People from Maramures, dressed in traditional costumes, with the map of Romania before WW II
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Transfrontier Pollution
1. Conclusions on the research activity
Following the discussions we had as part of the debate on the pollution of the environment, during Mrs. Camelia Duta’s optional Biology classes, the theme of pollution had a strong impact on the participants. They became aware of how serious the problems concerning the environment are, and also that new solutions should be found to improve the quality of the environment as well as to protect it.
As far as the accident on the Tisa is concerned, we feel that this incident, as serious as it was, was presented on the media as far more devastating than it really was. We do not want to show indifference to the accident by saying this; we only want to stress the fact than the gravity of the accident was exaggerated due to state problems as well interference, from the border.
We deeply regret the accident, and we believe that it is extremely important that the area on the Tisa, which was affected, should be cleaned and rebuilt as soon as possible.
To this purpose, we, together with our coordinator, Mrs. Camelia Duta, went on a trip on the Tisa, to document and father information about the seriousness of the situation. We are committed to take part first hand in rebuilding the area, our participation in such activities being constant. A proof of this stands our contribution to the “Mihai Eminescu” reservation in Seini, which was extremely beneficial. We wish our contribution to this project to be the same, in the hope of a fast rehabilitation of the area.
The resources of this planet are more and more limited, and beside the fact that they are used in an abusive way, they’re also polluting. The pollution worries me, about the quality of living, and the fact that some people are not responsible, and, by not taking care of their responsibilities, they help increase the pollution. It all starts from people’s mentality, starting with the normal citizens, and ending with the big polluting factories. Very few are the people who really care about the surrounding environment, and most of them don’t bother to think about the consequences that may occur in the future, because of their irresponsibility. Some people, for example, think that a paper or a P.E.T doesn’t affect the environment in any way, and even if it does affect it, they think that there are others in charge to repair that; not to mention the big factories, witch only want to gain a big profit, even if that means destroying the environment.
The effects of the pollution are terrible. One of the worse effects is the influence of the pollution over the health of people. Pollution caused loss of a lot of lives, caused lots of diseases, genetic malformations and also destroyed the flora and the fauna, which is an essential element in the survival of the human species on Earth. In most countries, including Romania, pollution is a major problem in which, even if, theoretically, we do have the solution, it can’t be reached because our country doesn’t have modern technologies, which could help reduce the pollution. The process of recycling some products is a good start in reducing the pollution. For example, in the paper producing, there are some processes that pollute, but by recycling, we save the green gold, witch is the forest, witch, unfortunately, for some people, this doesn’t represent a source of life, it represents only a source of income. Another worse effect is global warming. Researches proved that pollution is the first thing responsible for the global warming, and there’s no sense in mentioning the negative part of the global warnings: the meteorological phenomenon and the variations of the temperature, which directly affects the life on Earth.
Even if some of the pollution’s effects are totally irreversible, I still believe tat the Earth is not yet doomed, and by training of the population about how the pollution directly affects health and environment, positive changes could and will occur.
Following the discussions we had as part of the debate on the pollution of the environment, during Mrs. Camelia Duta’s optional Biology classes, the theme of pollution had a strong impact on the participants. They became aware of how serious the problems concerning the environment are, and also that new solutions should be found to improve the quality of the environment as well as to protect it.
As far as the accident on the Tisa is concerned, we feel that this incident, as serious as it was, was presented on the media as far more devastating than it really was. We do not want to show indifference to the accident by saying this; we only want to stress the fact than the gravity of the accident was exaggerated due to state problems as well interference, from the border.
We deeply regret the accident, and we believe that it is extremely important that the area on the Tisa, which was affected, should be cleaned and rebuilt as soon as possible.
To this purpose, we, together with our coordinator, Mrs. Camelia Duta, went on a trip on the Tisa, to document and father information about the seriousness of the situation. We are committed to take part first hand in rebuilding the area, our participation in such activities being constant. A proof of this stands our contribution to the “Mihai Eminescu” reservation in Seini, which was extremely beneficial. We wish our contribution to this project to be the same, in the hope of a fast rehabilitation of the area.
