New Semester in New Uni! Budapest, Hungary

New semester leads to new adventures! Especially if you are moving to a new country for the exchange studies…

And ta-da! Here I am, Alisa from XAMK, a third-year student, starting my autumn semester in the capital of Hungary, a beautiful city of Budapest! I’m going to study in Budapest Business School, Faculty of Tourism, Commerce, and Marketing. Stay tuned and I’ll lead you throughout my journey sharing the best moments and top tips about life here.

Let’s start with the period before the exchange itself. Before moving to a new country, you obviously need to choose your exchange destination and once you’re accepted you need to start looking at your possible courses. Make sure the program fits your personal study plan because otherwise, your exchange studies can be kind of useless. Personally for me, I needed to fill an Erasmus application with courses I would like to take. However, when I arrived at the place, some of them were not available and some of them were already full. Don’t miss the deadline for the enrolment or your studies will become unexpectedly problematic!

Moreover, be aware of the place of your stay. The earlier you start looking for a room or a flat, the better it will be. 80% of the students are facing the accommodation issues when moving to another country. The university in Budapest does not provide the dormitory possibility. Therefore, you need to find the place to live yourself.

Do not forget about the residence permit card if you need one! To get it, you will have to apply in Finland beforehand and then get it in Hungary with some of the university papers and the accommodation contract. University also can give you a temporary student card to buy a cheaper travel pass (only 10 euros per month!).

All in all, starting in BBS (Budapest Business School) was quite a shock. Things don’t work here the way they do in Finland and it is going to take time for me to adjust and get used to a new country. Let’s see how it goes!