We present to you the experience of Laman Aliyeva, a student at the University of Pitesti, Romania, with whom Baku Engineering University cooperates in the framework of the Erasmus + KA1 exchange program:

I have always been dreaming about the participating in the Erasmus project since my junior year at my home university. The main factor for my desire was being aware of the advantages of the program. When I was the second course, I applied to the exchange program in Italy, but because of the credits I could not participated in the program. I was very disappointed, but did not lose my motivation. I was seeking for the new opportunities and working on my language skills, trying to increase my GPA and academic indicators. During the lockdown, I achieved these kinds of goals and I was feeling mentally ready for the new destinations. I started to work in the organization-Romanian Language and Culture Center under the power of the Romanian Embassy and got incredible interest in the country of Romania and its history and culture. My mentor was Iosefina Blassani Batto and she guided me in the activities. I attended in various seminars and meetings related to the Romania, its education system, history and culture. My curiosity increased tremendously while participating in these activities. After a while, I learnt that there is the chance to go to the Romania for educational purpose. When my mentor Mrs. Batto informed me about that opportunity, literally I was over the moon and I was ready for taking any kind of the risks. Despite the fact that I was the senior class at my home university, I could participate and have an internship in the University of the Pitesti. My university officials and Romanian Center in Baku dealed and created that opportunity for me, thankfully. The program was a little bit challenging, because I should take the lessons for my personal development and should attend in the internship for fulfilling the credits for completing my bachelor`s degree. I thought that for my future and personal development, I should get benefit of that opportunity. So, I started to collect my documents and crucial stuff for the program. I am completely sure that this program will be very effective for my future.

The first week of Erasmus in Romania:

I was super excited about the journey and the things that would happen during the project. When we arrived in Bucharest, I was extremely tired after a long flight but still thrilled about the country and the project. At the airport, the representative from Pitesti university welcomed us and took us to the dormitory. The way was quite long, approximately it took an hour, but it passed quickly because I, another representative from Azerbaijan-Shana Mirzayeva, and the representative talked about our countries and expectations all the way along. It was for the first time that I was talking with the local people about their country, culture, history, and so on. When we arrived at the dormitory, we were so tired and they showed us our room. We should stay in one room with my Erasmus mate-Shana. We arranged things a bit and then we were super ready for sleeping. The next morning we woke up to the very beautiful scene of the dormitory. Sun was shining. We were starving that’s why went to the city center and generally hanged around to see what’s near us. We found the small but very cute coffee store, especially I was over the moon because I am a coffee freak. We exchanged the money from euro to lei and bought coffee and some food. We got our scholarship on the second day of our project and especially that day was super busy and hectic for us. We also should change our room in order not to stay with the students from the “yellow zone” of Romania. We traveled at a time of COVID-19, so that’s why students from some countries should stay in quarantine for 7-10 days. Fortunately, Azerbaijan was not among those countries. We changed our room and I can say for sure that the new room was more beautiful, larger. That made us happier. For several days, we spent time exploring the Pitesti and we enjoyed the beauty of that city. In the first week, we went to our university and took some pictures on the campus. Before coming to Romania, all my friends and relatives who have been there advised me some places to go. They especially said I will be surprised by the beauty of nature and culture. For exploring more, Shana, and our new friend from Uzbekistan all together went to Bucharest. Our journey by train took approximately an hour and 30 mins. Before going to Bucharest, we planned where to go. Bucharest is a very old and beautiful city and also one of the largest cities in Europe. Regarding that reason, we knew that one day will not enough to explore the city. So we choose the places to go beforehand. We went to Victoria Street and visited the museum of the Municipality. Our last destination was Old Town which is quite old and splendid. Old streets were quite nice and enjoyable to walk as I was feeling myself in the past time. We tasted the dessert of the Romania-Papanasi and I fall in love with that dessert. It was quite delicious and yummy with some fruit delights. We bought some gifts and accessories from Old Town to keep that in our memory and to make a gift for our friends, beloved ones. We came back in the evening and were excited about sharing our pictures on social media. The first week was the time for adapting to the country, dormitory, and the general atmosphere here. I enjoyed my first week and was excited about the other days, weeks, and memories...

