E-mail: lisethvandelaak@hotmail.com
Study Program: Personeelwetenschappen
Exchange semester: Spring semester
Academic year: 2014-2015
Host University: Pécs University
Country: Hungary
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
School and surroundings
Pécs the city I lived in is a small city; I think comparable size as Tilburg. Especially in Summer
time it is a very beautiful and lively city, with a lot of flowers. During spring there a lot of
festivals in the city; like a beer/wine festival. It is also a really clean city; almost every day
people are working to keep the city as clean as possible. The economic university is located
close to the city center. The city center mainly consists of two main streets, a big square and
a huge shopping mall, where you can find everything you need and also some familiar shops
like H&M, Douglas, Bershka, Stratisvarius, Six and Bijoux Brigitte. The university is around a
10 minutes walk from here. There a different campus in the city, the campus I was studying
was the Business & Ecomics Faculty. It is more like the size of a high school, so not that big,
which was very useful in the beginning because therefore I wasn’t that lost. Another benefit
was that you could really easily meet other Erasmus students. Next to the school there was a
small café where students gathered during the breaks.
The best places to eat in the city according to me are Elephant, Cristal, Piazza del Grano, and
Traffic. The first three are Italian restaurants. I went out for dinner a lot, because the prices
were significantly lower and that makes it of course more attractive. For around eight euros
you could have a nice dinner with a drink included. The best places to have a drink to me are
Café Frei where you can drink coffee from all different countries and Kultur is a nice place as
well! Interesting things to do in the city are climbing the TV towel, which is the most famous
building in the city where you have nice view of the city and going to the porcelain factory,
which is really famous in Hungary and where a lot of tourists go as well. Further, it is quite
good situated so my advice is to travel a lot and discover the surrounding countries and of
course Budapest, which is really an amazing city. I was really glad that I could travel to it quite
easily, for 7 euros I was there and it became one of my favorite European cities. The
difference with Tilburg and the city where I studies is a lot. For example you might notice that
it is less developed than with us. People wear less fashionable clothes and some houses
should be repaired but the people don’t have money for this. However, in the city center it
looks really nice, there a lot of buildings with bright colors and that gives a kind of the idea
that you are in a Mediterranean place. Also the weather contributes to this, I had sunny days
from March till June! The first week I arrived I had snow but from the beginning of March I
couldn’t have been better. There are enough possibilities to do sport in Pécs as well. As a
student there will be free dancing courses offered to you, there are also sports like football,
handball, fitness and volleyball.
Current faculty divisions and special areas
The University of Pécs counts more than 29.000 students and 2000 teachers. This makes it
one of the largest universities of Hungary. Also, it is the oldest university of the country. In the
courses I had there were around 10 other exchange students and the classes contain around
30/40 people.
The University counts ten faculties:
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Faculty of Adult Education and Human Resources Development (FEEK)
Faculty of Business and Economics (KTK)
Faculty of Health Sciences (ETK)
Faculty of Humanities (BTK)
Faculty of Illyés Gyula (IGYK)
Faculty of Law (ÁJK)
Faculty of Music and Visual Arts (MK)

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Faculty of Sciences (TTK)
Medical School (ÁOK)
Pollack Mihály Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (PMMIK)
For more information of the current faculty divisions and special areas click on the following
link: http://english.pte.hu/. The study structure is really different. Like I already noticed, the
numbers of students in the classes/lectures are much lower. Theory and practice will be
discussed. There is no difference in lectures and work groups like we are used to at Tilburg
University. Another difference is that in Pécs the courses take one whole semester instead of
eight weeks I was used to.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
I got the pre-arrival information 1,5 month before I would arrive. I got information about the
Orientation day, Buddy Program and the accommodation. I didn’t experience any difficulties
regarding to this.
Visa procedure and arrival
Further, I didn’t need a visa because Hungary is part of the European Union. I arranged my
arrival myself. I got an email how I could best travel to Pécs. This was through a shuttle bus
from the airport to Pécs, called Mistral. I could easily reserve a place in the shuttle bus who
took me from the airport to my accommodation. When I arrived at the hostel I needed to fill in
a document and the receptionist helped me with my luggage and brought me to my room.
During the introduction days at the university the things related to the university where further
explained. I didn’t encounter any difficulties regarding this. They were prepared for my arrival.
Orientation/Introduction activities
There was an Orientation day organized for all new international students, which included a
welcoming word from the director of the school. Further, I had some activities the first week
with the other exchange students from my faculty. This contained a presentation about
culture, some basics in Hungarian, a visit to the library and some introduction games to get to
know each other a bit more. Also, we got traditional Hungarian food. The last Friday the
mentors came to meet each other and introduce themselves. My mentor wasn’t there. A
mentor was assigned to me, but I didn’t have a lot of contact with her. We texted but in the
end we never met which I think is ashamed but when I wanted to meet she often not in the
city but with her family who didn’t live in the city.
