ON October 17^th, the second day of the mobility in Fălticeni, Romania, the participants of the project visited Suceava. The bus arrived at their hotel at 08.30. Although the bus was a little late, they arrived at the University of Stefan Cel Mare Suceava in time for their tour. After being shown around the campus, they were led to an auditorium where they watched two presentations held by two of the professors at the university.

Business presentations & practicing

The first presentation was about tourism and different methods of brainstorming. One student from each country had to step forward and participate in a 6-3-5 brainstorming method. The method consisted of 6 students who write down 3 ideas in 5 minutes and then discussing them. The second presentation was about entrepreneurship and how to start a business. During this presentation, the students had a test where they had to choose one out of three different eco-friendly business ideas that was best for our country, then argue for why we made our choice.

The Astronomic Observatory

After lunch the participants visited the Astronomic Observatory and were led to a planetarium where they got to observe the stars in the sky, the sun, zodiac signs and some of the other planets in the solar system. Everything was projected by a large mechanical projector in the center of the half-dome ceiling theater and the Suceava horizon was painted around the circumference of the half-dome ceiling.

Bucovina Village Museum

Once the students were finished at the observatory, they visited a museum called Bucovina Village Museum. There they saw, walked inside and got to learn about older Romanian buildings and lifestyle – specifically about funerals, baptisms and weddings. A fun fact the students took home is that the quality of the floors in the house depended on who was rich, middle class and poor. If they had clay floors, they were rich; if they had wooden floors, they were middle class; and if their house was on the ground, with no floors, they were poor.

The Suceava Fortress

The earliest record that exists from the Suceava Fortress is a letter from the 14th century. The fortress has since been destroyed multiple times, and was rebuilt just as many. It was restored in the late 1800’s. Stefan the Great, who was mentioned earlier, is the most important person who has lived in this fortress. Since the fortress was so well defended and strategically placed – on top of a hill, and with a moat surrounding the fortress – not many were able to conquer it; instead they lit the city on fire. Three times. The students also had a guided tour of the castle, and with 45 minutes to explore it. There were a lot of rooms, corridors and stairs to discover, and they had a lot of old artifacts on display.

To conclude, the trip was a successful one. The participants learned a lot of new things about Romanian culture, history and architecture, as well as astronomy – with focus on the Milky Way and zodiac signs. Although everybody had an exciting day in Suceava, many were tired when the bus dropped them off at the restaurant back in Fălticeni.