The resources of this planet are more and more limited, and beside the fact that they are used in an abusive way, they’re also polluting. The pollution worries me, about the quality of living, and the fact that some people are not responsible, and, by not taking care of their responsibilities, they help increase the pollution. It all starts from people’s mentality, starting with the normal citizens, and ending with the big polluting factories. Very few are the people who really care about the surrounding environment, and most of them don’t bother to think about the consequences that may occur in the future, because of their irresponsibility. Some people, for example, think that a paper or a P.E.T doesn’t affect the environment in any way, and even if it does affect it, they think that there are others in charge to repair that; not to mention the big factories, witch only want to gain a big profit, even if that means destroying the environment.
The effects of the pollution are terrible. One of the worse effects is the influence of the pollution over the health of people. Pollution caused loss of a lot of lives, caused lots of diseases, genetic malformations and also destroyed the flora and the fauna, which is an essential element in the survival of the human species on Earth. In most countries, including Romania, pollution is a major problem in which, even if, theoretically, we do have the solution, it can’t be reached because our country doesn’t have modern technologies, which could help reduce the pollution. The process of recycling some products is a good start in reducing the pollution. For example, in the paper producing, there are some processes that pollute, but by recycling, we save the green gold, witch is the forest, witch, unfortunately, for some people, this doesn’t represent a source of life, it represents only a source of income. Another worse effect is global warming. Researches proved that pollution is the first thing responsible for the global warming, and there’s no sense in mentioning the negative part of the global warnings: the meteorological phenomenon and the variations of the temperature, which directly affects the life on Earth.
Even if some of the pollution’s effects are totally irreversible, I still believe tat the Earth is not yet doomed, and by training of the population about how the pollution directly affects health and environment, positive changes could and will occur.
Adrian Grigorescu, 11th form B
2. Following the discussions we had as part of the debate on the pollution of the environment, during Mrs. Camelia Duta’s optional Biology classes, the theme of pollution had a strong impact on the participants. They became aware of how serious the problems concerning the environment are, and also that new solutions should be found to improve the quality of the environment as well as to protect it.
As far as the accident an The Tisa is concerned, we feel that this incident, as serious as it was, was presented on the media as far more devastating than it really was. We do not want to show indifference to the accident by saying this; we only want to stress the fact than the gravity of the accident was exaggerated due to state problems as well interference, from the border.
We deeply regret the accident, and we believe that it is extremely important that the area on the Tisa which was affected should be cleaned and rebuilt as soon as possible.
To this purpose, we, together with our coordinator, Mrs. Camelia Duta, went on a trip on the Tisa, to document and father information about the seriousness of the situation. We are committed to taking part first hand in rebuilding the area, our participation in such activities being constant. A proof of this stands our contribution to the “Mihai Eminescu” reservation in Seini, which was extremely beneficial.
We wish our contribution to this project to be the same, in the hope of a fast rehabilitation of the area.
Alexandra Faje ,11th B
Alexandra Faje ,11th B
Friday, January 20, 2006
Monday, January 16, 2006
Tolerance vs. Intolerance
1. To be tolerant or not
Tolerance is a word often used in speaking, at T.V or in newspapers.
But are we really tolerant each other? Are we tolerant with our neighbors, with our friends, with our people?
How would be this world without peace, without tolerance?
We have more than other people in this world could dream about. We have love, we have friends, we have a family and all support that we need and we are still considered as poor people. Imagine that thousands, perhaps millions of children in this world who don’t have a family, not mentioning friends and love.
So, how would be this world without tolerance, better or worse?
Tolerance is based on respect and when the respect is missing tolerance has not the same meaning. We should respect each other. Respect means not only to help an old lady to cross the street but also to understand that a child that you see at a corner of a street for begging is not there because he wants to be there but he is there because he doesn’t have money to buy food for him and for his family. And all this is not necessarily happening because his mother or his father doesn’t want to work but because no one has offered them a job.
