Me and Hungary

[Koa]

Ok, it's official that I can spend a semester abroad, and the destination I chose was Hungary (a country in the mid/Eastern Europe, depends on the point of view ;))(I feel weird explaining it but most of you are not Europeans and someone might wonder maybe...). Well yes this is another of my weird choices, and I'm so scared it'll end up being another wrong one... I'm particularly afraid of not finding courses useful for my studies (I can only attend ones in English or any other language I know, which reduces the choice, as even if I'm willing to learn the Hungarian language, I doubt I'll get fluent quickly, if ever), and therefore take more time to graduate... Then anyway i chose to go cos it's an unique chance to do such experience (and doing it with the university I get a little scholarship), and to finally live alone for a few monthst at least... I can finally prove my independence and hopefully get less shy and more practical, which i really need...

So well i just wanted to let you all know this cos it's the only news happening in my life in a very long time... I sometimes rgret a bit of not having chosen England, but I love the Eastern Europe (and in my faculty there werent any better choices, it doesnt make sense: there was no possibility of choosing a country where they speak a Slavic language!!!):mad: I will stay in a city in the south called Szeged (read above about the choices: no Budapest...), and hoepfully will manage to visit a bit of Romania too...

Ok and now let's see where this thread takes us :D

[Tabac]

I spent only a week in Budapest, but it is one of my favorite cities. All the people I came across were very friendly and helpful, and many spoke decent English.

From my extensive travels around the world, I can say that in most places, the smaller the city, the friendlier the people. If this is true in Hungary, you are in for a delightful experience.

I lived in Turkey for two years: the languages are similar in the way in which sentences are formed (just about the reverse of English). It takes a lot of work to learn such a language, but I'm certain that any effort you make to learn some, the joy you bring to the Hungarians will be greater than what you learn.

Have a great two years!

[Koa]

Thanks for your reply...I've been to Budapest before too, and I loved it, that certainly influenced my decision of spending 6 months in that country... I have an idea of the Hungarian language already, so I know what to expect... People think I'm crazy as usual, cos they see it useless to learn such a language, but I think there is some commercial relationship between my country and Hungary so it might be another chance of getting job later... I'm trying to keep many doors open...
I'm not fond of small cities cos I'm used to relatively big places and I'm fascinated by huge ones such as London, but I found out that this Szeged place is not tiny, just average, so I'll probably enjoy it :)
Still, I'm so scared! :D

[amuse]

This is sooooo Exciting, will you still have computer access and be able to say "hi" once in a while or do we hear about it afterward? Don't know the first thing about Hungary, but have a wonderful, wonderful time, and :) :) CONGRATULATIONS, KOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :)

[Koa]

Awww... i'm scaaaared :)

About the internet, there will surely be a pc room at the uni, it'll be the first think i'll do: look for it and take good care of my emails at least... If I have time and possibility I'll pop in here sometimes...

Oh btw, it's not that I'm about to leave, since the semester starts in September ...

[IWilKikU]

I went to Hungary once, not Budapest though, and NOBODY spoke English. But I had some good frozen yogurt at Yogen Fruz (with little dots above the o). I didn't really like it, but if you liked Budapest than good for you! I wish that you had come to the UK. The idea that I may see people on this forum while walking around London always fascinates me. While I'm in used book stores on Charring Cross Road, I look at the middle aged guy browsing next to me and think to myself "could that be Atiguya Padma"? That would be grate if I could add Koa to my list of bookstore suspects :)

[emily655321]

Haha. So cool, Koa. And I thought I was excited to be going to Vermont this Sept! Remember not to forget your forum buddies -- tell us when you meet some amazing Hungarian prince or something. :p (do they still have princes in Hungaria? well, then who lives in the castles?)

[Koa]

LOL Kik... dont make me think of England, I would have had to sell a kidney to afford a living there :( I love London...

Emily, they dont have princes as far as I know, but Hungarian boys are so beautiful!!! (shame all i want from life is an italian one...hope the hungarians are as charming, but I'm in need of a countryman :()

[Koa]

...I'm so scared I won't make it...

