How time flies!

Cultural:

Time really does fly when you’re having fun! I literally can not believe we are now into our seventh week here in Budapest. And what a week it has been! We have spent the last week researching Bratislava, how to get there and where to go and visit and I’m so excited about the prospect of exploring yet another city while I’m here. We spent this weekend in the company of some Hungarians, Italians, Germans, Americans and Canadians. We went with some of them to a bar to listen to some Serbian Folk music, which was fantastic and then to a Jazz bar, which seems to be very popular here, as do all genres of music really! We then spent Saturday in their company while watching the Six Nations Rugby match at a popular Irish pub here. I found it rather surreal to be in the company of so many nationalities and it was great being able to share the sport of rugby with them, along with some good Irish pub food, even if Ireland weren’t victorious…

Personal:

Personally, I feel like I have learnt so much this week, mainly because we have done so many different things this week that we hadn’t done before. I just love the fact that my time here now usually consists of being in the company of several people all from different countries and continents and yet we still have so much in common. I love the diversity of this city and the all the differences within this city and the fact that they all celebrated, including St Patrick’s day!

Professional:

I have been learning a lot this week in school about the English language, particularly the importance of teaching British English to Hungarian children, rather than them learning Hungarian English as I have come across a few teachers who sometimes make mistakes with the translation of certain words and letters, but this is due to the fact that they have learnt this from teachers when they were at school. I have found it beneficial being in classes both in our school and in University because I am able to help some of the teachers and lecturers with their learning of the English language.

I have been finding our music lessons in University more interesting in recent weeks, due to our advancement in understanding the teacher and the material we are studying and I have been learning lots about the teaching of music to young children and how easy it can be to develop a child musically. Well, much easier than I ever thought it could be anyway! We have been set an assignment in music, so that will be a challenge to see if I can assimilate my previous learning of music teaching at home with the music curriculum here.

I also had the opportunity to teach the children in our school about St Patrick this week on St Patrick’s Day. Some children were already aware that it was St Patrick’s Day, but they didn’t know the story of St Patrick or why the day is celebrated so I enjoyed sharing the story with them and answering their questions about St Patrick. I really enjoyed sharing something from our culture with the children, especially seeing as two days earlier they had celebrated their National Day.