Wetskills Romania 2017 – May 9th
“What a great person and scientist!”
The day started pretty early for some of the teams, since we had to submit the Action Plan of our case studies at 9:00 a.m. Luckily, we (Group No. 1) had already finished it from the previous day. Still, our day was going to be pretty demanding, but also really interesting.
First stop the amazing bakery just in the corner outside the dorms. Always busy, but then again, full of croissants, cakes and Romanian delicacies. So, who can complain for waiting a couple of minutes? Next stop the coffee machine in the Energetica Faculty building of the Politehnica University. Integral and necessary part of most students’ daily routine.
Fully “equipped” / prepared we could now head to the computer room. The day after planning and developing a strategy is always full of enthusiasm, new ideas and energy to do some good research. Our case study is entitled “Climateproof Megacities- Bucharest” and for the Wetskills programme we are focusing our research on heatstress and flooding (caused by intensive storm events). Luckily, today we continued having responses to our emails, from the experts we met on Monday and the contacts they promptly gave us.
At noon, it was time to head to our first appointment, Dr. Roxana Bojariu, Head of the Climate Section at the Meteorological Institute. We were all a bit hesitant, hoping that our first meeting with an expert would be helpful for our case. We couldn’t have wished for better. Roxana welcomed us and was as excited as we were for our meeting and for sharing her knowledge and expertise. What a great person and scientist! She provided us with a lot of information and raw data, an insight into Romanian authorities’ mentality and a great tour through the Meteorological Institute. Our gratitude and the traditional Dutch stroopwafels that Kennard offered her as a thank-you gift could never be enough.
After our long meeting and a necessary, long break we returned to our familiar computer room for working a bit more in our case study. After returning to the dorms, with a group of fellow participants we decided to treat ourselves with a dinner at the city centre.
For some of us (hmm… or probably just for me) this was the first time at the city centre of Bucharest. And what’s best than seeing the old part of the city, by night. With the small, cobblestone-paved streets that can be found in the heart of almost every big city. Cosy and picturesque, with imposing, old buildings and ancient monuments lying next to modern cafes and bars, patiently waiting for the last sunbeams to set…And another day to come to an end.
Our wandering didn’t last long though, since it was almost 20.00, way after the Dutch dinner time (aka 18:00). Luckily, we found a nice restaurant quickly, thing not that difficult since the streets were full of colourful and heavy lighted restaurants, taverns and pubs with different cuisines, welcoming the hungry passenger with different music from all over the world.
After our dinner, full of good food, drinks and interesting conversations we returned to the dorms for a good night sleep. Another long, busy day in Bucharest, full of water challenges and nice, memorable times just ended…
Noapte bună 🙂
Katerina Kipourou (Utrecht University)