Housing
You could choose to live in the Hunyor Hostel which was an accommodation arranged by the
university. Because a lot of international students should live there, I chose to subscribe
myself for this option. One month before I arrived I got the confirmation that there was place
for me. It was a very easy way to find an accommodation. However, the conditions in the
Hostel were disappointing. There was only one kitchen for around 60 people, you can imagine
that this wasn’t the best place to cook. Further, everyone slept with one other student on the
same room and the building was old. The benefit if the Hostel was that you could meet people
really easily and I never felt alone. There was also an opportunity to arrange your
accommodation yourself; there are different agencies that can help you finding a nice
flat/apartment. One website is: http://www.studenthousing.hu/. The accommodation is around
15 minutes walk form the city center and 30 minutes away from the (economic) university.
Because of the reason Pécs is quite hilly, not a lot of students rented/bought a bike. You will
probably walk a lot!
Living Costs
I got an Erasmus Grant (which was 150 euros a month), an amount of money for not using
the public transport in The Netherlands (100 euros), and the normal student grant (280).
Summed up this was around 500 euros a month. My parents also gave me money for trips if
needed. The most money I spend on was, I think, the trips I made. Further, my expenses
consisted my rent, which was 140 euros, groceries and costs for going out/dinners, drinks,
ice-creams in the city. In spring the weather is really good, from March on a lot of ice cream
shops opened their doors. With nice weather a lot of people eat ice cream at the main square,
which is a really nice and big square in the middle of the city center with a mosque (which
now serves as a catholic church). The living expenses in Hungary are much lower compared
what I was used to here in the Netherlands. Which gave me the opportunity to travel a lot and
to go out for dinner/ drinks more often. For example, I have spent 4 weekends in Budapest.
During spring break I went on a road trip, I discovered the Balkan countries like Croatia
(Zagreb Dubrovnik, Plitvice Lakes), Montenegro, Bosnia- Herzegovina and Albania. Further, I
have been to Austria, there I visited Vienna. For books I didn’t need to pay because I could
rent them in the library, the only thing I needed to pay for school were printing costs because I
like to have the slides hardcopy. My advice is to travel a lot; public transport in Hungary is
very cheap (especially with the student card/paper you will receive), so make use of this or
rent a car yourself and make a road trip like I did!
Expenses per month (global)
 Housing 140
 Food 180
 Transport 15
 Books (printing 2)
 Miscellaneous 200
Academic Calendar (global)
My arrival: 31th of January.
2st of February: start of semester and Orientation Day.
2- 6th February; Orientation Week
20th of February: deadline for check in form (hand in final learning agreement). Before the
20th of February you were allowed to attend all courses and choose which one you liked most.
20 - 25 February: registration of courses (in this week I got enrolled for the courses I handed
in on my final learning agreement)
18th of March (week 12): midterm for the course Operations Management
15 - 19 April (week 16): Spring break
1st of May: National Holiday (no classes)
9th of May: Last day of teaching
12 May – 14 June: exam period
14th of June: end of semester
However, my last exam, if I remember well, was on the 28th of June. So if you pass all your
exams you will be finished the end of June. I went home the 12th of June, so I had 2 more
weeks to travel!
The International Office
At the faculty there was an international office, where you could go to if you had questions/
problems or you needed to have a signature. They were always very friendly. The person who
is responsible for incoming students of the faculty is Judith Trombitas. There is also a person
who is responsible for all incoming the students. Her name is Judith Német. I was satisfied
with the information provided by the international office.
Exchange promotion
I didn’t take part in an activity to promote an exchange to Tilburg University. There was one
evening where I could go to, to inform students who were planning to do their exchange
program in the Netherlands but that evening I was in Budapest so I couldn’t go there.
Social Activities
First, like I said, there is an Orientation day organized and a special orientation week for
students of the faculty of Business and Economics. The other faculties didn’t have this after
the general Orientation day, which I think, is really strange. I was lucky that I had it because it
was a nice opportunity to meet new people. In addition, every week there were country
presentations organized by ESN. So every Wednesday approximately three countries
presented themselves with a small video and some traditional food. Further, in the beginning I
went to Móhacs Carnival with ESN, this was a small village where they celebrated Carnival in
a special way. It was fun to see the difference in which we celebrate it. Only men were
dressed, they were dresses in a costume of beers and at the end of the day a bonfire was
made and people danced around it. We decided to fully integrate and danced together like the
Hungarian people did. Further, a wine tasting was organized by ESN, unfortunately I could
not be there because I had a visit from friends from the Netherlands and I spend the weekend
therefore In Budapest (which was also really nice!). Also, in the middle of the semester there
was an International evening, organized by the medical students of the university of Pécs.
