Hello readers!
I come to you with a post on my travels in Hungary. This summer I had the opportunity to vacation there. For those of you wishing for a change of scenery from UNH, I suggest you take advantage of the exchange program offered by UNH to go visit BUTE (Budapest University of Technology and Economics). The program is perfectly compatible with your studies at UNH so your graduation won’t be delayed by going. The professors are really good there, and everything is taught in english so you won’t have to learn hungarian. You do have the option of taking some culture classes to learn about life for the natives here.
You can see in these pictures the campus (click to enlarge). It is located along the Danube river. The “K” building, as it’s called is the main building of the university. It is where a lot of the courses are held for the Hungarian students.
“R” building is essentially a giant cluster building. The third and fourth floors are filled with only clusters of computers. There are computer monitors in the halls displaying which systems are in use, reserved, or otherwise unavailable.
On the left is the view of the outside of the ECE building, basically the equivalent of Kingsbury at UNH. It is a very new building, and air conditioned. This other building is right outside the ECE building, in it you can order all sorts of freshly cooked food and drinks between your classes. This is not the only one, there is one basically on every street. Food is relatively cheap in Hungary.
Across the Danube on the other side, you can see the Parliament building, the “White House” of Hungary. It contains the crown and accessories that the king of Hungary used to wear. You can take a tour inside during the summer at specific times when tours start. Very worthwhile trip. Hungary is also in the middle of Europe, and you can travel to other countries very easily on the weekends. Not like Hungary doesn’t have anything to offer, but while abroad, you might as well step outside the borders to see what surrounding countries have. BUTE offers lots of small weekend trips to many places in Europe for a very reasonable price.
Hope you grasp this wonderfull opportunity, even I have and I was born there!
András Fekete
2 comments
andrewkun says:
September 5, 2007 at 5:03 pm (UTC -4)
Did you live in a dorm when you were an exchange student in Budapest? If yes, who do they match you up with? Another person from the US or someone from another country? It seems that the latter would be nicer, since presumably you’re trying to experience a foreign country while you’re there.
Andrew Kun
András Fekete says:
September 7, 2007 at 12:44 pm (UTC -4)
I actually have family in Hungary, so I got to live with one of my grandparents who has two apartments, one above the other. While I was stateside, I had taught a crash course in Hungarian to some of the people going abroad. Two guys were regular attendees, so I invited them to live with me. For the others, they were left on their own to find housing. What the university did to make it as painless as possible was to provide a list of apartments available to rent, and a list of Hungarian students willing to come along and translate if necessary. Worked out well for everyone. You also have a chance to meet with ALL foreign exchange students, so if you need a roommate there’s bound to be someone.