When Andrei Novac arrived at the Salt Lake International Airport this weekend, he was in the midst of a journey of a lifetime.
A historic journey, in fact. Novac is the first exchange student to leave Romania since thousands of citizens toppled Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in a bloody revolution last December.Through the efforts of the Murray Rotary Club and Novac's aunt, Irena Nelson, the 18-year-old from Bucharest is Rotary International's first Romanian foreign exchange student since the revolution. He will be spending the 1990-91 school year at Murray High School, where he'll have the chance to learn all he wants about America - first-hand.
"I've opened a crack in my head to learn as much as I can," Novac said. "I'm thirsty for information."
After days of waiting, a 10-hour visa application process, and missing a plane in Chicago, the excited Romanian finally touched down in Salt Lake City Saturday afternoon.
And despite being taught since his youth that the United States is full of "capitalist dragons," the first thing Novac noticed was how friendly Americans are.
Prior to the revolution in Romania, talking intimately with family members was only done guardedly, and speaking candidly with strangers was unknown.
In slightly broken but hard-earned English, Novac explained how surprised and delighted he was to find Americans so amenable to sincere conversation.
"There are no barriers between people here," he said.
Friendly people weren't all Novac noticed about his first few hours in the United States.
Nelson said Novac was surprised at the colors in America.
"He just walked around and said, `I can't believe there is so much color," she said.
Novac agreed. "Living in Romania is like watching a black-and-white television," he said.
Novac's landing in Salt Lake City was made even sweeter by the presence of his aunt, who had initially suggested the exchange to Rotary Club officials.
She left Romania 17 years ago on a science fellowship from the United Nations. Ceausescu's government thought Nelson, who was a renowned nuclear physicist, would return to Romania because all of her family remained there.
But leaving her husband and two children behind, Nelson decided to remain in Sweden, where she was granted political asylum. In 1981, she came to Utah to work with the University of Utah. She is now teaching at Salt Lake Community College.