exchange passport First name
Photo Last name Nationality
table of contets
3Hello citizens! 4Contact us 5What is an ESNcard? 6Events 7My bucketlist 8Academic Calendar 9Corvinus University of Budapest
10My stamps 12Money 14Public transport 16Health care 17Facts and figures 18Upcoming holidays 19Important phrases
hello citizens!
Congratulations! You have been accepted to become a real resident of Budapest. We know how many steps you’ve already taken into the direction of having the perfect exchange semester. So let us say first: welcome to your new homeland, you have no idea how many opportunities are waiting for you! You have made the perfect choice by coming to Budapest, where every night can be party night, but if you desire a quiet evening, you can find plenty opportunities. The city has so many faces: the riverside with beautiful bridges, the hills with breath-taking views, the Old Town full of history and of course the party district with its well-known ruin pubs.
are just like you, university students, who who are we? We find the saying: “Mobility is a lifestyle” true. We
are volunteers, and we are here to make you your exchange semester memorable. We are the ones you can turn to with any kind of questions, and we offer several programme options throughout the semester. Alongside all the partying and drinking we also organise various cultural, social, and sports events. Don’t be afraid, when you start to feel homesick, you are not alone. Because you might be away from home, but you never get lonely in Budapest. Our goal at ESN Corvinus is to create long-lasting relationships and memorable experiences during your stay. We made this guide in hope to help you survive the hardest days in the city, and to help you experience the ultimate Budapest student life. With love,
Members of ESN Corvinus 3
CONTACT US
address
8 Fővám Square (main building), office E.7
www.corvinus.esn.hu
Opening hours: Monday–Thursday 11:30–15:30 Our office is open for every international student who needs any information or help, or if you are interested in our events and our community.
/esncorvinus @esncorvinus
You can also buy the ESNcard and tickets to our programmes and trips here.
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Some of our partners: - Ryanair - Flixbus - BEAC Gym - Chili’s Burger - Fekete CafÊ and many more!
You can find more info and all of our partners at esncard.org! With the ESNcard you can also buy tickets for a reduced price for our trips and events! 5
WHAT IS AN ESNCARD?
ESNcard is a partnership program which provides benefits and discounts from local, national and international companies.
EVENTS During the semester ESN Corvinus organizes several events to help incoming students to get to know each other, Budapest, Hungary and the Hungarian culture. Some examples:
27-31 Ja n u a r y
Hostel We e k
03-07
Orientation Feb r ua r y D a y + W e e k Fresh Fe b r u a r y C a m p
22-23 27-29 Marc h
Stay tuned on our Facebook page to get information about our latest event offers!
Krakow Tr i p
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MY BUCKETLIST Things I’d like to do while I’m in Budapest: • • • • • •
Climb up to the top of St Stephen’s Basilica Go to an ESN trip Learn some Hungarian words Dance all night Try pálinka
•
Did you know?
Pálinka is the absolute solution! Have a headache? Pálinka. Menstru al pains? Pálinka. Feeling nervous? Pálinka. As the saying goes: “Palinka in small amounts is a medicine, in large amounts a remedy”.
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ACADEMIC CALENDAR 2020 Spring
3 February Orientation Day 10 February First day of classes 14 February Last day to add and drop courses 23-27 March Midterm exams 6-9 April Intensive Course Week 15 May
Last day of classes
18 May - 19 June Exam period
Did you know? In Hungary we use our last name first. That is the official format.
See page 18 for school holidays. 8
CORVINUS UNIVERSITY OF BUDAPEST CUB is a prestigious university in Hungary. The name and structure of the university had changed many times over the years, but economic studies have been around for almost 70 years. The mission of the university is to maintain an international standard of creating and transmitting values in the form of teaching, research and consulting activities, all in the context of academic freedom.
BUILDINGS The campus of Corvinus has three buildings, marked as E, S and C (there is logic here, but only in Hungarian).
’E’ is the old building right next to Fővám square and the metro station. Besides the classrooms you can find most of the teachers’ and student organisations’ offices (e.g. ESN office), the International Office, ISP Office, the main hall (which holds several programmes during the semester) and four big lecture halls here. In the basement you can also find a canteen and the ’Napközi’, a chill place for you to relax in the afternoon. ‘S’ is the smallest building, just a few steps away from the Danube. In this building you can find mostly computer labs, so if you are in a desperate need of a computer, usually there are some open classrooms in the afternoon. ‘C’ is the newest building. Besides lots of classrooms, the library takes place in this building as well. If you go to the fourth floor you will also find a huge balcony to relax or study a bit. 9
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Bring your passport to our events, get them validated and play for the prize! The person who collects the most, will get a gift from us!
GOOD TO KNOW - MONEY To make life a little bit easier in the first few weeks, we collected some good-to-know info for being a resident of Budapest. Hungary is considered to be an affordable country from a perspective of Western Europe. Still, please be conscious about your expenditure, because living in Budapest is becoming more and more expensive. Especially on the main tourist sites, the city offers a huge variety of bars, restaurants and shops at a higher price. You just need to take a short walk from the centre and you will find places with friendlier price level. Hungary’s currency is the Hungarian Forint. This is either shortened to the code HUF or the symbol Ft. • Valid coins: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 • Valid banknotes: 500, 1.000, 2.000, 5.000, 10.000, 20.000 Exchange rates for HUF • EUR: around 320 HUF/EUR • USD: around 280 HUF/USD
Did you know?
For official daily exchange rates please visit the Hungarian National Bank’s website. (www.mnb.hu/en/arfolyamok) 12
Hungary has produced 13 Nobel laureates to date (more per capita than the likes of Finland, Spain, Canada and Australia) bagging every category except peace.
