How do people from overseas see us?

There are several programmes during your Bachelor studies, and even more to pick from when you are doing your Master’s. Are you doing your postgraduate education, speaking English well enough? Do you like American culture and would you like to see the country with your own eyes? Well, Fulbright is absolutely for you!

Take a school from thousands of institutes. This scholarship offers an opportunity for students, lecturers and professors who are not Americans to study or continue their academic work in the USA. Of course, it also works two ways, so let’s see this latter form a bit closer: we approached American lecturers who have spent a year at the University of Pécs.

Why did you apply for the Fulbright Scholarship?

Gabriel Loiacono: I had wanted to take part in the Fulbright Program for a long time. I think it is a really good programme, and a nice way for Americans to get to know other peoples around the world. The idea behind it was good at the beginning and it remains good even today, decades later.

Carol Ann MacCurdy: I taught contemporary American literature at Cal Poly and wanted the experience of teaching American literature overseas. I didn't just want to be a tourist; I wanted to live and work as part of another community.

Why Hungary? Have you been to this country before this scholarship?

Carol Ann MacCurdy: I had never been to Hungary, but was interested in teaching in a European country that had been occupied by the communists to see how students would respond to contemporary American fiction. I was not interested in Western Europe. I also knew that Hungary had a strong literary and intellectual tradition.

William Henry Issel: Hearing stories about the many places, where my friends and neighbours came from, made me want to see the world and turned me into a “history buff.” I knew a little about Hungary from my grade school friends and their families who, coming from Budapest resettled in San Francisco right after World War II. After taking a class at Berkeley by the Hungarian physicist Dr Edward Teller, I became fascinated with Hungary and hoped that one day I would have an opportunity to visit and learn more about the country.

Gabriel Loiacono: I have a family connection to Hungary. So did many of my fellow Fulbrighters, I noticed. My connection is that my wife is a Hungarian born in Serbia. We met in the USA where she had lived for many years and we frequently visit her family. Prior to my Fulbright, I had been only to Budapest and Szeged, but almost nowhere else in Hungary.

What were your first impressions about our little country? What do you think now?

Carol Ann MacCurdy: Initially I was struck by all of the graffiti on public buildings and the state of the classrooms was not great. I was also impressed by the number of Hungarians who spoke English and by their friendliness. I came to understand how heavily history has impacted Hungary, something I had never fully appreciated. Hungarians take much pride in having once been part of a great empire and are eager to share this. They have a sense of themselves as coming from a great people, a great past and their pride is wounded because the contemporary world does not view them this way. However, in many ways they maintain their intellectual and artistic traditions. I was struck by how many Hungarian students walk down the streets carrying a musical instrument. Knowledge of music and learning to play music is valued and encouraged in Hungarian culture.

Gabriel Loiacono: I had visited Hungary several times in the past, but my impressions were mostly about Budapest, and especially its city centre, where my wife’s family live. Pécs was a quite different experience: it is just as beautiful as Budapest, but smaller, more liveable, easier with children. And I like the cafes much more than in the capital (winks- the ed.). I also learned a lot about college students, politics and everyday life in Hungary.

What were the main reasons when you chose a Hungarian university to visit?

Carol Ann MacCurdy: I chose Pécs because the New York Times wrote about it when it was to become the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2010. To be chosen, the city had to have a strong interest in arts and this appealed to me. Also I did not want an urban experience and this is what living in Budapest would offer. I wanted to live in a smaller city with a good university. It did not have to be the best university in the entire country; these institutions are often too competitive. I wanted to be in a friendly environment.

What is your opinion about our education compared to the way it works in America?

Carol Ann MacCurdy: The two seminars were very similar to the upper level seminars for English majors in the States. However, the large lecture class on the second half of American literature was very different. Attendance was optional and the grade was determined by the final exam. Therefore students could show up only for the final exam. No English classes are taught this way at Cal Poly or most other universities in the States. Passing a class without attendance would not be possible.

Gabriel Loiacono: There are several important differences. I think students in Hungary come out of high school knowing more than American students in general, but having less confidence in their ability to question or interpret history. Of course, my students in Pécs were not history, but English majors. Also, Hungarian students know a great deal about history in general, but less about American history in particular, I think. The university experience is different, too. American students have more chances to choose a major during college, and have more general education requirements than Hungarian students. On average American students also come to class more than Hungarian students. Of course, university in the USA costs more, sometimes a great deal more.

Was it easy to make friends here or just to fit into the community?

Gabriel Loiacono: My colleagues in Pécs were very nice. I do think, though, as a stereotype, that Americans make friends faster. My children also made nice friends here. The Hungarian students were more polite to me and interested in me than my American students.
Carol Ann MacCurdy: We found it easy to make friends and still keep in touch with them and see them when we return to Pécs.

William Henry Issel: My colleagues in Hungary were very welcoming and many have become friends as well as fellow-workers. I was fortunate to have a number of enthusiastic and energetic students, and I enjoy keeping in touch with them as they move on from university to starting their career. I also enjoy my continuing relationship with my colleagues at the University of Pécs and with the Hungarian Fulbright Commission.

Can you compare Hungarian and American students?

Gabriel Loiacono: I think Hungarian students take too many classes at once and do not attend all of them, although they should. There were some students at the final exam I had never seen before.

Carol Ann MacCurdy: There is a difference. In 2009 the Hungarian students in my classes were very shy and reticent to talk. They were not used to expressing their opinion in class. This may have changed, but in my seminars it took some time for the students to feel comfortable with talking in classes. Once they realized that I really wanted to hear their opinions about what they were reading, they became more comfortable and talked more freely. They began to enjoy the discussions and loosened up. Class discussions seemed more of a novelty to them. A student once told me that they hadn't talked in other classes because they felt the professors didn't really want to know what they thought. American students are used to class discussions and share their opinion more easily. In my opinion, Hungarian students take too many classes and are therefore not always able to keep up with their reading assignment. English majors at Cal Poly know that they are expected to have read the assignment and that part of their grade is based on their participation; this isn't to say that they are always prepared, but they know they can be called on.

Can you give some advice to those who are doing their studies at the University of Pécs and want to be the part of the Fulbright experience?

William Henry Issel: The Fulbright program offers exciting possibilities for Hungarian students and teachers to visit the United States. For students the place to check out the options is the American Corner, where the staff is knowledgeable and very committed to the kind of "public diplomacy" which is central to the Fulbright experience. For teachers, I recommend that they contact directly to the Hungarian Fulbright Commission in Budapest. Both Teachers and students will find many opportunities for meeting new colleagues, making new friends, and generally learning new ways to appreciate how Hungarians and Americans have a common interest in building a future committed to values of political and religious liberty, democracy and global justice.

Carol Ann MacCurdy: I think a Hungarian student would gain much from coming to an American university. Students here are expected to take initiative and not be passive; they are also for the most part friendly. I would encourage every Hungarian to accept any invitation they receive to learn more about the American culture. Time passes very quickly when one is studying abroad. Firstly, do your work: study. Then take the initiative in making friends and be open to new experiences.

Fulbright helps you a lot with your costs because the programme offers some extra allocations:

- monthly fellowship prize (for accommodation and living)
- starter subsidy
- subsidy to buy the books you need or to assist your research
- subsidy if a relative goes to see you
- subsidy to make it easier to pay the school fee
- subsidy to cover half of your flight tickets
- health and accident insurance

UnivPécs international