In May and June Angela Brintlinger was able to spend five weeks in Timișoara, Romania as a guest of West University ( Romanian: Universitatea de Vest din Timișoara; abbreviated UVT). This was her first visit to Romania, and though she was working primarily in the American Studies Center with colleagues and graduate students, Brintlinger was also invited to guest-teach for Russian language students (levels 1-3) and based her class on a course she teaches at Ohio State, Russian 1205 (Posters, Poetry, and Propaganda). The interactive session showcased American teaching methods, including the communicative method of total immersion in the target language.

While at UVT Brintlinger was asked to give a lecture about her 2024 book Why We (Still) Need Russian Literature for Comparative Literature students. At UVT there is no Comp Lit degree, but all languages and literature students take this lecture course in their second year at university. She also attended a Global Diversity Fair and interacted with UVT’s international students, including several from Greece, Serbia, and China.

Belgrade called, and Brintlinger accompanied her spouse and colleague Steven Conn (Miami University) to meet with the Center for U.S. Studies at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Political Science, where Conn gave a talk on “America’s Birthday Parties” to an overflow crowd.

Next Brintlinger headed to the University of Bucharest, where she presented a paper in the context of a “Crime and Literature” conference and met scholars from across the region--Greece, Ukraine, and of course Romania. She ventured to Brașov in Western Transylvania, where she did not visit castles, nor did she encounter the bear that was roaming the streets that Sunday.

The river Bega runs through Timișoara, and Brintlinger will remember fondly her walks and runs along its banks, the gorgeous roses cultivated by Romanians, and the warm reception she received at UVT.