A year in Budapest

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There are many things to say about Budapest. The first is that I landed there in spite to begin with, carrying a lot of presumptions about eastern countries but for financial reasons, I had to do an exchange. I was so mistaken!

The city in itself is fantastic and it didn't take me long to realise this, first of all for the atmosphere. Without it being a constant party, what did me good was living in a city where the people aren't stressed or don't feel obliged to let you know about it in the street. They have time! In short, it's nothing like Paris. What's more, rushing people is useless. If you try to push past all those sticking to the left on the escalator, you'll just tire yourself out before them!

Another point - life is not expensive, but cheap! I didn't imagine that the difference could be so enormous within Europe itself. First of all, the accommodation: I lived in Boraros Tor, being practically in the middle of the city centre and five minutes away from Corvinus University where I studied for a year. There, I paid 340 euros rent a month with bills included for 45 square metres to myself and fully equipped: a fully equipped kitchen, a washing machine, dryer and an LCD television for the playstation that I'd brought in case I got bored (I didn't even use it in the end). There were so many things to do! It is ideal to find your accommodation in advance. Nevertheless, it is possible to find some which are much less expensive but in what conditions? It is ideal to look on the internet via websites such as roommatesbudapest.com and to contact the people renting, taking one or two days to visit them. The difference between the photos and the reality can be enormous, many apartments having few windows, or none at all - Don't trust slightly yellow photos because they have without a doubt been taken with an illuminated H24 lamp. Transavia or Ryanair flights are affordable and this remains easier than spending three months in a youth hostel, hoping to find the rare gem.

It is easily possible to eat for a euro - in fact for even cheaper and even the big McDonald's, Burger King or KFC type companies are clearly less expensive than in France. In terms of the big brands, we avoid Zara, H&M and such - the prices are exactly the same and the products equally so. For a Hungarian salary, it's not reasonable and they prefer thrift shops. You will have to be careful to avoid tourist traps as usual, but even so, one can keep to a budget without much difficulty. You can go there liberally for 800 euros a month - rent and bills, outings and shopping included!

For going out, one has the abundance of choice. Several advantages: the first being that nearly everything is grouped together around the same avenue, concerning the pubs and clubs, etc. You can find somewhere to eat at any time of the night and in general, for less than two euros and certain clubs occasionally organise nights at ten euros entrance with soft and alcoholic drinks at will, a dream! Getting attention is rookie level - an easy amongst the easy. The people are very open and the girls don't hesitate to openly hit on you.

In Summer, various outings are worth the detour - Margit Island or Budapest's central park, Balaton lake for a weekend or still, the famous Sziget festival are much reasons to enjoy the Summer in Budapest. Several parks are also located on the outskirts of the city and aren't very visited.

Budapest's Central Park

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The daily transports are open from 4. 30AM until 11. 30PM (it's early yes! ), but taxis aren't expensive at all (around twenty euros to go to the airport but 10 times less for other journeys) and the regular and reliable night bus exists very often with watchmen there. Concerning the tariffs, bring your student card (even your French one if you have it). It is ten euros for a month of transport, being less than a three day pass for other people. The savings are enormous. Avoid fraud. Controls are frequent and you access the metro through the control of people and not the machines. At the price of the transport, it is stupid to take the fine.

The climate is very pleasant in Budapest. Personally, I barely had to see rain once a month and more. There, the cold isn't as bad as in Paris during winter. On the contrary, the sun rises very early and sets very early in Winter. Make sure you have curtains which block the sun well.

The city is magnificent. It must be said - and compared to Paris, it's a clean one! Almost all Budapest's districts are worth visiting just for the architecture. From a cultural point of view, the city is brimming with museums, Escape games - for those who have come with friends and most importantly, public baths all over the city. Several of these baths are really worth a visit. However, be careful where you go! Certain baths have a reputation for being an exclusive meeting point for women, men, homosexuals or nudists according to what day it is. You can also find magnificent churches and very affordable markets throughout the whole year. The years end is also a must see. The city transforms into a massive Christmas market and the atmosphere there is fabulous.

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You can find Hungary's history everywhere and several historic monuments are there to recall the past and the fairly recent independence in the end. Whether we speak of the fortress riddled with bullet holes and shell or of the metro coming from the airport where Russian tags are still read, the experience is exhilarating. The metro 1 is even classed as a UNESCO world heritage site. On the contrary, the new metro lines are super modern.

Metro 1

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The Hungarians are very proud of their culture and will appreciate to a moderate extent, that it is denigrated. A number of musicians and inventors are Hungarian and literature is equally very important in Hungary, hence the attachment to the Hungarian language.

Concerning the language let us be honest, it is very, very, very but very complicated ! On the etymological plan, it doesn't resemble any other in Europe - nothing from Latin, nothing from Slavonic, nothing from the Anglo Saxons, NOTHING. You can read on the internet that Finnish is the closest language and very honestly, these languages have nothing in common. There are more than 40 letters in the alphabet whereas Latin has numbers which don't resemble anything (I spent eight months learning how to count correctly! ). Being a language with complicated grammar that isn't at all useful outside of Hungary, I therefore gave learning this so very complicated language a miss. According to testimonies that I could gather on the spot, the average time to gain a decent level is seven years of total immersion! I came for English and that was amply sufficient for me. The classes were in English and the students spoke it very well. Distrust elsewhere! We can't speak their language but they often understand ours and I saw French people openly mocking the Hungarians a lot, without even realising that the half the carriage had understood what they were saying. If not bilingual (they rarely speak English), the people and especially young people have nevertheless received level 1 and 2 classes just like us.

It was a very good experience overall and I will definitely return there one weekend.