There are a lot of international students who study medicines in Pécs. Here also traditional
food was made, you could subscribe yourself with other people of your country and then you
could get money to prepare the food of your country. Moreover, there were traditional
performances of the participating countries. We also had an ERASMUS band witch performed
at the event. Besides ESN organized party’s, especially in the beginning for example the first
one was the Flag party, where everyone got their national flag painted on their cheek.
I didn’t have a lot of contact with local students compared to my contact with other exchange
students. I lived with all Erasmus people so for me it was much more easier to have contact
with other exchange students. Although, my Master class organized a lot of activities for all
the students like parties and dinners. Everyone spoke then in English and in consequence I
got to know some Hungarian people. Besides, we needed to do a group work during that
course so then you also get to know each other a bit more.
Like I already said, during my exchange I travelled a lot, I have been to Vienna, Croatia,
Montenegro, Bosnia- Herzegovina and a couple of times to Budapest. The top three to me is:
Budapest (many highlights, ruin pubs and thermal baths), Croatia (Dubrovnik & Plitvice lakes
were amazing. The latter is a national park, the nature is awesome! I really recommend you to
go there when you are living in Pécs since it is relative close.
Culture and Language
I experienced a kind of culture shock. I was never been to Eastern Europe and therefore there
were a few things that I needed to get use to. For example, in the Netherlands it is quite
normal to give a smile to a total stranger, well in Hungary that is not something you do. The
first days I did it to some people but the people will not smile back so I stopped doing this.
They think it is strange and it is not part of their culture. If you know the people, than they turn
out to be very friendly but at first sight they are more closed than we are. Secondly, when you
walk on the streets you see that it looks differently. For example houses and roads could use
some repair. In the city center this is not the case, there everything looks nice and the colorful
houses give a nice atmosphere. In addition, I also mentioned that some people wear old and
unfashionable clothes, except for the students at my university who look normal, but you can
see that some people you see on the street are not that rich or just don’t care about fashion.
The countries and cities were I travelled to were quite the same as my host country, because
they are also almost part of the Eastern of Europe. Except for Vienna, this made me more
remind of the Western culture. Also Budapest is really western in my opinion. Croatia is more
used to tourists and therefore more prepared to tourists as well. For example there the
chance that people could speak English is much more higher. I learned from my host culture
to take it a bit easy, in the Netherlands it seems like everyone is in a hurry but in Hungary that
is not the case.
With the faculty and other students who were in my courses I didn’t have any language
problems. The Hungarian students who participated in the English program could speak
English really well!! I didn’t expect that because it is a kind of a cliché that Hungarian people
don’t speak English that well but that doesn’t count for the Hungarian students in my class. In
other situations, like in the supermarket people couldn’t speak English so sometimes that was
difficult. In some situations, they asked if I could speak German and then I could ask it in
German. During my stay in Hungary I followed the Hungarian language course for beginners,
which also was useful in daily life.
I didn’t follow the Erasmus Intensive Language course, I thought it should be nice so I
informed about this but they told me that they didn’t have it.
Personal Development
I think through my exchange experience I realized more and more how happy we are that we
are born in The Netherlands. It is one of the most developed and organized countries in the
world. Hungary is less developed and therefore less efficient in some aspects, you will notice
this if you live there for a longer period of time. However, I think that opened my eyes and
everything is so relative. If you don’t know better than everything is just the way it is and you
don’t miss anything. In the beginning it is sometimes strange if you mention that things could
be done much more efficient but in the end it you will get use to it and it helps you to do a step
back, which made me more relax.
My best experience was I think my weekend of my birthday. I invited people to spend the
weekend of my birthday in Budapest. We did such a nice things together and it was my first
time in Budapest so everything was new and I was so enthusiastic about the city. We went to
the thermal baths (which is very popular in Budapest), we went out for dinners, drinks, did
some sight- seeing and we went to the famous ruin pubs, which is really a thing you should
do when you are in Budapest! Those buildings used to be for example an old dentist; they
transformed the place into a place where people can party with various spaces to talk, dance
etc. Examples are Szimpla and Instant.
My worst experience is when I felt homesickness in the beginning. Everything was new, I
didn’t know the people that well and the accommodation was worse than I expected. So I had
to adapt to this and that took me some effort. But by the time I got to know the people better
and I met people I could count on, everything went well and time passed by really quickly.