Some of us would say “Oh, this is his problem, not mine”. But it is our problem, our major problem.
We should learn to be tolerant one to another because this is the major problem of this century “to be tolerant or not”.
TRIF-COŞAN MARIA,
Form 11th C
Tolerance vs. Intolerance
The notion of tolerance as we understand it today is, first of all, a need of today’s modern society. It is the element that unites all links of a chain that is supposed to form the basis of a perfect society, a united world- a Utopia.
Although tolerance has an overwhelming importance at all the levels of the society and is still a word that produces many disputes and serious talks, there is, surprisingly or not, nothing easier than being( and acting!!!) tolerant. Tolerance is –or at least it should be-, a natural response generated by our own mature and advanced minds and conscience. Are we, the people of the 21st century, tolerant? If not, are we at least trying to be? Are we to blame intolerant people?
It is a reality that sometimes tolerant people change into intolerant, ignorant or even worse due to the behaviour or actions of the persons they have tried to accept. Yes, we are tired of being deceived, taken in by those to whom we have put our trust in. Let’s take for example gypsies. They are in a way or another responsible for the bad impression other nations have on us. We gave them more than a country and in return they destroyed our reputation and deleted hundreds of years of Romanian history and culture from the other peoples’ minds. However, I have personally met extraordinary and successful persons who are gypsies and they made me change my attitude towards them.
There are Gypsies and Gypsies, Romanians and Romanians, Hungarians and Hungarians, English and English… Every country has citizens of which the country is proud of and citizens that must be accepted and… helped but everything within its limits. We have to be tolerant in order to live a happy life; we have to care for the needs of the other, accept his/her beliefs, way of life, traditions and encourage the others to do the same thing. The key is to know how to tell a good and honest man from a pack of starving wolves.
The truth is that we must be more than tolerant; we have to learn what acceptance is and really give our best to change things for the better.
Raluca Popa,
11th C form
2. TOLERANCE VERSUS INTOLERANCE
A peaceful and happy life requires love, understanding, and respect. To live in harmony means to accept other people’s beliefs and hobbits without criticizing, even if we sometimes disagree with them.
It is very important for us to understand that we are all different: we look different, we think different and we live in different ways. But we are all humans, we all have feelings and we feel frustrated and attacked if the society doesn’t understand us or – even worse – it rejects us.
This is, unfortunately, the case of gipsies from Romania. It is maybe one of our greatest mistakes: we are highly intolerant with gipsies, and we have been like this from the very beginning, without offering them a real chance to prove we are wrong.
It is true that they do a lot of illegal things, such as stealing, fighting, taking drugs or even killing. But have we once – at least for a second – thought that all these could be provoked not only by them, but also by our intolerant behaviour?!
To be honest, I have to admit that I was also very intolerant until we discussed this matter in class. Then I realised how wrong I had been judging the gipsies and I started reading more about them and thinking about their situation.
Lately, there are more and more negative aspects, which are getting worse every day, between gipsies and the rest of the population. One of our biggest mistakes – say the specialists in this field – besides intolerance, is that we do not make the difference between the two kinds of gipsies. When we pronounce the word ”gipsy” we only think of all those stereotypes that we have created for them: „gipsies thieves”, „violent gipsies”, „beggars gipsies”, „illiterate gipsies”, „gipsies infractors” or „gipsy Mafia”. And these stereotypes can be misleading, because not all the people from a nation are the same. Just like there are bad Romanians as well as good ones, there are also good gipsies. We should not only see their bad aspects, but also the good ones. We should appreciate them for their talents. For example, they can be great singers, and also very smart. We only have to give them the chance to prove it, to prove that they deserve a better treatment.
In time, we had made a lot of mistakes concerning their problems, to which we haven’t paid enough attention. The local offices didn’t contribute to stopping the attacks over the gipsy communities and – worse – they even encouraged the violent attacks that took place, through passivity and tacit agreement. The government authorities are known for the frequent encouragement of violent acts made by the Civil Guard.
