Università degli Studi di Milano, Italia
Sono Dario, uno studente siciliano della provincia di Siracusa che studia Lettere Moderne all’Università degli Studi di Milano, la quale, in seguito ad una selezione, mi ha dato l’opportunità di studiare a Bucarest (Romania) assegnandomi una borsa di studio Erasmus per 5 mesi, che, in seguito ad una esperienza unica e irripetibile, è stata prolungata di altri 5 mesi! Bucarest...chi di voi ha mai pensato di andare a Bucarest per più di un week-end?
Molti considerano questa scelta una follia!!
Tutti pazzi per la Spagna, Grecia, Portogallo (perchè paesi caldi...); per l’ Inghilterra, Germania, Francia (perchè paesi se non altro sviluppati).
Ma a mio avviso, se si considerano altri parametri, questa soluzione non è poi così folle!!
I Paesi appena citati suscitano sicuramente grande interesse, nessuno può metterlo in dubbio,ma reputo altrettanto interessante il fatto di vivere per una anno in un Paese dove nessuno penserebbe mai di farlo, poichè totalmente diverso dai Paesi occidentali...ma a mio avviso deve essere proprio questo lo stimolo che dovrebbe indurre uno studente di età compresa tra i 20 e i 25 anni a scegliere una città dell’Est (quale Bucarest) come meta del suo soggiorno Erasmus, proprio per poter scoprire un “mondo nuovo” e poter valutare se in effetti esso sia migliore o peggiore rispetto a quello di provenienza...
Bisogna prendere coscienza che non tutto ciò di cui ci nutrono i mass media sia vero, in specie per quanto riguarda la Romania e i suoi abitanti, disegnati come una popolazione violenta e priva di una normale vita sociale solo perchè i telegiornali ci presentano solo i fatti di cronaca nera che li riguarda; ma si può davvero pensare che il 100% dei Rumeni siano degli assassini e degli stupratori?
Sarebbe come dire che il 100% dei Siciliani siano mafiosi! O che il 100% dei Napoletani siano dei ladri e dei truffatori!
La Romania, un Paese la cui cultura è totalmente differente dalla nostra: stile di vita, mentalità...un Paese che, contro ogni aspettativa, si basa sulla proattività...che ha voglia di migliorarsi e sa che ha le possibilità per raggiungere lo scopo prefissato...lo dimostra il fatto che la maggior parte della popolazione rumena sotto i 30 anni parla, o quantomeno capisce, almeno 2 lingue (italiano, spagnolo e inglese combinate in maniera differente) oltre a quella d’origine, segno tangibile che la popolazione rumena non si sente inferiore a nessun’altra, che è inserita in un contesto europeo allo stesso modo di un Paese quale l’Italia o la Spagna, e che addirittura, al contrario dei due paesi appena citati che si trovano in una condizione sociale, politica ed economica stagnante, quella rumena è in via di sviluppo!
1. I think Erasmus experience is first of all opportunity. Opportunity to visit places, opportunity to meet new people, to make new friend, opportunity to be part of the globalisation. In order to make your Erasmus experience as much as pleasant as possible and useful I personally think that you need to socialize, meet and travel with people. You need to exchange ideas and opinions.
2. I live on the Balkans and I have visited most of the countries there. Personally to me I am not attracted about the idea, because part of the so called Erasmus experience is to meet more or less different cultures. Apart from that I love Eastern Europe and specifically Balkans so I would advice all future Erasmus to go somewhere there if they have chance – we know how to have fun!
3. What difference? Enormous difference. After Erasmus most of the students normally suffer from “Gone Erasmus” depression. You get to know people sometimes entirely different from you and you learn how to live with them and they learn how to live with you as well.
4. Educational system between Eastern and Western Europe is in a big gap. The style of teaching, the infrastructure the mentality of the teachers – everything is so different.
5. I live on the border with Romania – 80 km from Bucharest. I have been several times in the capital. Due to this fact I will not be tempted to go there as an Erasmus student. But again it depends what the student expect from his Erasmus – to have fun – definitely go to Romania, for the educational system I am not acquainted.
6. Romania – country in Eastern Europe, capital Bucharest, there is the home of notorious Dracula. It poses a lot of beauty and charm.
7. I will be definitely interested in the offer. I like Romania.
8. Dracula, Mamaliga, Nicolae Ceauşescu
9. Language, People, Money, Culture, Study programme
Danilo
Università G. D’Annunzio
Italy
Ciao.
