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Pecs, Hungary

Pecs, Hungary - The time of my life

After only one week of looking for a traineeship, I had the OK of the company and five days later I was on my way to one of the greatest periods in my life in Pecs, Hungary. The experience started with a snowstorm in Munich and a traffic jam after some kilometers, I had a completely blue sky and empty roads finally arriving in Hungary, driving through all those tiny villages and passing some bus stops right in the middle of nowhere, miles away from the next village. In the evening I finally arrived in Pécs and met with the people from AIESEC at the station. They said I’m there only trainee at the moment and they also told me right then, that there are some tensions among the members of the local office and so the SN responsible had resigned a few days ago.

The first night I was staying with one of the AIESECers and then the next day I could finally move into my apartment, which I was sharing with another Hungarian guy who doesn’t speak any language I understand, only Hungarian. But after all I must say, he was really friendly, and with the few Hungarian words I learned in the time there, I managed to explain to him almost everything I wanted to. It was quite an interesting experience.

The next day I was finally introduced to my boss and my colleagues. I was working in the marketing department of the two most famous hotels in Pécs, Hotel Palatinus, where Bela Bártok had played the piano, and Hotel Pátria, both belonging to the Danubius Hotels Group. My task was to create a marketing concept, to make the hotel more attractive and thus to increase the number of visitors. So the first days passed by really quickly and I got to know a lot of people. A big party and a smaller one the following day were the top events in the first week. The first two weekends I had to spend alone, as a lot of people were going home then, but fortunately the LC members had organized a TV for me. And of course I also went to explore this beautiful town on my own and found out, that I had been really lucky with my match.

Then the third weekend was the first weekend of a big AIESEC-event, the “Multifunctional Weekend” in Szeged, where I got to know lots of people from the whole country. And not to forget the great parties in the evening with good and cheap beer!!! Something else that struck me was the bus drive from Pécs to Szeged. For the distance of not even 200 km it took a little more than four and a half hours.

Another problem I was confronted with was the Tisza, the river that goes through Szeged. Firstly it was poisoned because of several accidents in Romanian gold mines due to that lots of chemicals had been washed into the river and had killed every creature living in it. The fourth week passed by and on the weekend we had an LC camp at a lake near to Pécs. Though it was not the Easter weekend I learned about traditional Easter habits. The Hungarian boys sprinkle the girls with water that is mixed with a little bit of perfume and afterwards the girls give them some Easter eggs. As I’ve been told, a legend says that in this way, the girls will stay as beautiful or become even more beautiful than they already are. Well, I must say that there must be some truth to the rumor as there are many beautiful girls in this country!

The next week and the Easter weekend there was a break at the university. Most people were at home and those who lived in Pécs were staying with their families. Only my reception officer, who lives in Pécs, as well, and who was LCP at the same time, was at home all the time and even totally alone for the Easter days, but she always had some excuses for having no time for me. So on the Easter weekend I decided to explore the surroundings of Pécs, a TV-tower that offers a really great view over the town, and a little stalactite cavern. Then in the evening of Easter Monday the old reception officer, who had resigned a few days before my arrival, took a little time for me.

The weekend after that it was finally time for the National Conference and for me the first time at the Balaton, the biggest lake in Central Europe. The conference lasted three days and it was great fun. Especially as there were some other trainees from Germany and Mexico and we were hanging around together, as there were no workshops in English. I also met some nice Hungarian AIESECers from Tatabánya and one of them invited me for the next weekend to her weekend-house in Siófok.

For one party we also had some international delegates from all over the world. They were all on a traineeship in Budapest, and I got to know this neat Japanese girl, who helped me later in arranging my tour to the beautiful capital of Hungary.

Then in May it was the exam period in Hungary, but this girl from Tatabánya invited some friends and me twice to her weekend house in Siófok. Those two weekends were really great, even though the mosquitoes drove us crazy!

Then it was June, my last month, but probably my best month. The first four days I had arranged my trip to Budapest with the help of this nice Japanese girl and some other guys from „Planet Club”. It was a wonderful international atmosphere during these four days. I met so many people from all the continents of the world, and once again I want to say “Thank You” to the group from Planet Club who let me sleep in their office for free. There I had really everything I needed. The first two days I went on a sightseeing tour together with a friend of the Japanese girl, for whom it was the first time in Europe, and who asked me a lot of questions about the differences and the commonalities in the individual cultures of Europe. The other days I discovered this beautiful town on my own.

Four days after my return to Pécs I had arranged my trip to Croatia. So I went first to Zagreb as I had contacted the LC there. That was really uncomplicated and they had arranged an accommodation with their former MC member from Kenya. It was also a lucky hit, that at the same time, a gril from Malaysia, who had an internship in Germany, was coming to visit Croatia, too. So the first day I just had a sightseeing tour through Zagreb with her. A really beautiful town I need to mention. The next day we went together with the Kenyan guy to the Plidvièka lakes, a really wonderful natural reservation, and from there down to Pula in Istria, where the Kenyan guy had arranged an accommodation for us at one of the AIESECers’ house who was from there, where we stayed for three days. It was really a great time there at the Mediterranean Sea and I’m sure to come back to Croatia next year to see also the other parts of the Croatian coast. After these days I had to go back to Pécs for my last three weeks. But I passed the next two weekends in Croatia, too. More exactly in the city of Osijek, where I finally found the greatest people of AIESEC in Croatia who were so incredibly hospitable and made me feel so welcome, that I really want to say once again

Thank You Very Much!!!

I was staying with one of them and almost felt like a part of the family. During those two weekends the people from LC Osijek did almost more together with me than the people from LC Pécs in the whole 15 weeks. Sorry, but it’s a fact that I really need to mention. In my last week, the people from my host LC had their transition camp and so all the members of the old and the new executive board didn’t even say good-bye to me. But all my other friends, some also from LC Pécs like the former SN responsible, came to my farewell party to say good-bye.

And finally I unfortunately had to go home to Germany, even if I really wanted to stay much longer!!! But I’m sure to walk down the Szechenyi Square in Pécs someday again. Looking back I must say I really had the time of my life there. I met people from more than 30 countries from all over the world and really hope to stay in contact with most of them.Lastly I want to point up that nobody should think AIESEC Pécs is a bad LC. Only some people in this executive board were not really doing their work, unfortunately those who should have cared for my things, for example for my visa. At least those responsible for the finance cared for my salary quite well, so I never had any problem with money. But I’m hopeful the next EB will look for their trainees much better.

So I don’t want to look back in anger and I have to say

KÖSZÖNÖM SZÉPEN LC PEX ES VISZONT LÁTÁSRA!!! I had a wonderful time, I learned a lot, I became more and more enthusiastic about MAGYAROSZAG And about AIESEC!!!

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