I will always have a piece of Hungary in my heart
We have asked five Erasmus students to tell us about their experience at the Faculty of Education for Children and Special Educational Needs of the University of Debrecen. They all spent the Autumn semester 2018/2019 at the Faculty. Besides taking part in lessons, they also took part in sporting and cultural events, discovered Hungary and the neighbouring countries as well. The questions are the same but their answers are different.
- Why did you come to the Faculty of Education for Children and Special Educational Needs of the University of Debrecen, Hungary? What made you want to study in Hajdúböszörmény?
Daniel Ternyik (Germany): I wanted to see something new and improve my language skills in English and Hungarian. It seemed very attractive for me to study in another place for one term. And of course, the money given by Erasmus was an important factor.
Lukas Werner (Germany): When I was in the end of my fourth semester, Daniel and I were thinking about going abroad to see a different educational system, a different culture and a different country. So we thought about where to go. Daniel, who has his roots in Hungary, always wanted to go there for a longer time and also for me it was a place that I always wanted to see - an Eastern European country - so I said to him: „Let’s go to Hungary!
Georgina Crespo Hall (Spain): I came to Hungary because I wanted to go somewhere totally different from my own country, Spain. Also, I wanted to go to a landlocked country so I could easily travel and of course, wanted to go somewhere that is is not too cold.
Miguel Becerra Muñoz (Spain): I came to Hungary because it is very different from Spain in terms of the weather, the people, the language, the money, the environment …. I wanted something different and unknown and I found it. And I am very happy here.
Simone Pinetti (Italy): I think that there is not only one reason why I decided to come to Hungary. I decided to try Erasmus because I love studying and I am training to become a better teacher. I chose this faculty because an ex-Erasmus student told me good things about it. Also, I already knew a teacher who was a visiting professor at my home university.
- What did you study here?
Daniel Ternyik: I studied a lot of new things and also refreshed my skills and shared them with others. I learned a lot about Hungary, Italy and Spain. As a student of Social Work, I also visited a lot of interesting intitutions and improved my practical skills as well.
Lukas Werner: Social Work BA.
Georgina Crespo Hall: I came her to study Primary Education, although I’ve also learned about social work and Early Childhood Education.
Miguel Becerra Muñoz: I have been studying Primary Education in order to become a primary teacher.
Simone Pinetti: I think the main subject I studied here was English. But I tried to learn as much as I could from all the people I met. I studied Pedagogy, Anthropology, Research Methdology and Playful English.
- My best experince at the University / in Hungary
Daniel Ternyik: I had a lot of good experiences in Hungary. I really loved it when I ate my first ’lángos’ this year in Budapest. My funniest experience of this term was Simone’s presentation about Italy on my birthday.
Lukas Werner: I loved the comparisons between different countries like Spain, Italy and Hungary. That made me ask the question: What is my country, German, really like? Are we unique or much different from others?
Georgina Crespo Hall: My best experience at the Uni was doing my practical training in the training kindergarten. I was very scared at the beginning because I didn’t know how I was going to communicate with the children, but thankfully some children knew a bit of English to my surprise and the rest tried communicating with me by pointing etc. I’ve also loved my trips to the capital, showing my friends and my family the best parts of Budapest and learning some important Hungarian words.
Miguel Becerra Muñoz: I can’t choose one experience because the whole semester has been amazing for me. If I have to decide I can say that the best is all the people that I met here, Hungarians and foreigners too.
Simone Pinetti: My best experince in Hungary was to work for one week in the training kindergarten. It was a very funny and special experience.
- My worst experince
Daniel Ternyik: My worst experience during my Erasmus studies actually happened in Romania when I was attacked by a dog. And that the doctor didn’t know how to give the injection. At least, he read it up in a book.
Lukas Werner: For me the worst was to see the lack in different political and social areas, democracy e.g. control of the media, actual laws like the discrimination against the homeless, the law about the increasing workload, teachers not being able to say their political opinion out loud.
Georgina Crespo Hall: My worst experience has definetely been the language barrier. Myself speaking almost perfect English and Spanish means that I have never had a problem to communicate with people. But in Hungary it even got to the point where I wouldn’t do some things because I knew they wouldn’t understand me. For example I asked my friends from Spain to go to the pharmacy and get me a cream because I didn’t know how I was going to be able to get what I wanted there.
Miguel Becerra Muñoz: My worst experience is related to the hours because here they do things very early for me like, they have lunch and dinner very early. Even the night starts very early!
Simone Pinetti: My worst experience in Hungary were the first few days when I was alone and I didn’t know anybody.
- I will never forget …..
Daniel Ternyik: It was a lovely experience I will remember this term all my life.
Lukas Werner: The friendships I made while I was here.
Georgina Crespo Hall: I will never forget my time spent here, the people I have met and the things I’ve learned. I will always have a piece of Hungary in my heart.
Miguel Becerra Muñoz: I will never forget all the friends that have been my family here.
Simone Pinetti: I will never forget Lukas, Daniel, Georgina, Miguel, Magdolna, Péter, Aniko, Judit ……….
- Yourfriend wants to do Erasmus. What would you tell him/her?
Daniel Ternyik: It’s a beautiful country with very kind people. I could just recommend it. Also, it is good when your English isn’t that good. But you should definitely come in summer!
Lukas Werner: If you want to experience a helpful and very open university semester (regarding to your needs and interests) go there. You will get a great critical view of different issues that is very interesting and you will get a lot of opportunities to collect impressive experiences about an entirely different society. It is worth it!
Georgina Crespo Hall: If some of my friends were to come here, I would tell them to brace themselves for the language barrier and that they can fall in love with this country and the people and they would have a great time no matter what.
Miguel Becerra Muñoz: Hungary is a very good destination to do Erasmus. You can experience a different Europe and it is located near the centre of the continent so you can easily go to other new countries cheaply and travel a lot. Also, you are going to get to know a lot of new things and new people.
Simone Pinetti: Do it. It is worth it.
Nemes Magdolna - December 2018 - If you would like to do Erasmus at the University of Debrecen contact me at nemesm@ped.unideb.hu
