Hungarian Riot Rendorseg

Howdy y’all,

Sorry for the infrequent posts, I promise to put some Oktoberfest pictures up and provide some insightful comments about Munich by the end of this weekend. This post is for class, so please skip it if you’re not interested in the Hungarian riot police.

            Last Wednesdays on the team JSBP trip we visited the Hungarian riot police headquarters. We took a quick train ride a few stops past Keleti station and hopped off in front of the music venue that George Michael just played (our Hungarian friend Ildiko loves his smooth tunes). We entered a strange complex on a side street surrounded by massive walls topped with barbed wire and billboard signs. I must admit this was the first time I had ever seen a police station that took advantage of selling advertising space at the top of their building.

           

Yo Quite Badgering Me (get it, it's a badge)

Upon entering the headquarters we were greeted by countless uniformed cops, all of whom seemed very young and well put together. We later learned during a presentation about the station that much of Hungary’s future police force comes here for a yearlong internship after they graduate from school. Over the course of this year they train under some of the country’s best and brightest officers, many of whom work for this important branch of Hungarian law enforcement.

            Hungary’s riot police act more like a national police force than any normal US city or state SWAT team. They are often the first to be called in to action whenever there is any sort of problem within the country's borders. If there is a terrorist threat, the riot police are first to arrive on the scene. If there is an important member of the Hungarian government traveling amongst the public, the riot police provide the security. If there is a volatile situation in any county of Hungary, such as a bomb scare or a demonstration gone wrong, the riot police will be in charge of bringing the situation to grips.

            It was pretty cool to get an inside look at such a young country’s national police force. The riot police have been highly criticized here over the past few years. During 2006 there was a political up rise amongst the citizens of Hungary due to which the police were forced to react to with violence. Many felt as though their response was much too hostile. They used rubber bullets against Hungarian protesters in ways that many Europeans found to be unethical, and many Magyars were severely injured.

Hungarian Football (only one team gets helmets)

           The way that a police organization handles unruly citizens is an art that must be acquired over time. Police brutality is not isolated to Hungary and has been present throughout much of our own history (just ask Rodney King). The men and women of the Hungarian riot police seemed as though they had learned very much throughout their short span of existence, and I’m sure they will continue to find the right methods to ethically and effectively provide justice to the citizens of Hungary. They no longer use rubber bullets, which is definitely a step in the right direction (however, they did seem to be very fond of their ak-47 tear gas launchers).

Tear Inducing

But seriously kids, let's not start any riots in Hungary.

Keep it keepin and I’ll be back with more this weekend,

Love,

Mama’s Boy         

Terror Haza

            I was out at a bar a few nights back and I ended up having a drink with a young Hungarian named Attila. It seemed to me as if he had consumed quite a bit of alcohol throughout the day, as his mannerisms wailed emphatically throughout the room and his face poured with innumerable drops of sweat. Regardless of his blood alcohol content however, Attila was a pretty smart dude. He was an economics graduate student at Corvinus in the middle of his master’s thesis (which I think was entitled ‘why Russia sucks’) and had quite a bit to say about the world and its current state of affairs (at least it seemed like he had quite a bit to say at the time).

            

            We spoke about the Forint (the Magyar’s national currency) and why it was so incredibly low compared to the US Dollar and the Euro. He attempted to describe how throughout the Soviet Union’s 45-year occupation of Hungary the communist government had consistently borrowed money from other European banks in Hungary’s name. They did this because the their state-planned and -run economy thing didn’t really work out too well (hence the Union’s collapse). Attila said that Hungary was paying off its Soviet induced debts now, and would continue to be doing so for the foreseeable future. Not only is the barely 20-year-old Hungarian nation learning how to survive in the rapidly globalizing free market economy, but she is also paying off the debts of a government that brutally massacred her sons, daughters and political leaders. Attila didn’t seem bitter while he spoke of the hard times he and his fellow Hungarian’s are currently living through, or the ones that they will inevitably be forced to deal with in the future, but I certainly would’ve understood if he had been.

Later in the week I visited a place called the “Terror House” with the rest of team JSBP.

Andrassy ut 60

 The museum is located about four minutes from my apartment, on a bustling main street in downtown Budapest called Andrassy. Both the Nazis and the Soviets chose this same Neo-Renaissance apartment building as the headquarters for their political actions.

 In 1944 the Nazi’s took control of Budapest. The Hungarian Nazis were referred to as the “Arrow Cross”. During their time in this building, which they called the “House of Loyalty”, they tortured and murdered countless Hungarian Jews and disposed of their bodies into the Danube River.