GOOD TO KNOW
• Do not exchange at: airport, hotels, main streets • Do exchange at: official currency exchange offices • If you have the chance to choose between HUF and any other currency, always choose Forint • Withdraw money from ATMs. Most ATMs accept foreign bankcards and ATMs are very easy to find throughout Budapest, with most open 24 hours a day. If you have the chance, use your own bank, if they are not present in Hungary, choose e.g. OTP, K&H, CIB, but we advise you to avoid Euro net ATMs because of extra costs • More touristy places might accept Euros with the store’s exchange rate displayed on the counter, but change is likely to be given in Forints • All major credit and debit cards (MasterCard, Visa, etc.) are accepted. If you want to use a card and you have doubts about whether it is accepted, please look for the usual window stickers • Keep in mind that card acceptance is not obligatory, so always carry some cash in Forints • Cash payments that don’t end in 5 or 0 will be rounded to the closest 5 or 0, e.g. for HUF 152 you pay HUF 150 and for HUF 158 you pay HUF 160 • All prices in shops are gross prices including VAT • Tips are always appreciated but never mandatory, although in several circumstances’ tips are more commonly expected (like in restaurants or taxis). The standard tip is 10%, but many restaurants include service charge (“szervízdíj” in Hungarian) in the total.
PUBLIC AIRPORT – CITY CENTRE
• Bus number: 100E • Ticket price: 900 HUF (3 €) – no other types of tickets or passes are valid. • Takes you straight to the city centre (Kálvin square, Astoria, Deák square) in 30-40 minutes.
• Single ticket price: 350 HUF • Block of 10 tickets: 3.000 HUF • Monthly student pass: 3.450 HUF • Semester pass for students: 16.200 HUF
INSIDE THE CITY
Where to buy: ticket machines (can be found in metro stations, and some bus and tram stops) and BKK customer service points. It is also possible to purchase a ticket from the bus driver for 450 HUF (but they don’t always have them, and sometimes they don’t have change, so it’s better to buy it beforehand). You can also buy your ticket and semester pass online in BKK’s mobiee ticket application. 14
TRANSPORT
METRO LINES
M1 (yellow line), the Millennium Underground was the first on the European mainland, so it has a nostalgic feeling attached to it.
M2 (red line) was the first metro line to cross the River Danube and reach Buda.
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Deák Ferenc Square, Hungarian State Opera, Oktogon intersection, Heroes’ Square
Eastern Railway Station (Keleti Pályaudvar), Astoria (Corvinus is 2 tram stops away), Deák Ferenc Square, Kossuth Lajos Square (here’s the Parliament), Southern Railway Station (Déli Pályaudvar)
M3 (blue line) is the longest metro line, currently under construction, so replacement buses are common.
Deák Ferenc Square, Kálvin Sqaure (3 minutes walking from Corvinus), Western Railway Station (Nyugati Pályaudvar)
M4 (green line) is the newest metro line in Budapest. Each station is architecturally unique. Oh, and the metro cars are running driverless.
Fővám tér (right next to Corvinus), Eastern Railway Station (Keleti Pályaudvar)
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HEALTH CARE
First aid and emergency medical care are free for foreigners, in other cases you must pay for the treatment. EU citizens are insured on the basis of the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC, or “Blue EU Card” as most of us know it – you should get it in your home country before arriving to Hungary) when they are in another member state and are, from the point of view of social security, entitled to the same rights and have the same obligations as citizens of that given member state. There are several private clinics catering to expats and foreign tourists, with doctors that speak many languages. These can be more expensive, but if you have travel insurance your costs could be covered. Expat or tourist medical clinics may have direct billing relationships with some insurers. Private medical institutions • First Med Center (1015 Budapest, Hattyú utca 14.) • Dr. Rose private hospital (1051 Budapest, Széchenyi István tér 7.) • Szent Gellért private clinic (1061 Budapest, Andrássy út 43.) • Medoc Health Center (1132 Budapest, Visegrádi u. 74.) • Medicover Hospital (1134 Budapest, Váci út 29-31) • International Medical Service (1138 Budapest, Váci út 184.) In all of these medical centers and practitioners you can speak English, but in case you run into any obstacle turn to ESN Corvinus or contact your tandem partner.
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FACTS AND FIGURES Official name:
Hungary
State form:
Republic
Area:
93,030 km2
Population:
9,877,365
Capital city:
Budapest
Official language:
Hungarian
Currency:
Forint (HUF)
Time zone:
CET (UTC+1)
Date format:
yyyy.mm.dd
Country calling code: +36 Internet domain:
.hu
Exchange rate:
1 EUR = app. 320 HUF
Weather:
continental climate
Did you know?
Only six countries (U.S., Russia, U.K ., China, France and Italy) have won more Summer Olympic gold medals than Hungary . Hungarians won gold medals at ever y summer Olympics except Antwerp 1920 and Los Angeles 1984 when they did not compete.
UPCOMING HOLIDAYS
15 March 1848 Revolution Memorial Day 10 April Good Friday 13-19 April Easter Monday & Spring break 1 May Labor Day / May Day 1 June Whit Monday IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW: • Shops, markets and services are closed on these days. • Public transport services operate according holiday schedule, meaning less frequent services. • University is closed and there are no classes on these dates. 18
What I’ve learned in Hungarian • Szia! – Hi/hello! • Egészségedre! – Cheers!/Bless you! • •
Did you know?
their glasses or Hungarians never clink according to bottles of beer, because an generals ari legend, when 13 Hung Revolution the er aft were executed ked their clin s ian str Au 9, 84 of 1848–1 cution. exe beer glasses after each sses to gla k clin to Therefore, we refuse ry. mo me ls’ era gen honour the
ESN Corvinus 1093 Budapest, Fล vรกm Square 8. Building E, room 7 www.corvinus.esn.hu
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