The discrimination and intolerance also appears in education. The gipsy community is the least educated minority from Romania. Most of the gipsies who went to school only finished four or eight classes. Very few managed to finish high school and even lesser graduated a university. The number of illiterates from the gipsy community is unfortunately very high: 44% of the men and 59% of the gipsy women are illiterate.
But we can’t blame only gipsies for that, as they were always criticized and isolated, but very rarely helped. The gipsy children are always discriminated because of the way they are dressed. Poverty is regarded as a synonym for stupidity and, therefore, many gipsy children are isolated in the back of the class and ignored. Due to this kind of cruel treatment and because of the poverty, the gipsy children rarely finish school and that is way it is difficult for them to find work. This is one of the causes of the increase in delinquency and poverty. That’s why we should also be interested in their education and we need to create conditions where they can learn and adapt.
The members of this minority have to face a lot of problems, regarding all life’s aspects. In the past they were treated as a property which can be sold or bought, just as the owner wished, and they were considered inferior beings, that had no feelings. Their life today is not very different and their position in society hasn’t at all improved. Their low standards of life, the lack of water and electricity as well as their unawareness concerning the importance of hygiene lead to the extension of diseases and to a high rate of infantile mortality.
The conclusion I drew from all these is that we must give up intolerance. If we truly want to solve these problems, the effort must come from both sides – our community and the gipsy community – because throwing the blame on each other is only a certain path to failure. Radical changes are necessary, not only in the gipsy communities, but also outside them. We mostly need a change in mentality. The authorities should show a deeper understanding of the problems and should offer more support. But , in most cases, we all have to get over our prejudices.
Alisia Muresan, Clasa a XI-a C.
Tolerance is a word often used in speaking, at T.V or in newspapers.
But are we really tolerant each other? Are we tolerant with our neighbors, with our friends, with our people?
How would be this world without peace, without tolerance?
We have more than other people in this world could dream about. We have love, we have friends, we have a family and all support that we need and we are still considered as poor people. Imagine that thousands, perhaps millions of children in this world who don’t have a family, not mentioning friends and love.
So, how would be this world without tolerance, better or worse?
Tolerance is based on respect and when the respect is missing tolerance has not the same meaning. We should respect each other. Respect means not only to help an old lady to cross the street but also to understand that a child that you see at a corner of a street for begging is not there because he wants to be there but he is there because he doesn’t have money to buy food for him and for his family. And all this is not necessarily happening because his mother or his father doesn’t want to work but because no one has offered them a job.
Some of us would say “Oh, this is his problem, not mine”. But it is our problem, our major problem.
We should learn to be tolerant one to another because this is the major problem of this century “to be tolerant or not”.
TRIF-COŞAN MARIA,
Form 11th C
Tolerance vs. Intolerance
The notion of tolerance as we understand it today is, first of all, a need of today’s modern society. It is the element that unites all links of a chain that is supposed to form the basis of a perfect society, a united world- a Utopia.
Although tolerance has an overwhelming importance at all the levels of the society and is still a word that produces many disputes and serious talks, there is, surprisingly or not, nothing easier than being( and acting!!!) tolerant. Tolerance is –or at least it should be-, a natural response generated by our own mature and advanced minds and conscience. Are we, the people of the 21st century, tolerant? If not, are we at least trying to be? Are we to blame intolerant people?
It is a reality that sometimes tolerant people change into intolerant, ignorant or even worse due to the behaviour or actions of the persons they have tried to accept. Yes, we are tired of being deceived, taken in by those to whom we have put our trust in. Let’s take for example gypsies. They are in a way or another responsible for the bad impression other nations have on us. We gave them more than a country and in return they destroyed our reputation and deleted hundreds of years of Romanian history and culture from the other peoples’ minds. However, I have personally met extraordinary and successful persons who are gypsies and they made me change my attitude towards them.
