The Act of Stalking, or How I Met My Mates

Okay, not actually met them yet, but it doesn’t really matter now.

The first impressions of new things and new people are essential parts of liking those things and people, you give them chance based on your first impression (except if you’re such a fool that I can sometimes be, and regardless of your first impression and good sixth sense, you give someone a chance, and then another, even if your whole individual disagrees) and you treat them based on that, at least for a while. It’s all about prejudice, you might say, but there’s been only one time I was wrong about someone, and even then I was just partly.

As you may know, Erasmus-students have the chance for getting a buddy, a student from the receiving institution to help them out, and if the buddy-system works well, a facebook-group is made for the incoming students to get all the information needed, because fact is fact, we check facebook more frequently than we go to school.

We got our buddies appointed in the first week of August and basically this month, the one previous to our foreign-studies to start was the month we started dealing with things out there rather than at home, as only doing the language course and signing the final contract were left from the pre-paperwork. Everyone who wanted to participate in the buddy-programme got an e-mail from the buddy-coordinator with the e-mail address of their buddy and we could get in touch with the very first person we would meet in the Czech Republic; but my buddy didn’t waste any time, she wrote me an e-mail a day before the buddy-coordinator did, and told me to add her on facebook if I wanted. Those who are my facebook-friends probably are aware of the fact that I live on social media and if I don’t share anything on facebook for more than one day in a row I must be asked if I’m OK (seriously, do it), therefore I added her, so we actually got in touch with each other, but the first talk and stuff happened a little later.

I’ve probably written it already, but Czech and Hungarian prices for products don’t really differ from each other, based on what I’ve seen. The Erasmus-coordinator has sent us a price list so we would know what costs what, but being lactose-intolerant (and disliking dairy products on the whole) I don’t really care about the price of milk (cheaper than in Hungary, actually) but the vegan versions of them (although I’m not vegan at all); and as I have dyed hair, take hair-vitamins so my mane looks lively and healthy, and have fake nails, I need to know how much hair-dye, my vitamins and a manicurist would cost me. And who else could I ask than my buddy? You can laugh now, but it took me about a week to write a list about what to ask and actually compose the two lines I sent her, I was both a little anxious and as I had time I didn’t treat it as a major necessity to ask her as soon as possible. But finally I succeeded and had the first conversation with a lovely Czech girl, Nela, who studies History of Art and whom I will probably see every day at school, since our faculties are in the same building.

After having the first (and very embarrassing, I believe) conversation, it turned out that we got on well with each other, and had a few things in common: such as healthy lifestyle-addiction and writing a blog/diary about being on Erasmus; and that she kned a few Hungarian words because she spent her previous semester as an Erasmus-student in Zadar, Croatia, and spent a lot of time with Hungarian students (no wonder why she became my buddy, I’m the only Hungarian Erasmus-student in Ostrava ^^”””””). It also turned out that if I wanted to go running in the city centre, where I am to live, in the evening I would be safe.

The other day I also checked out the other foreign students in the facebook-group, and one thing surprised me. No, not that many of them were Polish, I would call that pretty normal for a university in a city that is about 15-20 km away from the Polish border; but that many many many students-to-come were Spanish or Portuguese. I could also see a few French or Belgian people (not even one or two), some Germans (again not so difficult to figure out why Typisch Hans and Typisch Gretchen would like to study in a cheaper, neighbour country) and even a Finnish and a Russian girl, and also an Italian girl and a boy, a girl from Far-East (probably Korea) and a guy from Black Africa; and some more people I didn’t memorize.

So this is gonna be very multi-cultured and I can’t wait to join this mass! I’m also very curious about my roommate-to-be, who she will be, how we will get on with each other and so one and so one. I promise to post a new article last time on the day I arrive to Ostrava, and when this whole thing really begins!