H

He was obviously a foreigner. As I walked in the local convenient store, I saw the old lady hand-miming, and speaking Hungarian louder and louder. She tried to explain him something, and he looked more and more confused, so I thought I’d step in and help. Even though I couldn’t , because he was searching for something that could not be found in any Hungarian store, we started talking. And we talked for over an hour. It turned out that he was from Kurdistan but Sweden at the same time, and also that he studied medicine here at the University of Pecs. 

He was such a mystery, that I wanted to get to know him better, so I asked him if I could do an interview with him. He agreed and that’s what brought us together on a mid-April evening in Paulus.

            F: How are you tonight?

H: Cool. :)

            F: Tell me please, how does your ethnic background affecting your current living situation?
H: I was born in Kurdistan and my family travelled a lot, I spent a long time in Dubai and France, so I was a little traveler. I moved to Sweden when I was 17. I was hoping that I could make use of my cultural competence in way of getting to know people, making friends and adapting to a new life. This works here in Pecs, Hungary too.

            F: How do you find Hungary?

H: -I first saw Budapest and the impression I had was through the hotel I stayed in there, (I booked it before my arrival). I found the whole environment really creepy, which made me reconsider my decision of picking Hungary to study in. Most people come to Hungary because they already have friends studying here, but I didn’t know anybody at the time, but my applications were filled, so I thought I’ll live with it and see how it turns out.  I saw many people living out on the streets,  trash around, broken sidewalks and graffiti paintings on the walls and I really was concerned. I was regretting coming here.  The next thing I remember is the train station when I arrived to Pecs. It was unwelcoming. I was not even sure that it actually was the city I had to come to. Even though I was a bit crept out, I still was excited about new people and a new country. I tried to get to know as much as I could about the city. The school has already started when I arrived, so I had to catch up and get to know as much about the school as I could. I asked some students that I met about their opinion on studying here, and all I heard was complains about how hard the school was. That made me quite happy; because I was looking for a good education system which I believe should be tough.  The first thing that started to brighten up the picture I was having about Hungary was Pecs itself. It was so colorful, rich in culture and I could sense a lot of history in it. I got to know people around here; I met people from Sweden which I never knew I’d find here.  We discovered the city together, and the more I got to know, the more comfortable I felt around. I started to like Pecs, how the city was so alive all the time. I could feel that there was a very well developed charisma that the city had.  

            F: How do you feel about Hungarians?

H: In my opinion there are a lot of different social classes and people are really different from each other, and you can’t judge all Hungarians together. I meet people, who impress me over how many languages they speak, but on the other hand I got to see how ignorant people can be not even to us, foreign people, but even to each other.  In my experience though, Hungarians got a lot of potentials to show up in a better way than the way people know Hungarians for.

            F: Do you like Hungarian food?

H: It´s quite similar to the middle-eastern food. I really like it, my favorite is gulyas soup.

            F: Do you have a hobby?

H: My hobby is music, learning to play new instruments.

            F: Do you keep this hobby in Hungary too?

H: I do. I play in a society, called PMS (Pecs Music Society) and I do represent Kurdistan every international evening. There is only one person representing my country, and it turns out to be me. :) I play some instruments, such as guitar, saz (a Kurdish instrument), the harmonica, and the violin. Music has helped me to make some friends here, who shared the same interest as I do. Even though sometimes we didn’t speak the same language, music was something so international, that it built a bridge between cultures.

            F: What do you miss the most about Sweden?

H: I don’t really miss a lot of things, except for my friends and family. I feel like the more time I spend here is the more I get used to my life in Hungary, which is not new anymore.  I started feeling more free than in my home country. Sweden is very nice, but can be a bit boring, all the cities look alike, and you also notice that people are about the same. There are not that many different social classes. Hungary is really colorful and diverse.

            F: Are you intending to work in Hungary after getting your degree?

H: I’m not sure yet. You never know what the future brings.

            F: Thank you very much!

H: My pleasure. :)