Arrow Cross (Hungarian Nazis)

 In 1945 the Soviet Union took control of Budapest after the Allies defeated the Nazis. They chose to turn the fascist “House of Loyalty” into their own State Security Authority (AVH). Through this headquarters the communist leaders of Moscow terrorized the Hungarian people; brutally wiping out all political, ethnic, and philosophical opposition using torturous means in the basement of the Andrassy boulevard apartment building. The Soviet officers captured many of Budapest’s most esteemed minds and ruthlessly interrogated them until death, or rather chose to hang them in the corner room of their cellar prison cell. They also used this headquarters to spy on the Magyars, thus determining which one’s would be sent to their forced labor camps in Siberia (the Gulag).

It’s hard to believe that to this very day Hungarians continue to suffer from the Soviet rule, even if only indirectly. I was amazed that Attila wasn’t more emphatic in demanding some sort of compensation from the Russians. “We are a small country,” he said, “no one in the world cares about Hungary”.

Maybe the Red Scare was a little bit more justified than I thought.

Keep it keeping fools,

I’ll keep messing up abroad,

Love,

Mama’s Boy

          

               

Gypsy Punk

Parkesy boy (as I call him from time to time, due to his youthful charm and Backstreet Boy-esque good looks) and I went on a very eventful trip to Vienna this weekend. The ancient Austrian city seemed too clean and beautiful to be real. It was almost utopian with its imperial architecture and overly friendly people. But this is a subject to be discussed on a later date.

On the railjet ride from Keleti Station in Budapest to Austria I had a very interesting encounter. A very smelly man hopped on the train at one of the beaten up old stations in the outskirts of Hungary. He was a pretty interesting sight on the expensive train full of well-dressed passengers and expensive cups of coffee (the Euro really hurt my pocketbook). The man scurried through the cabin and sat in the seat directly across the aisle from me. With a jittery smile he asked me if I spoke English. I replied, “yes” hesitantly. The guy reeked of booze and it couldn’t have been past 9 am. I liked his style.

We went on to have a long conversation. He spoke very good English and was a genuinely nice and friendly dude. I helped him ride across the Austrian border by giving him alerts whenever a train employee was walking down the aisle. He would quickly flee to the bathroom and hide until the riff-raff had passed.

The man explained to me that he was a Romanian on the move to France. He didn’t have the money to ride the train so he hopped it at remote stops until the conductor’s assistants would kick him off. The guy had his whole life in his bag and was making his yearly migration to Paris, where he claimed he had a job lined up. We talked for quite some time until he got off at one of the first stops in Austria. “I just had to make it through Hungary”, he told me. He said that Hungarians hated his people, where as the Austrians and Swiss treated him well.

            This man was a member of an ethnic group that most people call Gypsies. They are widely dispersed throughout central Europe, and are often extremely disliked, especially here in Hungary. The common stereotype is that they are homeless and roam from place to place, and they often live in an unassimilated manner, on the outskirts of society. I had heard a lot about Gypsies since living here in Hungary. The local people seem to strongly dislike them, and the current government blames them for many of the countries issues (very much like illegally immigrating Mexicans in the US). A teacher of ours stated that the current Hungarian president ran for office promising to rid Hungary of their pest problem (ie. get rid of the Gypsies).

            It was very cool to hang with one of these people for a while after hearing so much about them. I personally had a great interaction with this particular Roma. I got along with him pretty well, and we had some interesting conversation. I wished him luck on his journey, and I hope he makes it to France soon.

            Anyway, on the next field trip for class we took a two-hour train ride to Eger, Hungary, to visit a local Hungarian prison there. The town was beautiful. The prison wasn’t exactly as pleasant. However, I don’t think there are many prisons that I would be too eager to walk through. They’re certainly not the most uplifting of places.

            We got a chance to take a tour of the prison, and were led by its governor. He was a very young person to be so high up in command at such a large prison, but within minutes after meeting him it was easy to understand why. Not only was he a very intelligent character, but he also truly seemed to care about the inmates of his prison.

            Eger is a pretty ancient village located in the Hungary’s wine country. The governor told us that the people of Eger were not always very pleased to have the prison in the middle of their town. The walls of the jail were intimidating and impenetrable, with massive barbwire linings to keep the prisoners in and the locals out.

