1

Personal ERASMUS - Report Susann Roemer Óbuda University of Budapest 02/2011 – 06/2011 Homecountry: Germany The application: For every study abroad it is normal, to apply in advance. The application process depends on the university, where you want to go. The application for the Óbuda University is very easy. At first everything is explained on the homepage for Erasmus students (http://erasmus.uni-obuda.hu/ → there are also plenty of other useful informations for your study abroad). For example you have to write a curriculum vitae or a letter of intent in english. Moreover you will find possible courses on this homepage, from which you can choose for your Learning Agreement. All in all i recommend to start early, because also when it seemed to be easy, there are always possible problems, which could appear. House-hunting: There are many possible ways of house-hunting in Budapest. Myself, i found my room by facebook. There are a lot of public groups, for example: “erasmus budpest”, “Erasmus In-Hungary” or “ erasmus students in hungary”. In these groups a lot of people write down, when a room or a flat is free. I shared my flat with two hungarian girls and was really happy with my decision, because if you see a room just on photos, you can’t be sure that it looks the same in real. But from my ersamus group i think, i was one of the only ones, which found a room by facebook. Some found a flat by special organisation, which are specializing in foreign people and can speak therefore well english. Others took some offers of the University. Before the semester starts, the international office sends some flat offers to the international students. This can be very helpful, because it is very trustful. Another option is, to come to Budapest without having any flat or room and search then there for a room. And maybe you get to know other ersamus people, which are also still looking for some place. A last option could be, if you are from Germany, you can search also on the internet page: www.wg-gesucht.de, because of the large amount of german students in Budapest. Probably the question will arise, which district should i choose for living. Alltogether Budapest is seperated in 23 districts. The center is concentrated in the districts V, VI and VII on the Pest side. From there you can get very fast to places during the night

2

and during the day. I guess the most students are living on the Pest- side, but i had also some friends, which were living on the Buda- side and they were really happy with the decision as well. So everybody has to decide for themselve, where the best place is to live. But for every place it is important, that a tram-, metro- or bus-station is within spitting distance. Studies at the Óbuda University The Óbuda University is seperated in different faculties. It is possible to study business or IT or even fashion. The diffrent faculties are situated in diffrent places around Budapest. But this is no problem, if u don’t have to change during one day the faculty. Like i wrote before you can choose your courses from the internet page. If you will arrive there, probably the courses are changed. But there are other good options every semster. The first two weeks it is possible to visit all the courses and then to decide and change the Learning Agreement. I liked it a lot, that you can choose courses from every field. Specialy for me it was important, because for my studies “Clothing Technology” weren’t so many courses available and to get all the points, i had to take other courses. So now i have also knowledge in green marketing or flexographic printing. In the courses are sometimes just erasmus students, but also sometimes other hungarian students, because it is obligatiory for them to take some english speaking courses. I didn’t have so much contact to my hungarian colleagues, but they were everytime nice and there was no problem at all. The english of the teachers is maybe not the best, but i think you can’t expect from non english speakers to speak perfectly english. All in all the courses weren’t so hard. Often you had to hold a presentation during the semester and write a finalexam

at the end. In mostly every course it is obligatory to be present and you are allowed to miss the course two or three times. The support of the university in Budapest is really great. If there are any problems, you can go to Miss Dudas or Miss Kokas, which are working in the international office. For example they are helping in house-hunting or help you with all the paper stuff (Learning Agreement and so on) But there are also some hungarian

students working in the office and they are helping you directly and take care of you really nice ☺ Moreover we had 10-20 hungarian “buddies”, which organised a lot of stuff or which could help you in the worst case as well. Erasmus-Life in Budapest It was for me the first time being in Budapest or Hungary. But i falled directly in love with city. It is really amazing walking through the streets, everywhere are old

3

buildings and everywhere is something to see. Among other things the Donau, the castle district, the many bridges and the Gellert hill give Budapest the special charme. You can recognize that if you walk a long the river, be at the castle or Gellert Hill during the evening/night. Of course there are also some negative aspects, which you can recognize during the time, like the oppositions between rich or poor. The average salary amount to 750 Euro per month. But this fact doesn’t call for cheap prices. For me the food prices were quiet the same like in Germany and also fashion was the same or sometimes a little bit more

expensive. All over Budapest are plenty of shops. The biggest supermarkts are called Tecso or Interspar, smaller one are CBA or also the normal Spar. At every corner are also 24-hours shops, where you can buy necessary stuff for the worst case (these are a little bit more expensive). For shopping are the many shopping malls (“WestendCityCenter”, “Arena Plaza” or “Mammut Center”) or the “ Vaci utca” the perfect place. There are also a lot of Secondhandstores,

which are sometimes hided in small streets. The nightlife is cheaper than in Germany and this is a very important fact, because if u are Erasmus student you will go out a lot. In Budapest are so many options to go out. There are plenty of bars, for example the ruinpubs, like “Szimpla Kert”. On this page, http://ruinpubs.com/, are described a lot of good bars or pubs. Also for dancing Budapest has many places. On the one hand you can visit big clubs on the Budaside or on the partyisland (it is funny to see it ones) on the other hand you can find many places on the Pestside, which are smaller but not worser. For sure every Erasmusstudent will go ones to the Morrison’s 1or 2 or 3. The Buddies organized also a lot of stuff for the international students, for example “the Welcome Day”, “Sightseeingtour”, “Market Day”, “Pubtour” or the “Farewellparty”. These events made the erasmuslife much mor nicer and you got to know the other Erasmusstudents better. But also if there were no event, the buddies made a lot of stuff with us. My conclusion: This semester i will never regret. I can say now at the end, that Budapest was the best choice i could have made. Budapest has a perfect size, not to big and not to small. But not just the city, also the people of my Erasmusgroup were amazing. It is a very big chance to get to know people from a lot of diffrent countries from all over the world, like Finnland, Taiwan, Spain or France and make friends for a life. A special thanks to all the people, which make this possible!!!