Day 3!

            Today we went on two business visits. In the morning we started off at the Kopint-Tarki Institute for Economic Research. Here we got to learn about Hungary’s historical background and their economic situation. After this we went to a mall in Budapest and ate lunch. I’m starting to catch on to the fact that Hungarians are not in as big of a hurry here as we are in the United States because it took 2 hours to do lunch. It took an hour from when we put our order in to get our food and this was just a bit of a shock to me but also a cool idea that they don’t rush for their meals. I had a salmon pasta and it was actually pretty good. After lunch we went on another business visit and the European Union Commission and we got to learn more about what the European Union Commission does exactly and where Hungary stands in the European Union. I thought it was interesting that the European Union Commission makes recommendations to the countries in the European Union and then from there the countries decide what they want to do with it. After that we had some free time to go back to the room and nap and freshen up and then Ashely, Allison, Terri and I went to explore by the Ferris Wheel. We ended up walking around a very cool area trying to find somewhere to eat. On our walk there we came across a band of gypsies and this was really interesting to see. When ended up stumbling upon this restaurant and found out that it was supposed to be one of the best in Budapest. It was one of the best meals I have had here and well worth the wait. It took us about 2 hours to order, eat our food and pay; which I realize to be a standard around here. It was nice to be able to just sit and enjoy dinner and not have to rush or be anywhere.

            Learning about Hungarian history today was really interesting. They were a communist/socialist state for about 50 years until 1990.  They have been a member of the European Union since 2004 and a member of NATO since 1998. They are currently not a member of the EMU. It seems that a lot of Hungarian people do not really think that the communist/socialist period was that bad of a time and that is really eye opening. It just shows me that although we have our thoughts on things, other countries might not see it as bad as we do. During the socialist period it would take about 11 years to receive your brand new car. This was mind blowing to me; that you would pay and have to wait on average 11 years to get your car. This made used cars more valuable because they were already there to buy and take home, which is backwards for us. The speaker also explains how  back in the communist/socialist period that the government would come in and just declare that your house was too big for you and take it away and split it up into a bunch of flats. Our speaker lives in a hour split up in 12 flats because of this. At the end of his presentation a speaker from Bosnia talked about the economic situation there and its history. This was interesting because I did not realize how confusing their government was and their country is set up into weird territories run but different people but still under the same state. Bosnia has 45% unemployment which is shocking to me. Also we were told in Hungary it can take up to 2 months to get an MRI. It just was really interesting and eye opening. We take a lot for granted in the United States that we should be more thankful for.

 

This was a photo taken at the European Union Commisson

This is a photo taken right outside of the restaurant we ate at called TG Italiano