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!  

First Impressions

Hey all! I am excited to share with you my summer experience living in Galati, Romania for my summer internship at SMART. I am currently completing my internship requirement in between my first and second year at Pepperdine School of Public Policy (SPP). I have been in Galati for almost 2 days now, and I can already tell this summer will be one of the most unique summers of my life. 

First, traveling here was quite the adventure. I flew from Phoenix, and had lay overs in Chicago and London. On the 8 hour plane ride to London, I ended up getting sick from something, I'm not sure what. Whatever made my stomach upset, plagued me for my 6 hour lay over in London; therefore, I was not able to do too much more than communicate with my family and friends I had made it safe to Europe.

With all that aside, I finally made it to Romania late Friday night (05/10/13) where Radu, my boss and SPP alumni, and Jordan, fellow SPP intern, were waiting to pick me up. Luckily, all my bags made it safely making my life easier to not have to drive back the 3 hours it takes to drive from Galati to Bucharest.

On the drive from the airport to Galati, Radu took Jordan and me around to see the major government buildings in Bucharest. They are very impressive. The parliament building is the second largest administrative building in the world (after the pentagon), with most of the building being underground. I think this was the most impressive building I have seen so far on my trip. The rest of the drive to Galati was used to ask Radu questions and learn more about Romania.We could only travel on the highway for half of the way, and the rest is similar to driving across Texas, where there is a two lane road that goes through small towns. I was able to see more of the stray dogs I had been warned about in the smaller towns. As we were driving through, some dogs chased after the car, and Radu added that a lot of times they have a stand off with cars because they feel like the car is in their territory. Of course this leads to many dogs getting hit by cars, and many cars having pretty good damage from the large dogs. I certainly don't want to be in the car when a dog is hit.

That said, the driving here in Romania is crazy! People drive really fast and drive/park anywhere... Literally ANYWHERE. They drive on sidewalks, park on sidewalks, and have no concept of spacing between other cars and pedestrians. I was also shocked to find out, there are many vehicles that do not have seat-belts, leaving me wary to travel with anyone other than Radu. Most streets are very narrow, mainly due to cars parked every-which way on either side, but there is definitely no pattern or layout of a grid street system like in Arizona.

As for the weather, I am happy to find it is similar to what I'm use to in California and Arizona with dry heat and a light breeze during the day with cooler nights. The best place I like to be in Galati so far has been by the river that runs by our current apartment, called the Danube. Jordan and I want to explore the areas by the Danube more, including riding the ferry across to learn what is on the other side. We are also hoping to relocate to a two-bedroom apartment along the Danube for a more beautiful view of Galati.

So far, I have met a few of Radu's friends who have been kind enough to cook us lunch the past two days. They mostly speak to each other in Romanian and then relay jokes and such in English to Jordan and me after they can stop laughing. It can be awkward at times because Jordan and I have no idea what's going on and even when we do, their jokes are sometimes not as funny to us, but jokes are always lame when they have to be explained no matter what language. Despite the slight language barrier, they are very nice people and have become like family here in Romania. One has even decided to adopt us as her children because she has a daughter around my age and I remind her a lot of her daughter. She is my favorite of the people we have met, not only because she is like my Romanian mom, but because she is going to take me to some Zumba classes with her! My favorite!