Thanks to Utpal for posting the first question! He asked, "So what made you choose Iasi? What's so special about it?"
The principal reason I'm visiting Iasi is that my girlfriend is teaching and co-teaching some courses at Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi's main and oldest university, on a Fulbright grant. (Some part of the campus appears to be in the background of this YouTube video -- I think the guy is singing in Romanian, if you're curious what the language sounds like.)
If global interest in a city can be measured by how much detail it gets on Google Maps, Iasi is an afterthought in a country that most people forget even exists:
No matter how far you zoom in, there's still no road to Iasi! (Good thing I'll be arriving in Iasi by train from Bucharest.)
Despite Iasi's cartographic ellipsis, the town has a relatively robust Wikipedia entry that suggests other reasons I might be excited to visit:
- "It has an active trade in metals, medical drugs (antibiotics), textiles and clothing, banking, wine, preserved meat."
- "The city is host to five universities, and is widely regarded as the cultural "heart" of the Old Kingdom (that is Moldavia, Wallachia, and Dobruja - the three regions comprising Romania until 1918)."
- A beautiful University library
After I arrive on Wednesday, I'll have a much better idea of what's to like and dislike about Iasi, and I'll update my answer to "What's so special about it?" accordingly. Thanks, Utpal -- I'll send a postcard your way...
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1 comment:
My pleasure to jump in, Mr. JSV. I look forward to hearing about those preserved meats and fine wines.
By the way, I'm feeling torn. You're right, Google doesn't show us any roads. But some pavement somehow snuck into the photo of the library. Maybe it's a parking lot. For all those cars that drive on... the gravel...
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