Georgia is a small country located in the Caucausus bordering Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, and the Black Sea. Its capital is the city of Tbilisi. Georgia was a part of the Soviet Union until April 9, 1991 when it declared its independence. It has a population slightly over 5 million people.
The official language is Georgian, one of the oldest languages in the world. As part of the Soviet Union, all Georgians had to learn Russian and most speak it fluently today. English, German, and French are also spoken widely in Tbilisi.
The currency in Georgia is the Lari. During the summer of 1999, the exchange rate was approximatly two Lari to a dollar. Smaller denominations of the Lari are Tetri. Georgia is still a mostly cash society and credit cards are rarely taken, even at banks. Exchange places are abundant and you can easily exchange dollars for Lari in Tbilisi. Travelers checks are taken at banks where you can exchange them for dollars or Lari.
The Eurasia Fellowship is an extension of the Eesti Fellowship which was established in 1990. The Eurasia Fellowship allows students to work in the Georgian government directly with government officials. Students are placed in a wide variety of positions including Parliament, Ministry of State Property Management, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade, and the Georgian Investment Centre. Students design a project to work with government officials on over the course of the summer. The project should be substantive and have a lasting impact for the government officials.
The program lasts for approximately 10 weeks. Students arrive in Tbilisi at the end of May or beginning of June and stay through until the middle of August. During that time, the students live in an apartment in Tbilisi. The apartment and travel costs are covered in the fellowship though living expenses are not. The cost of living is relatively low in Georgia and students in the past have been able to live comfortably on relatively little.
Georgia has some of the most beautiful landscapes in the region from mountains to plains to coasts. Traveling throughout the country is easy although Russian or Georgian is very useful if traveling outside of Tbilisi. People usually travel via "marshrutka", vans that travel from city to city. They are the main source of transportation, reliable, safe, and very inexpensive. A marshrutka ride from Tbilisi to Batumi, almost across the entire country could be purshased for less than $10 each way. Private taxis are also available for hire for a relatively low rate. A private taxi could be hired for less than $20 for an entire day.
The fellows traveled extensively throughout Georgia almost every weekend. Most trips were day trip to cities such as Borjomi - a popular spa resort, Gori - the birthplace of Stalin, Mtsketa - the site of a one of the holiest monasteries in Georgia, Kazbegi - the birthplace ot the Georgian delicacy, Khinghali and the Caucaus mountains, and Telavi - home of the Georgia poet Chavchavadze and King Herakles. Two fellows also traveled to Batumi for two days, a port and resort city on the Black Sea about 10 miles from the Turkish border. Three fellows traveled to Baku for three days, the capital city of Azerbaijan.
Living Arrangements - There were seven Fellows in 1999, six of whom shared a spacious apartment in Tbilisi. The apartment was large enough to allow each Fellow to have his or her own walk-through bedroom. They shared a large living room, a bathroom, ing wine could be had for less than $10 for two people.
Travel - In the city, most people traveled using the local marshrutka. The marshrutkas travel designated routes throughout the city. Each van is marked with a number in its window indicating its route which makes it easy for non Georgian or Russian speakers to travel once they figure out which route each marshutka takes. There are no designated stops and you stop a marshutka simply by waving it down as it comes by. You stop by shouting "gaachere" (stop in Georgian) and the marshutka stops to let you off. The most expensive marshutka was no more than 25 cents.
Work - Each fellow worked at a different Ministry or government office. Tasks varied for each fellow, but each had to develop some independent project. The internships are not structured and the idea of an intern is foreign to almost all government officials. The fellows had a lot of freedom in developing their projects and each one tailored his or her project to the department where he or she worked.
The fellow working at the Ministry of Trade helped Georgia with its WTO application and researched anti-dumping laws for the Trade Minister. At the Georgian Investment Centre, the fellow produced a newsletter for the Georgian business community, and researched the feasibility of developing Agro-tourism. At the Ministry of State Property Management, the fellow reviewed consulting applications for Georgia�s telecommunications privatization and proposed the establishment of a new Association of Georgian Economists in Tbilisi. The Fellow working at Parliament wrote English documents for Zurab Zhvarnia, the head of Parliament and worked with officials to expand a school to prepare Georgian national for study in overseas institutions. At the Anti-Corruption Committee, the fellow updated databases for the Anti-corruption committee. At GIOC, the fellow researched investment opportunities in oil and energy for Georgia.
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