Hansenian Report: RAMONA DRAGOMIR (From ROMANIA)

It was 5.30 p.m. on June 1st 2007. “Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing” were probably the words I had been expecting the most in the 2 days of traveling. They had come to give me hope after 48 hours of going through the entire range of human emotion: from excitement to fear, from being curious to feeling frustrated, from almost crying to feeling exhilarant. A trip full of adventures worth turning into a movie had ended. We had finally reached our destination: San Diego and were ready to embark on our mission here: taking part in the first edition of the Hansen Summer Institute on International Cooperation and Leadership.

But little did we know what was to come, what the great force that we call Universe had installed for us! So let me try to explain (even tough I have yet to grasp all the implications that the program has as far as I’m concerned) my time spent in the USA and being part of the Institute.

To tell you the truth, I was a bit skeptic about the whole program. This was due to the fact that when I first saw the announcement it talked about bringing together people from developing countries. So I found myself thinking: why choose Romania? In what way is Romania considered a developing country? But I got caught up in my own “ethnocentrism”, in a silly way of thinking that Romania is doing fine (it is now part of the EU; what more is there to want?) that I was failing to fully see and acknowledge the existent situation in the country.

People create conflict constantly. I see it as being part of human nature. They cannot stay out of trouble. They pick fights; get into arguments that usually escalade to worse situations…so even though Romania is not involved in an armed conflict that does not mean conflict is nowhere to be found in our society.

On the contrary it can be spotted almost anywhere you turn and in almost all areas of life: on a personal level (where neighbors cannot see eye to eye, where school children fight over stupid reasons as to who is better than the other one), at the national level (where parties that make up the government have bitter fights between them instead of worrying about the people they represent), inside/among different categories of people (where the Hungarians feel discriminated against and that they do not have enough rights and the Romanians feeling like the government has done enough to meet their needs) and the examples go on. These things might seem senseless in comparison to other world issues but the reality in the society where I come from pays a lot of attention to the matters and that is the reason why the courts are overloaded with trials- people are not accustomed to resolving their disputes outside of the legal system.

Looking back at the history of my country I realize that people lived for more than 40 years in a regime that thought them how to think, how to act, how to live. It was a regime that prevented people from developing themselves.

Once faced with a new found freedom, Romanians are confused. We’re struggling to construct a national identity, to discover the elements that link us together, that give a sense of belonging. On top of that, joining the EU does not help with solving the problem; instead it complicates it more because I feel that we have to make a decision whether we are Romanians or Europeans. This sense of confusion does not make it easier for people to communicate and get along but it builds more tension within a community and creates adequate conditions for a dispute to develop.

In this respect I want to point out that Romania can indeed be considered a developing country. But one that is trying to develop its people (the generation of Romanians that represent the future) and identity along side its economy. It is for this reason that I would suggest that it actually depends on the individuals and the manner in which they define themselves as well as the way they establish rapport with one another that actually contributes to the developing of social conflicts in our society.

Learning…

Now that the program is almost over everybody is pondering about the most important thing we take back home with us. So it is time to step back from our work and reflect about what we have done but most importantly what we have learned.

It is difficult for me to put in order of importance the activities that we took part in the last 3 weeks. There is no one more important than the other. Each one contributed in a specific way to our acquiring a better understanding of the topics discussed each week. They resemble a puzzle that put together makes sense as opposed to just looking at random, separate parts that do not communicate any message.

However I feel like a have to make a special reference to a great conversation I had on the 4t of July. It was on the day the American nation celebrates the Declaration of Independence that somebody from a different culture that the one I come from told me: “You have too much freedom”. I was speechless for a moment during that conversation. I mean: how can one have TOO much freedom?

It was then that I had my first moment of epiphany and realized the immense size of the world and the smallness of my country. Moreover I realized that the things we have taken for granted our whole life (the fact that we can talk to whoever we want, go wherever we want, do whatever we want etc.) are not present all over the world. People are not free to move around, to make their own decisions. I always thought I was aware of this fact but never actually realized that it is actually a present reality in some parts of the world. What was more revealing for me was the opportunity to touch, to see physical evidence of the differences between people, cultures and ways of looking at the world.

It has never been truer that only by comparing ourselves with others do we learn about ourselves first. It has taken 31 people from 13 different countries for me to realize that I am fortunate to have had great opportunities while growing up and start to really appreciate where I come from.

It has been inspiring to see real examples of situations and extraordinary people that have taken positive action when it comes to their own life or within their community. It is reassuring to know that it can be done and there exists a framework for analysis and action that we can rely on. But now it is our time to come up with ways of our own by which we can also touch the world round us.

I leave the program feeling 200% more confident in my own power to make a change, if not in the world at least in my community. I owe this boost of confidence to a group of people that have had an irreversible impact on my life and way of thinking. To the influence of my new friends I must also add the skills that our lecturers taught us. Therefore I can honestly say that, in my view, the program has reached its goal.

It has been a time for many “firsts” (first taco, first Kazakh met, first dorm life and I could go on for days), a time for making cultural mistakes, an emotionally challenging 3 weeks, an eye-opening experience but most importantly a constantly teaching and learning experience.

In the end I’ll be departing from the “World’s Finest City” fundamentally changed, truly a different person and enriched with bits of culture from 13 countries around the world but also divided in 13 different corners of the planet. I will go back home and try to live up to the sacred oath we took in an auditorium in a middle school in San Diego.