today, 6.15am we took the train at gara du nord, bucharest, and went to constanta. when i say train please bear in mind that i am really referring to a 1969 train model of a train in all its glorious downfalls. this is the train thats referred to as A or .....
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| train at bucharest, gara du nord est. 1969, still used today. |
there was seats for eight people - considering that everyone smokes in bucharest, and how each eight-seat area is isolated with an interior door separating each compartment... well.. if you had tickets in the same compartment as a stinker, well you're screwed. thankfully we didn't have any smokers in our compartment but it was full to the brim. our legs clashed, it was impossible to sleep/sit comfortably.
3.30 hours later we arrived in bucharest. after asking around for directions we were off to ovidius university. problem: we arrived to the wrong campus and had to take directions from a stressed out secretary (who kept insisting on having the reception door closed). that campus was so weird, there was no students in sight, and all doors were closed and unlabelled. it was like a neat wooden prison... i really can't think of another more obvious way to describe it.
we got to ovidus constanta at 11.00 with all our luggage. we didn't realise, we just stepped into hell. there were queues everywhere. people in my position were queuing outside secretary offices both foreign and romanian. i honestly did not expect something like this. no way in hell was i expecting so many students waiting outside a secretary office. nevertheless, we had to see someone, so we joined the queue. i was in no mood to speak to anyone. we only had one water bottle and in addition to how tired we were from travelling early in the morning, frustration soon kicked in. all of the people standing there were pushing, shoving, cutting in the line, and simply being assholes. there was a wide array of people from all kinds of backgrounds, and may were arabic speaking, taiwanese, and even from america and canada. 2 hours later i told dad since we're not getting to see this secretary any time soon we should probably call the dude at the ministry - or at least the girl that could barely speak and see the situation with my application. we called the guy and left him a message on his voice mail. i also sent a text for him just in case he was in a meeting/ busy to listen to voice mail.
after waiting for 4 hours i snapped. i couldn't bear waiting in that queue any longer. medicine was simply not enough to make me wait this long. i had pain in my lower back, my feet were swollen and blistered from the walking in bucharest and i was so so tired from the early travel. i forgot to mention, the previous night, i couldn't sleep - i was so anxious, i was so nervous, i couldn't switch my brain off. at most, i had only 2 hours of sleep the previous night. not only that, the lack of food really really pulled my stamina down. i was in no shape of waiting here. the queue itself was not declining. i was in the same place that i had stood, when i first came and queued. this was beyond ridiculous, this was inhumane. medicine at constanta is not worth this wait. i snatched the phone from dad and called the guy at the ministry. i was in rage, i wanted to know where i stood for up till now i have not only been lost in translation, but also dishearted at the amount of bribery, the inconsiderable time wasting and the awful anxiety that was reaching close to boiling point. he answered the phone. i asked about the state of my application. he simply replied, its ready. everything is complete. that confused me, what does 'ready' mean? have the letter of acceptance been issued already? has it been to the ministry? have they authorised my application? why haven't i been informed about the state of my application beforehand? if its been ready, then what are we doing here in the queue? right now i wanted any reason to leave the queue. i turned to my dad and told him, we should have stayed in bucharest. we should have collected this letter from the ministry before making our way here. we made a mistake - perhaps i was a little harsh, but i have really really had enough; i was looking for any excuse to leave this queue. dad simply replied, since everyone spoke of bribery, what makes you think that you're going to simply get this letter? surely there is a price to pay. surely this guy is going to want something in return. like i've said before, i didn't trust the guy at the ministry. the moment we spoke, i could not bear to trust anything that comes out of his mouth. there was this distinct distaste in the words he used, the body language, everything. nevertheless, now that we knew we needed to collect this letter from the ministry we abandoned our post in the queue and headed outside to find the apartment we booked online. we were both tired, hungry and dehydrated.
i swear i could not have done this without dad. hes been the rock, the role model, my guardian throughout this journey and there really isn't enough to say about how appreciative i am of what he has done, what he has made to make my desire to study medicine a possibility. i felt like i was so close to realising my dream, i felt like i was so close to making my dad proud.
