Some Things I’ve Learned from My Students

• Moldovans must be entrepreneurial and work with/around the system in order to get things done. The government here still stifles people and ideas with a lot of bureaucratic hoops (and corruption) to jump through if one wants to start a business, enter a specific industry, etc.
  
• Most systems here are slow and archaic yet people do not complain. Little things like registering for classes, getting in and out of the classrooms, waiting for an elevator to creep up and down many floors, paperwork, more paperwork, etc.
  
• They speak in both Romania and Russian in the same conversation, even in the same word.
  
• It’s hard for them to leave the country and travel to Western Europe or America. Visas are denied for little reason (I guess one benefit of EU membership would change this…yet then they are stuck with the Euro).
  
• A licensure degree (Bachelors in the US) here is not as valued as it should be. Unfortunately the system accepts everyone, and many “buy” their degree (some professors find “paying for the grade” as an entrepreneurial opportunity).
  
• Most Moldovans are very proud of their country, yet there are many ethnic ties to either Romania or Russia and these ties do create tensions.
  
• American professors (namely me) are very different from their Moldovan counterparts. My teaching style is much more friendly and interactive (I hope that’s a good thing).