Unit 3 Emotional Intelligence and Spiritual Intelligence.pdf
Â
Hungary by the Czech group
1. Hungary
By students of
Pavel KĆĂĆŸkovskĂœ
High School
Specialising in Arts
Czech group, Budapest (by Dagmar MilotovĂĄ)
Introduction
Five students from our school had the opportunity to go to an international students meeting
in Hungary. We had not known what exactly to expect but it turned up to be a great week. Hungary is
not far from the Czech Republic but it is a completely different country: colourful and interesting. The
week was amazing.
1. Inhabitants
The first two days we spent in the centre of Budapest and the capital of Hungary made a very
strong impression on us: a lovely city on the banks of a mighty river, a large measuring scale of the
streets and buildings and moreover all of which â although it cannot be observed â were built in a
short period between 1867 and 1914. Historic styles (Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque) served only as
a free sampler for the creation of the frontispieces. We went by the oldest underground in Europe, saw
the hall of the Western railway station designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel â Hungary tried to
impress foreigners at least in the capital then. Current Budapest lives differently than the provincial
part of the state as well â we noticed immediately that there are big differences between Budapest and
the rest of the country: whereas there are two million inhabitants in the capital and a million
commuters, the rest of the ten-million country (apart from the western part near the border with
Austria) is undeveloped.
2. Underground, Budapest (by Lucie KalandĆĂkovĂĄ)
Not only jobs but also shopping possibilities are unrivalled in Budapest: in the huge shopping
mall of West End City Center by the Western railway station we got lost several times and compared
the prices to ours. Whereas the Czechs pay less for food when at home, going shopping for designer
clothes (especially quality shoes which are four times cheaper there: 5 000 vs 20 000 HUF) to Hungary
is worth it. This might explain why the Hungarians â in the view of the prices â tend to buy less food
before going on long travels abroad compared to other nations. The more surprising it was for us
when we found out that the prices in restaurants are not that different from Czech prices â and the
portions were big and tasty everywhere. Sometimes we were a bit surprised by some combinations of
side-dishes (rice and steaks, more side-dishes with one meal, relatively small choice of meals for
vegetarians). In the Czech Republic, we have either rice or chips but never these two together.
Rice and chips, Hungary (by KlĂĄra RejdovĂĄ)
The more to the east, the more it is apparent that the rich Budapest is really far away â
SĂĄrospatak lies 12 km from the border with east Slovakia (and the nearest cultural centre of KoĆĄice)
and 70 km from Ukraine whereas it took four hours to get to Budapest.
5. Grammar school, SĂĄrospatak (by Dagmar MilotovĂĄ)
Cultural centre, SĂĄrospatak (by Dagmar MilotovĂĄ)
You see, not only buildings attracted us visually: the clothes that local policemen wore looked
like made of paper. In the Czech Republic, there are lots of jokes about policemen and authorities as
such so⊠policemen wearing âpaperâ do not look serious. We liked them, anyway.
6. Policeman, Budapest (by Lucie KalandĆĂkovĂĄ)
3. Music
We learnt a couple of Hungarian songs and it was quite surprising that these had sad
melodies and optimistic or at least neutral lyrics. We were told that when a typical Hungarian is
happy, s/he cries. Very interesting. We also learnt some typical Hungarian dances â most of them
quite fast so that we had to listen to the rhythm carefully not to step at someone elseÂŽs legâŠ
4. History
The Hungarian relation to their own history is evidently an important part of their own story
â national memorials, statues of their personalities, turuls (mythical birds) who brought the
Hungarians into their current homeland. The coronation jewels that we could see under the dome of
the parliament are not just museum exhibits but also symbols of statehood around which guards of
honour walk.