Here is a brief overview of my recent trip to Romania.
Digilent has an engineering design office in Romania. Clint, our CEO, met a visiting professor from Romania, Mircea, and a friendship grew. In Sept of 06 we formed an office over there. I decided to go over and see how the office had turned out, to talk about management issues, and judge a design contest. We have two full time employees and about 5 part time employees in Romania. Josh, a software engineer went with me.
We flew from Spokane to Chicago, then to Milan, then to Cluj-Napoca Romania. The longest leg was on Alitalia. The plane was old, no nice LCD screens, and the service was sub par. From Chicago to Milan we were only served one light meal, and one drink the whole flight. My bags made it all the way, but one of Josh's got left behind. Prior to leaving I had purchased some Phillips in the ear noise cancelling headphones and absolutely loved them on the plane.
We were met in Cluj Romania by Mircea, the manager/part owner of Digilent RO. We stayed at his house. He lives on the edge of town in the house he was born in. He has remodeled it, adding several rooms and updating the inside and out. We were pretty jet lagged, so he took us into the mountains to a very peaceful little village where his family has a cabin. He took us for a row boat ride on a nice sized man-made lake. We returned home at about 7pm and ate lunch. It consisted of a tomatoes, pickled egg plant spread, bread, and pork. Wine and beer was consumed, but of coarse, I abstained.
We then drove to the Digilent office. It is a three bedroom apartment on the 7th floor of an 11 story apartment building. The furnishings were simple, just tables with computers, and a small bed for one of the full time employees who stays there. We got home at about 11pm, and it was time for dinner. I was ready for bed, but Mircea and his wife insisted we eat, so we dined again on similar cuisine, including a nice soup.
The next few days included tours of Cluj, visits with Digilent employees, and getting ready for the design contest. Cluj is in the heart of Transylvania, although Romanians hate any reference to Dracula, so being warned, I avoided any mention of him. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go do much sight seeing, but I had fun enough in the city. There are many old churches, old walls, parks, and old communist buildings throughout the city.
Saturday we attended the design contest. There were many interesting projects including several cool robots. We brought a laptop, ipod, and digital camera for prizes and the contest winners seemed real happy. The next morning at 5am, Mircea took me to the airport. Alitalia tried to charge me an extra luggage charge because I had two checked bags. I was flying from Cluj to Milan, then Milan to Rome, then Rome to Tirana Albania. Apparently this was considered a domestic flight. Fortunately, Mircea was still with me and he was able to work out a deal with the Alitalia agent so that I didn't have to pay any extra for my bags. I had a good time in Romania.
Digilent has an engineering design office in Romania. Clint, our CEO, met a visiting professor from Romania, Mircea, and a friendship grew. In Sept of 06 we formed an office over there. I decided to go over and see how the office had turned out, to talk about management issues, and judge a design contest. We have two full time employees and about 5 part time employees in Romania. Josh, a software engineer went with me.
We flew from Spokane to Chicago, then to Milan, then to Cluj-Napoca Romania. The longest leg was on Alitalia. The plane was old, no nice LCD screens, and the service was sub par. From Chicago to Milan we were only served one light meal, and one drink the whole flight. My bags made it all the way, but one of Josh's got left behind. Prior to leaving I had purchased some Phillips in the ear noise cancelling headphones and absolutely loved them on the plane.
We were met in Cluj Romania by Mircea, the manager/part owner of Digilent RO. We stayed at his house. He lives on the edge of town in the house he was born in. He has remodeled it, adding several rooms and updating the inside and out. We were pretty jet lagged, so he took us into the mountains to a very peaceful little village where his family has a cabin. He took us for a row boat ride on a nice sized man-made lake. We returned home at about 7pm and ate lunch. It consisted of a tomatoes, pickled egg plant spread, bread, and pork. Wine and beer was consumed, but of coarse, I abstained.
We then drove to the Digilent office. It is a three bedroom apartment on the 7th floor of an 11 story apartment building. The furnishings were simple, just tables with computers, and a small bed for one of the full time employees who stays there. We got home at about 11pm, and it was time for dinner. I was ready for bed, but Mircea and his wife insisted we eat, so we dined again on similar cuisine, including a nice soup.The next few days included tours of Cluj, visits with Digilent employees, and getting ready for the design contest. Cluj is in the heart of Transylvania, although Romanians hate any reference to Dracula, so being warned, I avoided any mention of him. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go do much sight seeing, but I had fun enough in the city. There are many old churches, old walls, parks, and old communist buildings throughout the city.
Saturday we attended the design contest. There were many interesting projects including several cool robots. We brought a laptop, ipod, and digital camera for prizes and the contest winners seemed real happy. The next morning at 5am, Mircea took me to the airport. Alitalia tried to charge me an extra luggage charge because I had two checked bags. I was flying from Cluj to Milan, then Milan to Rome, then Rome to Tirana Albania. Apparently this was considered a domestic flight. Fortunately, Mircea was still with me and he was able to work out a deal with the Alitalia agent so that I didn't have to pay any extra for my bags. I had a good time in Romania.
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