CITY RALLY

UNIQUE CONVERSATIONS WITH OUR GUESTS IN THE NEW GENERATION COMMUNITY CENTER SZEGED On friday, 11th October in the New Generation Community Center Szeged the regular guests could meet our Bulgarian, Greek, Polish and Romanian guests and asked about their culture and country. Young people could also talk about the volunteering in Europe, and another Erasmus programmes. They could listen about them from their generation, and it could be maybe more intresting, than just listening a boring sentences of an adult. But certainly not just about these kind of seri ous things, what they could talk about this Friday. Because, as we realized, the kids started to talk about their music style, and could find the common intrest very easily. Table football and Just Dance online game were very popular too. This day was also taught them, what is tolle rance and cooperation means. So volunteering and K-Pop can be also very popular all around Europe.

We would like to tell you o u r st o r y o f h o w w e m e t . We all come from different parts of Romania. Two of us, Ana and Sebi took the airp l a n e f ro m I a s i , t h e o t h e r three, Alexandra, Jean and Andrada from Bucharest-Timisoara, so we got together for the first time there. 5 ROMANIANS IN SZEGED How did we meet?

We visited the city the first night of our arrival. With a simple, A-B-C (??) plan we went on a tour around the old town. We talked to a few people on the streets about what to visit and headed on. We found several resemblances and differences between our big cities and Szeged. The local street food caught our eyes.The bicycle lanes surprised. We like to travel by bike, but people here take it very seriously, switching ca rs a l l to g e t h e r fo r b i ke transport.

Thanks to our Y. M. C. A. Erasmu s pr oj e c t i n Sz e ge d w e h a d the chance to experience one of the traditional events the pro ject, the city rally. This game is basically about exploring your host city in a fun way. We’d like to share what we did during our city game:

We had to find Albert Szent-Györgyi’s statue in front of the university, and we had to take a selfie with it.Our team took a walk at the Dóm square, where was the Hungarian Pantheon with lot of historical Hungarian people’s statues. We visited the Votive Church and on the right of the building, the Gate of Peace.

The next places we went to were the Kárász street and the Széchenyi square, which street is the “heart of the city”, therefore it was full of cafés and shops and tons of people. From the beginning going ahead, we arrived to Széchenyi square which is the biggest pedestrian area in Szeged, with lawn an benches on the side. We took a picture of us in front of the statue of Stephen the first.

The last station was the Móra Ferenc Museum, where we had to perform a choreography to “Boci, boci, tarka” which is a Hungarian children’s song. The groups managed to do it just like true Hungarians. Unfortunately, the museum was under construction but we had a beautiful view of the river Tisza, overlooking the Memorial symbol of the Great Flood.

All the groups had Hungarian leaders during the city rally, for them it was fun to take a selfie in every 30 minutes. We enjoyed recording the choreography, an awesome and memorable experience for everyone.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHOM YOU WILL MEET ABROAD

While doing the city rally, we met two romanians and after speaking to them, they invited us to a small event at Corso Cafe, held by the Romanian Cultural Institute. It was a book premiere, that had been written by romanians about the cultural differences between Romanians and Hungarians. The atmosphere was cozy and familiar and the fact that we were all romanians in a foreign country made us bond a little more. There was also a violin and violoncel concert held by Romanians. This experience was amazing because it was very unexpected, I mean who would have thought that during our stay in Szeged, we will go to an event held by our Cultural Institute and be surrounded by romanians.

In fact this project made us feel unique and real humans because we all share something, from a small word Hello to similar traditional dances. The ice breakers, nights spent together, trip to Budapest and everything connected us and we made beautiful memories which will remain in our minds for a long time and, of course, in this magazine.

An opportunity to learn new things and socialaze is always welcome and appreciated.

It all started when we had to decide what to take in our luggage for the intercultural night in Szeged. We had to think smart and practically.

Intercultural activities are usually part of Erasmus+ projects and they aim to create an atmosphere of understanding and interaction between the participants and build a stronger connection. Keeping this in mind, we made our list, and positive energy couldn’t be missing from it. Among other typical Greek treats, we packed some products based on olives and grapes. Of course we couldn’t leave behind some of our favorite traditional drinks and the other countries that are participating, did the same thing.

So finally the day has come! The morning was full of creative workshops and in the afternoon we had the time to prepare our table. In the meantime, the anticipation was high. We were looking forward to present our tradition and interacting with the other cultures.

At the beginning, we introduced our products, talked about our culture and then we all had some time to dance folk dances with the others. It was a great opportunity to get to know each other more and realize how much alike we all are, although we come from different cultural backgrounds.

But that wasn’t all...

After the formal event that we all enjoyed, the real party started. More music, more dance, more eating and drinking. We started to create a community where we felt comfortable and accepted and that was the point the party got wild... Well, thanks to our friends, that apparently know better than us that mixing different types of alcohol is bad for the stomach, yet we are all fine and enjoying the rest of the project.

PAPRIKA RULEZ! All we had known first about him is just he will be the DTP (Desktop Publisher) of the Instant Newspaper. His name is Sándor, and he’s a local guy, but who has already saw so many other countries. That is why he was very intresting for us, and we attacked him with a few short and hope, funny questions. We asked what and how Hungarian taste, listen and watch.

Please introduce yourself a little!

I ’ m S á n d o r M ó ro c z . I l i v e i n S z e g e d a n d I w o r k a t t h e lo ca l airport.

Hungary is famous about paprika. What kind of paprikas do you have in the country?

We have sweet and spicy paprika. We eat them in all ways, and we make powder from them too.

We heard rumors that Hungarian women are famously beautiful. Which sportswoman is the prettiest for you?

Yes, we do have a lot of beautiful women, for example some handball players. I can’t mention just one

We heard that the Hungarian people have a lot of fun with alcohol. Are you brave enough to compete with polish people?

Probably not. I only like beer and wine and I only drink a couple glasses on Sundays, before dinner maybe. The Hungarian idea of “one glass” is one glass of palinka.

What was the funniest mistake in Hungarian television?

Once on a TV show one of a worker, who drew a number from a stack in the lottery. He looked at it and said it was a six. After that, he check where the dot is, and said: “Oh f..ck nine”.

What kind of music is the most popular in your country?

I like rock, but unfortunately the most popular is wedding music, which is a mixing of the folk and the pop music and they sing about parties and village life. Lot of people like it, but it’s not everybodies favourite.

If we would like to listen to hungarian punk rock or reggae music, what do you suggest?

It’s a hard question. Of reggae, the LADÁNYBENE27, where Miksa, the main singer, is my friend. A fantastic punk rock music band is SUPERNEM.

You told us to buy Paprika. Why?

You asked me about Paprika and Szeged. People say around here Szeged is the “city of sunshine”. Well, it is also where the best Paprika is to be found all around Hungary!