{"id":4186,"date":"2014-02-14T15:44:28","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T21:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/?p=4186"},"modified":"2014-02-14T15:44:28","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T21:44:28","slug":"hangin-out-in-hungary-the-awkward-the-uncomfortable-the-wafelini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/2014\/02\/14\/hangin-out-in-hungary-the-awkward-the-uncomfortable-the-wafelini\/","title":{"rendered":"Hangin’ out in Hungary: The awkward, the uncomfortable, the Wafelini"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"201402leeview\"<\/a>I\u2019ve gotta say, when you don\u2019t speak the local language, everything becomes a bit of an adventure. I remember Mark Koepke (associate director of UWSP International Programs<\/a>) telling me, \u201cWell, even though English isn\u2019t the local language, most people speak it pretty fluently.\u201d Actually Mark, approximately 16% of the Hungarian population speaks English; the rest are just down for some interesting misunderstandings.<\/p>\n

The first morning in Budapest I woke up ambitiously early and set out to find a nice journal to record some thoughts as they came to me. So I scoured whatever stores were open, the most awkward individual in the city. I was reprimanded at one store for walking in before it was open, another for going in through the exit door and trying to get through the turnstile backwards. At least that\u2019s what I think was happening; finally the lady just waved me through begrudgingly. I finally found an Office Depot, and I was like \u201cNice, this is perfect.\u201d Of course, not being able to read the labels on the shelves is a bit of an impediment. After scouring through calendars and various other non-journals, I found the notebooks. There she was: a sleek black beauty, wrapped in plastic, with a nice place-mark and pen holder attached. Perfect! I managed to check out relatively competently and get it back to the hotel room. After a few days, finally, a thought! So I tear into my new journal excitedly and find \u2026 graph paper.<\/p>\n

\"201402leewafelini\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

\"201402leegraffiti\"<\/a>Then there\u2019s the drink-procurement fiasco. My roommate Jared and I were making a late-night beverage\/Wafelini run, stopping in at a little 24-hour station. As soon as we step into the room where the drinks are located, a small Hungarian woman materializes, proclaiming, \u201cNem kell itt most ez nyilv\u00e1nval\u00f3an nem!\u201d Jared responds, spitting the one Hungarian phrase he knows, which translates to: \u201cI don\u2019t speak Hungarian.\u201d Foolproof, right? She explodes into a blitz of consonants, pointing angrily to a huge sign, written in English, reading, \u201cThis Room is Closed, Do Not Enter.\u201d Bust. So we walk to the front end of the store and find a drink cooler. Nice. As soon as Jared opens the door, the man behind the counter exclaims, \u201cMi nem alkoholt, az \u00f3r\u00e1k ut\u00e1n. El kell mennem valahova!\u201d So Jared, on cue, responds with his signature phrase. The man irritably responds, \u201cRead the sign.\u201d Sure enough, right on the door, in English: \u201cWe do not sell alcohol after 10 p.m.\u201d Huge fail for us. Luckily they were still selling Wafelinis.<\/p>\n

\"201402leeice\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

Cave tours are always legit, but they become even more interesting when given in Hungarian. At one point, we stood still for a good 15 minutes, listening to a rant from the tour guide which appeared to fascinate all who could understand. As the group moved along, we all looked expectantly to our guide\/translator Annette. \u201cShe said the cave was discovered in 1909 by spelunkers. It\u2019s actually 6 caves in one.\u201d Hmm, that\u2019s really all she said?<\/p>\n

I must admit, for the most part these experiences are just consequential results of a language barrier. Hungarian citizens are very kind, respectful people, and I\u2019m sure our experience with them will be wonderful. It\u2019s just too much fun to reflect on the awkward and uncomfortable events of the early days.<\/p>\n

-Lee<\/p>\n

Lee Bartnik, a senior\u00a0at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point majoring in dietetics, is blogging about his study abroad experience in Hungary<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve gotta say, when you don\u2019t speak the local language, everything becomes a bit of an adventure. I remember Mark Koepke (associate director of UWSP International Programs) telling me, \u201cWell, even though English isn\u2019t the local language, most people speak it pretty fluently.\u201d Actually Mark, approximately 16% of the Hungarian population speaks English; the rest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":4213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,44,23,24],"tags":[185,305,312,343,344,351],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}