Belga kapcsolat 2006-2007

A week in Waregem

I may begin my report with the things I found the best: My favourite programs were the evenings when we gathered with the other Hungarians and had an enjoyable time. Of course, I loved Brughes and Ghent, and I found Waregem's ambiance very cosy and pleasant.

As it's general when you meet an unknown culture and foreign people, there were many surprising things (and not the difference in the keyboard was the greatest). I was amazed and surprised by the delicacy of the food at the school canteen.

I dare say I was very lucky with my host family, it was exactly like I expected. Except one small thing: Belgian people don't know too much about Hungary, and they seem to think that we are just like a developing country, which is of course not true. I think they should get to know the world (or at least Europe) a bit more... And that was a new proof for my opinion according to which many European nations don't know the world they live in, which I think is not so good.

As I see it, the idea of the projects was very good, but the organisation of them could have been a bit better. I worked on the project where task was to make a website. I couldn't learn anything about making websites, as we only had to collect the information to be put on that site.

On the other hand it was interesting and useful to work together with foreign students and coming from different nationalities didn't cause any problems at all.

My only notable problem was in connection with the organisation of our cultural programs. But considering everything it was all good value for money as I could gain a new, very useful experience that I can use during my future life. I recommend everyone not to miss a possibility like this.

3 best things: Dutch lesson, school canteen, the day on the coast.

3 bad things: the test paper in Brughes (we would have preferred to have a guided tour), the small amount of free time in Ghent, the organisation of the volleyball tournament - it wasn't really like I expected, it could have been a bit more serious.

Komori Tünde

We had kept in contact with our guests on MSN before we met them so nobody was surprised. We enjoyed using our English and when the Belgians arrived everybody started to chat immediately. We could easily get along with students of different nationalities but some of their customs were different from Hungarian ones, for example my student couldn't use the spoon to eat soup as well, as Hungarians, it was really funny.

Unfortunately we couldn't spend a lot of time with our guests because we had to attend school during their programs. They sometimes were a bit bored as the programs proved to be too long and it was very tiring when we had a night out.

We got on very well with the Belgians and with the Portuguese as well.

I think we will keep in contact for years because we chat almost every day online and Hungarian students are looking forward to going to Belgium and meeting our friends there.

I'd really recommend it to all students because it's a good chance to practice the language, to know something about a totally different country with it's traditions and to make new friends as well. We thank all of our teachers for organizing the program and giving us the chance to participate in this project. All of us enjoyed it and found it useful.

Emese Kudron