Toamnă în România {Fall in Romania}🍁

Fulbright Orientation, Bucharești, Bran Castle, Brașov, Starting the research!

Looking across Lacul Gheorgheni from Parcul Iulius, Cluj-Napoca, RO

Fulbright Orientation in Bucharești

On September 27-29, the 2023-2024 Fulbrighters in Romania met in Bucharest for orientation. You can read more about our adventures here. There are 28 Fulbrighters in Romania this year; many are serving as English Teaching Assistants, while a few of us are doing research projects. We rented a car with manual transmission to drive from Cluj to Bucharest for the orientation, and though the original plan was for Scott to drive, his broken foot required a change of plans. It actually turned out perfect because I *love* driving a stick, and Scott enjoys navigating. By the time we got to Bucharest I was a PRO at scooting through the overabundance of roundabouts! It was beautiful to see the countryside and traverse along a riverbed through the Carpathian mountains. It felt like home. Our time in Bucharest was not enough! Because of the broken foot debacle and my orientation duties, we did not get to see much of the city as a family, but everyone was a great sport! We know we will have an opportunity to return to Bucharest soon... there is much to see and learn! Claire really enjoyed the lavish mall and turkish doner kebab, and Max enjoyed the ice cream and searching for tiny Smart cars in the big city--they're his favorite (🤷‍♀️).

Starting the Research

You can read about my original proposed project here. Because the proposal was submitted over a year ago, there will likely be changes to some of my research questions, and it's looking like we will be traveling a bit around the country to explore the ideas mentioned in the proposal. In short, I want to find out if and how teachers in Romania are talking about or teaching about war to young children, specifically the war in Ukraine. I also wonder about how Ukranian refugee children and families are being intercepted by the state schools here in Romania. My project is funded from October through June, so things are just now getting underway. I have made contact with faculty at my host university, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai (or, UBB) in the Political, Administrative, and Communication Sciences, as well as in the Psychology and Educational Sciences. I met with two lovely faculty members in the PACS offices, and spoke with them for over an hour about the work they do as directors of the Centre for the Study of Transnational Families (CASTLE). This conversation with Drs. Viorela and Áron Telegdi-Cestri was fruitful and led me to connect with a friend of theirs and a fellow parent at The Royal School (where our kids attend school) who is in touch with a person who coordinates some work with Ukranian refugees in Tóköz, Romania. I look forward to connecting with this person in the coming days. Additionally, a member of the Educational Sciences faculty, Dr. Alina Glava, has contacted her colleagues from the teacher training department and will make an appointment with the specialists in the didactics of history and other social sciences to hopefully make some connections in schools.

Brașov

On the way back from Bucharest, we just had to stop at Bran Castle, known by some as "Dracula's Castle." The castle is misconceived by most folks outside of Transylvania and Romania in this way, as Vlad the Impaler (of whom Bram Stoker based his vampire character in his 1897 novel) is mostly unrelated to the castle in any meaningful way. The fortress was approved to be built in 1377 by the Hungarian King Louis I to protect the region from the northern spread of the Ottoman Empire, and was completed in 1388. An Ottoman army was defeated at the castle in 1441! (You can read more about the castle's history here.) It is reported that Bram Stoker never even visited the castle, and the castle scenes in the original Dracula movie (1931) did not resemble Bran Castle. Despite this, the castle is marketed as Dracula's Castle, and folks come from all over to visit its medieval elegance. The kids loved the views from the top of the castle, and Max especially enjoyed all the hidden arched hallways, staircases, and fireplaces. We learned a lot about Queen Marie of Romania, who was gifted the castle after WWI in 1920. She took great lengths to restore the castle as a summer home, and lived there before and after King Ferdinand I died in 1927. The queen had served as a nurse in WWI, and had six children. She died in 1938. (Here is a collection of primary sources about Queen Marie of Romania, courtesy of Kent State University.)

Bran Castle, Bran, RO

We decided to book a cheap apartment for the night in Brasov to break up our drive back to Cluj. Oh. My. Goodness. Brasov is a beautiful city. Seemingly untouched by the communist bloc apartments and nestled in the mountains, the lovely cobble-stoned center of town is embraced by brightly painted baroque buildings with stringed lights to illuminate the restaurants, terraces, and shops during the evening hours. We were in Brasov less than 24 hours, but so far it is the most beautiful city we have traveled to so far. After our brief visit in Brasov, we checked out of our tiny apartment and I drove the family through Transylvania back to our flat in Cluj, resolving that we would be back to Brasov another day! There are some Fulbrighters in Brasov, so aside from visiting some new friends, making connections at Transylvania University is on my list of to-dos. One of my ideas is to explore Romania and its various cities as potential international student teaching sites. Folks drawn to Boone and the Appalachian Mountains would certainly be equally drawn to scenic Brasov, so I will be intentional about the connections I make here and wherever else we travel in Romania.

I'm very excited about getting into the work, but until then, I continue to walk the kids to and from school every morning and afternoon, shop for our meals, hang the laundry, and make sure Scott keeps his foot elevated and iced! One positive thing from the broken foot is that we learned how to navigate the Romanian health care system. For an emergency X-ray and doctor visit in an orthopedic emergency room, our bill was $0. Insurance or not, there was no fee. After the emergency visit we followed-up with a private orthopedist, and another visit and X-ray cost $70. Medication, crutches, and a stabilizing boot cost less than $50. We have felt well taken care of here, and have not yet worried about how we will make it to my next paycheck in January (I am on unpaid leave from July 1 to December 31 😳). Pray there are no more accidents or unexpected costs!

Bonus Photo Gallery from mid-September - mid-October