There are Gypsies and Gypsies, Romanians and Romanians, Hungarians and Hungarians, English and English… Every country has citizens of which the country is proud of and citizens that must be accepted and… helped but everything within its limits. We have to be tolerant in order to live a happy life; we have to care for the needs of the other, accept his/her beliefs, way of life, traditions and encourage the others to do the same thing. The key is to know how to tell a good and honest man from a pack of starving wolves.
The truth is that we must be more than tolerant; we have to learn what acceptance is and really give our best to change things for the better.
Raluca Popa,
11th C form
2. TOLERANCE VERSUS INTOLERANCE
A peaceful and happy life requires love, understanding, and respect. To live in harmony means to accept other people’s beliefs and hobbits without criticizing, even if we sometimes disagree with them.
It is very important for us to understand that we are all different: we look different, we think different and we live in different ways. But we are all humans, we all have feelings and we feel frustrated and attacked if the society doesn’t understand us or – even worse – it rejects us.
This is, unfortunately, the case of gipsies from Romania. It is maybe one of our greatest mistakes: we are highly intolerant with gipsies, and we have been like this from the very beginning, without offering them a real chance to prove we are wrong.
It is true that they do a lot of illegal things, such as stealing, fighting, taking drugs or even killing. But have we once – at least for a second – thought that all these could be provoked not only by them, but also by our intolerant behaviour?!
To be honest, I have to admit that I was also very intolerant until we discussed this matter in class. Then I realised how wrong I had been judging the gipsies and I started reading more about them and thinking about their situation.
Lately, there are more and more negative aspects, which are getting worse every day, between gipsies and the rest of the population. One of our biggest mistakes – say the specialists in this field – besides intolerance, is that we do not make the difference between the two kinds of gipsies. When we pronounce the word ”gipsy” we only think of all those stereotypes that we have created for them: „gipsies thieves”, „violent gipsies”, „beggars gipsies”, „illiterate gipsies”, „gipsies infractors” or „gipsy Mafia”. And these stereotypes can be misleading, because not all the people from a nation are the same. Just like there are bad Romanians as well as good ones, there are also good gipsies. We should not only see their bad aspects, but also the good ones. We should appreciate them for their talents. For example, they can be great singers, and also very smart. We only have to give them the chance to prove it, to prove that they deserve a better treatment.
In time, we had made a lot of mistakes concerning their problems, to which we haven’t paid enough attention. The local offices didn’t contribute to stopping the attacks over the gipsy communities and – worse – they even encouraged the violent attacks that took place, through passivity and tacit agreement. The government authorities are known for the frequent encouragement of violent acts made by the Civil Guard.
The discrimination and intolerance also appears in education. The gipsy community is the least educated minority from Romania. Most of the gipsies who went to school only finished four or eight classes. Very few managed to finish high school and even lesser graduated a university. The number of illiterates from the gipsy community is unfortunately very high: 44% of the men and 59% of the gipsy women are illiterate.
But we can’t blame only gipsies for that, as they were always criticized and isolated, but very rarely helped. The gipsy children are always discriminated because of the way they are dressed. Poverty is regarded as a synonym for stupidity and, therefore, many gipsy children are isolated in the back of the class and ignored. Due to this kind of cruel treatment and because of the poverty, the gipsy children rarely finish school and that is way it is difficult for them to find work. This is one of the causes of the increase in delinquency and poverty. That’s why we should also be interested in their education and we need to create conditions where they can learn and adapt.
The members of this minority have to face a lot of problems, regarding all life’s aspects. In the past they were treated as a property which can be sold or bought, just as the owner wished, and they were considered inferior beings, that had no feelings. Their life today is not very different and their position in society hasn’t at all improved. Their low standards of life, the lack of water and electricity as well as their unawareness concerning the importance of hygiene lead to the extension of diseases and to a high rate of infantile mortality.
