Pole and Hungarian brothers be

Statue of Józef Bem, a Polish general who fought alongside Hungarians, located in the middle of Budapest.

Image source:
https://www.kozterkep.hu/5592/bem-jozsef-emlekmu#vetito=203571
Andrea Lovas, 2014

Just like the saying goes, the people of Poland and Hungary share a strange, yet wholesome connection which started centuries ago and stands true to this day. In my lifetime, I have had the honour of experiencing this amity time and time again, and I will be forever grateful for it.

Growing up in a small town in Hungary, life was not too busy, neither full of adventures, rather just plains, farms and brutalist architecture left behind by the communist era. However, I was lucky enough to travel abroad at a young age, which sparked a great interest in me towards foreign cultures, their languages especially. Being accepted into our most popular university, I had the opportunity to move to the amazing city of Budapest, our shining capital, where I embarked on my studies about the one country that really stood out to me: Poland. Ever since I learned about our shared history in school, it always felt reassuring to have a nation that we can call a friend.

I always tell people how being a Hungarian can – at most times – feel like having a big identity crisis: having ancestors from a distant land, speaking a language that nobody can understand and being listed as a part of either Eastern Europe, Central Europe or sometimes even the Balkans. Yet Poland is like the cousin who you can sneak out to during the night to watch movies, or the brother who helps you fix your car, or the lover who always welcomes you with a warm embrace. That is the reason why I have studied the beautiful culture, fiery history and extraordinary language of Poland and decided to come here for the sixth time, now to teach English and finally be able to give back something to the nation that helped mine many times.