"One of the most useful experiences was participating in lectures by diplomats from different countries as part of the Public Diplomacy course."
I first visited Hungary when I was 16 years old and was immediately captivated by the imposing and beautiful capital city. It was then that I became aware of how deeply intertwined our and Hungarian cultures are throughout history. That visit remained in my memory, and upon returning home, Budapest became one of the places I dreamed of living in one day. I thought: “I will only come back here when I am ready to enroll in university” .
A few years later, that wish came true. As a student of VERN's undergraduate program in Public Relations , in my final year of studies, I applied for an Erasmus semester at Budapest Metropolitan University. There, I had the opportunity to expand my knowledge through courses related to business, diplomacy, and the Hungarian language. A special challenge was the basics of the Hungarian language and culture, but also learning the Japanese script, which was part of the Japanese Business and Culture course.
I always stick to the saying "fortune favors the brave", so in addition to going to a foreign country among unknown people, I was lucky enough to meet wonderful individuals from all over the world. Every day was filled with laughter and fun, and we solved academic challenges together, with mutual support.
Nastava je bila interaktivna, s mnogo timskih zadataka i aktivnim sudjelovanjem na predavanjima. Jedno od najkorisnijih iskustava bilo je sudjelovanje na predavanjima diplomata iz različitih zemalja u okviru kolegija Public Diplomacy. Tada bismo odložili bilježnice i laptope te sudjelovali u otvorenim diskusijama. Posebno bih pohvalila profesore koji su nas, Erasmus studente, tretirali jednako kao i redovne studente, uvijek spremni pomoći ili pružiti savjet.
One of my favorite moments was participating in the Ideathon competition organized by the GiLE Foundation, where I and my team “Integrity” won first place in the AI Security category. Together with my colleagues, Orgil Munkhbaatar and Deborah Kangai, I developed a proposal for an application that would analyze content on websites and distinguish the work of artificial intelligence and fake news from real, human-produced content.
I will remember my Erasmus experience as an invaluable five months, for which I am infinitely grateful to Budapest Metropolitan University and VERN' University. I highly recommend the Erasmus program to anyone who wants to broaden their horizons, gain new knowledge, and meet people from all over the world.
(collaborator: Beatrice Vnučec)
