Haggerty: Human Geography: If It Were My Home- Romania

January 6:
Dear Journal,

Romanian Gypsy

I am about to leave to start my journey as a foreign exchange student to Romania today. I will be in Romania for a full year, and I will write down my thoughts and feelings about Romania every 6 months. I don't know that much about Romania yet. I know that it is in Europe in between Bulgaria and Ukraine, but I don't know anything about those countries, so I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. I hear that they don't have the best weather there, a lot of snow and thunderstorms, not the type of weather I like. My main problem going over to Romania is that I speak English, and the official language is Romanian which I am not familiar with. I guess I will have to learn and hope I pick up on it if I will be living there for a whole year! I have been doing some research about Romania and I have learned a few things about what life is like there. There are a lot of gypsies, which is very scary because gypsies are known for stealing anything and everything in sight. I will have to make sure to keep all my money in a safe! I have learned that women generally go to school there for 15 years similar to United States, which is 17 years. I hope that they have a good education system there. Over 96% of Romanian women over 15 can read and write, which is very good! I am very excited to see what Romania is like!

July 9:
Dear Journal,
Romania is a very different to me, but it is a good different. I am learning what different areas of the world are like instead of being restricted to just the United States. Romania is a lot like the United States in some ways, but it is also very different.

A University in Romania

I have learned that recently, Romania is trying to revive its education. Like the United States, Romanian children start off at the age of 3, going into kindergarten which is optional but highly recommended in this country. As the graduate from kindergarten, children are sent to lower secondary, elementary, school at age six until the reach ten. Once you graduate lower secondary school, you move up to upper secondary school for six years. If you want to continue in an education and reach an upper cycle of high school, you must take and pass The National Test, which is a very difficult aptitude test. Most people finish their education in upper secondary school and don't go to upper high school. Then, after you go through high school, you take another national test called Romanian Baccalaureate Exam, and if you pass you can continue on into a university. I have really been focusing on the education of Romania these past 6 months, but my last half of the year I am going to focus more on the actually country itself and its economy and people.

January 5:
Dear Journal,
My last six months in Romania taught me a lot about the country itself. I learned a lot about the people of Romania as well as government and economy.
The people of Romania:

Traditional Romanian Women Clothing

They have a negative population growth rate meaning that more citizens are dying in Romania then citizens are being born. Their growth rate is -0.247% which is not a huge difference between the amount of deaths and births, but still more deaths. The birth rate is 9.58 births/1,000 people. The death rate is 11.78 deaths/1,000 people. There are about 22 million citizens living in Romania as of July of 2010, which makes it the 53 most populated country in the world. Most people live to be about 73 years old, which is 5 1/2 years earlier than the average person in the United States dies. On a more positive note, less than 0.1% of people in Romania are living with HIV/AIDS which means you are 83% less likely to have AIDS if you lived in Romania than America. There are only about 87,000 people living with AIDS in Romania!

Government and Economy of Romania:
Romania is a republic country, which means that the power lies in the citizens, like the Unites States. It received its republic dependences on December 30,1947. Romania has been dealing with many financial issues recently. Their GDP fell more than 7% in 2009, and their unemployment nearly doubled, but they are working to build their economy back up.