Sziasztok! Greetings from Budapest!

Budapest is a very beautiful city, and you can see interesting historical buildings everywhere. The river Danube splits the city in half. The other side, called Buda, is full of hills while the other, Pest, is totally flat. My apartment is situated on the Pest side, which is also the busier side of the city, full of bars, shops and restaurants. Most of the Erasmus people live on this side, as it’s a little cheaper and more active than the Buda side.
I study at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME). The actual university building is being renovated during my stay, so basically the whole school has been temporarily moved to another building, which is located on the Buda side, close to the Danube.My studies have been very independent. Most of the courses have no actual classes, but we are expected to work on our own. Once a week we have a meeting where everyone shows their progress, and the teacher gives some advice and feedback.Compared to my studies in TAMK, this level of independence is quite different, and it requires a lot of responsibility to be productive. I have managed to do it though, and I like the fact that in many of the assignments the teachers actually encourage us students to explore the city in our works as well. Another difference is that in MOME the official language is Hungarian, as opposed to English which is used in my department (Media & Arts) in TAMK. It meant us exchange students are mostly on different courses than the locals, but luckily there are some exceptions as well.One thing I really like about MOME is that they have a huge selection of theoretical courses, which are really interesting.On my spare time I have really taken advantage of the fact that eating out is pretty cheap here compared to Finland. Even on a student budget it is possible to try out some exotic dishes from Lebanese to Japanese, not to forget the local foods which are delicious as well.

Another thing I have really enjoyed are the thermal baths. They are located mostly on the Buda-side. Most of them have been built during the time when Hungary was ruled by the Ottoman Empire (1541-1699), so they are very old and not much has been changed. I really like the sense of history in them, and of course the baths as well. Some of them even feature a Finnish sauna!Other than that I have done some traveling, and been to all the famous sights and museums. For anyone visiting Budapest I recommend hiring a bike to move around more quickly, as the distances can get quite long here.