Traveling to a foreign country is not only exciting, interesting and an amazing learning experience, but it makes you miss and appreciate the things from your homeland.

 

Nine Ball State University students decided to make a list of things that they missed while abroad, and this is what they came up with:

 

1. Free refills on soft drinks, as well as large container soft drinks (The average soft drink serving is about six ounces in Hungary.)

 

2. Multiple electrical outlets in your hotel room

 

3. Driving a car

 

4. Hydrogen peroxide (Yorgo Douramacos couldn’t find hydrogen peroxide anywhere. It also didn’t help that all of the labels were in Hungarian.)

 

5. Deep-fried food

 

6. English as a main way of communicating

 

7. Wifi/cellphone service

 

8. Friends, family and pets

 

9. The way Americans express themselves (American college students are loud compared to the European ways of speaking. So, yes, people stared.)

 

10. The taste of American Coke (Yes, it’s different across the ocean.)

 

11. Their own beds

 

12. Free access to public restrooms (Have Forint coins and be prepared to pay.)

 

Some things in Hungary came as a very pleasant surprise. These are the things that made us wonder, “Why doesn’t America have this?” Here is the list of things that the students thought were interesting, in a good way:

 

1. The choice between bottled sparkling and still water (gas or no gas) or tap water

 

2. Different, varied nightlife

 

3. Being able to walk to many places

 

4. The way Hungarians accept their communist past (Americans in the United States tend to ignore or forget parts of their history.)

 

5. The way people dress well everyday

 

6. How most people appreciated the fact that you were trying to learn their language

 

7. Healthier eating options

 

8. Coffee shops

 

9. Candy and pastry shops

 

10. Culture everywhere you look

 

11. The parks

 

12. Spas everywhere