A British Girl, From Hungary to Poland

Last year, aged 18 and having only just finished school, I decided to forgo attending university and instead spend some time abroad in Eastern Europe. With an interest in Slavic countries and languages, and having some Polish family, I initially had my sights set on Poland but an opportunity arose in Budapest. 2 weeks later, with a suitcase of clothes and no knowledge of Hungarian, I flew out to Hungary where I survived for the first couple of months by teaching English to Hungarian kids, and staying in an apartment that belonged to a friend.

Though I was only supposed to stay for 3 months originally, I found myself a good job and ended up living in Budapest for 9 months. Despite the usual difficulties that come with entering adulthood and moving out being amplified by the fact that I was in an unfamiliar country largely alone, I had an incredible year discovering its culture and history. Train rides through the gorgeous green Buda hills, eating far too many much-homecooked lángos, partying downtown with university students, and getting up at 4 am to help prepare meat on a farm in the Eastern countryside of Hungary were only a handful of the new experiences I had this year that made it a truly formative and interesting period of my life.

However, the coronavirus pandemic put a damper on my summer, and working from home meant that I lost a significant aspect of my social life – my work colleagues. Everyday life became lonely and dull, without even any family around. In August, I finally decided to leave my job, spend some time at home in the UK, then jump into the challenge of another new country. After browsing through a few hosts in Ukraine and Poland, I have managed to get myself to Grodzisk Mazowiecki, near Warsaw, and could not be happier! I have only been here for a couple of weeks so far, but after working in IT support for half a year I am incredibly grateful for the chance to work with people, especially kids, and with animals. I also feel so lucky to be living in such a beautiful area, with so much forest; I grew up mostly in the countryside and have a great fondness for trees.

I will be spending 2 months in Poland (before I head off to Russia for the winter!) which is not such a long time, but I feel truly at home here and look forward to trying more of what this country has to offer – at the moment, eating lots of pierogi and taking long walks in the woods is suiting me just fine!