Study Abroad Report Célina Herzog
celina.herzog@gmx.net Eötvös Lorand University Budapest Film Studies
In my third and final year of my study Arts, Culture, and Media, I decided to go abroad for one semester. After looking into my different options (which were restricted due to the track I have chosen in my first year), I decided to apply for the Eötvös Loránd University in
Budapest, Hungary. After handing in the needed documents and a motivation letter, I got the notification of acceptance before summer, and I started to plan my stay in Budapest right away.
I visited Budapest two years before my semester abroad. Only in a couple of days the capital hooked my interest and I had the feeling that it was impossible to really get to know the city in such a short amount of time. Furthermore, the fact that Hungary in general is considerably low priced caught my attention. Although I was also interested in going to countries outside of Europe, the fact that students have to take another pricey language exam in order to do so, discouraged me. I do understand the need for the language assessment for students who do not study in English in the first place, however, I believe it is highly unnecessary for students who follow their study in English anyway.
The contact with the host university in Budapest was friendly and helpful from beginning on. Although the study advisor for international students changed around four times during my stay, no email went unanswered. I was offered around 12 different courses that were related more or less to my study in Groningen. Although the ECTs per course are different in Hungary, we were ensured that it would be converted to however many ECTs we normally get per course at our home university. Thus, in order to achieve 30 ECTs for one semester, I had to take three courses. After my arrival in Budapest, the whole system and equivalent to the Nestor website in the Netherlands was explained very well after a nice welcoming ceremony. It was straightforward to sign up and eventually get into my preferred courses. I chose two courses in English that were related to film (one of my major courses in Groningen), and one in German (my native language), which was a welcome offer, as I have never studied in German before.
The level of the courses was quite different. While the two English subjects were theoretically highly interesting, the execution unfortunately was not on a high level.
Especially compared to the high standards in Groningen, the amount of work was not comparable, as well as the professionalism of the teacher was not very high. However, the subjects themselves and the readings were very interesting and might be helpful for my further study. The German course (Theories of Popular Culture) was very interesting and the teacher’s knowledge and execution of the course content was on a very high level. In general, the classes were rather small (up to 20 people in the film courses and only three in the
German course), which was comfortable. Especially the German class was an enjoyable round of heated discussions. When participating in class and handing in the assignments on time, it is definitely possible to gain the highest score (which is a 5 in Hungary). The rather low amount of work was eventually very welcomed. Due to this, I was able to explore every corner of Budapest, Hungary, and several neighbouring countries. I strongly believe that besides experiencing another university and surrounding, the semester abroad should be utilised to travel and explore as much as possible – especially if it is in an area where (at least I) never really thought I would spend my time and money. I went to Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Romania. All those trips were worth it and I will never forget the experiences I had in those countries that so different from home, thus, I encourage students to utilise their time abroad to see as many different cultures, countries, and people as possible.
To say a bit more about Budapest – Budapest is a beautiful city with a lot of history, culture, urban street art and beautiful and majestic old buildings. Outside of the city centre, Budapest is unfortunately rather dirty. A lot of rubbish can be found on the streets, and a lot of homeless people in horrible states were on the streets and in the stations, which represents the very big gap between wealth and poverty in the country. Apart from that, the core of the city has everything one needs: shopping streets, shopping malls, many second-hand and vintage markets, innumerable restaurants, bars, and clubs. Going for a night out is possible every day of the week – the bars and clubs are always crowded. Besides the rather expensive, fancy restaurants and bars, which are very nice, the Jewish quarter has to offer smaller, more alternative bars and clubs. Doing sight-seeing, visiting Sissi’s castle, going on a cruise on the Danube, taking a swim in the famous baths in Budapest or visiting Balaton, are only a few highlights of the city. Although it is a metropolis with 2 million inhabitants (and you can make use of the very well organised system of busses, trams, metros, and taxis), I did everything by foot to discover even more unknown corners of Budapest. The locals are (though it obviously cannot be generalised), quite unfriendly and xenophobic. Although I took the free Hungarian language course (which is a great offer you should take - it is a very
difficult, but interesting language), and tried to speak some Hungarian in shops or to locals, most of them became uncommunicative when they heard that I was a foreigner (which I, by the way, experienced completely opposite in the surrounding countries of Hungary). As an international student, however, most contacts and friendships were built among other internationals anyway. We were assigned a Hungarian ‘buddy’, who was very friendly and helped with questions and concerns we had.
Although Hungary is far less expensive than the Netherlands, the accommodation I got through contacts the University of Groningen had in Hungary, was not cheap. My friends and I all paid around 300 to 450 Euros for a room in a shared house. My room had a private bathroom and cleaning was included once a week, however, the standard of cleaning was not even close to the standards I know from Germany, which is why I chose to clean the room myself. Thus, accommodation (if you want to live close to the city centre), is affordable but not amazingly cheap. Restaurants, bars and clubs are to be found in every price range. But it is true, that, if you know where to go, you can have a proper night out with a pizza on the way home for around 10 Euros.
As my German teacher educated me about the political situation in Hungary (for example no freedom of speech, hardly any rights for women – domestic violence is ‘private’
-and no rights whatsoever for gay people), I would never choose to immigrate to Hungary and built a life there. However, as a student for only one semester, I learned about all the beautiful sides of Budapest, Hungary, and eastern countries in general. I would always recommend going abroad – the organisation, application and overall process was well organised by the university in Groningen. Also, I would always recommend Budapest - a vibrant, colourful city with lots of opportunities to make this one semester the best one you ever had. Not only did I make friends for life, I also personally grew on this experience and widened my horizon a lot.
