Life in Hungary

Greg Mason, former CES graduate student assistant and Modern European UF graduate student, who wrote to us last summer on Turkish language studies ("Why Study Turkish?"), writes to us from Hungary, where he now lives. Below find his experiences stretching from his flat in Budapest to Pécs, Eger, and Recsk, Hungary. 

As you may have seen in an earlier blog post, my wife, Johanna Mellis, and I are living in Budapest for 10 months while she is here on a Fulbright fellowship. We have enjoyed ourselves tremendously so far. For this post I thought I’d tell you a little bit more about our day-to-day lives here in Budapest. We are very lucky to have found a great apartment through a friend that Johanna met here two summers ago while on a summer FLAS! Our flat is in a quiet part of town, located five minutes by foot from Hero’s Square. The one bedroom apartment is somewhat small by American standards, but very nice. It’s actually been rather fun cooking in a small kitchen, converting things to Celsius and adjusting our recipes to the food stuffs available here in Budapest. Because the building, like much of the city, was built at the turn of the century, I have to duck through doorways – side note, I’m 6’7” -- but the ceilings are high, which makes the rooms seem bigger.

                                               

Budapest is lined with tall, grandiose buildings and something new and beautiful catches your eye

almost every day. The city’s iconic feature is the parliament building. Although it’s a bit cliché to point this out as a ‘must see,’ it really is a sight to behold and seeing it never gets old.

In addition to its beauty, Budapest is a very livable city. The public transportation system is very good and you can enjoy the city on a tight budget. We find fun and interesting festivals to attend almost every weekend. A number of excellent cafes and cool, artsy open air “ruin” pubs, built in the court yards of dilapidated buildings, can also be found throughout the city. 

In terms of cultural adjustments, it took a while to get used to the fact the Hungarians aren’t as smiley as your typical American, but once you get past the somewhat tough exterior Hungarians tend to be very friendly and generous with their time. I’ve recently started helping to coach a girls’ 9-11 year old basketball team. The head coach does not speak much English and neither do any of the girls on the team. Needless to say it’s been a challenging, but at the same time unique and rewarding experience so far. Johanna and I are helping out with a history graduate seminar on preparing for English language conferences at ELTE University in Budapest. We've become friends with people in the class who have helped Johanna out with her research and showed us around the city.

Finally, we’ve also been fortunate enough to see some really lovely places in other parts of Hungary. Our first voyage outside of Budapest was to Pécs. Located in southwest Hungary near the Croatian border, Pécs is about three and a half hours from Budapest by train. It is inexpensive to travel around Hungary and the tickets only cost us about 35 USD per person, round trip.

Pécs appealed to us because of its sheer beauty and interesting melting pot history. The city, whose motto is “the Borderless City,” was named as a European Capital of Culture in 2010 and, as such, underwent a major renewal project in which many of its streets and buildings were revived. Four years later the small Hungarian city remains in near pristine condition.

At the heart of the city is an absolutely beautiful main square. In the square you’ll find the beautiful Mosque of Pasha Qasim, now a Christian church, which serves as a reminder of the city’s Ottoman past.  One of the first things you notice about Pécs is that many of the roofs are covered in beautiful, ornate ceramic tiles. This is because Pécs is home to the famous Zsolnay family, who began producing world class porcelain and ceramics in the early 19^th century. When in Pécs, it’s a must that you visit the Zsolnay museum. Here one can see a number of the amazing pieces and learn about the history of the family. In addition to the museum, the Zsolnay Cultural Corner -- which sits about 15 minutes’ walk from city center – is full of beautiful buildings and the original site of the factory. We decided to make the walk and were very happy to have done so.

                           

 Another place that we really enjoyed was Eger.The small city, famous for its wine, sits in north central Hungary, about two hours from Budapest by bus. In Eger you’ll find a castle, natural springs and several wineries among its main attractions. On our way back from Eger with the Fulbright group we visited the memorial site of the Recsk labor camp, which was in operation in Communist Hungary from 1950-1953. This was a harrowing experience, as expected. However, the actual town of Recsk was quaint and lovely. It was great being there in October because the leaves were changing colors on the vineyard hills and in the valleys. Needless to say, it was all extremely picturesque and not something that I’ll soon forget.

Well, that’s all for now. I hope you’ll think about visiting Hungary if you ever find yourself in Europe. We are forever grateful that CES offers Hungarian language and Central European history courses, along with the FLAS awards. It not only played a major role in helping Johanna earn the Fulbright fellowship, it’s also enriched our experience living in Central Eastern Europe more than we realize.