Observations From Teaching

I have finished my first class here in Moldova and I’ve been very pleased with the students and the entire experience. The students have been very engaging, eager to learn, and grateful to experience a new professor and an American-style course.

Here are some things I’ve learned about the students here:

• Most are very proud of being Moldova and around 60% of my 80+ students plan to either work or continue on with a Master’s degree and stay in Moldova. This is very heartening as many intelligent students want to leave for Western Europe or the US. 
• About 80% of my students have spent summers in the US working and traveling. 
• My program, International Economics, attracts a lot of women. 
• A majority have read all the material and come to class with papers I assigned highlighted, notes in the margin (or in a notebook), and questions ready to discuss/ask. 
• The students did very well in the course. Maybe I’m a an American novelty, but I was very pleased with the effort and thought put into answering questions on the final exam.