Foreigners love Bucharest, and when they discover it, they come to offer a multitude of reasons why the city should be included on the map of those who love travel. The young people, who come to study in Romania, are becoming the best ambassadors of our country, promoting everywhere the places that they have the chance to explore.
DziyanaTarasenka is one of the many foreign students who have opted for a higher education institution in the capital of Romania and who have chosen to study in our country.
The young woman, who is called by the first name Diana by her nearest, comes from the city of Grodno, Belarus. She is 20 years old and she is in the preparatory year at the University of Bucharest, where she is intensively studying the Romanian language, following to improve herself in graphics, at the National University of Arts in Bucharest.
Even though she was very young, she managed to gain an important experience. She studied French in her native country, and in parallel she attended the courses of an art school. Initially, she decided to opt for a dental school after graduating from high school, so she devoted much of her time to studying chemistry and biology. But after the 9th grade, she realized that she wasn’t made for a career in medicine and changed her mind. In order to become familiar with the future life of a student, she began to attend, already during high school, journalism courses organized by YankaKupala State University in Grodno.
After completing high school, however, she decided to take the exam at the Belarusian National Technical University, in Minsk, feeling that this profile fits her much better. Following the courses completed she obtained an engineer diploma, which allows her to deal with the information systems of companies.
Her dream is to improve her skills in computer graphics, so she came to Romania to implement her study plans.
“I felt that this is my place”
When she had to choose the city in which she would learn, she had to choose between Timisoara and Bucharest. She preferred the latter, because it is much closer to the town where she comes from.
When she came to Bucharest for the first time she had a very pleasant feeling, namely that she finally found her place. “I felt that this is my place. Many corners of Bucharest reminded me of the city where I was born. I didn’t like Minsk very much because of the city’s architecture. In the Romanian capital I feel much better and more comfortable due to the fact that the city has a lot of greenery and many parks. The climate has an important contribution to my “home state”. Here, people are much quieter. I liked Bucharest from the first and as I explore new places, I get to like it even more”, confesses Diana.
She has recently arrived in Romania, so she can’t make a top with her favorite places in the Capital. But she tells us that the center of Bucharest is the one that attracts her the most, due to its architecture.
She also likes the Triumphal Arch, but also the way the banks of the DâmbovițaRiver are arranged. “I set out to visit as much as possible this summer. I want to go to the many museums that I found out there are here,”says the young woman.
For Diana, Bucharest is a city of contrasts, but not in the negative sense. The student from Belarus was delighted to find that even in the less generous areas she can find special places, waiting to be explored.
„Bucharest is a calm city, but at the same time a modern city. The only problem I see here is the one related to traffic. But we must not forget that traffic is a problem in all metropolises of the world. Some people see a minus in the fact that there are graffiti on some buildings. I can agree with that, but without drawings it seems to me that the city will lose its originality. It is interesting to see Bucharest as a city of contrasts. For example, there may be a very good art store, which, however, is located in a not very prosperous area,”says Diana.
She likes to spend time in libraries
Most of her free time is in the home because she has a lot to learn. She also likes to go to the library, being quiet there, which allows her to study and work in a relaxed way. She has relatives in Bucharest, so on some weekends she goes to visit them.
“The city is really quiet, compact and cheap. The preparatory course I attended allowed me to get in touch with an educational system that pleasantly surprised me. Everyone is learning here. It is probably strange to hear this, but, if it is to compare with other countries, in Romania I see many more people interested in their development. It goes a lot on the individual study. Here are several days off and fewer course hours. I live in a dormitory where young people from different faculties and I noticed that the number of hours spent at school, at classes, does not affect the students’ knowledge. Most of the work is done outside the university, through the independent study of the subjects. Studies in Belarus last from September to July. Many practice periods are set in June, July or August. Thus, the students have a maximum of one month for vacation, which most decide to dedicate to work in college because otherwise they cannot provide accommodation in the dormitory. In Romania, my practice started after three courses. And I can say that the practice here is very serious. Moreover, I found that there is freedom in learning, it does not go on learning by rote. In addition, I found that students have a large amount of information in foreign languages,”says Diana.
She is astonishedby the opening of young people towards new things
The young people in Romania are open to everything that is new. The time spent in our country allowed the Belarusian student to find that, in general, the level of knowledge of the Romanian language is very good. “A person who knows three or four languages is not a rarity in Romania. This attitude of the Romanians also made me ambitious and determined me to improve myself. I study English to fill a gap in my knowledge bag,”emphasizesthe young woman.
She is pleased with the way in which the students are scored, but also by the fact that the faculty program is so structured that it allows the graduate a more applied training.
Engineering studies, which she pursued in her native country, were not thought out like this. In addition to the basic subjects, she had to take compulsory courses in history, philosophy, psychology, etc. “For these reasons, the period of college is much longer in Belarus. Unfortunately, the way in which the school syllabus is designed does not allow us to devote more time to the specialized subjects”, points out the student.
She is considering to settle in Romania
The Bucharest that Diana met is a friendly one with foreigners. She believes it is a city where any young person has the chance to develop professionally. It is the place of a good career start, the place where you can develop yourself by your own strengths.
In fact, DziyanaTarasenka points out that for her Romania is a country where she sees herself in the future. “I think I could live and work here. In addition to the reasons stated above, I like Romania also due to the climate,”says the young woman.
The story of the student from Belarus comes to confirm once again that foreigners see Bucharest in a different light than we are used to seeit. They are not burdened with that dose of negativism that we find in many of Bucharest people, and such an attitude allows them to discover realities that Romanians overlook. When you choose to highlight the positive side, it looks as if things are arranged differently. From people like Diana or other students we have presented over time, we have a lot to learn. First, we learn that it is important for us to be the first to put ourselves in a positive light, highlighting the beautiful things that this country has. And the list of good things is very long, it is important to choose to talk about them.
Author: Ștefania Enache
Photo: Corina Gheorghe
