Whenever I meet a non-Romanian and I tell them where I'm from, I will invariably get asked some or all of these questions about my country. I am glad that people DO know a few things about Romania and I also appreciate that they want to learn more. That said, some questions are really just downright silly, but here I am to bring knowledge to the world.
1. Was Romania part of the Soviet Union?
No, it was not. It was indeed a Socialist country up until the 1989 Revolution and a satellite to the Soviets, but never part of the Union. Romania is part of the European Union though, since 2007.
2. Do you guys speak Russian there?
No, we don't. The last generation to be taught Russian as a mandatory second language in school was my grandparents' (with very few exceptions). My parents, who were in their 20s during the Revolution, had been taught English and French as second languages. Nowadays you'd have a million more chances of finding somebody on the street to speak English, than to speak Russian.
Also, our native language is Romanian, which is derived from Latin. It's similar to Italian, Spanish and the other Romance languages, but it does have some Slavic, Turkish and Hungarian influences, courtesy of the historical "visits". Oh, and we do have a few words preserved from the old language of the Dacians, our ancestors who inhabited the land when the Romans came for the gold.
3. Is Transylvania real? Questions 3 and 4 are connected because people know of Transylvania from the Dracula legends. Transylvania is very real and very beautiful. It is one of the historical regions of Romania and it's speckled with castles, medieval fortresses, small villages, hills and forests. Worth visiting. Or moving there. It's magical.
4. Is Dracula real? As for Dracula, he is as real as a literary character could be. Bram Stoker did base this character on the figure of the former Romanian voivode (i.e. king), Vlad The Impaler, of the 15th century. He was a sadistic guy and a ruthless ruler, and he would impale the prisoners to teach invaders a lesson. Very literal. Stuck them on a spike.
He was not a vampire, though. Just an insane guy. His story was most likely contaminated by the one of Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian countess based in Transylvania in the 16th century, who is known for her murdering and bathing in the blood of virgin girls. She was actually labelled by Guinness as the most prolific female murderer EVER (over 650 girls). Not sure if she drank the blood though.
In addition, Romanian folklore does have many tales about vampires and other friendly creatures as such; probably as a result of all this historical murdering and torturing?
5. Are there a lot of Gypsies in Romania? The Romani people are a minority in Romania, officially around 3.5% of the total population (and the total population is about 20 million). Also known as the Rroma, or Gypsy, they are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group of Northern Indian origins, nowadays living in several parts of Europe and Africa. They do face a lot of social issues and discrimination, which is probably where this question comes from.
Any other questions? Leave them below, I'll do my best to answer.