The second week of Erasmus in Romania:

The second week was quite adaptive for us. We met with many people from different countries and started to collaborate with them. We all talked about our own countries, education systems, culture, and history, etc. It was quite interesting and useful to learn and discover other people and countries for me. We also started to spend more time outside to see and explore the city. We went to the park each day for taking fresh air. We went to the Jupiter Shopping Center that located a little bit far away from the city center. There are many stores and restaurants inside the shopping center and we bought some stuff that we need. After the shopping place, we went to the restaurant and eat all together while talking. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, we couldn’t sit all together but four of us could sit and talk about the education system of Romania which was new for us. We especially liked the system of giving tasks and individual works during the lessons. That keeps us connected and adapted to the lessons. I joined the courses and liked the way of teaching. The teachers were quite nice and helpful. Especially, I should mention my group mates because they helped me a lot to keep the track of the lessons. They were writing for getting to know each other and helping to find anything in the city. I can surely say that the local people of Romania are also so helpful especially when I compare with the local people of Germany. When we ask the way of the places, despite the fact that some of them don’t know to speak English, but still were trying to help and take us to the destination that we want to go. I have a really good impression of this kind of behavior. I spent the second weekend working and preparing for the classes. Additionally, for writing the “Erasmus memories” article, I went to the Starbucks is located in the very center of the city and completed writing what happened in the second week of my Erasmus project. I was extremely ready for the new week and discovering more and more...

The third week of the Erasmus Exchange Program in Romania:

As I mentioned before, I was extremely ready for the new week, because things were getting more interesting for me. Especially, I should mention that it was nice to try to live on my own. It was for the first time that I was out of my comfort zone and I was trying to do everything and manage my time and the lessons. It was very good because I learned how to be responsible and how to possess obligations. It was a great life lesson for me and I will never forget the things that I learned. On the third week of the program, our internship started. We started to work on different projects and started to research. Mrs. Iosefina Batto was guiding us and with her feedbacks, we improved ourselves and our skills a lot. I started to take German language classes and I liked the teacher and her way of teaching. Hopefully, at the end of the program, I will improve my skills and increase my level of the German language. The third week was very special for us because we had a birthday celebration. On the 18th of March was the birthday of Shana and with Erasmus friends, we planned to prepare something for her special and as a surprise. One day before, we went for buying the cake, gifts and the stuff for celebration. At 12 o’clock, we made a surprise for her and she was really surprised. We sat all together in the room and celebrated her bday by eating cake, talking and playing different games. We planned that tomorrow after our classes, we can continue the celebration with pizza. That day was quite interesting because we sang and danced to our national songs and dances. Shana was happy and glad for spending her special day in this way. We understood once more the importance of being together and supportive. It was her first birthday that she celebrated away from her family and we arranged everything to make her not think about homesickness. For the weekend, we went to the “Prison of the Pitesti” museum. It was for the first time that I was in the prison. If you want to learn more things about communism and Soviet Period in Romania, you should go to that place. What I liked the most is there was the information in the Romanian language but by application, we could listen in English too. The guide also explained the things in English and we asked the questions from her. We spent our time so effectively and in the evening we went to the Turkish girls’ room. They invited us for drinking Turkish coffee that they brought from Turkey. It was quite delicious and we enjoyed talking with them. It was a time of Novruz Holiday and it was for the first time that I spend that holiday outside of my country. I wasn’t upset just I was feeling lucky to have this chance for improving myself. For weekends, I started to walk around the dormitory in the morning to take fresh air with my friend from Syria. I spent quite an enjoyable time. While drinking our takeaway coffees, we talked about almost everything: countries, cultures, education, and this kind of topic. On the 21st of March, we went to the Turkish restaurant located near the dormitory with Shana and celebrated Novruz Holiday with Turkish sweets because their tastes look like Azerbaijani ones. I spent my night getting prepared for my classes and internship. At the end of the night, I wrote this article for 3rd week and felt that I can’t wait for the next week and new memories...