I was in the US for 10 days and felt like I was part of their community, but on the other hand, I also had the most bizarre experiences of my life so far. I went there through the Open World Program, funded by the US Congress, together with four other fellow journalists from Romania; that was our delegation.
The White House, just a shadow of the sequences in movies, looks like a fortress, and the gloomy weather that day didn’t help either.
About the experience in the US in one word? Diversity. That’s what comes to mind most often when I think about the days spent there. From Indian, Mexican, Italian food to horrors like the hot dog combined with Mac and Cheese, a culinary bomb. I drank tap water with ice almost everywhere, the way they served it in restaurants, and I stayed in rooms where the air conditioning ran constantly, even though it was only a few degrees outside…
I tried Coca-Cola and McDonald’s in their country of origin, but I was disappointed by their taste, either too sweet or too bland. I tried frozen pizza and drank a weak coffee every day. Espresso was just a distant dream. And, of course, I didn’t miss an American pancake and maple syrup breakfast.
I spent two days in Washington D.C., their capital with a population comparable to that of Constanța County, of almost 700,000 inhabitants, but concentrated in only 177 square kilometers, compared to the over 7000 square kilometers of the county I came from.
We carried out the activities we went there for during 8 days in Chicago, the third-largest city in the US, after New York and Los Angeles, with a population of almost 3 million inhabitants.
Between you and me, I didn’t think about what it would be like when I met my colleagues from across the ocean or what the experience would be like as much as I thought about how I would get there. I had never flown before, and I had to have my first time with a 10-hour flight. Surprisingly, I calmed down passed quickly, right after takeoff.
What it was like, a stone’s throw away from the White House
In Washington D.C., I felt like I had entered another country, and for that, we had to travel for more than 30 minutes from the airport to the hotel. The weather made us even sleepier, and we felt more like we were in a British landscape as we moved forward through the light rain.
On the first evening in Washington, I took a tour around the hotel, where the buildings had a European feel. In the distance, I could see the Capitol, the building that houses the US Congress, the place stormed in 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump, the former president who recently returned to the White House.
The first challenge was the next day, when I was still dazed from the time differential, and we started a marathon of communication sessions, meetings with delegations from other countries: Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Vietnam. Everything took place in the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, in terms of volume of books and shelves, and there I also met university professors such as Dan Davidson, PhD from Harvard University, as well as Sam Potolicchio, PhD and professor at Georgetown, Mannheim, and Bologna universities.
Professor Dan Davidson spoke to us about American culture, emphasized the importance of the relationship between the US and Europe, and rightly pointed out that it should not and cannot be broken, given the tensions that arose after the Trump administration took office. After the presentations, there was a guided tour of the Library of Congress, along with other delegations, and a trip through Washington D.C., where we saw places and landmarks that I had only seen on Netflix, or some other streaming platform you can think of.
The White House, the official residence of the US President, seemed deserted from a distance and rather gray, despite its name. The Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the former US President, the Washington Monument are just other representative places for American history that I was able to visit in a single afternoon.
(source: Petruț Iacob/ Info Sud-Est)
We ended the evening in a bar in downtown Washington, together with my delegation colleagues. It had been a long day, and we already had many details to assimilate, even though we hadn’t been there long. I had a craft beer, which didn’t impress me, although the price of almost 10 dollars promised a lot.
It was another night where I fell asleep before midnight, which is totally unusual for me, especially in Romania, but the next day there was a new flight, a shorter one to be sure.
How it was to spend 8 days in the third largest city in the US
Well, I arrived in the third-largest city in the US after another 2-hour flight from Washington D.C., from Ronald Reagan National Airport, the site of the tragic plane crash at the end of January that resulted in dozens of deaths. From the initial fear, now, after just one flight, I felt like I had been doing this since I was born.
In Chicago, we met our host families at George’s house, an Indian man settled in America, the leader of the Council of International Programs Chicago, an international exchange program. He drove us to his home in the small town of Bensenville, a suburb of Chicago. There, we met our host families and the mayor, who told us about the small town of under 20,000 inhabitants.
Our experience in the third-largest city in the US began at a family meal and ended the same way. The difference was made by the dishes. If on the first day we tried Indian food, recommended by George, on the last day, we prepared traditional Romanian food.
The rice and spiced chicken gave way to polenta, sausages, and bread with zacuscă (a vegetable spread), bacon, and onion. Pălincă (a strong traditional fruit brandy), brought especially from Oradea by our colleague Adriana, was not missing from the table. Suffice it to tell you someone’s reaction at the table after tasting the pălincă: „Oh, my God!”.
Chicago had so much to offer in those 8 days. From the superb view of the American metropolis center, given by the buildings that disappeared somewhere into the clouds and the streets I recognized from the Batman movies, everything was fascinating. Only the congestion specific to such a large city and the pungent smell of marijuana somehow disturbed the so called „Windy City”.
From a distance, you could gaze at Lake Michigan; it looked like a sea, and the stretches of beach, the promenade, and the sun, far too generous for March, reminded me of my Constanța, which suddenly seemed closer. Only here, there was no smell of anchovies or boiled corn, and the promenade seemed to connect two cities from back home.
