Rina’s last words

​

As some might have heard it already, or not, my time in Hungary has come to an end. I was blessed in my last few week with very nice sun and an incredibly start and a look into summer in Budapest. This journey here let me experience things which I am so grateful for. It was an honour to be the last volunteer here and I like to think that I had the chance to see through the eyes of the old volunteers even if it just a tiny bit. Even though I do really believe that I didn’t change much, I still gained a lot of experience and learnt a lot of things. The privilege of traveling, first time moving out but the most important meeting a lot of new people. Of course there were not only good encounters but there’s no time to care about those. I was lucky to work and volunteer with incredible people. Thank you for Barbi, Anett, Kriszti and Dana for making my ESC experience a fun! 

I’m also really grateful for Zsuzsa for trusting me and make this nice project possible for me.

And another kudos to Barbi for being the best mentor I could wish for.

I would like to believe that I gained an insight about the Hungarian culture but also much more about other cultures from the friends I made in the trainings. 

There’s this sure feeling that the things I built here are not disappearing just this form of volunteering is having an end. Budapest as a city has gained a special spot in my heart and I will certainly visit again. 

Because I assume that if you read this blog you probably read all the other ones:

Thank you for being interested in my journey!

All the best to everyone who I encountered and may Hungary experience the change they hope for and it becomes a flourishing country!

Olvass tovább

Rina’s 9th month

​Spring is back and so am I.

In Germany we say: “Der April macht was er will” (The April does what it wants to do) underlining the unpredictable weather. But this month I think that it was more unpredictable where and what I will be doing than the weather. No crazy snow or heavy raining like in the last years. 

So the month started with a movie night Barbi and we watched pitch perfect. And on the Easter Holidays I travelled to Slovenia and met there a friend and travelled together. We stayed in a really small hostel and it was such a surreal experience. Not only did the hostel only have one bathroom but also people stole our food but really random ones. On the last morning we realised someone stole 1 and 1/2 slices of cheese…what did this person do? Another day half a cucumber was missing…

Nonetheless we had fun; we travelled to Piran to the sea and to the lake Bled but also did chill days in Ljubljana canoeing in the canal. We met some new people and it was really nice. I really enjoyed the balance of the city and the nature. Especially for the nature I can imagine to revisit.

Coming back the elections were a huge topic and the best way the Hungarians celebrated, apart from the dancing form the future health minister, were my aunt and I who made Tiramisu and she called it “Tiszamisu” to celebrate it with neighbours. The garden party was nice and I played with the neighbours golden labrador which was so cute. 

Barbi and I went to two Jazz concerts of a regular costumer and it was a really fun and nice experience. You feel very fancy listening to live music.

Another day I also went up to the citadel which reopened almost a month ago and the view was soo nice and the cherry blossom trees were blooming.

On the last weekend of this month I visited Szentendre for the closing of Zsuzsas second shop and I felt that so much time has passed because it was around September when I visited Szentendre the first time. 

Afterwards I was invited to a birthday and it was nice meeting some new people but also meeting some people again. We celebrated at The Grund and we went clubbing afterwards. What a night!

And on that sunday I travelled with a friend to sopron and we had a Soproni beer in sopron and enjoyed the sun because it was quite cold in the shadows.

So this month was quite eventful.

I hope that who ever is reading it is enjoying the spring as I do.

Olvass tovább

Living in Budapest (Even Just for a Little While)

  

