Field course in Romania (Rumänien)

the first two weeks of july 2005 I spent in Romania. we went there with 18 students from the university of zurich for a field course. students had to do their own little experiments from the start (finding a question), designing the experiment, collecting the data, analysing and writing a little manuscript. I was lucky to join as assistant. it was a great experience. romania, first of all, but as well the challenge of helping the students. we stayed in a little village called Belis, close to Cluj. the old village of Belis was destroyed by building the big water reservoir which flooded the old village. the beautiful lake still hides the old village and just sometimes when the water level is low enough, the tower of the church appears at the water surface (we were told..).
a few things about romania:

- dogs and horses seem to prefer foreigners to locals. at least we ended up with 3 dogs following us everywhere and making it impossible to talk to locals

- time has a different meaning. a 15 minute drive is at least a one hour drive

- this is partly due because locals drive like hell. overtaking in the middle of a village with 100km/h or overtaking just before a curve is normal.

- horses and cows are walking around through the village freely and the fences are just there to prevent that they enter into every garden

- they sell beer in 2 liter PET bottles for almost nothing

- the language is understandable to a certain degree

- the landscape is beautiful, but unfortunately a lot of garbage is laying around everywhere

- the cows are all ready for the EU - all of them have the ear tagged

- and it is for sure a country worth a visit and worth much more attention


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