HUNGARY & LIFE by Alina Michelewicz have always tried to live life the fullest. I try to never take anything for granted; never let a day slip by without fully appreciating it. Although my life has been wonderful I have never appreciated anything as much as my junior year which I spent in Hungary as an exchange student. I knew that I would have to make every day special. I knew that I'd only be there for 10 months and that to experience and take in all that I could I would have to make every moment count. I wanted to be immersed in the culture and to become as Hungarian as I possibly could. At the beginning of my year I never wasted time when I was alone at my host families’ house; I always studied the language. I knew that to understand the culture that I would have to understand the
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MOVING IN STEP: NELSON’S FUTURE IS CALLING or a town of less than 650 people, Nelson has a lot to offer. It’s a difficult task to pin down one thing that stands out among Nelson’s many assets. Contra dances, church suppers, Old Home Week, boating and fishing, classical music, folk music, a great library - the list goes on for miles. It’s also hard to describe a ‘typical’ Nelson resident. Foresters, carpenters, painters, mechanics, musicians, white collars, blue collars, no collars, butchers, bakers and candlestick makers all call Nelson home (don’t quote me on the candlestick maker, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we had at least one). With such a diverse population, I guess it can be said that the one type of person we don’t have around here is a ‘typical’ one. Towns such as Nelson live and die by their engaged citizenry. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to become anonymous and skate by wrapped up in your own world. In towns like ours, however, things don’t get done unless one of us steps up to do them. We are more inclined to lend a hand and volunteer our time for the good of others because we really know our neighbors. This is where our greatest strength lies, in the selflessness and energy of the people who live here. Recently, a group of residents has been
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getting together to discuss this very issue what makes Nelson special, and what can we do to see that it remains that way? There was consensus on the fact that Nelson is full of interesting people and activities, but it became evident that we would benefit from stronger connections and a collective vision of the future. The activities that occur in Nelson sometimes seem to take place in a world of their own. Without a general store, a post office or a town dump, there is no casual place for people from different parts of town to mingle, say hello, exchange ideas and extend invitations. How can we get all of the different groups and neighborhoods together to create a broader community and tap into the collective wisdom we possess? A few preliminary meetings of twenty to thirty people were held to brainstorm about what paths were open to us. After a bit o f researc h in t o w h a t o t h er communities who had similar goals did, an answer began to take shape: a large scale community gathering held over the course of one-and-a-half days, during which a diverse group of residents would meet in large and small numbers to consider ideas and projects concerning the future of Nelson. (continued on page 4)
language. I wanted to be able to understand the conversations and the people around me. I studied and studied and by the end of the year I was fluent in one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn. I took all the opportunities for travel that I could get. I was so lucky and saw more of Europe than most people will ever see. I saw all different cultures up close and met so many interesting people. I spent as much time as possible with people from my Hungarian high school (continued on page 3)