The short time I spent there felt like stepping into a different rhythm of life — one that’s
somehow both relaxed and full of energy at the same time.
The first thing that struck me was the weather. I got incredibly lucky with sunny days almost
the entire time I was there. Budapest in the sunshine is something else — the buildings
glow, the Danube sparkles, and everything just feels more alive. It’s the kind of place where
you actually want to see everywhere, even when you don’t have a destination.
One of my favorite experiences was going to the thermal baths. Swimming in warm outdoor
water while the air is cool around you is something I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I did.
People just hang out, chat, and unwind for hours — it’s not rushed at all.
And then there’s the food. I tried a chimney cake (which I’d only ever seen online before),
and it absolutely lived up to the hype. Warm, sweet, slightly crispy on the outside, soft inside.
I’ve also tried a chimney cake class and it was fun to learn about how it’s made.
Getting around the city was surprisingly easy too. The transport system is really good —
reliable and easy to understand even if you’re new. Trams, buses, metro… everything
connects smoothly. I never felt stuck or confused about how to get somewhere, which
makes a huge difference when you’re in a new place.
But more than anything, what made the experience special was the people. I ended up
meeting quite a few people through church, which gave me a sense of community I wasn’t
expecting. It’s always a bit daunting going somewhere new, but having that shared
connection made it easier to talk, hang out, and feel like I wasn’t just passing through. It
turned the experience from just “traveling” into something more like actually living there,
even if only for a short time.
Budapest has this balance that’s hard to describe — it’s historic but not stuck in the past,
lively but not overwhelming, social but still calm. You can spend a day doing nothing but
sitting by the river, and it still feels like a full day.
If I had to sum it up, living in Budapest felt easy to enjoy, easy to explore, easy to connect.
And honestly, that’s what makes a place special.

 

Olvass tovább

Rina’s 8th month

So this month has been a lot. Someone moving in, then out, meeting some new people, but also saying bye to a lot of people, who became a part of your life. It’s the cycle of life, but if I’m honest it’s really tiring. Expect for the end of month it has been really warm, enough to get some overpriced ice coffee to enjoy outside. Two bigger experiences I had this month was the travel to romania and the revolution day on the 15th. You can feel the tension in the air, knowing the election will be soon and I am curious how it will go. But for this blog I will focus on my travel because it was incredibly nice seeing new things and exploring new places.

 

 

So I travelled with another ESC Volunteer, who volunteers in Bucharest. We share a Supporting-Organisation and that’s how we get to know each other. The travel itinerary was 3 nights Bucharest, 3 nights in Braşov and 1 night in Cluj-Napoca and lastly him staying 1 night in Budapest. I stayed at his shared flat and I got to meet his flatmates. Bucharest was so boring, especially for a capital, so we did a day trip to a little town called Targoviste. It was cute but on the way back we missed a connecting train and we were stuck in a random village at night and it was so cold. I was so down in this moment. It felt like it was my lowest point of my life.

 

 

Brasov was so nice the centre was so cute and we even hiked up the brasov sign on the hill. Another day we took the train to Sinaia and we hiked past the Peles Castle and took the cable car to 2000m and it was so nice to reconnect with nature after spending so much time between concrete. The view was immaculate and it was the highlight of the entire trip. Cluj was by far my fav city out of the cities because it was soo lively and young. Would love to visit it again. In Budapest we were invited to a birthday party so we were really busy the whole time. Milan, the Bucharest guy, was really patient with me and organised a lot so it was really comfortable to travel with him. I’m really grateful for the opportunities I get while I am here. Hope next month will be a bit calmer but still adventurous. It’s getting a bit lonely here because most of the ESC People are leaving this month including Manal. I will really miss her. But with better weather there is still much to explore and things to do, so I am content that next month will be also a good time.

Another trip is already planned so…will keep you updated!

 

 

Olvass tovább

Rina’s 6th month

​So this time I will just start where I just left off. So the beginning of 2026 was with my beloved friends from my homecity. We continued with sightseeing like going on the cruise and going out at night. The magical snow was becoming very annoying because it was so cold and there was almost no sun. When I was getting water for the shop the sun shined for the first time in a while and just couldn’t stop myself just standing for a second and enjoying the sun. I couldn’t wait for spring to come. 

Middle of January the second round of sightseeing seeing has begun. A Colombian friend I made in Bratislava in the hostel came to visit me and we spend a lot of time together checking the typical tourist spots out. He’s a very kind and patient person and enjoyed the together and we even met a bigger group of volunteers and we hung out at their flat. 

 Before I went to the midterm in Visegrád I spent time together with Kriszti and Barbi at the ice rink and drank some hot chocolate afterwards. It was fun and a nice way to spend time together before Kriszti moved out. 

