Improving the quality of life in Arizona to benefit future generations.
Not many Flinn Scholars are old enough to have watched the late Walter Cronkite's broadcasts as anchor of the CBS Evening News. But undoubtedly, all of the Scholars who attended an exclusive lecture and conversation with him in 1995 remember that afternoon vividly.
The long day began early in the morning as all of the scholars lethargically boarded the bus at 4:00 A.M. to depart Cluj-Napoca and head towards Budapest.
Awaking with sore muscles and numerous "battle scars" from yesterday's hike, I reluctantly left the cozy comfort of my bed this morning. The events of the day began with a short question and answer session about Romania with our guides, Zoltan and Uniga.
Imagine your most intimate experience with nature. Perhaps it involves the silence of a dark forest; maybe views of a shaft of light cascading between mountains; it may simply be hiking to the top of a great peak. Today’s hike, or should I say mountain climb, in Torockó was probably one of the most fantastic encounters with the natural world I have experienced in my lifetime.
After breakfast we started the day off with a lecture by Maria Korek on ethnic relations in Romania. Romania has two major ethnic minorities: Hungarians and Roma. It was interesting to notice the huge differences between the social and economic conditions of these two minorities.
At this point, we are halfway through our time in Romania and over halfway through the trip. We awoke today in Homorodszentpeter, an idyllic town of 200 (that's people, not families) nestled in the Transylvanian countryside.
We began this day on Romanian/Zoltan time as many of our sleep deficiencies began catching up with us. Once we finally got our bags together we enjoyed the typical breakfast of cheese, sausage, bread and paprika as well as a good amount of coffee.
Today the 2009 Flinn class put more emphasis on the Travel part of "traveling with a purpose."
Upon entering Romania, we were greeted by far-reaching flatlands not all too dissimilar from Kansas. It had a few spatterings of houses but mostly large flocks of sheep, free-roaming chickens, and large patches of wildflowers. However, it wasn't too ling before we came upon the first sign of real civilization - a Pepsi-Cola sign.
A few of us went running after dinner and learned yet again how interesting a short-thirty minute run can be when in a completely foreign place. Along the way, we found a spinning glass globe that told us the local time in Arizona, a creek with the strangest and most mystifying chorus of frogs that we have ever heard, and an eerie but intruiguing path with a vanishing bridge and overly-friendly Saint Bernard.
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