The most important lesson I learned during my exchange is also related to my time in the
beginning. I had to give it some time and trust that I would manage to settle down also in this
new environment. There are always nice people around you, take the people you trust into
confidence and talk about your struggles in this way you will build strong personal
relationships with the people around you.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
Academic level at a host university
The academic level compared to Tilburg University is I think somewhat lower. However the
level of English of the teachers is good. I could always understand what they were saying.
The workload was lower as well; I only had to go to school from Monday till Wednesday (but
those were intensive days with a lot of hours). The contact hours a week were kind of the
same I was used to in Tilburg but in the end it took me less effort to pass my exams than in
Tilburg. The teaching style was mostly theoretical, but there were also assignment, which we
need to make in class that gave the lessons a practical touch.
The courses offered at the university of Pécs were hold in English, Hungarian and German
(only for medical students). I took the course Breakthrough Hungarian (A1). I think is useful to
know some basics of the language of the country you live in. The classes for Hungarian were
really small, which I consider as positive. You got to know each other quite good. My teacher
was really nice. She also took us to a local market and showed us places in the city center,
which was cool. Of course we discussed about the language and had grammar and
vocabularies but she told also a lot about the culture and traditions of Hungary, which made it
for me a way more interesting. Sometimes it was hard to be motivated for this course
because you know that the chance than you will use your Hungarian knowledge is not very
big, but because she made it so interactive I can say that I really liked it. On top of that, we
didn’t have a lot of homework so if you just go to the lessons and do your best you will not
encounter any difficulties to pass the course. Obviously you should also learn for the final
exam, which include on oral exam.
I also had the course Operation Management. The teacher was very friendly and enthusiastic
about the course and his level op English was good. It was not very difficult but you had to
attend every lesson. You could earn points to do a presentation in front of the class and to do
home work assignments. The requirements for those tasks where in the beginning not clear to
me but later I discover that if you could show that you put some effort in it, it was quickly
considered as sufficient and then you got the full points. Also the exams weren’t that difficult.
Besides those two courses I had Foundation marketing. The content of the course was
interesting to me, because I never had a course in marketing before. Nevertheless, the
teacher was not really good in my opinion. He talked really boring and it was hard to
concentrate and to be motivated during the lessons. I also needed to make group works for
this course.
Finally, I attended the course Leadership and Management of International business. This
was a really interesting course. The workload lie a remarkable step higher than the other
courses, but it was challenging and the material was interesting. The teacher was strict but
fair and she had a lot of knowledge about what she was talking about. The students in this
class were also more approachable and interested in the international students. I would really
recommend this course.
The relationship between teachers and students is quite informal, it really depends on the
teacher of course but the teachers were friendly and approachable.
In the end I was satisfied with my academic achievements, because I passed all my exams
with nice grades.
Exams
I had written mid- terms, an oral exam (for mu Hungarian language course), and written final
exams (which included open- ended questions). Further, I had assignments and (group)
papers which I needed to hand in.
Other
There is a library close to the university where students access easily. It is a new and modern
building. Here you can rent the books you need and every student gets a library card and can
use the resources of the library. There are public computers available in the library but not at
the university itself.
Description of Courses
Course
Operations
Management
(BA in business
administration year III)
Prerequisites
None
Exam
Written
ECTS
7,5
Comments
Mid-term, 4 (small)
assignments,
presentation, final
exam
Foundation Marketing
(BA course)
None
Written
7,5
Group work +
presentation, mid term
and final exam
Hungarian Language
course - Level A1
None
Written
(grammar),
and oral
9
Some homework, few
(small) grammar tests
Leadership and
Management of
International
business (MA course)
Individual paper, group
paper+ presentation,
small tests, final exam
Tips for the future students:
I would definitely recommend an exchange period. You will grow personally and meet people
of other cultures, which is a pleasure! I met many people and it is fun to be aware of the
differences in cultures. On top of that you will be more comfortable in speaking English, which
is beneficial for your later life and career. In addition, you will become more independent and
you get the opportunity to travel a lot. My host university is a good university so yes I can
recommend it. The quality of the lessons of the bachelor courses I think is lower, but the
master course that I attended was of a comparable level as Tilburg University. To be honest, I
liked that the level of the bachelor courses was a bit lower because therefore I didn’t have to
worry a lot about my school results. And the challenge of a semester abroad lies, I think, more
on personal development than on study advancements. I consider Tilburg University as more
professional but that is also because the way of teaching at the university of Pécs reminds me
back to high school. Though, the teachers were very friendly. Students who are thinking to go
to this destination could prepare themselves to read about the culture to be aware of the
differences or plan a meeting with someone who already has been to Eastern Europe.
A picture is worth a thousand words
Sent by another email.
Blog
I didn’t keep a blog.
Contact details:
Yes, you can contact me anytime. My e-mail address is lisethvandelaak@hotmail.com