Io sono stato a Sibiu (in Transilvania) a fare l’erasmus da settembre 2006 fino a marzo 2007.
Ho scelto la Romania come meta perché avevo voglia di conoscere la cultura dei popoli dell’est. Poi mi ha sempre affascinato la Transilvania con le sue storie di vampiri e del conte Dracula. Inoltre nel 2007 Sibiu è stata la capitale europea della cultura quindi vi sono stati molte manifestazioni culturali. Altro motivo che mi ha indirizzato ad effettuare questa scelta risiede nel fatto che la lingua romena è simile all’italiano e quindi non avendo grandi capacità linguistiche ho scelto così!!!
La Romania è una possibile scelta per fare l’erasmus perché è un paese in via di sviluppo ed è in forte crescita economica, e questo per gli studenti di economia deve essere una buona motivazione.
Per quando riguarda l’analisi dei punti di forza e di debolezza ti faccio una tabella esemplificativa:
| PUNTI DI FORZA | PUNTI DI DEBOLEZZA |
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Io ho studiato “scinze economice” presso l’universitatea “L. Blaga” di Sibiu e provengo dall’università degli studi “G. D’Annunzio” Chieti Pescara facoltà di Economia Aziendale.
In seguito alla mia esperienza posso dire che ho aperto la mente a 360°: infatti ho fatto tante esperienze a livello di viaggi, incontri etc.
Il confronto con una cultura differente mi ha fatto capire tante cose.
1) Yes I have been in Erasmus and I can say that it is one of the greatest experiences in live, you can know people from all over the world; you can learn, not just about one culture, but a bunch of new cultures because of the people that you meet during your stay in the foreign country, plus you can learn a thousand times better the foreign language that you are studying than in your country. I think these kind of programs (exchange programs) are not just about the experience of studying in another University or in another country, it is not just the school stuff here, they are about the knowledge that you acquire, by living far away from “home”, you mature a lot and you learn more about other persons and, principally, about yourself.
2) Yes I would, because I think Romania is a very interesting country. It has the biggest Palace of the World that is The Parliament Palace in Bucharest, it has one of the most known Castles around the World: The Dracula’s Castle and I think, the Romanians are very nice people and for sure they have a lot to offer.
3) Sure I would, I think the educational program in Romania has a lot to offer, plus I have some friends that are from Romania, friends that I knew, by taking an exchange program and it would be very nice to see them again.
4) Unfortunately, I have not been in Romania, but I know some things about this great country and well, I have also tasted some Romanian typical food and I like it. For sure, travel to Romania, would be a very nice experience.
JULIE R. B. Hermansen
SDU, Denmark
1: An Erasmus experince for me includes experiencing the country´s culture (food, traditions, art, history), learning something about the language, the way of living in the country and of course meeting both people from abroad but also people for the country.
2:An Erasmus experince in East Europe would be something not a lot of people from Denmark do, or at least I do not know anyone who went to East Europe. I guess it has something to do with history, just 20 years ago, a lot of East Europe was more or less closed for us. But I thing it would be interesting to go to East Europe because actually I have a lack of knowledge about East Europe.
3:I thing Erasmus stays in East Europe would help people becom more open minded towards East Europe, and in the long run help making the countries Europe work more together.
4:Well as I wrote before; it is still not so common to go to East Europe as West Europe in general, like when we go on vaccation etc. I do not know what the differences would be, however, I think some people chose not to go to East Europe because they are a bit "affraid". Here in Denamrk for example; there are a lot of problems with criminals comming from East Europe to Denmark. Every week a new incidence is on the news, and even though people know that everyone in East Europe are not criminals, it still contributes to a negative image of East Europe. And I think that is the real stopper for people, they do not know anything about East Europe except from what they hear on the news and most of that is unfortunatly negative!
5: Would I consider it; I hope I would, the attractive side would be to learn something about Romania, and I have heard that they have a good level of english.
6:Actually I only know that it is the home of Dracula and they should have better weather than in Denmark.
7: Well if I get the chance I would go either on Erasmus or on holiday.
8: Staying for free is always a good opportunity to get to know the country, and at a price students can afford. So jep I would go.
9: He he sorry but Dracula still comes first to my mind, and the oldest skelletons of Homo Sapiens were found in Romania, and then again better weather than here (it really does matter:))
10:People, language, culture, study program, transport.
