Expat Interview
(Intervista di Joanna Singleton per Budapest Funzine)
Name: Claudia Leporatti
From: Florence, Italy
Time in Hungary: Six months
Other countries lived in: in London for a month
Job: Student and manager of www.economia.hu
Why did you come to Hungary?
I was studying journalism in Florence and my university is partnered with one in Budapest. I was offered the opportunity to do an ERASMUS year here and thought, why not…wow! The city is much better than I expected; I didn’t think it would be so modern or that the people would be this friendly.
What are your favorite things about Budapest?
I really like running on Margaret Island… I feel like I’m in my own little world, away from the city. And I like the size of the city too, the fact that you can see so many sights from one spot. It’s amazing.
And the worst?
In the Metró, I don’t like it when people stand on both sides of the escalator! Also I think there are some very strange food combinations: spaghetti with sugar is something which springs to mind.
What do you miss from home?
Obviously I miss my friends and family but they will visit soon. Other than that, I miss some types of food, like Greek yogurt and Italian pizza which I cannot find here!
Tell us a bit about www.economia.hu.
I manage this website which contains content comparing the Italian and Hungarian economies. The articles are all in Italian and are aimed at Italians living in Hungary. After graduating I hope to become a journalist….and to write a book someday too!
Anything funny ever happened to you in Hungary?
Yes! In a supermarket, I was looking for some plain biscuits. I found a shop assistant who said that she spoke English and asked her where the biscuits were. She looked puzzled so I said ‘cookies’ instead as I thought this was more of an international word. But when I said that word, she walked away and never came back. I later found out what ‘cookie’ meant…
What do you think about the Hungarian food?
I like gulyás and palacsinta. There are too many sausages though and I don’t like sausages. And I don’t like cheese, in fact the first thing I learned to say in Hungarian was “without cheese”! And there is cinnamon everywhere. Sorry, I just don’t want cinnamon in my coffee! Although, in general, I do actually like the coffee here. Hungarians are very creative with their coffee and there are lots of places around town to enjoy it.
QUICK HITS:
Buda or Pest? Pest
Favorite word? Kicsi (piccolo/a)
Unicum or pálinka? Unicum.
Favorite districts? 7th and 8th
Speak Hungarian? I can say “Happy Christmas” but what use is that now?
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