The governor had started a program that was changing peoples’ minds about the inmates. He, along with the other guards, would take well-behaved prisoners out of their cells and into the town for community service projects. They had built playgrounds, cleaned roads and rivers, and had generally improved their relationship with the local community. The program had also helped each convict take steps to reintegrate into society, and improve their personal feelings of self-esteem.
What I drew from this trip was that the reason the prison warden had experienced so much success with both his inmates and the local community was because he was empathetic and open-minded. When he spoke of the convicts I could tell he cared for them and didn’t see them as animals, as many other people in his position may have. He had sympathy for the prison’s bleak atmosphere and overcrowding. He even expressed genuine feelings of hope that the convicts were capable of improving their lives following their prison sentence.

          
            It may be important for the general populace of Hungarians, along with their government, to try and have a more open-minded perspective when thinking of the Gypsies. Not every culture is the same. I’ve seen first hand how different two seemingly similar places like Hungary and the US can be. I’m not sure if Gypsies can truly be blamed for the problems that this country is experiencing in its youthful, post-Soviet capitalist economy. It’s easy to see the negatives with certain groups of underrepresented, poor people, such as Mexican immigrants or traveling Gypsies. But there are good and bad people of every ethnicity, and some Gypsies are pretty rad.

So leave your minds open for business fools!

And I’ll keep messing up abroad,

Love,

Mamas Boy   

Man that's a wicked Pisser Pissoir

Wien, Austria

Fif

Know your rights fools

Dr. Peter Hack

One of the perks of the JSBP program is that I’m required to write a blog post every week about the Wednesday lectures that we get to attend together as a group. There’s nothing I enjoy more than getting to sit down for a couple of hours and listen to an esteemed figure talk about the Hungarian legal system.

I’m just kidding around of course! I truly am lucky to be exposed to another country and some of its most prominent political leaders. Last Wednesday JSBP went to Corvinus and were fortunate enough to hear Dr. Peter Hack speak. Hack was on the Hungarian Parliament for more than a decade, and is an extremely accomplished law professor. He was a truly and entertaining and interesting speaker who managed to transfer quite a bit of information into my tiny brain during his quick lecture.

The Hungarian legal system is much different from our own. Hack was very honest about the European model of law, and made some succinct points about its advantages and disadvantages. Our own legal system is very much dependent on the events that take place while court is in session. Lawyers argue with one another in an attempt to win over the favorable opinions of a fully layperson jury. The Judge often acts as a mediator and master or courtly affairs. In the European (and specifically Hungarian) system, Judges, along with lawyers and police officers, rely mostly upon the pretrial investigation to determine whether a suspect is innocent or guilty. There very often are no laypeople involved in the process in any way shape or form.

The positives to eliminating the layperson jury from the trial process and having much of the decision-making power within the confines of the Judge’s mind are numerous. Oftentimes trials go by faster and more efficiently. Lawyers are likely to be more interested in finding the objective truth of the case, rather than simply being inclined towards winning for their client. The factor of jury bias is also eliminated from the process (e.g. the OJ trial- even though lets be honest, how many white men have been let off for murder in America’s history?)

The danger to the European system, in which Judges get to make the verdicts rather than juries, are that so called “objective” judges have the potential to be too powerful and jaded. Hack stated that he had a problem with the fact that young lawyers in Hungary never have to work outside of the court system before they become judges. A limited view of everyday people and a narrow perspective into the big picture of society outside of the legal system can lead to extremely cynical decision makers.

My takeaway- Don’t get arrested in Hungary fools.

Love,

Mama’s Boy   

Pannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra

Foolish Fools

Kid's just Pretty

St Stephens

How's your portfolio?

Get Alex Home 

St. Stephen, Right Hand of Hungary

Saint Stephen founded the Kingdom of Hungary in the year 1000. He brought Catholicism (western christianity) and the concept of the Holy Crown to the Magyars.
Saint Stephen's Basilica is one of the gnarliest and most well known buildings in Budapest. It houses the mummified right hand of Saint Stephen.
The massive Basilica steps also happen to be a popular spot for local Hungarians to go out and have a drink on a nice summer night. When asked why Hungarians like to go have a beer at this sacred location a local college kid stated, "because we don't really care about any of that stuff" and gave a lighthearted laugh.
Word up Hungary.
Out with the Old and in with the New.
Love,
Mamas Boy    

Words

I’m a 20-year-old Mama’s boy from New Hampshire and this is my blog about studying abroad in Budapest, and being Hungary.

It's been about eight days since my arrival here in the city and I'm finally starting to get the hang of this crazy place. This is my first European experience, it's my first urban experience, and it also happens to be the first time I've lived more than thirty minutes away from Darrylin (my lovely mother). There's been a bunch of European meanies out here yelling at me in their various assortments of strange languages, and my mom isn't here to tell them to ‘piss off’, so it's been a little startling to say the least.

