On a chilly early morning of July, a group of youngsters appeared at the desolate crossroads of Népliget, breaking the silence singing, which sounded more like yelling, and playing a hit on the guitar with the opening line "Oh, oh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah", while waving a blue flag with of AEGEE-Piliscsaba in the summer breeze. Then, a few minutes later, a crowded international coach arrived from Kolozsvár, filled with a sleepy-eyed, tired but smiling group of youngsters getting off, who were happy to realise that in Budapest, music was still being played at four o'clock in the morning.
Between the 9th and the 12th of June, the team AEGEE-Piliscsaba received nearly thirty foreign university students from all over Europe within the framework of a programme called AEGEE (European Students' Forum) Summer University. The itinerant summer university named Cross the ECOpath in Central Europe, aimed at advocating the importance of the environment protection and knowing the lives of people with disabilities, was established with the collaboration of Kolozsvár and Gliwice.
We also considered it important that our participants should get to know the Campus and Piliscsaba itself. They were accomodated in the beautiful local hostel called Napkorong, which they often referred to as a place like heaven. During the campus tour led by Szerémy Tomi they were fascinated examining the buildings and rooms of our university, later, assisted by Bakó Zsigmond, on an exhausting trip they were given the opportunity to get to know the valleys and hills of the Pilis Mountains. During the evening, while listening to a guitar, they had the chance to try the characteristic flavours of the worthily famous Gulyás.
The following day, two environmental activists, Maria Morozova from the Ukraine, and Luca Madiai from Italy led a workshop analysing the topic of sustainable development. Then, in the afternoon we proved that there is no need to go Riviera, as, on the sandy shores of a beautiful mine pond converted into a beach one can take pleasure in hiding from the world in Dorog. At dusk our European friends gained a close-up insight into the Hungarian folcore music and dance.
We spent the third day of our summer university in Budapest, where a homeless gentleman, a participant in the touristic programme of Menhely Foundation, accompanied by a social worker, showed us the sights and well-known streets of the capital Budapest from the point of view of the homeless. In the afternoon we spent some time in the Castle, doing several playful tasks with our tired but still enthusiastic travellers. In the evening, within the framework of an AEGEE programme called European night, every nationality was given the opportunity to show their typical food or drink, accompanied either by singing or dancing.
On the last day we enriched ourselves with an unforgettable and amazing experience at the Invisible exhibition, where we got first-hand experience of the lives of the blind and the visually impaired. The next station on our journey was the wonderful City Park, where we took part in an interesting guided tour, in the end, we went on a boat trip on the lake of the City Park, delighted of the sweet act of doing nothing. In the evening we discovered the ruinpubs and the intense nightlife, finally, the next day morning, struggling with our tears, hugging each other, sadly though with a large smile, we let the participants of our first summer university to go on to Krakko, then to Gliwice, to our Polish friends.
Written by Tünde Ress
Translation by Barnabás Riz
