Bună ziua!

Bună ziua! - Good day! 

After a few more days in Galati, I have had great experiences to share with all of you and some more insight into my life here.

First let me start off where my last post ended... Zumba! I had my first Zumba class last night, and I loved it. I got a great work out and had some embarrassing moments. I didn't realize before I went to the class that everyone in the Zumba classes pay to take Zumba only; therefore, EVERYONE knew ALL the dances. My Romanian mom, Dona, introduced me to the teacher and left me to be in the FRONT of the class right next to the HUGE window that opens to the rest of the gym. Needless to say, everyone could watch me mess up all the dances. I caught on to the dances eventually, but with everyone else already knowing the dances, I was the only one that messed up. The teacher laughed at some of my mess ups and probably found me very amusing. But, I still enjoyed going, got a great work out and I will be going again on Thursday night. 

This past weekend, in addition to having lunch with Radu's friends, we spent quite a bit of time at Bankers, Radu's cafe. Jordan and I came on a good weekend because we were able to see two artists that were booked to play at the cafe. The second night had performers that are pretty famous in Romania, which lead to Bankers being packed with people. The environment was great! Everyone was having lots of fun, and the music was very enjoyable. I was getting some background information with the different songs that were not in English from our friends here, and found the most interesting music to be the "gypsy" music. Below are some pictures from the more famous artist:

Monday started my first work day. I met the staff members at SMART and was given more insight into what projects SMART is working on. There are several elements to SMART's work. Jordan and I will be focusing on at least two projects; one with Radu and some individual policy papers. For the individual policy papers, we will be using the SMART public engagement website, www.public-policies.eu, to help complete the public engagement process. This website allows for citizens to submit problems within the community, and then creates an open forum for other community members to offer solutions to the problem. From this, SMART will evaluate the solutions, then write and submit a policy recommendation to the proper officials and they also post it on the website. From here, the public officials are expected to respond; then, a questionnaire is given asking how satisfied the individual, who submitted the problem, is with the policy recommendation and response from official. The issue I have chosen is youth entrepreneurship in Romania. This means I will be using the public's suggestions on the website to develop a policy recommendation to increase youth participation in entrepreneurship in Romania. 

Our second day in the office, Jordan and I were able to go to a neighboring city, Braila, with coworkers to submit paperwork for a project. We also took the opportunity to see a little bit of Braila, which is very similar to Galati. Below are some pictures of our visit there:

View from the government building. Across the street is a type of student/ youth center.

This is a statue of a Roman Emperor Trajan in Victory Square in Braila. 

Pre- Communist clock in Victory Square

View of the government court yard.

Bisercia Greaca: This is a Greek church in Braila. Braila has many different places of worship in the city.

The Mayor side of the government building.

The Palace of Agriculture.

The theatre in Braila.

This statue is of the first Woman Romanian Soldier who fought in WWI

A monument for those who died in this square during the uprising against Communism in 1989. Fun fact: the artist who constructed the cross also added his name to the list of those deceased as a way to put his name on his work.

Delicious pastries at the pastry shop we HAD to go to.

Braila view of the Danube.

Today in the office, we shadowed Radu some more and was able to go to a local tv news station for Radu's interview on entrepreneurship. We got a tour of the station and watched his interview from the control room. After the segment was filmed, we were asked if we were interested in doing an interview next week on our time in Romania, why we decided to come here, and what we will be working on at SMART. We also found out the other day that a local newspaper wants to write an article about us being in the city this summer, our work and experiences in Romania. It seems that in less than a week we have become local celebrities! I didn't expect to come to Romania and get asked to do interviews as mere interns. I'm very excited and happy to share experiences with the media outlets here. These opportunities will also be a great way to get exposure for SMART and the issues we will be working on there.

Looking toward the rest of this week and this weekend, I will be going with Radu to an entrepreneur conference Thursday-Saturday. Some fun activities here are trips to the botanical gardens and aquarium, and going on a river cruise on the Danube. Another fun event this weekend will be a local soccer game in Galati!