Monday, October 12, 2009

Loving Romania =3=

Fault 3 

We don't know. Go to Denmark!


The incident with the bus controller pushed me to finding more information about the transportation card released by the Ministry of Education for the 50% off.

Step 1: Try to find the needed information on the Ministry's of Education website. Total failure, as people like me don't really exist for them. Still, I found information about a place where you can get public information, a building that was a street away from the Ministry. The schedule on the internet for Monday was 8:30 - 16:30 (http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/c247/)

Step 2: I went there to find the information missing from the website. I found the place pretty fast, the building I mean. I pass into an entrance, a door on each side, one says International Students and the other Register. I go through the one that says International Students (department for foreign students coming to study in Romania), and ask about the place where I can get public information. I am directed to the door across the entrance, saying Register. Inside, I was expecting to find lots of cashier desks and people nervously demanding their rights. It was nothing like that, complete silence...and two door again, saying nothing. I knock at one of them and go in. I ask about the public information desk and a woman tells me she only works from 14. "...but, but...the website..." "I don't know what the website says, it's from 14" Still, I must admit she was kind enough to ask me what I want.

My text was: "I am a student in Denmark, without grant, on my own, and I would like to know what my rights and obligations are during my stay in Romania, because while I was in Spain I could get student reduction on my Danish student card, but here not!". Parts of her answers, "That was in Spain, herreee...." "Than go in Denmark!". Because she had no real answer for me, she sent me to the Ministry at the Department for Superior Studies, with an interphone code. I go there and call. After talking to two people, I found out that nobody raised this question before, and they don't have an answer. I basically don't exist as a student in Romania, though both countries belong to the European Union. I finally wrote a request, registered at the Registry where I have been sent again from the Ministry, for which I have been informed that I will get an answer in maximum 30 days. I wrote all the possible information there, to make it as clear as possible. I would have liked to help them and give them my e-mail, because in my naive imagination things would work faster, but the woman at the registry told me with a big smile on her face, that they don't have people sending e-mails there.

Oh, well! I already knew the system is bad. That is why I left. I just want to write about system related information I face during my stay at home. I know the bureaucracy is deep and these are only small examples. I think I would like to work for a newspaper, to get paid to try and find out different information, basic day to day information, people paying taxes need to make their life better...it would be fun.