we left ovidius and since my google map had said that our apartment is just 15mins walk from the university, we set out on foot, to find this place. we reached an area of hotels that were closed during the no-season period. we asked them for directions and they have said that oooh no, we had to catch a bus to reach our destination. me and dad looked at each other. he told me, lets go back to the university. this is what we are here for, and so this is where we should be. perhaps we can find out more about my application. i agreed, and so we set out back to the university. still, we had no food, still dehydrated, but walking seemed to give me more energy, i felt like i could stand in the queue. i felt like i could wait.
when we returned, the queue had not decreased. instead, there were people cutting across the sides, and there, the secretary demanding a civilised queue of a single line, one standing after another. however, that just made the people there even more anxious, and pissed off. there was disorder everywhere. people were not listening. the arabs were making sleigh remarks at the woman, while the english speaking were giving the secretary hand gestures behind her back. everyone was pushing in, the queue looked similar to the red coloured box illustration below.
i felt the frustration, these people were coming everyday, queueing up to see this woman - who i have to say is very well dressed and groomed. it makes me think - with all the money pouring in from students, why couldn't the university hire someone else to help her out? maybe arrange for better queues, resolve current problems with limited hours (the office hours for foreign students to see the secretary was between 12 and 2pm). perhaps if she had answered emails this queue would not be this large. perhaps if regular updates were issued at the huge notice board outside her office, there wouldn't be so many people waiting outside her office everyday. aghh it makes me angry even thinking about the lack of things getting done there to sort out the queues!!
after half an hour, dad said hes had enough. a man of his age should not be standing, queueing like this. you can see the anger in his tired eyes. he hasn't had any sleep either. his worries for me were deeply engraved in the lines on his face. i could not bear it, but i had to stay strong for both our sakes. if at least one of us maintained solidarity, then the other would benefit from the strength of such will power. at around 3.30pm i reached a state of trance. quite honestly i was a zombie, and with no mental capacity to hold back my rage at this woman (the secretary). if she leaves her office another time to head to the toilet i would jump her. i would knock her to the floor and start punching her face so hard that i wouldn't care. the queue was slowly dispersing, but not fast enough to calm me. i've experienced nothing like this in england. i was not accustomed to such disgrace and quite frankly, i could not tolerate it. i felt like i was queueing with animals. this isn't my place. this isn't what i wanted. if i knew that it was so hard to even get my application moving here, i would have worked harder to get into med school in england. even if that chance would be so much slimmer there. i would burn my eyes out and tattoo knowledge into my brain so i wouldn't have to queue like this ever again.
to say the least, when it reached 4pm we left again to find the apartment. we took the bus downtown to mamias and were counting houses as we went. we arrive at the destination, 15mins bus ride from the university and i wasn't happy. we chose the apartment specifically because it was close walking distance from the university. nevertheless, we got there. knocked on the door, and some dude working at a print shop pulls us inside. his friend would come collect us and take us to the apartment. i looked at dad and screamed NO WAY! i've had enough of people pushing me around all this trip. i just want a place close to the university so i can go and deal with that bitch, rest and stick to the original plans! no way was i getting dragged around a town that has been confusing enough to navigate through all the weird road names and the ever so complicated bus routes. the land lord came 5 mins later and i simply could not bear to go around again. i asked the guy to take us to a nearby hotel, near the university. i wouldn't care how much it costed. i just wanted to drop the weight, the baggage both me and dad were carrying and head over back to the university. after ass kissing this guy as he offered to take us to the hotel, we checked into a hotel. i took both my baggage and my dad's. emptied it in the room, refilled the water, took out some sweets and washed my face, i bolted downstairs where dad was waiting at reception. neither of us needed the toilet due to the state of dehydration both me and dad had. it was close to 5pm when we reached the university. the queues were completely gone now. only some students were waiting there and we saw the secretary head into the romanian secretary office. we waited outside. as someone left that office dad took the opportunity to head inside. i know it was rude, and surely he thought so too, but really we needed to speak to someone. the foreign secretary escorts us outside this office and we speak outside. she informs us that she had been 'looking' for us in four occassions!! i almost laughed in her face - actually if i didn't have my dignity i would have spit-laughed in her face. she did not deserve the role she had, for she was a terrible host. she was the most arrogant bitch i've ever encountered. maybe because of the amount of students she has to deal with, or maybe thats why she had been picked to do the job. regardless, she was awful. she demanded respect where she had given none, and so she does not deserve. waving her hand around, she simply muttered: if the application is ready at the ministry then let your dad return to the uk, and i shall see you in 2 days time where you will have the letter from bucharest and a translated (into romanian) birth certificate. she quickly slithered back into the office not letting me finish - these idiots have not answered me fully. i didn't get a straight answer from anyone. how far off is my application? what the hell does 'ready' mean?!
