My Romanian adventure

I wanted to do something random and exciting and a Leonardo mobility internship in Romania felt like just the thing! Engaging with communities on environmental and energy issues was something that I already had a taste of thanks to completing an industrial placement and volunteering with an NGO during university. Volunteering as an Environmental Projects Officer at an NGO in Botoşani in Romania would give me invaluable work experience as well as opening my eyes to a new culture. I was born and raised in Birmingham, one of the most culturally diverse cities in the UK. Growing up there was nothing really different about me. Anyone who has ever visited the UK will tell you that there is someone with a different skin colour, religion, hair colour you name it on every corner!

So when I told my friends, family and work colleagues that I would be moving to Romania for four months there was always an awkward pause followed by "ROMANIA!?". I guess a lot of people have perceptions on what Romania and other Eastern European countries are like; "isn't Romania poor!?" "isn't it violent? Be careful" "there'll be loads of Gypsies" and finally "it's racist, don't go there".

On my train journey to Romania passing through Hungary, one of the ladies whom I shared a cabin said "I'm sorry to tell you but as you're coming to Eastern Europe you just have to get used to that sort of treatment". It was in response to an incident with some Hungarian police and my passport. I did not feel like a victim but the lady clearly felt that I had been wronged in some way.

Once I arrived in Romania my first greeting wasn’t the best. When I got off the train in a small town on my way to the city where I would be staying, EVERYONE stared. And not even in that polite way where you turn away when you catch the eye of the person. The children pointed and laughed at me. Other people blatantly talked about me in Romanian. I have never felt more self-aware in my whole life!

The rest of my time in the Moldova region of Romania was a lot better and I was welcomed quite warmly. Being a Black British female and visiting this region was a surprise to many of the residents of my city. They were not used to seeing people like me in their city and of course I draw some stares and whispers. And to add to the situation, I wore my hair past shoulder-length black and blonde braids. Totally alien to anything previously seen in the city!

Over time I accepted curious strangers coming up to me in the street asking where I was from and what I was doing in their city. I was more than happy to have conversations with people on the street and answer their questions. Some of more experiences were of course surreal. Whilst shopping in supermarkets it is not uncommon to turn around to find someone sneakily trying to take a photo of me. Or some of the older residents touching my arms and face because they believe that I will bring them good luck. I am not sure how lucky I am or how much luck I bring to people’s lives but I’m happy to go along with it. I am not a “touchy-feely” person so this took me a long while to accept. My manager even joked that she would start to charge people to have a photo with me because we get asked so often when we go out together.

I do not want this to be a negative blog post because my time in Romania has been very enjoyable and fun. And I truly believe that being different has contributed to this. Some of the best friends that I made, who I know will be friends for life, I made because they had the confidence to approach me at a bar or on the train and start a conversation with me. And of course because people that I am some sort of good luck omen, I have had a couple of taxi rides for free and had the entrance fee for some attractions reduced or waived!

I have had a long time to reflect on the behaviours that I've encountered. Yes of course it is a little uncomfortable when people stare or run up to me to ask to take photos or even worse, don’t even ask and just take the photos! But being so obviously different in a city / region will draw attention, majority of people here have been very welcoming. My time here in Romania has come to an end but I know that I will be back to visit (maybe even on a permanent basis) to the beautiful Carpathian land.