Hello to everyone!

hananah wrote:

..But i would like on this website to speak to people who are living and working in Hungary, to find out what it is like. Also I do not yet speak hungarian very well, ...

Welcome to the forum Hannah.

What's your interest/connection with Hungary?

Fluffy

fluffy2560 wrote:

Welcome to the forum Hannah.

What's your interest/connection with Hungary?

Fluffy

Thankyou Fluffy!
haha erm... I once fell in love with a hungarian, so began to learn the language. things did not go so well for me and my sweetheart, but by now i have become interested in hungary as a whole, and hope to spend some time there.
i do also have a dear friend who is hungarian (however studying in romania), i hope someday to speak hungarian as well as she does english!

Hi!

Sorry to hear you had such a sad start with us Hungarians, but it's great your are still interested :-)

We can probably help somewhat with your distance-learning, but the real deal is poaching for a dirt-cheap budget flight for the summer break (start now!), and couch-surfing your way around the country for a few weeks.

hananah wrote:

haha erm... I once fell in love with a hungarian

Haha, yes, bit like me actually. I'm still in love with her as well (even if it's been quite a few years now).


Sorry to hear your love was unrequited. But as you are 19, you have plenty of time and there are plenty of fish in the sea (Hungarian or otherwise)....

hananah wrote:

haha erm... I once fell in love with a hungarian, so began to learn the language. things did not go so well for me....

Oh man, what is it with those Hungarians?  I had one too, decided to move just to be with him (all the way from the US), then he dumped me!  But forget him, I'm still going to Budapest anyway!  I love to travel, and I'm finally going to finish school in Hungary :-)  There are plenty of fish in the Danube!

Aww girls, we're not all like that, it's just sampling bias!

Statistically, a small percentage of unfaithful guys can go through a disproportionately large number of trustful girls, giving us all a bad name.

One Barney from "How I met your mother" will give the same amount of girls the wrong impression in one year than 365 Marshals each living steady with the love of their lives.

I'd also like to applaud your choice of metaphors: The proverbial Sea of Hungary would be the Balaton, which is a great place for making lots of friends in the summer, but less so for serious relationships: It's our Vegas, what happens there, stays there.

szocske wrote:

Statistically, a small percentage of unfaithful guys can go through a disproportionately large number of trustful girls, giving us all a bad name..... each living steady with the love of their lives.

Mrs Fluffy and I have a theory that there are more Hungarian women married to foreign men than the other way around. This might give the impression that something was wrong with Hungarian men, but who really knows what is going on. Anecdotally, lots of British women seem to like Spanish, French or Greek men. Could be that we just notice these things more as we're a GB/HU couple. One person I spoke to (French) said that British/Hungarian was an unusual combination. I am not sure why he said that - what's more usual for the French?

I'm interested to know if anyone else has any theories.

szocske wrote:

...... The proverbial Sea of Hungary would be the Balaton, which is a great place for making lots of friends in the summer, but less so for serious relationships: It's our Vegas, what happens there, stays there.

Vegas vs Balaton, now there's a thought!

szocske wrote:

I'd also like to applaud your choice of metaphors: The proverbial Sea of Hungary would be the Balaton, which is a great place for making lots of friends in the summer, but less so for serious relationships: It's our Vegas, what happens there, stays there.

Well, I haven't been to the Balaton... HE was supposed to take me there!!! :-P  And to be fair to the Hungarians, he was a fake... he was from Romania... a Transylvanian Hungarian.  (I'm just teasing - I know this can be quite a delicate subject!  I'm just giving current-state-of-affairs Hungarians the benefit of the doubt!)

Anyway, I'm really excited to be meeting people from all around the world - I'll be going to McDaniel College's international campus in Budapest.  Maybe after my first semester, I'll have more of an opinion on relationship abilities of various nationalities.  Oh... not that I want to try them all out... okay, I'll just shut my mouth now

octobop wrote:

he was from Romania... a Transylvanian Hungarian.  (I'm just teasing - I know this can be quite a delicate subject!  I'm just giving current-state-of-affairs Hungarians the benefit of the doubt!)

Indeed a delicate subject, and completely the other way around: Transylvanian Hungarians are considered the purest and truest Hungarians by nationalists.
They indeed maintain a rich heritage of folklore, customs and dialects, living their lives in isolation and poverty.


