Chichifoi

Many of the students I speak to say they are looking for a way out of Romania. Some of my students have parents who are working abroad, mostly notably in Italy and Spain, who send money home. There is little possibility for a position in this area of the country, as there is little industry, only farming and tourism. It seems that most of the tourist Euros go to other countries. It doesn't appear that they stay here as many of the busses that pass through do not have Romanian license plates. There are certainly a few hotels and restaurants that are getting the tourist trade and many bed and breakfasts, or pensiunes as they are called here, offer accommodations. There are few places for tourists to spend their money though as one looks around the town. A few restaurants and two nice bars in walking distance of the centru, otherwise, it is a bleak. There are no shops or cute little places for the tourist to walk to. It is not a town that lends itself to browsing.

I find that I am working with a few students who are interested in going to American universities. One of the outreach programs for the Fulbright Commission is to help students do just this. They have a program in place to help high school students work through the process. It is a tedious process and takes time to put all the pieces together, but it can be done. There are Fulbright people in-country who are here specifically to help high school students get through this process.

One such student I met in Bucharest on my first visit to the Comision. You may remember her picture earlier in my blog. Diana is an excellent student with perfect grades. She is active in a variety of community service organizations and is published in a Romanian Psychology magazine. She writes a monthly column for this magazine also. Certainly a student worthy of an American university education. She has taken the TOEFL and the SAT and finally was completing her applications to several American universities. I spent a few evenings with her making sure all her paperwork was in order and that her translations were adequate for her purpose. I was happy to help her although I must say that her mother's excellent desserts did sweeten the bargain for me.

We even found an American on his way back to the States who took her applications and mailed them from the States for her so that they made it to the universities on time and did not get bogged down in the trans-Atlantic mail shuffle. Now we wait. One of the universities has asked for her semester grades and she should hear something by March. Another reason to hurry spring.