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Flag of the city of Chisinau

Links to all of my on-line ramblings and other useful information.

 The Moldova Blog:
Adventures of an American in Chisinau

1/21 It is cold, very cold here the next few days--the highs are just a few degrees above zero (well below freezing).  The temperature forecast for Monday is that the high will be 3 degrees Fahrenheit ( a mere 29 degrees below freezing!!!).  I must say, however, that the city is beautiful in snow--especially when the sun comes out.  Seems that most of my focus so far has been on the weather and that may be just due to being in an unusual environment.  We can assume through the rest of my posts that it is cold until something indicates the contrary.  It does amaze me how Soviet heat works--it is a system of radiators that heat the whole city and is turned on and then later turned off--no individual thermostats (though many apartments have now installed an independent secondary heat source).

I have made arrangements with both my universities to have a teaching schedule that starts next week.  My appointment is with 2 universities here in Chisinau:

IRIM The Institute for International Relations of Moldova where I am teaching two classes on Monday afternoons and evenings.  The first is a course on US politics and foreign policy that will be taught to a select group of 3rd year students.  My other course is for the foreign language department as a part of their English curriculum and will be an exploration of American culture through music and film.  IRIM is a state-supported institution with 800 students and a small campus in the center of the city that I can walk to.
ISPRI The Institute for Political Science and International Relations where I will be teaching a course on US politics and foreign policy on Wednesday afternoons to 4th year students.  I also got the opportunity to be a featured panelist at a workshop on American Studies arranged by the embassy and ISPRI last week and had a really great time there.  They have asked my to write up my remarks for publication here and it is on my list of things to do this weekend.

Sunday, 22 January 2006 from the balcony of my apartment in Chisinau.

This page was first created on 09/19/05 by Prof. Chris Grant of Mercer University.  Dr. Grant is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Mercer University and is the Assistant Director of Service-Learning at the Mercer Center for Service-Learning and Community Development.  The site was last updated on 06/19/06.  You may e-mail Prof. Grant by clicking here or you may return to his homepage by clicking here.