Expat life in Debrecen?

Hello ,

Debrecen is such a nice city, Im used to come there for some weekends!

In which company are you working ?

Univ Debrecen, what would be 'faculty of Medicine' in most places (it has a different name here)  - I am computer modeller and switching to bioinformatics...

The city center is really pleasant, I was surprized - a pity it is 'far away' from the uni, still thinking to move there. But I wonder if the 'ex-deb' population is only consisting of students... I will need to look for a suitable flatmate.

Any update on the Debrecen expat community..?  So far, people here seem to be either near-locals (>5 years) with no free relationship slot available, or students - so I have mostly gone back to Budapest for the weekend, so far.

Hi. Is anybody here?

I moved back to Bp. I didnt like debrecen to be honest, it seemed for me, it is  hard to find friends if your not a young student any more...

Another point for why Hungarians are not mobile. I.e. no way to break in easily if you are not a kin/preschool-friend already.

Hm, I believe it is also strongly connected to living standards: I found it somewhat stretching financially, to live in a place with no network.
For starters, renting a place is only possible with a flatmate, which is much easier to find in your 'home'. Furnishing  a flat reasonably, would cost a few months salaries. Travelling home costed for me the same fraction of my net monthly salary(ca. 6%) as doing it from Paris (had I accepted a job offer there.) Comparing my situation to germany, this seems to me a major and persistent constraint for mobility, and, I would think openness for newcomers cannot be developed without... well, newcomers.

But local culture is sureley important, Debrecen is reputed to be the least welcoming compared to the other 'red brick' university places Szeged & Pécs.

But I just went back for the weekend to receive my 'nostrified' phd degree alongside the real ones. Niiice:)

dezpapp wrote:

Another point for why Hungarians are not mobile. I.e. no way to break in easily if you are not a kin/preschool-friend already.

There is a woman in our village who moved here from Budapest 20 years ago. The locals exclude her from many social interactions and still call her a "foreigner" (she is Hungarian).

When I moved here, no one even bothered to ask me who I was or inquired anything about me. But that did not stop them from invented all sorts if interesting "facts" about me, such as I was a Canadian (one of the more innocuous of their conceptual inventions).

It appears especially difficult in Hungary, unless one is especially charming in person, to break through social barriers when less than generous rumors have met peoples ears before they have actually met the real person. Already judged and convicted before a trial.

klsallee wrote:

..... invented all sorts if interesting "facts" about me, such as I was a Canadian (one of the more innocuous of their conceptual inventions). ,,,.

Could have been worse.  In my case, they thought I was a spy, mainly because I had multiple satellite dishes (to watch British TV and other TV from the Middle East) and I also had several antennaes (due to an interest in amateur radio).

fluffy2560 wrote:

In my case, they thought I was a spy

Not in my case. But that was the rumor for someone else here (he also had radio antennas). Specially, the rumor was he was a  Mossad agent. Which was of course silly. Everyone in the "know" knew he worked for MI6 (he drives an Aston Martin after all).