Romania

Name and Surname: Alexandra Iancu

Age: 22

Country: Romania

Nationality: Romanian

City: Bucharest

CURRENT EVENTS:

1. Which is the form of government ruling in your country?  

Semi-presidential republic.

2. Do you believe corruption exists in your country? How much do you think it influences political life and your private life?

Corruption exists in all the areas of Romania. It starts from the most important authority governing this country and it gets everywhere. Almost everything is based on corruption here. As a matter of fact, last week, Mr. Victor Ponta, a young(!) candidate running for the presidential elections (of this year) paid thousands of people to come to Bucharest from all over the country, they filled a stadium and were asked to give him a round of applause. Of course, this big sham was recorded by the media, in order to create the impression that a lot of Romanians would go for him and elect him as a future president. I was told by my parents that this used to happen during the Ceausescu regime, the communism. Obviously, corruption has a tremendous power upon our lives. No matter how fair we try to be, we always get stuck somewhere because of all the others who made an ideology out of BRIBE… Or just because we cannot live differently. I used to judge people around me before living abroad. I thought we were the only ones living like this. But I realized Romania is not the most corrupted country in the world. People get to be corrupted because we, as a nation, are poor. We need money in order to survive these huge costs, doctors cannot afford NOT receiving little “gifts” from their patients. How could a person receiving 200 euros par month (minimum salary) live decently when a kilo of lemons is 17 RON (4 euros)? The salaries of a resident start from 200 euros!

3. Do you consider yourself European? [For non-European people: could you explain why you chose Europe?]

I definitely consider myself European even if I have the feeling that I’m not living in an European country.

CULTURE:

1. Which is your national language? Do dialects exist in your country? If they do, are they used/known by young people?

My language is Romanian. There are variations of language here, in Moldova, in Transilvania, in the west. Young people know about them but they don’t really use them unless they live in those specific areas.

2. Who do you consider to be the cultural icon of your country?

Unfortunately, all the role models promoted here now are not so “cultural”. Romania is “feeding” its public with the Barbie dolls who can easily get famous by marrying rich guys. In my opinion, the most representative cultural icon for us is Nadia Comaneci, one of the most famous gymnasts in the world. And Simona Halep at the moment, a young tennis player who has just been ranked the 3rd in the WTA ranking, after winning a lot of games in the last months.

3. Are you able to name a person that you consider symbolic for European culture? [For non- European people: do you perceive the existence of a “European culture”?]

Chopin. It’s quite strange that not even one actual name comes to mind…