The conclusion I drew from all these is that we must give up intolerance. If we truly want to solve these problems, the effort must come from both sides – our community and the gipsy community – because throwing the blame on each other is only a certain path to failure. Radical changes are necessary, not only in the gipsy communities, but also outside them. We mostly need a change in mentality. The authorities should show a deeper understanding of the problems and should offer more support. But , in most cases, we all have to get over our prejudices.
Alisia Muresan, Clasa a XI-a C.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Mihai Eminescu, Romania's national poet
Mihai Eminescu
( January 15, 1850 - June 15, 1889)
Ce-ţi doresc eu ţie, dulce Românie,
Ţara mea de glorii, ţara mea de dor?
Braţele nervoase, arma de tărie,
La trecutu-ţi mare, mare viitor!
Fiarbă vinu-n cupe, spumege pocalul,
Daca fiii-ţi mândri aste le nutresc;
Căci rămâne stânca, deşi moare valul,
Dulce Românie, asta ti-o doresc.
Vis de răzbunare negru ca mormântul
Spada ta de sânge duşman fumegând,
Şi deasupra idrei fluture ca vântul
Visul tău de glorii falnic triumfând,
Spună lumii large steaguri tricolore,
Spună ce-i poporul mare, romanesc,
Când s-aprinde sacru candida-i vâlvoare,
Dulce Românie, asta ţi-o doresc.
Îngerul iubirii, îngerul de pace,
Pe altarul Vestei tainic surâzând,
Ce pe Marte-n glorii să orbească-l face,
Când cu lampa-i zboară lumea luminând,
El pe sânu-ti vergin încă să coboare,
Guste fericirea raiului ceresc,
Tu îl strânge-n braţe, tu îi fă altare,
Dulce Românie, asta ţi-o doresc.
Ce-ti doresc eu ţie, dulce Românie,
Tânără mireasă, mamă cu amor!
Fiii tai trăiască numai în frăţie
Ca a nopţii stele, ca a zilei zori,
Viaţa în vecie, glorii, bucurie,
Arme cu tărie, suflet românesc,
Vis de vitejie, fală şi mândrie,
Dulce Românie, asta ţi-o doresc!
Monday, January 09, 2006
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Essays on Romania
Borderline Project
Colegiul National Mihai Eminescu Baia Mare
“ How are we and how do the others see us?”
Conclusions on the essays written by students
In December 2005 I asked all my students from Mihai Eminescu National College , Baia Mare, Romania, to write an essay on our country with the title “ How are we and how do the others see us?”
The idea of such an essay came from Mrs. Roxana Pruncu, the project coordinator from M. Kogalniceanu Highschool, Vaslui, Romania.
Willing to get very honest and sincere opinions from my students I refrained myself from giving them indications. I just asked them to write an essay on the above-mentioned topic.
To my greatest surprise I noticed the students wrote very interesting essays.
The students were so respectful and treated the subject with incredible seriousness.
All the essays were politically correct. That does not mean they were not critical whenever the case.
The students tried to be objective and their opinions were well balanced pointing out both positive and negative aspects. However I have noticed sometimes that their opinions are strongly influenced by the newspaper articles and television programs. They used the same stereotypes and clichés.
That is mostly because most of them did not have the opportunity to travel abroad or meet foreigners.
It is interesting to notice that those who actually met foreigners and those who did not, both have complained on the bad image of the country abroad, considering that a very frustrating thing. According to all of them this image is mostly due to the behavior of some of our citizens.
They have complained about some gypsies and beggars who do not behave properly. I have noticed here a lack of tolerance.(That is why I have already asked them to write a new essay on tolerance. This time I have invited them to try to control their feelings and teach themselves how to be more tolerant towards certain ethnic groups.)
They all believe that because of the behaviour of the above mentioned groups the European citizens have such a bad opinion on Romania and on the Romanians.
They have all pointed out the fact that once the Europeans get into contact with other Romanians or once they get into direct contact with the country, they totally change their low opinion on us.
