Romania is a country overwhelmed by perpetual political turmoil

sparked by the revolution in 1989. That may be why I have always

been interested, if not fascinated, by the rapidly changing world of
politics, although, until fairly recently, I limited myself to what was
happening within the Romanian borders. I have strived to better
understand the contrast between the regime that ended almost 20
years ago and today’s democratic republic, in hope that a correct
judgment of our past would enable me to establish healthy principles
for the future.

Karl Popper’s “The Open Society and Its Enemies” was one of the
books that influenced and intrigued me greatly as it shed new light on
theories I was already accustomed to. The possible ambiguity of all
doctrines was one of the reasons I became determined to study the
subject of politics more thoroughly. My endeavor proved successful and
last year I was admitted among the first at the “International Relations
and European Studies” and “Communication and People Relations”
courses at the University of Bucharest. I chose to focus my attention on
the former as I felt it an opportunity to further enrich my knowledge on
the variety of ideologies and political dogmas. This course has also
given me a panoramic view over nowadays’ political reality.

Books like “Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville or

“The Constitution of Liberty” by Friedrich A. Hayek have helped me
fathom the concepts of liberty, liberalism and democracy. I became an
active supporter of the Democratic Party, volunteering to participate in
electoral campaigns, both local and national, starting with 2004. I was
implicated in a number of various activities, such as distributing
leaflets, making telephone polls, coordinating the party’s cultural
projects and co-organizing conferences.

As a student, I aimed at making a difference and changing the

light way adolescents perceive the world around them and vice versa. I
was an editor for my school’s newspaper and, later on, my high
school’s magazine. Last year my colleagues and I were the initiators of
an interesting project, a collaboration between high school magazines
from all over the country and one of the best sold newspapers in
Romania, “Academia Caţavencu”. We were offered the chance of
working with professional journalists and the result was the significant
improvement of our writing and teamwork skills. Earlier on, in 2001, I
became involved, as spokesperson of my school, in a programme
unique at that time, the Children’s Government, which consisted of a
series of meetings between students and the representatives of the City
Hall. We were able to discuss and find solutions for problems like the
modernizing of our schools’ infrastructure or the building of new
gymnasiums. More importantly, I gained valuable insight on the
political structure at a local level.

Since I am not a native English speaker I have always felt the

need of perfecting my language skills. To that end, for the last three
years, I have taken and completed summer courses at St. Clare’s
International College in Oxford, where my efforts and progress were
well appreciated by my teachers and where I received maximum grades
each year.

I am passionate about the subject of politics and I believe that

studying at a university in England would be an academically enriching
and rewarding experience.