I was part of an American family, and I didn’t feel like an outsider
Medeea, my colleague from Snoop, and I stayed with Gloria and Bruce, two very friendly and open people. I really enjoyed seeing how much energy and zest for life these people, past their sixties, have. They work from morning till evening; she’s a marketing consultant, and he works in banking. But even so, the two don’t give up their hobbies. They love to travel and want to visit as many places as possible. I hope Romania will be on their list one day.
One evening, when Medeea and I returned from meetings with journalists, Gloria was asking Bruce, holding a brochure in her hand, where he would like their next trip to be, presenting each destination to him like a true travel agent. It was a gift Gloria was going to give Bruce for his birthday, and that just made me smile, just as it made him smile too.
We were received very warmly by them, and one Sunday morning, Gloria took me to church; it was a Protestant church in the neighborhood. We sat together during the service. I don’t usually do that in Romania, but there I felt different, as if I belonged to a community.
When I entered the church gates, Bruce was already there, helping to organize the event. He smiled at me and offered me a booklet with songs and some details about the church. We sat down on one of the rows and watched as people recited the verses from the booklets. I did it too, but much more timidly, kind of like „intruders” do when they arrive in a new place or are put in a new situation. Only I didn’t feel like an intruder at all.
They sang, they prayed, and at one point, everyone shook hands with each other as a sign of appreciation. I did it too, even though I didn’t know anyone in the community, but they didn’t seem to mind at all; on the contrary, they quickly integrated me. „Peace be with you,” they said to me, and indeed, that was the feeling I had being there.
The first weekend in Chicago with Gloria and Bruce was, however, just the trailer for the week that followed, full of meetings with journalists, journalists’ associations, professors, etc.
Twelve hours of meetings a day, with professors, students, and work colleagues. But so good.
I have never felt so exhausted, but at the same time so cheerful, after numerous meetings that lasted, in total, on some days, even almost 12 hours. But the experience was well worth it.
I would leave in the morning and arrive home in the evening, and then, instead of going out into the city, to traverse it from one side to the other, I preferred to take a shower and sleep. I only went out to a bar once, with a few colleagues from the delegation, but I only lasted until 9:00 PM.
A disappointment, especially for our friends in Romania, who imagined that besides the daily activities, we would party all night until morning.
The first hours of the day were much nicer with George, who seemed not to sleep at all, but had admirable energy and tried his best to make everything go perfectly. He was so focused that at one point he forgot that I had gotten in the car with him and asked me how long I had been at the destination.
But let’s get back to the reason we went there, journalism. I was really wondering, after returning to Romania, if I would have imagined that even in Chicago, the third-largest city in the US, there are publications that do exactly the same thing as us in Constanța (just try to mentally compare Chicago and Constanța, from any point of view you want, and see what you get): They serve the public interest, but they are also financed by grants, also by donations, and it’s not exactly comfortable for them either.
(source: Facebook/ American Councils for International Education – Romania)
Who knows when I will get to talk, face to face, with those from a journalists’ association in the US again? Speaking of that, I learned with astonishment from the Chicago Journalists Association that there are 12 such organizations there, while in all of Romania, which is about 6 times larger in population, there is a „press club” that promotes Moscow’s agenda and pro-Putin, anti-Western rhetoric, while independent publications are just now trying to come together in an association.
Now I sit and wonder if I will ever have the chance again to step into the headquarters of a television station like NBC 5 Chicago, in a room full of journalists, just like in the movies?
Who knows when I will once again get to be in a newsroom where dozens of journalists work, like at the Chicago Tribune, a traditional US newspaper? Or in the newsroom of Injustice Watch, a non-profit organization with investigative journalists, well-known in Chicago, who tackle topics in the field of justice.
Borderless Magazine is another non-profit organization I visited in Chicago. Their articles come as a solution to the problems that immigrants face in the US, and their financial support also comes from donations.
WBEZ, a radio station in Chicago, where I encountered diversity, equality, and a team in the true sense of the word.
And the list could go on.
I also want to say a few words about the professors and students I met at two universities in Chicago: Columbia College and the Medill School of Journalism, from Northwestern University, one of the best in the country in this field. In fact, there are graduates of the school who have won the Pulitzer Prize.
(source: Facebook/ American Councils for International Education – Romania)
At Columbia College, I attended a class on disinformation in social media, alongside the students. Basically, we were divided into groups and debated the topics of the course. It was completely different from the courses in Romania. There, the students also had a newsroom inside the university, which impressed me.
On the other hand, at the School of Journalism, I appreciated the professionalism shown by the faculty in the discussions with our delegation, as well as the discussion I had later with Dean Charles Dean, in which we analyzed the state of the press in the US and the preparation of students in the field of journalism.
Overall, in this chapter, from journalists to professors, I appreciated their preparation before the meetings, the fact that they knew who we were, what the potential risks faced by journalists in Romania are, and that they were interested in listening to us.
So, all in all, although there are differences, especially cultural ones, in customs and habits, the American dream is not that far away after all. As George told us several times, even if in a few months we will forget almost everything that happened in these 10 days, the connections will still remain within us.
- The Romanian delegation, within the Open World program, consisted of five journalists: Medeea Stan (Snoop), Laura Popa (PressOne), Andreea Archip (Școala 9), Adriana Totorean (Bihoreanul), and Petruț Iacob (Info Sud-Est).
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