Some of them have pointed out the fact that because of communism our country’s development was slowed down.
They are all proud of the fact that Romania is part of NATO and our soldiers are actively involved in peace missions all over the world.
They are also looking forward to becoming members of the European Union in 2007.
They try to find explanations of the high number of Romanians who work abroad pointing out the fact that most of them are forced to do that in order to assure a better life for their families, considering this situation temporary.
They are proud to be Romanians and they strongly believe in the future development of the country.
They believe in democracy and in a prosperous future.
They do not forget to mention the geographical beauties of the country, the touristic potential and they are proud of the national cultural values. They are proud of our historical past. Communism is seen as the single dark period in our history.
They are proud of our great musicians, writers, painters, and sportsmen.
They like the fact that the foreigners love the way we keep our traditions alive.
As a conclusion I can say that the young generation is fully confident in a better future.
I must admit, when I gave them the task, my expectations had been quite different.
I did not think they could be so mature and so optimistic regarding the future of Romania.
Now I am confident that the young generation will definitely improve life in Romania in the near future.
Mariana Gabriela Hudrea
Project coordinator
Colegiul National Mihai Eminescu Baia Mare
“ How are we and how do the others see us?”
Conclusions on the essays written by students
In December 2005 I asked all my students from Mihai Eminescu National College , Baia Mare, Romania, to write an essay on our country with the title “ How are we and how do the others see us?”
The idea of such an essay came from Mrs. Roxana Pruncu, the project coordinator from M. Kogalniceanu Highschool, Vaslui, Romania.
Willing to get very honest and sincere opinions from my students I refrained myself from giving them indications. I just asked them to write an essay on the above-mentioned topic.
To my greatest surprise I noticed the students wrote very interesting essays.
The students were so respectful and treated the subject with incredible seriousness.
All the essays were politically correct. That does not mean they were not critical whenever the case.
The students tried to be objective and their opinions were well balanced pointing out both positive and negative aspects. However I have noticed sometimes that their opinions are strongly influenced by the newspaper articles and television programs. They used the same stereotypes and clichés.
That is mostly because most of them did not have the opportunity to travel abroad or meet foreigners.
It is interesting to notice that those who actually met foreigners and those who did not, both have complained on the bad image of the country abroad, considering that a very frustrating thing. According to all of them this image is mostly due to the behavior of some of our citizens.
They have complained about some gypsies and beggars who do not behave properly. I have noticed here a lack of tolerance.(That is why I have already asked them to write a new essay on tolerance. This time I have invited them to try to control their feelings and teach themselves how to be more tolerant towards certain ethnic groups.)
They all believe that because of the behaviour of the above mentioned groups the European citizens have such a bad opinion on Romania and on the Romanians.
They have all pointed out the fact that once the Europeans get into contact with other Romanians or once they get into direct contact with the country, they totally change their low opinion on us.
Some of them have pointed out the fact that because of communism our country’s development was slowed down.
They are all proud of the fact that Romania is part of NATO and our soldiers are actively involved in peace missions all over the world.
They are also looking forward to becoming members of the European Union in 2007.
They try to find explanations of the high number of Romanians who work abroad pointing out the fact that most of them are forced to do that in order to assure a better life for their families, considering this situation temporary.
They are proud to be Romanians and they strongly believe in the future development of the country.
They believe in democracy and in a prosperous future.
They do not forget to mention the geographical beauties of the country, the touristic potential and they are proud of the national cultural values. They are proud of our historical past. Communism is seen as the single dark period in our history.
They are proud of our great musicians, writers, painters, and sportsmen.
They like the fact that the foreigners love the way we keep our traditions alive.
As a conclusion I can say that the young generation is fully confident in a better future.
I must admit, when I gave them the task, my expectations had been quite different.
I did not think they could be so mature and so optimistic regarding the future of Romania.
Now I am confident that the young generation will definitely improve life in Romania in the near future.
Mariana Gabriela Hudrea
Project coordinator
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