FYI: these are all my personal opinions and experiences! By Isabelle Lydon, Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary I began my first week in Budapest feeling extremely nervous yet excited. Luckily my first week did not just consist of apartment hunting – my parents and I made sure we did loads of sight-seeing as well. On our first day we just walked around the city to get our bearings. One thing you should know about Budapest is that it’s actually quite a big city. I should probably mention as some people don’t actually know that the city is split into two parts by the river Danube – Buda and Pest. I would…

By Nicolas Purslow, ELTE University Coming back to Budapest in February 2021 was a little tricky, as it was right in the middle of the third COVID wave. Hungary was only allowing people with certain exemptions to enter the country, and one of those justifications was if you were returning to study. To prove this, I had to get a certificate of student status from my ERASMUS coordinator in Budapest and then apply for permission to cross the border from the Hungarian police. Thankfully, the process was pretty straightforward, and I received my permission the day after applying for it. At the airport, I just had to show my permission…

By Nicholas Purslow When I first arrived in Budapest, I was expecting to only meet people through classes or societies. However, multiple Facebook and WhatsApp groups were created to accommodate the incoming Erasmus students and to ensure that everyone had a chance of making new friends. Even better were the welcome events, particularly those run by Erasmus Life Budapest, a company set up specifically to run social events for Erasmus students in Budapest. They run around five events per week, and this was especially helpful in the early days when I was keen to meet as many people as possible. Once I met my group of friends (mostly Belgian, with…