A Guatemalan student's life in Budapest

Some days ago we talked with Aiken Chew, an Exchange student here in Budapest. We wanted to know how his experience in Budapest had been so far and what was he enjoying the most about the city. Aiken comes from Guatemala and he is studying for one semester only at Corvinus University of Budapest through an exchange program. He is studying here as part of its Masters in Comparative Development. We were wondering how challenging could have it been for Aiken to travel so far away from home to study in Hungary for a full semester. However, Aiken was very enthusiastic about Budapest and showed us that as long as we are willing to take the leap we can always make the most of our experience.

From all he had tried so far from Hungarian traditional drinks and cuisine, his favourites were without a doubt Hungarian wine and chicken paprika. Curiously, the best moment/memory he has so far from the city is actually related with one of this. He told us that, the most wonderful experience he had so far was drinking wine with his friends at Liberty Bridge while enjoying the amazing view. It is incredible that such a suggestion could come from a tour guide. But, anyway, the locals are truly right when they say that there is nothing like sitting at the Liberty Bridge to watch the sunset, with a few drinks and some friends by your side!

Even though most of Aiken’s experience in Budapest has been extremely positive so far, he also told us that it was a bit tiring to handle all the necessary documentation to get his residence permit. Running in and out the immigration office was a truly exhausting task, and sometimes he really struggled to deal with it. Nevertheless, Aiken was able to take care of every issue arising from this and in the end everything was fine. Looking back now, it is nice to realize that that might only be the less positive thing he can recall from his time in Budapest. Four months have passed and Aiken only has nice things to say about his stay in Budapest!

When asked if he would come back to the city there was no trace of doubt – “for sure I will!” According with him, the city has a lot of great things to do and see. When we asked him if he could tell us some more of the great things about Budapest he had enjoyed, we could not help but smile at his answer. He told us that one of the reasons that would make him definitely come back to the city were the cute Hungarian girls!

What do you think of Aiken's opinions and experience so far? Join us on our comment section and let us know. Have a nice Tuesday and enjoy the rest of your week. See you soon! But, until then, egészségedre!