tips for stipendium hungaricum student?

Posted by Majestic_Sir2753@reddit | askhungary | View on Reddit | 12 comments

So yeah, I am having interview for the ba of visual arts in hungarian university of fine arts, and wanted to ask these questions:

How many money you will spend for accomodation, transporting, food and necessities per month?(Budapest)
Is Hungary gay friendly?
Should I expect racism as central asian?
Can I live(not survive) with zero hungarian language only with english? Like can staff or people in governmental structures, shops, hospitals speak english? Or should I get express hungarian language course?
What about job opportunities? My family will not be able to give me money, so I will be doing part time job. Is it possible to get internship in arts or exhibit my works?
Are people kind?

Also if you want to tell anything about life in hungary(budapest) as a student from central asia in arts, please, tell me!

[-]

besucherke@reddit

Money: 400 k HUF for a casual living.
Is Hungary gay friendly? Not really. Nobody will throw you in jail, there are some entertainment venues specialized for you, but that's all.
Should I expect racism as central asian? Minimal, if you go to distant places and you try to speak with local elders.
Can I live(not survive) with zero hungarian language only with english? Yes, you can. To appear as a polite guy, try to learn the basic greetings and thank you-s.
What about job opportunities? My family will not be able to give me money, so I will be doing part time job. Is it possible to get internship in arts or exhibit my works? No, art and culture is almost dead, even Hungarian can not make a living on it. If you want to get real money, you have to take food delivery or cleaning gigs.
Are people kind? As HUNs have to endure lots of stress among the politicians robbing them daily, they are kind of apathetic. If you reach out in a nice way to a particular person, you will likely get a nice response.

[-]

Full-Lingonberry1858@reddit

Check the visa. I am not sure if you can work without a work permit.

[-]

Hugotemviery@reddit

I think it’s a really gay-friendly country between university-students. Uni students are mostly liberals here.

[-]

NonloCo@reddit

1000 EUR if you are fine with a minimalist life. Not much entertainment, no restaurants, no bars, no cinema etc.
Not much. Young people are gay friendly. Anyone older than 30 are neutral to this. Anyone above 40 are against gays, and they can expose you to racism.
Every now and again, yes.
Yes.
Part time customer service jobs you can get with English and if you speak another language it is even better.
Not much. Hungarians are indeed rude. Don't take it personally.

[-]

Blackmore1030@reddit

About 500K HUF.
Yes.
No.
It's tricky because most Hungarian people don't speak any foreign language.
You'll have more job opportunities as a Central Asian than as a Hungarian.
In Budapest not really, elsewhere they're more kind.

[-]

halkszavu@reddit

Accommodation and food are the most expensive items. I would guess food to be around 120-150 thousand forints, accommodation is slightly higher, but it depends on the specific conditions. You can get a flat in the centre, which is the most expensive, or just a room with some buddies, and everything in-between. Maybe others will be able to give more accurate predictions, if you say your preferences.
Not really, but in Budapest you should be fine. I've heard bad stories, but outright violence is rare.
Explicit racism: no, but some stereotyping is certain. However Hungarians really appreciate someone trying to learn the language. (And on the flipside, you can have hard time, if you don't speak any. Hungarian's foreign language skills are very bad in general - better in the capital, but don't be surprized, if you find no-one speaking English in a grocery store.)
see above
Depending on your visa, you might not even be able to legally get a job. This poses its own problems, and I would recommend against taking a job illegally. The most problematic would be the language barrier, but you can get jobs, where that is not really required. Note, that there are a lot of East Asians, who will pose as competitors. Arts however is not well funded, so you'll be lucky if you can have a free-of-charge exhibition.
Not really. We want to mind our own business. Don't expect everyone smiling or greeting you, even in retail or in restaurants. If you ask for help, beware that many are afraid of tricks so always be clear.

[-]

Majestic_Sir2753@reddit (OP)

Thank you! I guess I will have dormitory and SH should cover it

[-]

fishy_horcrux@reddit

My first tip would be searching this sub, there are a lot of students asking similar questions.

How many money you will spend for accomodation, transporting, food and necessities per month?(Budapest) 400.000 HUF? at the lowest imo, if you rent an apartment, rent goes up to 250.000HUF a month, obv you can find cheaper and not in the city center, Id recommend searching a few rental websites. The cheaper choice would be either sharing a flat with other students, or living in a uni dorm. Important, if you rent, you'll have to pay two months rent upfront when signing the rental agreement!

Transportation with a hungarian student ID is 945HUF for Budapest, and 1890HUF for the entire country, you'll have to do with the more expensive tickets whilst you are waiting for your ID to arrive. Groceries are expensive, and I don't know about your diet, but assuming you are going to be cooking for yourself, and not eat out, 100.000HUF could be a comfortable, but not a big budget.

Is Hungary gay friendly? It is. Generally people don't care

Should I expect racism as central asian? Generally no, there are some weird folks that go around insulting anyone and everyone, but just don't pay attention.

Can I live(not survive) with zero hungarian language only with english? Like can staff or people in governmental structures, shops, hospitals speak english? Or should I get express hungarian language course? Budapest is very okay with just English, yeah you can more than survive without Hungarian. Afaik studying basic level Hungarian is mandatory with SH, is it not?

What about job opportunities? My family will not be able to give me money, so I will be doing part time job. Is it possible to get internship in arts or exhibit my works? the job market is bad for everyone rn, even those who speak hungarian. I think for an arts internship you are going to need hungarian either way.

Since you'll have a residence permit for studies, you can work 30 hours a week at most. Mostly takeout places, cafes, like starbucks, and delivery services hire foreign students.

Are people kind? Yes.

I hope I didn't miscalculate in the financial part, so of someone can take a look, then, please.

[-]

frelluska@reddit

The student pass (public transport pass which u can use for every ride in Budapest, and most passenger trains in the country) is like 5 euros if u get a hungarian student id
i would never call this country lgbtq friendly, budapest is certainly tolerant about it to the point where i can safely hold hands with my partner
In Budapest not, people are used to Central and East Asian people
Once again, most people in Budapest can speak in English, don't really worry about that
Uhhh I'm not in the field so i cant really say anything in this regard
In general I wouldn't call Hungarians kind, most of them operate on the "please ignore and dont bother me if its really not that important" but in regards to uni students and professors then yes most people u will meet there will be kind

I previously had a Chinese and a Bangladeshi roommate and both of them said Budapest is really nice and they will surely visit it in the future again

[-]

frelluska@reddit

If u will end up in a dormitory then monthly u can get by around 500 euros

[-]

Majestic_Sir2753@reddit (OP)

Thank you!