In the last week of January I went as mentioned to Visegrad. Sadly the weather was not keeping up with us but it was nice to meet the people from the on arrival training and also a few new people. As a long sleeper I even managed to wake up at 5am one time to go on a hike with some to the castle. It was so cold and parts of the way were frozen so it was actually kind of dangerous. I would like to say that the view was worth it but well…it was too foggy. But still it was a nice time bonding with people. The Programm of the midterm was very nice and I felt really comfortable with the facilitators. The medieval evening was really fun and the food at the restaurant was nice and it was nice holding a torch and trying medieval clothes. 

On the last day of January I went to a comedy show with Manal for the first time. It was not necessarily my humor but the vibes were good. 

Olvass tovább

Rina’s 7th month

This was the first time spending a longer time alone on the flat. At first it was really a bit weird to be alone. This short month was kind of a test of my patience: snowing and raining and then this little hope of spring starting. Therefore I didn’t necessarily feel like going out a lot. Still I spend time with people. At the start of February I caught a cold anandd I started to crave mother’s food and my favourite Vietnamese dish so I went with Manal to eat Bun Cha. And I also spend also time with my German friend I met through others volunteers and I cooked with her and just chatted for hours. 

As the month was short not much happened so let me just focus on a few things that I did. We went to the Corvinus Uni to have a workshop and as a reward we ate really good pizza! Thank you Zsuzsa! 

And I also enjoyed going to a flea market with Barbi. I found a cute sweater and cute top for night outs. The best way to spend money for me is mostly food and unnecessary expensive cafés. 

 

As a foreshadowing I am looking forward to my trip through Romania I booked this month, so I think there will be more to tell but also that a new volunteer will arrive is something I am looking forward to. (also hopefully good weather) So please wait for my update…

Olvass tovább

Rinas 3rd month

​So update from the last blog:

The weather was unfortunately not really good as I hoped, but I had enough plans and encounters to not become gloomy in the grey city.

I spent every weekend differently in October, so let me give you a recap of what I did.

The first weekend, I went clubbing with friends and visited Szimpla Kert. This was the first time enjoying night life in Budapest. It was crazy to see how big the Szimpla Kert was, like a huge labyrinth or a jungle you could get easily lost in. 

The weekend after I visited my aunts place. I enjoyed there the slow paced life there and my highlight as a cat person is the cat that comes by everyday. It’s really friendly and its fur is really soft and it purred a lot, which made me really excited.

The third week was the elongated weekend Anett and me visited Debrecen

and Hortobágy. My bias was that Debrecen has a really similar look to Budapest because it is the second biggest city after Budapest in Hungary. But it’s really more like a small city. It’s less grey and more greener and there are more big streets that aren’t so narrow. Since it was a national holiday, we visited the Déri Museum for free and on the other day we visited a cat cafe in Debrecen. The cat’s name on the picture is Oskar. He was really calm and wasn’t bothered by anything, which really impressed me.

We visited Abdu, an Egyptian friend I made on the On-arrival-training, in Hortobágy. On one day we visited the Animal Park, we saw a lot of animals like pigs,horses,a donkey and a lot of other ones. On the other day we visited we saw a festival (I already forgot what kind…memories of a goldfish), I tried at a food stall the Debrecen sausage and palacsinta with cottage cheese and it was really good. The weather has been really windy but the festive vibes and the warm food lightened up my mood. Thank you Abdu for hosting us!

  

Not to forget to mention the very short visit of my Highschool classmate. Even though it was just 4 month not seeing each other, it felt like ages. It is really incredible how time flies. When we reminisced about “old times“, it felt like the thing happens years ago, but in reality it was just half a year ago. It was nice to show him some spots in Budapest and we went to new places as well. The feeling of having some familiar face in ESC experience has been new and also very nice. (If you’re reading this: Danke Mika!) 

So back to my weekends. The last weekend I flew back to Frankfurt and spend time with family and friends. I really missed the food of my mother and sleeping in my own bed. It was nice to catch up with friends and hearing about how they are doing in university. Hope I will meet them soon! 

