Meet my (ex)roommate

I think I already mentioned my roommate, Auguszta in one or maybe even two of my previous posts.

The way we met was unexpected and quite a funny coincidence. If you were happening to follow this blog up to now, you might have read my two posts about the Porto trip with ESN. When the trip started, I only knew one girl who was from the same faculty and I didn’t really know anyone else in Lisbon that would be Hungarian and not from the Faculty of Architecture. That was soon about to change when we heard some Hungarian words and discovered that there were two extra Hungarian students from the Nova University. At that point we didn’t know yet but me and Auguszta were soon to be roommates in that bad hostel I moved to on 1st of March and moved out after circa two weeks. We didn’t even know each other in the beginning of the trip and then by the end of it, we had the same destination to go to. We experienced the same problems with the surroundings and I would love to say it was a decision to move, which it was, but a partial reason was that we got kicked out. Not both of us, but I was happy to follow her since I had my share of the story. We basically got kicked out because we happened to be awake and speaking and 6-7 am. A reasonable hour when people could be awake. Well, the Portuguese styled lady didn’t think the same way.

There’s no reason for sadness and pity, because we found the perfect flat in the heart of the party centre of Bairro Alto and we’re more than happy to return to it. I have a feeling that I’m repeating myself. Am I repeating myself?

 Anyway, as I was saying in the interview themed post, I will try to enhance this writing prototype and attack more people with my nonsense questions. So here they are:

I: Hi, Auguszta! Could you introduce yourself?

A: I’m a 21 years old student. I study Computer Engineering. I don’t know what else to say, it’s always hard, when someone asks this question. I would describe myself as a bit weird, but lovely person, who always tries to see the half full glass. I like to travel and experience new things, make new friends, make the most of everything. If you’re curious about my personality I’m a 4 (enneagram) and an ENFP. I could say some random things about myself, but in a nutshell, this is what you need to know about me.

I: How would you describe your Erasmus experience? 

A: It was a bit hard with this whole situation, but I think I made the most of it as I could. I met a lot of amazing people, made some new friends, which I’m very grateful. I hope I’ll meet many of them again somewhere in the world.

I: Could you add some details about your university? 

A: At home I go to a big university (Budapest University of Technologies and Economics) and it was a big change that here the lectures are small. The teacher was really paying attention that everybody understands the things. I liked that you could ask questions anytime, if you didn’t understand something during the class. Here almost everyone knows everyone so it was much easier to make friends on the campus.

I: I know that you like Lisbon a lot, it would be more surprising if you wouldn’t. What is something that caught your heart about the city?

A: I would say the people and the lifestyle. The people here are really open, friendly and helpful. Also, the daily routine is closer to me. I like to stay up late and wake up late as well. Here I could be like me, spontaneous and not plan everything.

I: What was the most exciting story that happened in Portugal?

A: I don’t know... It’s hard to choose one story which is my favourite. A lot of things happened with a lot of people. I liked it when on the Integration weekend (it’s an ESN event) the Italians wanted me to do a yoga lesson, while we were just hanging out with some friends on the rooftop in the hostel or when we just followed some random people, cause they looked like they know some party(which was your idea). There were a lot of random things that happened during Erasmus.

I: What did you feel and think when you first started to realise that the situation might be more serious than we would have thought to be in the beginning?

A: I hoped that it will end soon. I really didn’t want to go home, but circumstances changed, so I had to, but I’m really happy that I could come back.

I: Do you think it was a wise choice to return our countries or did you regret it?

A: I regret it. It gave a lot of paperwork and it didn’t worth it financially. If I could go back in time I would stay. At home my situation is not the best (I won’t bore you with the details), so I stayed with one of my old relatives. I like her, but it was kind of boring and I didn’t have a lot to do. Also, it was kind of unmotivating for me (especially with my studying) this whole staying home thing (I know it was necessary, I’m not complaining, but still).

I: Do you think the Erasmus offices give enough and clear instructions when it comes to the returning policy and anything else regarding to these problems?

A: I think they weren’t always clear with it. They didn’t say that if we return home, we have to pay back the money. I know it’s financial support to stay in the foreign country, but normally I work to pay my necessities (food and other stuff), but in this situation, I couldn’t work, so for me it’s hard to figure out how will I handle this.

I: Do you think there was a lesson hidden in the way we had to confront the corona situation?

A: I don’t completely understand this question :D

This was all, hope you enjoyed this little interview. It's sad that this chapter had to end, but it's great that we can visit each other anytime in Hungary, not having to travel much (although I'm sure Auguszta will visit me in Lisbon sooner than I could visit her in Budapest)