the West, though the same fundamental lessons are taught. In fact, Romanian education largely mimics education throughout the rest of the world until children reach the high school level. High school in Romania is reserved for those students who pass The National Test (an extremely difficult aptitude test), and many students never reach the high school at all.

3 High schools

After the 8th grade, students are required to take the Testarea Naţională or the National Test. This is a nationwide examination that can only be taken once. The subjects included in the test are Romanian Language and Literature, Geography or History and Maths. The passing grade is an average of 5 for the three exams, and will allow the student to enroll in high school. If the student fails, he will have to enter a School of Crafts and Trades first for two years before entering high school.

4 Higher education

Higher education in Romania is less centralized than in many countries in the West, with every university having its own internal policies regarding admission, exams and conditions for graduation.

What makes Romanian food so individual and special is the fact that the dishes are easy to be prepared, without special endowment and the ingredients are handy. The biggest influence over Romanian cuisine was the Balkan cuisine, but also of other nations, such as the German, Hungarian and Serbian cuisine.

The recipes carry the same influences as the whole Romanian culture: from Romanians the pie, word that initially preserved the meaning of the Latin term of “placenta”, the Turks brought the quenelles soup and the Turkish cake in the shape of lozenge, the Greeks brought the dish called musaca (a dish of vegetables and mince meat), the Bulgarians have a variety of mixed vegetable food such as zacusca, and the schnitzel comes from the Austrians.

The most common Romanian specific dish is the hominy; a broth of corn flower, which was considered for a long time poor’s food but now has become more appreciated. The main meat used by Romanians is pork, but they also eat beef, chicken, mutton or lamb, depending on the geographic area.

Some of the recipes are strictly related with the season or the holidays. Usually, on Christmas each family used to sacrifice a pig and they used to fix a variety of dishes made from the meat and organs:

- Sausages, blood pudding, black pudding, wrapped in pork intestines.
- Meat jelly, a jelly made of difficult to use pork parts such as ears, legs, and head, arranged in aspic jelly.
- Meat balls in cabbage, a delicious mixture of meat wrapped in cabbage leafs, garden sorrel.
- Tochitura, some sort of stew served along with hominy and wine;
- And as something sweet they have the traditional pound cake, sweet bread with nuts, cocoa or Turkish delight.

On Easter they eat lamb and the specific dishes are:
- Grilled lamb ( “Roast lamb with savory” recipe)
- Shiver, a backed mixture of organs, meat and fresh vegetables, especially green onion; (“Lamb shiver” recipe)
- And as a dessert matzos, a specific pie, with cheese and sultanas. (“Cheese matzos” recipe)

The main drink is wine, remarkable by its force and bouquet with a local tradition of over 2 millenniums. Romania is the ninth major producer of wine in the world and recently the export market has registered a growth. A large scale of local sorts is produced:
- Feteasca
- Grasa
- Tamaioasa

But universal wines are also produced:
- Riesling
- Merlot
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Chardonnay
- Muscat Ottonel

The beer is also consumed at a large scale; under German influences.
Romania is the second large producer in the world of plums and almost the entire production of plums is used in order to produce “tuicã”, a brandy of plums obtained through distillation.