Meet and Greet

B here. Tonight we went to the Fulbright Commission for the briefing with a member of the State Dept. I had been asked to discuss minority issues in Romania, but that was about all the guidance I received. So I spent most of last night (till about 2:30am) and all today preparing a presentation concerning Romania's Roma population and the historical roots of contemporary problems such as segregation. What I was not informed of was that there would be an audience in the room besides the State Dept. rep, comprised mostly of Romanian alums of Fulbright exchanges to the US. The State Dept. officer also gave a spiel about the changing role of public policy. At any rate, I think the briefing went well--I tried to impress upon the officer how important these issues are for Romanian society and highlighted ways in which they could impact US foreign policy in the region. We'll see--I always find when I speak to diplomats that it is difficult to tell if they actually hear what you're saying or not. A journalist from TVR 1 (one of the Romanian public television channels) taped the presentation, and next week we're meeting for an interview. Apparently she wants to do a segment about me and my research.

After the briefing there was a reception, and I got a chance to meet and greet with embassy staff, Romanian professors, and talk some more with the rep. She ended up taking a very short video of me which may or may not end up on the State Dept. website. I have to say what I most enjoyed was speaking to a young prof. in the department of American Studies at Universitatea din Bucuresti who is teaching a course on modern American poetry--it was nice to talk about one of my hobbies! S and I also got free tix for a concert being performed this Sunday at the Atheneum, a beautiful concert hall in the center of Bucharest. We may or may not go, but it is nice to have the option.

Well, that's about it. I'm looking forward to a more quiet day tomorrow--picking up our package from the post office, and then back to the archives for me.