I don't know why, it's so unlike me, i've always dreamed of something like this, I've always been more than ready to travel... And now I feel like I lack the courage to do this. Maybe I'm afraid I'll set too high hopes on this experience and won't enjoy it instead...Maybe I'm aware that I shouldn't be doing it to runaway from my problems cos they'll obviously follow me... Maybe I'm 'shocked' by the experience of one of my best friends, who's spending her time abroad now and was all excited etc, but from the very first day she's been looking forward to coming back home... She was hoping to give a big change to her life, but obviously nothing changed... And I'm scared it'll be like that for me too, since in those things we're quite similar... Even if I'm more independant so maybe I might survive well...

Iiiiih ok rant over.

[emily655321]

Koa, I've been there. Not Hungary. :p I mean when I was in Scotland -- the first month was fun, and from there the misery progressed. Of course, you're not going to be going to school in the 7th grade. But I was soooo homesick, if we hadn't left I was planning to move back myself and stay with friends till I went to college. Everything was so different, nothing was familiar, and I was only in the UK! But my point is, so much happened to me there and I learned so much about the country that you can't get from just visiting for a couple weeks. It opened my eyes and gave me another perspective on the world that has made me a better, more enlightened person -- in fact, I'm sure I've grown up into a completely different person than I would have had I not gone. Now it seems like 70% of all my memories are from that one year.

So, my point is, committing to an extended time of cultural emersion is terrifying, and you just might be miserable :p, but the benefits of any time spent abroad vastly outweigh any unpleasantness. I say, dive right in and experience as much as possible while you're there, because it's an opportunity that very few people will ever have, and what you learn will be priceless. Not to mention unmeasurable amounts of writing material. :D :D

[IWilKikU]

Oh... poor Koa. :(. Don't worry, you're just aprehensive. I'm living on the other side of the pond from home, and trust me: you get out of it what you put in to it. I have friends here who are determined to stay the exact same people they came here as. I on the other hand have become almost anglisized. The school I go to is largely American but there are 48 countries represented in the student body. So American students have the option of coming here and having a wonderful American expirience with other Americans, or we have the option of culturally integrating with not just English, but other Europeans, Slavic peoples, Scandanavians, Russians, Indians, Koreans and other far east Asians, Africans, ect...

Uh... I guess that doesn't really help you, but my point was, if you integrate yourself into their culture, it will change and better you. If you ignore thier culture, you'll be the same when you get back home. The choice is yours.

Good luck and don't be scared. Even in the worst case, you'll still have us to turn to. :)

[emily655321]

*still thinking about it* Is it "emersion" or "immersion"??

[IWilKikU]

Immersion n 1. The act or an instance of immersing or being immersed. (thats real helpful!) 2. A method of teaching a foreign language by placing the student in a situation where only the foreign languageis spoken.

[amuse]

hmm, i know it's not school (i'd just quit) but when i moved from the west coast to the east coast, it was a scary and wonderful change. i was 20, and i would do it all over again.

[emily655321]

Thanks Kik man. :D I gosh darn hate... that kind of word whose name I haven't remembered since third grade vocabulary lessons... anyway, I'm just getting a handle on "affect" and "effect." (Would "our" and "are" be considered one too? I've always wondered that. For some reason it doesn't seem like they would.)

[Koa]

No no no I didn't mean that... I've often felt more at home when I'm abroad than here... I usually have no problems in adapting to a new culture, sometimes it's frustrating but it's mostly FUN for me... That's the reason that makes me want to GO.
The worries are about social life and such... One of the reasons why people do the semester abroad is partying. I DETEST partying. All people around will date and f*** all the time, I'll have to watch them LIVE as I've watched people live for 22 years, 1 month and 14 days. And now I so much want to LIVE. Maybe just because my attitude is screwed and I can't loosen myself up, but that's what happened to my friend, she went away full of hopes and she's just the same loser she was here... Ok she can't even adapt while I feel I'm able to do that, but still...
Ok life isnt all about partying (though at this age people think it is...), but this is just the example, I'm afraid nothing will change in my mind, I'll leave with this pessimistic way of thinking and won't make any improvements on my low social skills, just will get more and more bitter.

