11 Students and a Professor

For the past week, a group of 11 students and a professor from Huntington University in Indiana has been visiting Romania as part of the Romanian Studies Program (RSP) during their January term.

So, what do students do when they come for 2 weeks in January? They learn about living and working in another culture by doing just that. They get involved by working alongside the Romanian staff in many of the weekday Veritas social programs –with children, teens, the elderly, and people with special needs. They live with a Romanian host family and learn to adapt to a way of life that is different than they’re used to at home.

Although I have been involved with working with students since I arrived in 2009, this is the first time I have directly coordinated a student group’s activities, since RSP director Dorothy Tarrant is visiting family in the U.K. this month. Maria, a Romanian who has worked with students in the past, and I have been given the responsibility to look after the students this month.

Maria and I have been working as a leadership team, but we split the responsibilities based on our skills and interests. My main responsibility is leading the students in orientation to Romanian culture and leading discussion in a series of Cross-cultural Checkups (or CCCs for short). The CCCs help the students identify and process some of the differences and similarities between cultures and approach them with a healthy attitude. Maria has been coordinating activities with the Romanian staff of Veritas, with host families, and with high school students who are serving as the students' "buddies" for the time they are in Romania.

Random facts relating to the RSP:

• Since its beginning in 1993, over 450 students have participated in the RSP.
  
• In the past year and a half (since I arrived in September 2009), forty students have participated in the RSP for a fall or spring semester, summer, January term, or May term.
  
• Two students will be arriving next week for this spring semester.
• Next month will mark 10 years since I first came to Romania -- as a student in the Romanian Studies Program.
• For more information about the Romanian Studies Program, visit www.RomanianStudiesProgram.org.
  

Group photo: The Huntington University team with Maria, Elena (their Romanian language teacher), and I