MUSTAFA Ergun
Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Turkey
Suitability of the subjects that I will attend for my department, the language that natives speak in that country, attitudes of local people, cost of living are mainly important factors for me in order to have a wonderful Erasmus experience. In addition, while choosing the country where I will study I pay attention to the country's location, climate and tourist attractions.
Erasmus experience in the Eastern Europe would be nice. To be frank I do not know much about these countries. However, it is always enjoyable to visit new places and to learn new cultures. Studying in Western Europe is always more attractive comparing to Eastern Europe because countries in that region are more developed and there are lots of different people from different countries and education systems are thought to be more advanced.
I would be pleasant to be in Romania for Erasmus Program. I think attitudes of Romanian people would be positive towards foreign students. I would be really interested in staying for free at a Romanian student during the summer. I know hardly anything about Romania. Top three words that come to my mind are Bucharest, Mircea Lucescu, Dracula. Study program, housing, duration, money, cultural attractions are the first 5 most important elements as for studying in another country.
Neus Colome,
University of Girona,
Spain
How do you consider an Erasmus experience? What things do you think are important in order to have a wonderful Erasmus experience?
For me the most important thing is get involved with the inhabitants of the region that I would go. I think that if you go abroad it’s nice know the people, the culture, how the live… discovered that there is more people in the world than your friends, family, etc.
· How do you consider an Erasmus experience in the Eastern Europe?
Well, actually I was living in Slovenia for four months and I have to say that at the beginning I was little scared to go there, mainly cause the people still remind all the political problems that they had. But after living there four months I can say that it’s a safe place where all the people could live. So, regarding the question I would say that I wouldn’t mind go there like Erasmus experience but right now it’s not my first choice.
· What differences do you think there are between studying in Western Europe and studying in Eastern Europe?
Regarding my experience in Slovenia I can say that there’s not really such big difference related with studies.
· Would you be tempted to experience an Erasmus in Romania? What do you consider attractive? Or what do you consider unattractive?
As I said before Romania wouldn’t be one of my first choice if I could choose among all the countries in Europe, mainly because I don’t know at all the country so I would prefer go to a country that I know some information about it than go to a country that the only information I perceived from the news are negative.
· What do you know about Romania?
I don’t know anything at all.
· What did you think you know about Romania, and now you discovered that it isn't true?
Like I said before I don’t think anything about Romania.
· If you would have the opportunity to stay for free at a Romanian student for 1 or 2 weeks during the summer and visit Romania, would you be interested of this offer?
Of course! All the free things are perfect for me!
· Tell me 3 words you associate with Romania. Top of mind.
I can’t say anything.
· Which are the first 5 most important elements that you care about when comes to studying in another country? Choose between: people, language, housing, money, cultural attractions, leisure time, transport, study programme, duration (time)
I put all the issues from the most important for me to the less important:
Language, people, housing, duration (time), money, cultural attractions, leisure time, study programme, transport.
ROBERT Botey Beguiristain
University of Girona, Spain
"An Erasmus is something that I have thinking about even before going to the university, because I have been always adventurer and also in every travel I had made I thought how can be me life living there.
From my point of view there isn’t so many things important to have a wonderfull Erasmus experience, through my friends erasmus experience, after visiting them, I realized that wherever you go, whoever you meet, whatever that happen to you will be such a great experience in your life that the rest doesn’t really matter.
Eastern europe seems to be very different from western europe, where I live. I thinks that’s a real different culture, a real diferent way of live and that one of the things that more attract me.
Of course I am tempted to experience an erasmus in Romania, that’s reason I wil have it. The most attractive thing is that for me all the east-european countries have a special flavour that I really like. Like a walk in the immediate past. On the other hand, my dreads are focus to insecurity of the unknown. Although that unknown is becoming more know because of a marvels persons I meet from Romania.
If I am honest I have to say that in Spain we don’t really know Romania. Most of the people (I am ashamed to say it) associate Romania to immigration in a negative way, but that is no true, It is a cognitive bias.
I thought about Romania that all the people were vampires, an unfortunetly it’s no true.
Because I will have my erasmus experience in Bucharest it will be a real pleasure to have the opportunity stay for free at a Romanian student for 1 or 2 weeks during the summer and visit Romania. In that way, I will discover a little what can I expect from my entire year there.
If I had to say three words that I associate with Romania I will say rural, hospitality and Dacia.
The first 3 most important elements that I care about studying in another country: people, cultural attractions and leisure time."
