January 8
Today we learned both in and outside of the classroom. Before class we visited the Petroleum Museum to learn a bit about Romania’s history in the oil and gas industry, and after class we were able to learn more about Dr. Teodoriu’s family’s history, with a trip to his home village. Mark Powers tells us about that and much more in his report from the day.
We started our day with our standard Hotel breakfast before meeting up with Dr. Catalin to visit the Muzeul Petrolului (Petroleum Museum). During our tour of the museum, we learned about the history of oil and gas in Romania, beginning with people digging for oil and collecting it in buckets and ending with three Romanian-built offshore platforms. Along with the inside portion of the tour, the museum has a large collection of oilfield equipment including draw works, rotary tables, and a replica of the wooden setups that were originally used to dig for oil.
After the visit to the museum, we walked through the market in the city center where people were selling a large variety of foodstuffs ranging from local and imported fruit to fish and cheese. This walk took us to a restaurant that sells traditional Romanian mici, a type of sausage served with mustard and bread. Following lunch, we took a walk around town and saw a statue of Nicolae Iorga, a Romanian historian who was also openly outspoken against the Nazi party. Because of this, Romanian affiliates of the Nazi party murdered him in 1940.
Since we still had some time before class, we took a drive up the hillside to view some local wells running on sucker rod pumps. We were lucky enough to find a well right by the road that had a workover rig. The workover rig was pulling sucker rods from the well, giving us the opportunity to see in person an operation we have studied in class.
After returning to the city, we headed to the university to begin class. Professor Teodoriu took us to a lab filled with diesel engine parts and gave us a hands-on lecture on how diesel engines work.
Following class, Dr. Catalin surprised us by bringing us to visit his countryside house. Here we got to meet his dog, Big, and tour his grandparents’ house. We finished the day with a taste of home, eating dinner at McDonalds.