Business School Budapest, Hungary

Today is December 22nd, 2021, and I am on the plane to Düsseldorf to see my family. I cannot believe that it will be Christmas the day after tomorrow. The semester is nearly over and there is a total mood of departure. For nearly all our friends the time in Budapest is more or less over. Many already went home and will not come back, others will come back once more for New Year’s Eve but have to say goodbye afterwards. Time here will continue for Marie and myself, but it will be like starting all over at the same time, as we have to find completely new friends – this is somehow a bit stupid. At the same time, I am happy that my time here is not over yet. I love being here and I am not ready to say goodbye just yet. Luckily, I have six more months, but I already know, that it will be hard for me to say goodbye.

Somehow, I am not in the Christmas mood at all. Surely that is connected to the past very strenuous exam period as well as to the tense Covid situation. Kind of a queasy feeling at the moment, isn't it?

I know many people (here in Budapest as well as in Germany) who are infected with Covid right now and thus have to spend Christmas in quarantine and not with their families. I am really really thankful, that I am on the plane home and can see my family later. But still, I keep asking myself, if it is okay to meet in a “larger” group with my grandparents. Fingers crossed everything will work out! In Budapest, we do not get to hear much about Covid, it is just not as much of a topic here as it is in Germany. Apart from us not understanding Hungarian news anyways, I generally have the impression that there is a different point of view here. The actual numbers are swept under the rug a bit and it is of a high priority to leave everything open and not to shut down public life. One has to act self-responsibly here, which everyone also interprets differently of course. Personally, I am team “social distancing, before I go home to my family”, while others want to use their freedom in Budapest once more and go out to party.

I am looking forward to the upcoming Christmas days and will enjoy my time at home. On December 29th I will go back to Budapest by train with four more friends from Würzburg to celebrate New Year’s Eve there. That will be really cool!