Italian female, 27

Age: 27
Sex: FEMALE
Nationality: ITALIAN
Education: UNIVERSITY DEGREE
Occupation: NATIONAL MUSEUM of CONTEMPORARY ART in BUCHAREST

What did you think about Romania and Romanians before your first contacts with this country or its inhabitants?
The problem, in my case, is that I had absolutely no idea in my mind about Romania. This is the sad reality. In Italy is very difficult to find someone, who can say the difference between Budapest and Bucharest. I “studied” in the six months before coming here a little bit about this country and I was a little bit afraid about Bucharest because of the bad news I heard from the people around me (like for example, problems with the police, bad conditions of the apartments…).

Did this image change after getting to know a Romanian or after visiting the country? How?
Yes, of course! Till now I didn't have any kind of problems! Maybe Bucharest is not a beautiful city; but it has nothing to do with the problems of living here.

Describe in a few words your best encounter with a Romanian.
It was in Iaşi, one month ago. I was there for working and I met a family in a cluster. The mother, Mrs. Dana, was so happy to know that someone was in Romania with a fellowship from EU (like me) and wanted to remain here! She proposed to me to stay in her apartment for some days. When I said, that it was impossible for me, she gave me her mobile-phone number and let me promise to come back to Iaşi to see the clusters in Moldavia with herself and her family. It was a discussion of about 20 minutes, but was an incredible experience…

Describe in a few words your worst encounter with a Romanian.
Till now, when a very young girl tried to steal from my pocket in the bus in Bucharest and when a taxi driver wanted from me an exorbitant amount of money for two kilometers and for me was very difficult to answer in Romanian.

Which words come to your mind when you think about Romanians in general?
Happiness
Creativity
Will of doing
Submissiveness

Which words come to your mind when you think about Romanian women?
Austerity
Wife
Mother
Female

Which words come to your mind when you think about Romanian men?
Dictator
Kind
Helper
Honest

What is the age you associate Romania with?
1400, the age of Dracula!

What is the drink you associate Romania with?
Ţuică

What are the brands you associate Romania with?
only Skoda

Name 3 prominent Romanians
George Enescu
Constantin Brâncuşi
Nicolae Ceauşescu

What time of the day you associate Romania with?
Night

Name the country you associate Romania with?
Poland

What is the main difference between Romania and your country?
I think the multiculturalism, that is here.