Good luck and have lots of fun at collage!

fluffy2560 wrote:

Mrs Fluffy and I have a theory that there are more Hungarian women married to foreign men than the other way around.

I think it's just the higher upwards social mobility of women, isn't it?
From Cinderella and Pretty Woman to mail-order Russian brides of today, it's always a way out poverty.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Vegas vs Balaton, now there's a thought!

Oh come on, don't belittle it, it's all we have!

Didn't Balaton have a controvesial ad campaign recently where they tried to promote the area as a great place for couples to have extra marital affairs?

PDIinHungary wrote:

Didn't Balaton have a controvesial ad campaign recently where they tried to promote the area as a great place for couples to have extra marital affairs?

You probably mean this, NSFW!
abalatoninyar.fw.hu/

Not sure how much of an ad campaign it is, looks more like a fan-made music video to me. The song is from the 80's and still popular, titled "Balatoni nyar" by the band "KFT". The animation follows the story of the song closely. The twist in the end ("I looked deep into her eyes and said I'm not married") is just typical wry KFT humor.


EDIT: BTW let me know when my contemporary Hungarian pop culture 101 lessons are getting in the way of you guys discussing actual expat stuff.

I could do that for Eger. There was a couple that used to meet up pretty much every week day in a field near our house. They'd arrive in 2 cars, get into one, do the business then go their separate ways.
Come to Eger for wine, scenery and an affair!!

PDIinHungary wrote:

I could do that for Eger. There was a couple that used to meet up pretty much every week day in a field near our house. They'd arrive in 2 cars, get into one, do the business then go their separate ways.
Come to Eger for wine, scenery and an affair!!

It's not just Eger, that's also going on around here all the time. When I go mountain biking or walking, I often see a rendezvous in progress. Why someone parks up to see their lover on a disused industrial area, I do not know?! Hardly romantic. What about the cozy dinners etc?

But this kind of illicit meeting method must be the standard MO (Modus Operandi) for affairs world wide.

szocske wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Mrs Fluffy and I have a theory that there are more Hungarian women married to foreign men than the other way around.

I think it's just the higher upwards social mobility of women, isn't it?
From Cinderella and Pretty Woman to mail-order Russian brides of today, it's always a way out poverty.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Vegas vs Balaton, now there's a thought!

Oh come on, don't belittle it, it's all we have!

I think Hungarian women are quite lovely. I am sure our Eger correspondent and Grasshopper will agree. We weren't thinking of social mobility etc! What about Hungarian men, are they not upwardly mobile? How do they do the same kind of thing? Do they even try?

As for Balaton, if it was Vegas, maybe it would not be as popular with the population. I thought Vegas was interesting, but I am not sure I'd want to live there. Balaton, maybe, but not in the winter. Vegas perhaps for the Hungarian winter weather.

I'm sure we must agree Hungarian women are lovely, possibly a factor in Hungarian men being less likely to seek relationships with other nationals :-)

Don't over-stretch the Balaton-Vegas analogy: All I'm saying is what happens there, stays there.

As it turned out to be a discussion about men-women rship i will say my piece ... when i was studying in Belgium I met a lovely Hungarian girl, we fell in love and i came here for her. we were together nearly 4 years (3 years living together in Hungary) but after that we broke up ... still something keeps me here in Hungary and i cant quite figure out yet what it is.

and as it turned out there are plenty of PL-HU couples i met or i know of, few of my colleagues are half PL half HU cuz of their parents, so there is something in the air between these two nations ...

For todays Eastern European Traditions 101 course, I'll try to translate the little jingle you'll hear every time Polish and Hungarian people are drinking together:
"Polish and Hungarian are two great friends, share their wine and share their fights."

OK, now imagine it rhymes :-)

szocske wrote:

For todays Eastern European Traditions 101 course, I'll try to translate the little jingle you'll hear every time Polish and Hungarian people are drinking together:
"Polish and Hungarian are two great friends, share their wine and share their fights."

OK, now imagine it rhymes :-)

Interesting stuff.

I've also heard of PL/HU couples. But why are Polish and Hungarians such good friends? It's not like HU has a border with PL, common language, shared ancestory(?), common history(?) is it?

Never questioned it, I'm so glad there's at least one nearby nation I'm not supposed to hate to be an old-fashioned Hungarian :-)

My guess is lack of recent conflict and the rule of elimination :-/