[IWilKikU]

Koa, you need some prozac!

[emily655321]

LoL Koa, first off, I'm eternally envious that you are fluent in English and Russian, and that you are going to Hungary. I would become a freakin nun this minute if someone could guarantee me that before I was 30, forget within the next three years. :D

But I have a secret for you. Last night I had a preminition: a fairy came to me in a dream and told me that you are going to forget all your studies, go to a party, two beautiful Hungarian boys will fall madly in love with you, and you'll spend the semester caught in a dramatic and exhilirating love triangle. Then by some miraculous series of events you'll receive life-changing advice from an old woman in a cafe, find inner happiness, reject the passionate proposals of marriage from both admirers, and return to your studies just in time to pass your courses with flying colors when you get home.

Or you'll go, study a lot, party a very little, be bored with the vacuous inebriated slugs that are your companions, and return with life-changing knowledge and cultural experience nonetheless.

Take your pick. But I'm putting my money on the FACT that you'll have more fun if you go in expecting fun.

[Koa]

Yes I do need prozac but I keep being told it screws your brain even more. But what do happy people know about that?

Emily well that's fun (btw I'm not fluent at all in Russian, still struggling to get a sentence right!) and I'm starting to relax but still at times I'm scared... Many times in my life I decided things had to change, tried to relax and dived into the new stuff... To get disillusioned, and only because of bad choices I made or stuff... And at the present moment my mind is possibly more screwed than it's ever been (except the unglorious 1999), so everything gets scary...
Hungarians boys are cute indeed, i'm sure I said that already... I'd go for one though, the triangle would give the final blow to my mental sanity.
Though I find myself thinking I should have chosen England, there I would have had someone for sure... I haven't still got over that 'thing' (uh I feel vague but I'm not going to post the story of my life...again ;)).
It would maybe help not to be totally alone at first, but apparently noone else from my Uni will go there with me... which tells you how crazy I am ;) (and worries me a bit, like it was a bad sign)

Today I feel cool and sure that whatever way, I can survive that. But my moods change quickly. It'll be great it 'll be great!

[emily655321]

LOL yes it will. :D

OMG though -- 1999 sucked for you too? I won't ask you to go into it, but that summer99-spring00 was the worst I've ever had. (That summer I got to starving myself very badly, that fall I practically had a breakdown and was diagnosed with depression, and by the end of the winter I was the closest I've ever been to... the wrong end of things.) Anyway, that's just interesting. :p

[Koa]

Lol my problem is that i've never been diagnosed, which doesnt make it official...well maybe we can talk about depression in PMs or something...cos it feels too weird in public, even if im doing it all the time but not too in depth...
iiih i posted too much tonight, anyway it's time for me to be off :D

[emily655321]

LOL nighty night Koa. Darn, I have to go soon too. Should really emerge from the shadows and go photo the swamp with the new leaves before the sun sets and it rains tomorrow. (It's actually prettier than it sounds :D)

[IWilKikU]

hey! What a small world. '99 was my suicide attempt. :D

[emily655321]

Spooky. Okay, so can we all agree that 1999 was a naughty, bad, icky year and should be stricken from the history books, already??

:p

[den]

I totally empathise with your attitude Koa that party life is kindof tiring after a while when you've had your fill so to speak ... it's hard to be around people who seem to live to party. I find those types really boring :p

The good thing is you'll be in classes and with a lot of structure so that will fill most of your time of course, and I'm sure you'll soon meet others who feel the same way you do and aren't simply there to party.

Anticapatory anxiety is the worst type, because you don't know what to expect until you get there.

Is there any way you can meet, online or in person, anyone else who may be doing the same thing? Surely you're not the only one?

