Update from Outbound Rotary Exchange Student - Emma Thomson - In Hungary
Dear Rotary Club of Summerland,
I have been in Hungary now for just over two months, and how time flies! Here is a little overview of a bit of everything to do with that time period.
I have an amazing first host family here who have taken me in very warmly. My host sister, Sara who is a year younger than I am, returned shortly before I arrived from her exchange in New York State, so not only does she understand what I’m going through but she is such a help with any language barriers I find myself in.
I live in a little town named Érd, which is just outside the capital city of Budapest. My school though is in Budaors which is another little town in between Érd and Budapest. The transit system is really great here, though I need four different bus passes to get between these three locations that I spend my everyday life.
In school I am in grade 11, though most of my classmates are turning 18 this year or have while I’ve been here. With my high school most students will be 19 when they graduate. I have just come to understand the school system, and don’t worry I’ll explain it all when I return this summer! At school I have joined the basketball team so I have practice twice a week after school. And other than my regular classes I have two different Hungarian classes. One every Tuesday in Budapest with the other Rotary exchange students in the area, and the other is through the school with the four other exchange students in the school, none of whom are with Rotary.
My Rotary club here in Hungary is the Rotary club of Budapest-Sasad, there are many clubs within Budapest probably because of the size. My club is definitely the smallest, way less members than in Summerland! But even though they are small they take in and send two students a year.
Because of the many clubs in Budapest, there are also many exchange students. Our little Budapest group of exchange students consists of 9 of us, though one cross bound did just fly home to Argentina this Friday. I have made many friendships with the other exchange students in the district since there are 42 of us total. Hungary being such a small country our district is the entire country too, so no matter where I go I’ll most likely know someone! But with the Budapest group we have definitely become close since we see each other a minimum of once a week for lessons. It’s really nice having people so close to make plans with. I have made friends with students at school but school is very academic and important in Hungary so there aren’t many opportunities to spend time with classmates outside of class or basketball practice.
When it comes to travel so far I have visited other parts of my small but lovely country, as well been to Austria and Slovakia shortly. Back in September we had our first Rotary orientation as well language camp in a place named Zanka on Balaton Lake, it was a week long and an amazing experience since it was the first time to meet all of the exchange students together. In October the Austrian Rotary club invited us for a weekend in Vienna which was such a great experience, plus I was able to visit with another student who went on exchange from our 5060 district. Our next group meetup I planned for December when we will have a Christmas weekend!
Did you know that (depending who you ask) Hungarian is the world’s 2nd/3rd hardest language to learn! I definitely agree with this statement! But I’m determined, and don’t worry I am getting it slowly but surely!
Now I really hope this update wasn’t too long for all of you, must have been all that public speaking I’ve done but I could talk forever! Speaking of which my presentation to the rotary club here was a little too long even after I cut stuff out! Anyways I would like to thank all of you for this opportunity, I’m really enjoying myself here. Also if some of you don’t know I am keeping a blog (https://etgoabroad.wordpress.com) that you can get email updates from, I only post once or twice a month so far when something different from everyday life happens.
Can’t wait to see you all in 8ish months!
Love Emma