nothing was definite. dad felt relieved that he had the chance to speak to this woman. i wasn't even slightly relieved. nothing ever goes my way. my low expectations have declined even further ever since i got here. i have no more hope of getting a place here. i was very suspicious of the guy at the ministry of education, and the way this secretary spoke to me did not add up. there was more to this thing, there has to be. my guts are never wrong on such terms.
for the rest of the day we got back to the hotel, spent about an hour at the room to just rest, then headed out for food. i didn't feel like eating anything, but i had to get something. we took bus number 100 to the city mall. it was impressively large. the mall there closes at 10pm unlike the usual closure hours in the uk at 5.30pm.
after waiting for 4 hours i snapped. i couldn't bear waiting in that queue any longer. medicine was simply not enough to make me wait this long. i had pain in my lower back, my feet were swollen and blistered from the walking in bucharest and i was so so tired from the early travel. i forgot to mention, the previous night, i couldn't sleep - i was so anxious, i was so nervous, i couldn't switch my brain off. at most, i had only 2 hours of sleep the previous night. not only that, the lack of food really really pulled my stamina down. i was in no shape of waiting here. the queue itself was not declining. i was in the same place that i had stood, when i first came and queued. this was beyond ridiculous, this was inhumane. medicine at constanta is not worth this wait. i snatched the phone from dad and called the guy at the ministry. i was in rage, i wanted to know where i stood for up till now i have not only been lost in translation, but also dishearted at the amount of bribery, the inconsiderable time wasting and the awful anxiety that was reaching close to boiling point. he answered the phone. i asked about the state of my application. he simply replied, its ready. everything is complete. that confused me, what does 'ready' mean? have the letter of acceptance been issued already? has it been to the ministry? have they authorised my application? why haven't i been informed about the state of my application beforehand? if its been ready, then what are we doing here in the queue? right now i wanted any reason to leave the queue. i turned to my dad and told him, we should have stayed in bucharest. we should have collected this letter from the ministry before making our way here. we made a mistake - perhaps i was a little harsh, but i have really really had enough; i was looking for any excuse to leave this queue. dad simply replied, since everyone spoke of bribery, what makes you think that you're going to simply get this letter? surely there is a price to pay. surely this guy is going to want something in return. like i've said before, i didn't trust the guy at the ministry. the moment we spoke, i could not bear to trust anything that comes out of his mouth. there was this distinct distaste in the words he used, the body language, everything. nevertheless, now that we knew we needed to collect this letter from the ministry we abandoned our post in the queue and headed outside to find the apartment we booked online. we were both tired, hungry and dehydrated.
i swear i could not have done this without dad. hes been the rock, the role model, my guardian throughout this journey and there really isn't enough to say about how appreciative i am of what he has done, what he has made to make my desire to study medicine a possibility. i felt like i was so close to realising my dream, i felt like i was so close to making my dad proud.
we left ovidius and since my google map had said that our apartment is just 15mins walk from the university, we set out on foot, to find this place. we reached an area of hotels that were closed during the no-season period. we asked them for directions and they have said that oooh no, we had to catch a bus to reach our destination. me and dad looked at each other. he told me, lets go back to the university. this is what we are here for, and so this is where we should be. perhaps we can find out more about my application. i agreed, and so we set out back to the university. still, we had no food, still dehydrated, but walking seemed to give me more energy, i felt like i could stand in the queue. i felt like i could wait.
when we returned, the queue had not decreased. instead, there were people cutting across the sides, and there, the secretary demanding a civilised queue of a single line, one standing after another. however, that just made the people there even more anxious, and pissed off. there was disorder everywhere. people were not listening. the arabs were making sleigh remarks at the woman, while the english speaking were giving the secretary hand gestures behind her back. everyone was pushing in, the queue looked similar to the red coloured box illustration below.
