As a teenager who had never lived outside her home city of Bacau
in eastern Romania, Raluca Dragusanu ’06 dreamed
of traveling and meeting people from other cultures. Studying in
the United States seemed like the perfect opportunity to gain a solid
education and a broad perspective on the world. “My experience
at St. Lawrence has offered me more than I had ever hoped for,” she
says. “Contact with American culture and so many other cultures
through friendships with other international students has taught
me a great deal and made me more aware of my own roots.”
Raluca is majoring in economics and mathematics and
has had so many campus activities it’s daunting to count: Investment
Club, student government,
Model UN fund-raising chair, student worker in Information
Technology, economics and German teaching assistant, modern
languages department intern, an assistant for the ODY
Library Systems office, assistant in the international
and intercultural office.
After studying in Denmark through
St. Lawrence’s program and working in Austria, Raluca is becoming
an expert in intercultural adjustment. “Getting accustomed
to a new culture is not easy, but the ‘storm’ an individual
faces opens the road to incredible enrichment and inner growth,” she
says. “Now it takes me less and less time and energy to get
adjusted to new cultures.”
She hopes to work for an international organization such as the United
Nations, or for the European Union in economic development and policy. “I
dream of a job that would allow me to travel and experience new cultures,” she
says. “Through whatever I pursue I hope to make a difference
for the people back in Romania or in other developing countries. I
want to give back to the world at least as much as I have received.”
