The girl who's written history in PEN with her bunny ears

Tell me your story!

I'm from Valmiera, Latvia. I chose Pécs but actually at first I was in Debrecen two years ago so that was my first experience in Hungary. I could discover this culture and I really loved the city of Debrecen because of its special atmoshere and lovely people, but afterwards I’ve searched for something new. There were such options like Spain, Hungary, Germany... I think everyone wants to go to Spain because it is a really warm and popular country, and it's amazing to spend your time there. But I wanted to do something what usually nobody does, so I decided to choose Hungary. Well, firstly, because of a positive experience, secondly, I didn't know a lot about Hungary and everyone from my university who has been studying here, loves Pécs.

Have you got any problem with the Hungarian life?

Not really. Okay, Hungarians are so pretty shy especially when they need to speak English. The weird thing is that when you approach a Hungarian and start to speak English (maybe even just to ask where a library is), there’s an answer immediately, without any listening: I don't speak English.

There are some strange wild things. For example, when I pass through the street or the road.

Hungarians always rise their hand that looks like saying “thank you for let me to go”. It is strange for me because it means ”don't drive here”, to stop a car in Latvia, so it's funny. And the language is also so strange, seriously. Maybe I've had problems with that things but nothing more in general. Oh, kissing part! I still don’t get what is the right way of kissing the cheeks when meeting. I just always get confused and try the good old Latvian hugging way.

Have you ever planned to learn this language or is it too strange for you?

Hungarian is not so common language like Spanish or French or German... Hungarian language is special and quite different. I've learnt some useful phrases that I can use in the everyday life, I hear them on the streets, in the shops... As I don’t stay here for a longer time, I would say that I won't learn Hungarian, because I'll never use it (if I don’t come back) and I will forget it when I will go back home. But otherwise I would really love to learn it.

Do you have any Hungarian friends or have you been in touch just with the other foreign students?

Actually, I have some Hungarian friends. The Erasmus people are cool and I really like to hang out with them but sometimes it is more exciting to get to know Hungarians who are locals. I would like to know more about this country and about these people. So, I have some Hungarian friends with whom I have a very good relationship. I try to get some contacts with the Hungarians as much as possible since I’m in this country, and I want to learn about common traditions, habits, mentality and the way of thinking.

What is the difference between your and the Hungarian culture and family habits? 

The first one: Hungarians don't eat vegetables!

There are quite a lot of things that are different in the life of the university. You spend a lot of time with your course mates also outside of the university. We usually don't have time or chance for hanging out with others.

It was the first time that an Erasmus Team joined the University Days of the UP (PEN). And you are the leader of this team! What is your opinion about the PEN ?

I don't know how to describe it in a few sentences.

The experience was amazing because we had a lot of things to do. Of course, we didn't concentrate too much on tasks, because for us it was more like an exciting adventure than competition. It have also brought something different from just going to the party on the regular way, we could do some fun tasks, meet some new people like other Hungarian students from other faculties. The other teams were quite nice!

And all of us wore bunny ears on our heads!

I also liked the warm feeling – it was like to be a member of a family! I’m really glad that this year there was such opportunity to take part in this. I really hope that there will be more Erasmus teams after us (and we left some room for improvement!)

Why would you recommend for others to take part in Erasmus Program?

You meet so many new people and it's a new experience!

Okay, you'll be separated from your family, and being in a different country where you cannot speak in your own language with anybody is a challenge. But it is the part of the experience. I suppose that the way of our thinking is in kind of way changed after this. ERASMUS is the best!

by UnivPécs