That's fantastic, what sort of music do you usually play?
I must confess, that I am pretty envious of your friend; I hope one day I will be able to study music/language/culture in eastern Europe, as well. Percussion is definitely a different ball game, especially with Romanian music. They have the most daunting time signatures and changes. This kid I met is a mastermind with it on accordion/clarinet/piano, you should check out his band, The Petrojvic Blasting Company. They play everything in between Dixieland jazz and Balkan traditionals. Really great guys.