[Koa]

Do you know the song by Prince that says 'and tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999' ? :D (or something like that) It makes me smile...what a party!!!

Den, there were 2 scholarship from my faculty to that place, but I'm the only one who'll go...noone else requested that place... There's a lot of prejudices towards eastern europe, when i tell people I'm nervous about it the first thing they think it's that it's because I'm going to 'one of those countries'...I hope I'm not being optimistic (me??? ;)) about the country, but I've never found anything wrong in the East...we're in 2004, not in 1955...

So, there's no way at the moment I can contact someone from here (unless there's someone at some other faculty, I've been trying to find out but seems like the only way is ask to the international relations office... I will ask as I worked part-time there for 1 month and know the people), and even less someone from other universities...

[Koa]

*knocks knocks* Here in my own selfish thread again...

Well this time I'm wondering about people's open mindness...
Today I was waiting at a teacher's office and some other students were there too...they were the students who applied for going abroad but didn't get the scholarship, and the teacher is suggesting them to go to the places where some scholarhips havent been given (like Hungary: there were 3, only 1 was given)...and they were all talking about how useless it is to go to places like Estonia or Hungary... And once again I felt like a total weirdo... Is there something so strange with me, because I think that the world is much wider than UK-Spain-Germany? :( Sure the Uk is the top, but isn't it incredibly interesting to go anywhere and see something new...and explore cultures and languages that are less known? I'm not blaming people, they have their reasons for choices and preferences, but I don't like to see how they consider to be 'third world' anything that' not like the UK... Or to see those destinations neglected like they were too weird for sane people....
(rant over)

[amuse]

yes, something's very wrong with you, koa. you realize we're all people from one planet - how could you!!!
:) :) :) :)

[emily655321]

Pssh. I've been to the UK. It's the same as any other western country basically, with its own this-and-that. (Could I be more dismissive? :p) What I mean is, I think it's way better to experience something very different and foreign, more outside of your comfort zone. You leaern more, and have a better idea of what the real world is like beyond what you see out the window and on TV every day.

[Koa]

I've been to the Uk and felt at home. I still find myself thinking I should have chosen to go there...but there are so many new interesting things to see...I know the UK won't runaway and will be there for me to go again, and it's more easily reachable than an unknown country... I feel like trying, but I feel really so different from the ordinary people...

[emily655321]

Is it really better to feel like "the ordinary people"? Those people with such closed minds you were talking about? What's ordinary about them is that they're boring and unwilling to go on the sort of adventure you are. They were probably so scornful of Hungary because they're afraid of living somewhere so different and strange to them.

[Koa]

I'm proud of being different, but also aware that it makes things much harder in social life.

[emily655321]

Well, duh. :D That's why all the interesting people are depressed.

[Koa]

Indeed... that's why sometimes I wish I was ordinary!

[evulik]

Hi all,

I was just thinking I will pop my head into this discussion.... you will manage KOA... believe me. people are not that bad (even I do not like Hungarian, that much). I am from Slovakia, that is right above Hungary and in the case you get bored by partying people, you stick your head to Slovakia, I will think of some hints for you where to go. More to the point, I was never in Hungary, but having met quite a lot of them (they occupy the south part of Slovakia) they are ok. Sticked to their language, but ok. I am sure most of them now speak english. All of them I met did (maybe because I met them at language school :p ) Hungarians that are met were "people", some were partying, some get stoned, some were studying, some where reading, some were "different" etc... we all are on the other hand. The language itself is quite crazy, you will have probably difficulty to learn it. "TESIK" is "What can I do for you" or something to it... simple, no? and on the other hand, what is more beautiful than to get to exotic places as are east europe countries haha :cool: I am sure Hungary will offer you great deal of museums, palaces, castles, great nature, sure people and in the case Hungary does not have it, go to Slovakia. we do! :p It sounds almost ideal, doesn't it?

bon courage

PS: if it helps you, I am also different. Sometimes I feel so weird that I am ready to pack my stuff and visit mental institution :) but on the other hand, so what? I am I (or I am me? forgot grammar)

[Koa]

Thanks, I hope I can visit lots of places around Hungary, cos I'm much more interested in Slavic countries (but there was no possibility to go there :()

I'm not scared of the Hungarian people....I'm scared of the other students... I mean the other foreign ones, I'm sure at least some of them chose to do a semester abroad just to party...

