Discover Hungarian school life with a foreign student - Magda Goraj

Emma Szabó

  If you are interested in how a foreign student feels in our little country, stay with me.

Magda Goraj, who came from Poland through the Erasmus program, lives in the southern part of the country. She is very brave, and always doing something: exploring the world, visiting her family, taking photos, studying abroad. She is not short of sports; baseball is her favourite, her team is the Minnesota Twins, but besides she plays tennis and she is a "fitness instructor of Turbokick." She only has calm minutes when reading a book or watching movies.

As I was getting to know her better through her answers, it became obvious to me that she must have great power and be steady to do many kinds of things. It turned out that it was only her idea to study abroad and her parents supported her. She chose Hungary because "it is close to Poland." She continued: "My case was a little bit more complicated, because I was the late arrival student when the semester started."

Her feelings about the whole situation were not bad, but she didn't know "what to expect. I have not had experience with Hungarian students," she answered. Only the language barrier can cause problems, she thought.

Let's move on to school. Talking about the subjects, Magda almost studies the same ones here as at home: culture, literature, practical skills. Her main filed is English Philology, so luckily she doesn't have to miss any great lessons.

She's staying at the school theme, I was curious if she is able to have all her exams before Christmas and go home, but unfortunately she is still going to have some in January.

The first thing that came into my mind when asking about studying Hungarian words was that all foreigners don't even know a word in our language always learn the "bad" words and the names of alcoholic drinks first. Giving an official answer, she only said: "We learn practical and useful phrases so that when we go to the store we do not have to use body language.

Having just arrived some weeks ago, she told me they stay in the Uni-Hotel where they get everything they need. The only negative thing is that "it is hard to overcome the language barrier."

Out of the "University City," they have already discovered some sights of Miskolc, like the city center, which they liked very much, and the Avas kilátó, from where they saw the whole city. Among the other places they have visited were Tokaj, where they tasted delicious dishes and different types of wines, and Lillafüred, too.

"The quickest and the most interesting way to find out many things about mysterious Hungary is by living here and through contact with Hungarian students," explaining with regret why she didn't have any books of our country in her hands.

Finishing the talk with my last question: would you like to try another country or would you choose Miskolc again? She gave a very nice ending: "The saying says that we should not get into the same river twice. If I had one more opportunity I would choose another country I do not know and explore it, just like I am doing so here in Miskolc."

La fin. And thanks for cooperating - we would say, but I hope our work together won't end with this one and we can continue knowing each other better.

I hope I have been able to bring closer a very great woman, a traveler and a nice person to everyone.