What’s your story?
I was born in Krakow,Poland. I lived there for 25 years and studied law. I applied for Erasmus scholarship and got it, so I went to Finnland for 6 months where I met this Hungarian girl. She wasn’t the only reason why I came here, however it was a good excuse to apply to CEU. I got accepted, did a one-year program, while the girlfriend situation changed but I decided to stay. I worked as a human rights inititive where I worked in connection with other organizations like AmnestyInternational. I stopped working for them in May 2012, so now I’m kind of between things.What are your plans?
I’m applying again to CEU and to another university in Manchester, England. I have a girlfriend and since our common language is English we might want to move somewhere where we can live in English. But we don’t know yet. I know Budapest very well, I know places, we have a proper Hungarian appartement with everything that come with it. I consider Budapest my home. Hard decision.How do you like the language?
When I came here for the first time I tried to learn it, I went to a CEU language course. It seemed very difficult first, it sounded like a blabber. I didn’t even know where words started or ended, none of it made any sense at all. Also there weren’t any international words like in other languages, so I was confused and hated all the different word endings. The whole thing just seemed to be backwords. When I read something I felt like I had to go all the way to the end of the sentence in order to understand what it’s about. Now I know a lot of words, I can buy and order things. The good thing is that I don’t have a strong accent like for example Americans do, because Polish sounds are very similar.
Do you have a favourit word?
Not really. But I like tündér (fairy), I think it sounds very nice.Was it hard to get by without knowing Hungarian?
It was easy to get by because the University did everything for me. Everything is easy as long as you work for a foreign company or go to school and somebody helps you with administration. CEU did everything for me and managed all the paperworks, and up untill last year I didn’t have to worry about anything. Now that I’m on my own many times I feel that if my girlfriend didn’t help me I don’t know how I’d be able to do anything. If there’s nobody to ask it’s pretty hard to even get into the country. You have to care about customs, financials, taxes, accomodation and of course nobody speaks English at all.
Many times even the city signs seem illogical, because all of them say things like “kijárat”, or “bejárat” or “Örs Vezér tere felé”. For a foreigners it’s like “what does that mean, where am I going”. I think Poland for example is more foreign friendly. For example I don’t understand how people can get to Sziget Festival from the airport. There’s no information at all. Who can even pornounce “Filatorigát”?
What are the worst things about Budapest? What would you change?
Underground passages. For example the one at Örs, or Déli are terrible but the worst is Nyugati. Ther are prostitutes, drunks, fights. At night a lot of things happen there.
Deák té r, of course, is alright because it’s the center but most of them are terrible.
I’d also change the prices of public transport. I live on The Buda side so I have to take public, I can’t just walk. The other day I went to buy meat and payed 800 HUF and it was almost as much as the two bus tickets. Unbelievable. In addition, the old buses keep falling apart; the service is crappy but the prices are high. The whole thing is a rip off. And this leads to another problem, that the system is forcing you to cheat everywhere. It’s not worth it to be legal because it’s way to expensive. Of course, people are looking for ways to get huge discounts.
Also I don’t like how everybody talks about how they are going to leave the country. Everyone I talk to want to leave. I met only a few who don’t but those were very certain about their choice. It seems like here everything is a solid statement and people don’t want to change their minds. They are not flexible at all.
And what do you like the most?
It’s very affordable for foreign students who don’t have to work here. They can do whatever they want here, like getting wasted on the street, and nobody cares. Coming here to study is a great adventure.
And I like Hungarians because people don’t shout too much and they don’t raise their voice. They have a really good temper; it’s mellow in a certain way. Even if two Hungarians are talking, you can’t tell that they are having a fight or not. I always connect people’s temper to their nation’s main alcoholic drink. For example we have vodka that makes us loud and aggressive, and you have wine that’s chills you. I like to just sit at Erzsébet tér and get tipsy. Also I like that it’s a very safe city. I have been here for quite a long time but I never heard anything happen to anyone, even though I know black people, asian people, and even homosexual people. They never complained.
What are your favorit palces when you go out?Bambi presszó, Castro Bisztró, Belgian Pub, and Most. And I love the name of Pótkulcs. And yes, I know what it means. Sometimes I also go to Jelen. Unfortunately I go to the same places most of the time.Do you have any advice for those who live in Budapest?
Get out of the city. Go to Debrecen, go to the Alföld! See the difference between the countryside and the city! Hungary is not only Budapest. There are town where people are unbelievably poor but the place itself is beautiful. You have to know the country you live in and understand its history. A couple of weeks ago I even went to Eplény to ski with my girlfirend. I liked how they managed to turn it into a ski camp. Of course the electricity went out one day but it’s okay, no one was surprised. It’s Hunagry after all.