A few nights ago I dreamt that i arrived there, everything was fine... But the people, even the ones I had to share the flat/apartment with, were posh and hostile...

Good news is that I'm not that scared anymore, today I had some instructions about the damn bureaucracy, and I strangely didnt feel like crying ;)

I wish to learn the Hungarian language, but I think it wil be almost impossible... :(

[amuse]

"posh and hostile" how awful! thank goodness you were asleep!
oh and you'll probably go away having learned so much more Hungarian than you realized.
:)

[evulik]

hi,

slavic countries, I always thought that Slovakia itself is a Slavic country as well. Why is that you could not go to Slavic country? Wasn't there a possibility to sign into term by yourself and then just announce it at your school? well, I know little about this anyway. Just suggestion.

I know what you mean by being scared. I went to private language school few years ago, and all I thought was "well, there will be these rich people, looking down on me..." and quess what? as my roomate was great girl, born on the same day as I, My name is starting E and the surname is E and she was M. M. and she was great .... of course we had few people at school that were "really really" above the subject every day... so what... :) I did enjoy it...

the language... well, that language is strange. even south part of Slovakia speaks hungarian, I am not very happy about it. we have some news and magazines in hungarian... but I would never learn.... guess I am supersticious about it... (if that's the right word)...

ok, leave you for now with your thoughts... and your dreams.. you probably know that dreams are the mirrors to what you think and do whole day :))) so change your thoughts during the day and you will enjoy marvelous nights and dreams...

regards,
eva

[Koa]

Evulik, I couldn't go to Slavic countries (yeah Slovakia would do too ;)) because...well, these things are don trhough partnerships between universities, and my faculty (of languages!) doesnt have partnerships in Slavic places... while the faculty of Economics has Czech Rep. and Poland!!!! :mad: :(:(:( I can't just decide myself cos it wouldnt' enter in this project and I'd have no help from the Uni in terms of legal stuff and money (I get a scholarship :))

The Hungarian language seems impossible indeed, but trying costs me nothing, so we'll see where I end up :P

The news is that I'm not that scared anymore (mayeb because I'm in a good mood lately), but I have big regrets about England... (to shout it out: the only boy I've ever had lives there and maybe getting near him would have solved a lot of my problems...But I was trying to runaway from him as well as from many other things...).

And, there's another girl from my Uni coming there!!! :) She decided to take one of the vacant places and she contact me yesterday cos she knew a girl who knows me and got my phone number from her... Otherwise, it would have taken me a long time to find out!!!

[evulik]

Hi Koa,

this is wonderful that you are so enthusiastic about it, at last... :) good news, in the case you decide to stop running away England is just about 1 or two hours from Hungary by plane. And cost little, as far as I know, using British Airways...
it is a good decision to run away, I did the same three years ago, and I spent one year in Netherland... WONDERFUL.... taught me a lot, gave me time to think, time to read, time to cry and laugh... and I came back as different person... :) and thanks to this I have a man, one of the kind (if this is the correct expression...)
anyway, all will be fine and I am sure that you will have great time. I am planning to go to Hungary during summer, for short trip. my friend from France was in Hungary two weeks ago and he loved it :) of course, he spent there about one week, it is a bit different for you.... but you will love it... :)

wish you luck...

[Koa]

Thanks! I'm not sure British Airways is so cheap, Id' prefer Ryanair, last time I travelled so cheap with it that I spent more for my new shoes...:eek:

I'm in a quite lazy mood right now so not too enthusiastic about all the bureaucracy i have to face before leaving, and stuff... maybe cos I have other things like exams in mind, hope that wehn I'm more free I'll feel active again...