2022-11-15
On 28 October the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Tempus Public Foundation officially welcomed the new students of the Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship Programme at the unique Urban Betyr restaurant. It was a wonderful afternoon with a lot of fun in the vivid center of Budapest.
The Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship was founded by the Hungarian Government in 2020, and it gives an exceptional chance for the applicants to fulfil their professional goals and discover their Hungarian heritage. This 2022/23 academic year we could greet close to 80 scholarship holders from more than 10 countries where the Hungarian diaspora live and meet in person, and we had fun with the different teambuilding activities.
The programme started in the early afternoon at the Ethnographic Experience Center of the Urban Betyár restaurant. Although the place is in the heart of Budapest, the exhibition gave a taste of the spiritual, material, and architectural heritage of Hungary through various folk relics and interactive elements. The objects on display in this Ethnographic Experience Centre preserve what is now just a memory but used to be a living material culture of everyday life in Hungary. The exhibition’s aim is to raise awareness of the diverse Hungarian cultural heritage.
The distinguished guests included His Excellency, Miklós Lengyel, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who officially opened the event. He greeted the students with kind words and wished them a wonderful time for their Hungarian studies and journey. Then Orsolya Jánosik the deputy director of the Directorate of Internationalisation of Higher Education at Tempus Public Foundation held her speech and encouraged students to build a good relationship with the scholarship holders from the previous year.
After the opening speech, the guests had a delicious lunch with various courses for all needs. A bit later the new scholarship holders were invited to participate in a fun quiz where they could test their knowledge of Hungary. Henrik, the quizmaster, challenged the participants with many interesting questions about Hungarian culture, history, customs, and tradition. The game was really fun, everyone had a lot of laughs and a good time. During the event, students gave interviews where they had the opportunity to share their feelings and expectations about their Hungarian studies and stay.
Before sunset participants still had some time to chat and get to know each other a little bit more. As members of the Hungarian diaspora, many students already speak Hungarian fluently, so the conversations varied between Hungarian and English. Most scholarship holders arrived in Hungary only a month ago, so they were all full of new experiences and excitement. It was wonderful to share all these feelings and be part of a great community.
We would like to thank all guests and participants to make this event so unique and memorable, and we wish all the new Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship holders to have a wonderful time and study experience in Hungary. Enjoy your stay, make new friends, and discover your bonds here!
Check out the photo gallery of the Welcome Event below! The official video is coming soon.
Photo credit: Tamás Lékó
