While typically bloopers are saved for the end of the show I wanted to bring the bloopers from my time in Hungary out a bit earlier. As my program begins to wrap up in the next couple weeks I want to reflect on how I have changed through this experience, but I can only show how much I have grown if I show you where I first started. And with that I list my favorite “Bloopers” of my trip:
1) This face whenever someone tries to speak Hungarian to me:
2) followed by this face from them when I try to reply back in Hungarian:
3) When I went to the post office to try to mail a letter home, and everyone in the post office started yelling at me for some reason I am still unclear of today. (note: Sorry mom and dad I haven’t sent anymore postcards; the post office is just too scary of a place for me now.)
4) When I accidentally ate sour cream for an entire week because I thought it was a yogurt. WARNING: if you come to Hungary and see big shelves of tejföl it is NOT yogurt!! Hungarians are just in love with sour cream so they have a deceivingly large amount of it which may make yogurt lovers like me think that it is in fact yogurt.
5) This weekend when I went to a small ranch hotel, the concierge at the front desk would literally run to the back room whenever she saw us, in fear that we may ask her questions in English since she knew little English. At least I hope that is the reason she ran away from us…
6) When I was stopped at the metro to check for my metro pass. Because I have a student pass, I also need to carry a student ID with me. In this specific instance I forget my student ID and the metro workers were not happy. I knew this by their raised tone of their voice, but my lack of Hungarian prevented me from picking up all the details. Once they said they were going to call the police I knew I should just pay the fine for my offense and go on my merry way.
7) When taking a train from Vienna back to Budapest we were told that we had to buy first class tickets because there were no seats left in economy. When we got on the train we found the economy section to not only be nearly empty, but also that our first class tickets were not valid.
8) When I got lost in a Hungarian mall because not only do they have one H&M, T-Mobile, etc in each mall, sometimes they have two or three of the same exact store in the same exact mall… This leads to problems when telling someone meet me at H&M…
9) Trying to explain why I came to Budapest to study abroad. Many Hungarians didn’t realize that their countrymen are crazy good at math and a large portion of the greatest mathematicians are in fact Hungarian.
10) Trying to explain that you don’t want alcohol in some drink you are getting… that’s an even stranger concept to grasp for some Hungarians.
While I love to look back at these moments for a good laugh, I also love to look back on these moments to see how far I have come. Now, before buying tickets for a trip I verify online that I am in-fact getting the right price and deal. When I go to the grocery store I avoid tejföl at all costs, and when I am looking for something more specific I try to Google the Hungarian name before I go or ask someone in the store when I get there. I will never board any form of public transit without my student ID, and when I am using public transit in other countries I carefully check I am purchasing the correct ticket.
This semester has made me more aware that we can’t just assume things about the people and cultures we meet throughout our lives. Its not fair that I just assume that everyone I meet should just know English or that this person will understand our cultural differences. These differences, though, are not something to fear but rather to be explored and celebrated. That really is the point of the studying abroad anyways: exploring new cultures and realizing the plethora of ways people think and operate. I just continue to thank everyone that has allowed me to have this opportunity to explore the culture of Hungary and beyond.
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