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| blue = civilised queue; red = uncivilised, how things were outside the foreign secretary office at ovidius constanta |
after half an hour, dad said hes had enough. a man of his age should not be standing, queueing like this. you can see the anger in his tired eyes. he hasn't had any sleep either. his worries for me were deeply engraved in the lines on his face. i could not bear it, but i had to stay strong for both our sakes. if at least one of us maintained solidarity, then the other would benefit from the strength of such will power. at around 3.30pm i reached a state of trance. quite honestly i was a zombie, and with no mental capacity to hold back my rage at this woman (the secretary). if she leaves her office another time to head to the toilet i would jump her. i would knock her to the floor and start punching her face so hard that i wouldn't care. the queue was slowly dispersing, but not fast enough to calm me. i've experienced nothing like this in england. i was not accustomed to such disgrace and quite frankly, i could not tolerate it. i felt like i was queueing with animals. this isn't my place. this isn't what i wanted. if i knew that it was so hard to even get my application moving here, i would have worked harder to get into med school in england. even if that chance would be so much slimmer there. i would burn my eyes out and tattoo knowledge into my brain so i wouldn't have to queue like this ever again.
to say the least, when it reached 4pm we left again to find the apartment. we took the bus downtown to mamias and were counting houses as we went. we arrive at the destination, 15mins bus ride from the university and i wasn't happy. we chose the apartment specifically because it was close walking distance from the university. nevertheless, we got there. knocked on the door, and some dude working at a print shop pulls us inside. his friend would come collect us and take us to the apartment. i looked at dad and screamed NO WAY! i've had enough of people pushing me around all this trip. i just want a place close to the university so i can go and deal with that bitch, rest and stick to the original plans! no way was i getting dragged around a town that has been confusing enough to navigate through all the weird road names and the ever so complicated bus routes. the land lord came 5 mins later and i simply could not bear to go around again. i asked the guy to take us to a nearby hotel, near the university. i wouldn't care how much it costed. i just wanted to drop the weight, the baggage both me and dad were carrying and head over back to the university. after ass kissing this guy as he offered to take us to the hotel, we checked into a hotel. i took both my baggage and my dad's. emptied it in the room, refilled the water, took out some sweets and washed my face, i bolted downstairs where dad was waiting at reception. neither of us needed the toilet due to the state of dehydration both me and dad had. it was close to 5pm when we reached the university. the queues were completely gone now. only some students were waiting there and we saw the secretary head into the romanian secretary office. we waited outside. as someone left that office dad took the opportunity to head inside. i know it was rude, and surely he thought so too, but really we needed to speak to someone. the foreign secretary escorts us outside this office and we speak outside. she informs us that she had been 'looking' for us in four occassions!! i almost laughed in her face - actually if i didn't have my dignity i would have spit-laughed in her face. she did not deserve the role she had, for she was a terrible host. she was the most arrogant bitch i've ever encountered. maybe because of the amount of students she has to deal with, or maybe thats why she had been picked to do the job. regardless, she was awful. she demanded respect where she had given none, and so she does not deserve. waving her hand around, she simply muttered: if the application is ready at the ministry then let your dad return to the uk, and i shall see you in 2 days time where you will have the letter from bucharest and a translated (into romanian) birth certificate. she quickly slithered back into the office not letting me finish - these idiots have not answered me fully. i didn't get a straight answer from anyone. how far off is my application? what the hell does 'ready' mean?!
nothing was definite. dad felt relieved that he had the chance to speak to this woman. i wasn't even slightly relieved. nothing ever goes my way. my low expectations have declined even further ever since i got here. i have no more hope of getting a place here. i was very suspicious of the guy at the ministry of education, and the way this secretary spoke to me did not add up. there was more to this thing, there has to be. my guts are never wrong on such terms.
for the rest of the day we got back to the hotel, spent about an hour at the room to just rest, then headed out for food. i didn't feel like eating anything, but i had to get something. we took bus number 100 to the city mall. it was impressively large. the mall there closes at 10pm unlike the usual closure hours in the uk at 5.30pm.
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