A short hello from Hungary to Russia!
Hello everyone! My name is Bence, and I come from the amazing capital city of Hungary, Budapest. It will be my second time in the breathtaking city of Saint Petersburg, and I hope to provide you with some satisfying and interesting content.
So what do you need to know about me? Well, I’m 23 years old, I currently live and study in Hungary. My two great passions in life are the Russian language and Russian culture. I started learning Russian two and a half years ago, in the Russian Cultural Center (Российский Культурный Центр) of Budapest, and have been studying it ever since. I’ve even enrolled in a university course on Slavic philology, which naturally has a focus on Russian. I’ve just finished my second year, and sincerely can’t wait to continue my studies! Based on my achievements there, I was lucky enough to get into a European mobility programme named Campus Mundi. With its help, I could finally realise my dream, which is to live in one of the greatest metropolises of Earth, (the eleventh biggest, actually) Moscow. While there I did everything to completely immerse myself in the language, culture, and overall feel of Russia. I’ve explored both the capital city as well as other cities in Russia. I’ve planned numerous adventures for myself, like flying to Yekaterinburg from Moscow, and then to return home on a train, with a few stops along the way, like in Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod. I’ve also visited the Crimean Peninsula, the (very) ancient capital of Rus’, Veliky Novgorod, the Golden Ring of Moscow, and quite a few others. In the future I hope to share some stories with you, so you may experience the same beauty as I did during these excursions.
And why Russian, you may ask? The thing is, I don’t really know myself. I still remember when I was seventeen years old, still in secondary school, and I randomly decided to read one of Dostoevsky’s books – Crime and Punishment. That book, in retrospect, redefined my life as it got me on a track that led to a deeper and deeper immersion of Russia. That was the first time I decided to re-read this fantastic book one day, in the original. This is, fortunately, happening right now.
All in all, the only thing I can tell for sure is that learning Russian was one of the best decisions of my entire life, and even though it had its hardships and challenges, it is a completely rewarding experience. It just seems that there are always more and more benefits to it. The people, the literature, the music, nature, the cities, I just keep getting surprised by the richness of these vast lands! I hope I may be able to share this passion with you too!