Even though I've made quite a few central Europeans angry and have consistently been scared and embarrassed and everything in between, these eight or so days have been the most interesting of my life. It seems as though there's a little more to the world than I thought. It's even safe to say my former worldview may have been a little narrow and even somewhat small-minded. 

I had always heard rumors that many Europeans aren’t quite as fond of Americans as we may be of ourselves. However, it has been shocking to me to experience this sentiment firsthand. As a white male living in the northeastern part of the United States who has spent most of his adolescent years playing football, going to college, and partying with hotties (well, let’s make pretend on that last one) life has been fairly easy. I’ve been able to resist the idea of a world outside of my own upper-middle class suburban one for quite some time now. Being in Budapest has opened my eyes to the concept of being a little lower on the proverbial totem pole than what I’m used to.

As soon as I stepped foot off of the plane in Germany to catch my connecting flight to Budapest I was greeted by a few Lufthansa employees that were less than impressed by my Wailers shirt and American accent. Upon reaching Budapest the local Magyars weren’t the fastest to smile or lend a hand with directions to put it delicately. At first I reacted with internal horror at the general attitude of Europeans towards my presence (that of an over coddled and privileged young American cry baby). But as my time in Budapest has gone on and my experience has grown deeper I’m beginning to see things a little differently.

Hungarians haven’t exactly had it as easy as I have, and they haven’t quite experience the same spoiling as someone that grew up in the states. They also haven’t been protected inside the same easygoing and lighthearted bubble that I’ve had the great fortune to grow up within. Magyars have seen hard times. It was only about twenty years ago that the last of the Soviet ‘terrorists’ (as a young Hungarian girl referred to them as) left the city of Budapest. Most of the adults and elderly that I interact with on a daily basis have had the misfortune of living under the control of both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin within their lifetime. It’s quite easy to see why not all Europeans are willing to go out of their way to help someone like me (someone who, unlike most Europeans, can only speak one language, at times even speaks that one poorly, and has never had to face any real adversity or misfortune).

I met an tremendously intelligent young man who was working in a store in Budapest the other day. He spoke impeccable English and couldn’t have been any older than 25. He had spent a year living in Colorado and said that he could make more money working for one year in the US than he could working twice as many hours for four years in Budapest. He felt as though there was no room to improve ones quality of life in Hungary, while in America with a little effort and wit the sky was the limit. He has been trying to get a visa ever since he left to go back to the US for good.

Young Europeans have been some of the nicest and smartest people that I’ve ever met. They have an incredible passion for learning. They love to discuss travel, culture, language and world politics, while most of my American conversations have regarded sports, girls, and general illegal or close to illegal shenanigans. One culture is not better than the other. But there are differences over here in Europe. People divide themselves and fight over things that aren’t as simple as baseball teams or home states. There is a history that is much, much older, and at times has been very cruel and hard to believe. But it’s important that as Americans we understand what our strengths are and express them to the world around us, rather than constantly exposing our weaknesses. Perhaps the best way for us to do this is to take more of an interest in the world around us, rather than ignoring it altogether. My week here has truly opened my eyes to many things. Hopefully I can express some of these things through this blog, but it is probably best for you (whoever you are) to come and experience them for yourself. The world is massive, multifaceted and is made up of lots of different kinds of people with many different stories to tell (so many so that my head is literally spinning after a week of being here).

Even a dummy like myself who has been stuck inside of a comfortable microcosm for years can come here and win some people over. All it takes is a week of struggling and a few awful attempts at Hungarian “hello”, “please” and “thank you”.

As a group we (Team JSBP UNH- lets lock it up) visited the US embassy and had a talk with one of our political consulates here in Hungary, Jay Truesdale. Jay’s main point seemed to be that as Americans we are telling our story the wrong way to Europe. We are a truly good and empathetic nation made up of kind people (not just dummy’s that only speak English). We need to take a step towards winning back the hearts and minds of our world neighbors. It’s time for us to move towards reclaiming our image as ambassadors of freedom and open mindedness. Much of that can come simply by taking an interest in the world around us. There are countries outside of the US, and they’re made up of some pretty interesting people. We can even learn a thing or two from them. Some of these people have seen some real stuff and deserve to be listened to - I’m just starting to figure that out for the first time.

Keep it keepin in the States and I’ll keep messing up Abroad.

Love,

Mama’s Boy