Now that Christmas season is starting I’m really looking forward to the christmassy activities for November and December!

Olvass tovább

Rina's 2nd month

So, it’s been a month since the last entry — time really flew!

In the past few weeks, the season change was quite harsh on us. With it, we put out new seasonal clothes, and the colder weather got me too. I ended up getting sick right at the end of my on-arrival training.

At the training, I met a lot of interesting volunteers and learned about other projects. My favourite program was the Hungarian dance night, where we danced and sang to Hungarian folk music. We also got to see both modern and traditional clothing of Roma people. The dancing was such big fun!

 

 

Another highlight was our visit to Szentendre — it honestly looks like you’ve stepped into a fairytale. We were blessed with beautiful weather, so I treated myself to some fancy ice cream they sold there, and it was sooo good!

(If you’re ever there, try the Szentendre krém and the matcha!)

 

 

One weekend, I visited my aunt and uncle, who live about 1.5 hours away from Budapest. They took me to their friend’s countryside party. The place had a big lake with fish, lots of sheep, and five cats! I completely fell in love with the scenery.

 

 

There, I tried sheep and deer gulyás — honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of the meat, but playing with the cats and petting them made up for it. It was such a fun time.

Also, Anett and I tried a hotpot place where we ate malatang, and it was absolutely delicious.

My friends surprised me with a package full of cute and thoughtful things — and most importantly, yummy snacks! They didn’t tell me about it, so when I got a notification from the post office to pick something up, I was completely surprised. It really warmed my heart and made me feel loved. ❤️

(Thank you, Lotte & Anna!)

I’m really curious to see what October will bring —

(except obviously Halloween, haha).

I hope for lots of fun in the shop and plenty of sunshine!

I’m definitely not ready for winter yet…

Olvass tovább

Rina’s first month

Szia！

If you’re reading this, let me introduce myself and give you an impression of my first month in Budapest.

So as the title gives away, my name is Rina and this year I turned 20. I was born and raised in Frankfurt (Main), the better Frankfurt, Germany and this June I graduated Highschool. At first I wasn’t sure if I want to take a gap year, because I feared it would be a “loss” of precious time but given the volunteering opportunity with Profilantrop, which I am grateful for, I get the chance to help out people and collect new experiences, which are going to be more than valuable memories.

Because my friends and me as well describe myself as a realistic and sometimes even a pessimistic person, I decided to talk and focus on the highlights of my first month here in Budapest.

First Impressions

So my first Impression and now Impression is that everyone is very welcoming and very kind. On the first day, I was very nervous but Zsuzsa brought me/us hungarian retro sweets and I really felt relieved and welcomed. (I really liked Balaton, will definitely bring some to my friends in Germany.)

The volunteer Barbi and Anett guided me kindly through my culture shocks and learning about the shop and the tasks in the shop. The amount of the donations are really overwhelming. Big kudos to them all! I appreciated that they took me in and they invited me a lot of things and especially listening to Barbi singing and going to the board game bar gave me a lot of joy.

Highlights

Another highlight was definitely the fireworks on Szent Istvan Day. I’ve never seen something like this in this scale. It was the most impressive (and expensive) fireworks in my life. This will be engraved in my memory forever.

 

Other than that, another highlight was when I stumbled upon the musical fountain performing during my regular night walk on my birthday.

 

 

Birthday mentioned: (Belated and not belated) Happy Birthday to Anett and Barbi! (Interesting fact: we are all virgos.)

Now that I am (sadly) not a teenager anymore, I have no excuse for being afraid of adulting and being bad at adulting. But I am sure that this opportunity to work in Filatropia will hopefully help with growth (and better adulting?).

I really look forward to the new experience + the on arrival training. Maybe the Blog entry will be about that?

At last let me express my gratitude again.

Thank you Zsuzsa for always being open to talk to and welcoming me and obviously trusting me to work for this amazing opportunity!

Thank you Barbi as well for being there for me!

Olvass tovább