Serban Tanasa

Harvard College, MA

Class of 2007

My greatest shock upon getting to the Harvard Campus four years ago wasn't the awesomeness of Widener Library, despite its seven million volumes. It wasn't even the postcard-perfect campus itself, with its old trees, forged iron gates, well-kept grass, red-brick buildings and frighteningly smart people frolicking about. I had seen it all in the movies. What really surprised me was my first interaction with the Registrar, as they call the school administration (the US equivalent for our Secretariat). I was shocked to find that the people working there were actually friendly and thought of students as human beings. Time it took to obtain a transcript: 10 seconds (they're available online). I am not hitting on Romania here. Try pretty much anywhere in continental Europe and you'll find the school bureaucracies just as unmanageable. Sure, Americans on average will not know anything about Romania, save the occasional remark about Dracula and gymnasts. But they are friendly, welcoming people, and will recognize and reward talent and dedication. It gets even better: in many schools, both the faculty and the people who give them tenure actually pay close attention to student feedback on the courses. This means two things: courses actually get better from year to year, and horrible professors don't stay around for too long.

Americans have a lot to teach us, and we have quite a few things to pass on to them as well. In exchange for your Old World wisdom, they will share with you their optimist can-do attitude, a certain inability to be idle, and most amazingly, their way of being pro-active about things. There's none of that "What's the Government doing?" nonsense around here. If something doesn't work, a bunch of people get together and fix it. My point is, when you get here, you shouldn't just study Economics, Astrophysics or whatever you fancy. You may also want to submerge yourself in the American culture or, for those reluctant to use that word, the American way of getting things done. Whether you go back and help build up Romania or stay here for a while and get a house in the suburbs, it's a useful talent to have.

From the land of the Red Sox and bad beer, with love,
Serban