Magyar News, 1992. szeptember-1993. augusztus (3. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1993-02-01 / 6. szám

One of the requirements for the Mary Katona Scholarship, given out by the American Hungarian Heritage Associa­tion, is an essay on an experience in the Hungarian community. This was written by one of our applicants. I was bom on the 23rd of March in 1970 in B udapest, Hungary. My father and mother were just starting their careers as doctors - my father as a urologist, my mother as a dentist - when I arrived in this world. I was their first child, and the three of us lived in a small apartment near the Danube, in a beautiful district of the city. This was the place where I spent the first ten years of my life: a paradise for children, a “green spot” in the middle of the concrete world of metropolis, a world of trees, water, flowers and freedom. I was four years old when my sister was bom, and very soon we became each other ’ s best friend, worst enemy .play­mate and protector. In 1980, when my parents announced happily that they had found a new apart­ment for us, and that we were moving very soon, I felt that my world had collapsed around me. I spent several sleepless nights weeping over my lost friends and -although I didn’t know it yet - my lost childhood. Even today, if I close my eyes and think about the first ten years of my life, I feel as though it had been one endless sweet smell­ing summer night, filled with laughter, tears of joy, chirping of crickets and barking of dogs. The new apartment was big and beauti­ful in a marvelous environment on one of the hills of Buda. I was enrolled in a new school and started to make new friends again. I joined an athletic club and started competing with great success. I also proved to be a talent in reciting poetry and won several contests at school, reciting some of the most beautiful poems of our nation. I became a central figure in school activities; I liked to participate in everything, so I knew everyone and everyone knew me. Unfortunately, this happy period of my life didn’t last too long. I was thirteen years old when I lost my mother, and this tragic event turned my life upside down. I became introverted, with­drew from school activities, from sports and competitions, and I turned in to a “prob­lem teenager”. My father had serious diffi-LAST YEAR’S SCHOLAR IS SCHOLAR AGAIN Karina Rácz from Norwalk was one of the recipients of last year’s Mary Katona Scholarship sponsored by the American Hungarian Heritage Association. We learned from Karina, her parents and from the papers that she was chosen based on academic achievements as Bowdoin Scholar. Congratulations, Karina. MY LIFE Eva Karsza culties dealing with me, although I know he was trying very hard. Looking back, I’m really ashamed of myself: I see now how selfish and stubborn I was, refusing to un­derstand - even to try to understand - how difficult those days were for him. The only thing I could see was myself, my pain, my problems. I was trying to find myself, to adapt myself to the new situation, but these efforts resulted rather in losing myself for a while. I had problems at scnooi with my behavior, my clothing, my hairstyle, etc. I felt that everyone and everything was against me. The only thing I didn’t have problems with - fortunately - was studying. Thus, it was not very difficult to get into an excel­lent high school - called Toldy Ferenc High School - where I began my studies in 1984. I started learning foreign languages - En­glish and French - and I became extremely interested in different cultures. I had a couple of very good friends, with whom I set out every summer to discover first the neighboring countries, later the famous - or rather infamous - European metropolises. We were usually traveling by train or hitchhiking, with big rucksacks on our backs and very little money in our pockets. Naturally, we were having the time of our lives. I have always thought that travel gives you the best possible educa­tion, whatever it is you want to study: history, literature, architecture, arts, lan­guages or people. Travel educates you by opening your eyes and your mind to the whole world that surrounds you; travel teaches you to understand and accept other people and different cultures; travel helps you to place yourself in their world and makes you see how truly free you can be if you want to be. At the age of 16, however, travel meant even more than that: it taught us to be independent, it gave us strength and self-confidence, and, of course, it was full of adventures and a lot of fun! I graduated from high school in 1988 and was accepted at Attila József University in a town called Szeged. I left my beloved Budapest behind and moved to this small town in search of new friends and new experiences. I especially wanted to see if I could stand on my own, far away from my ever-supportive family, thrown into the unknown all by myself. Indeed, college life proved to be totally different from the way I had lived before. I lived in a rented apart­ment with a couple of new friends, and our place soon became a “castle of knowledge” and a “castle of fun”. We enjoyed studying as much as partying, so one day our apart­ment looked like a library, where coughing or sneezing were considered to be serious crimes, the next day our place turned into a “madhouse”, weird-looking strangers giv­ing speeches about upcoming revolutions or dancing on our dictionaries. Meanwhile, history was being made in Hungary, and I’m proud to say that we helped to make it happen. The communist regime had col­lapsed under its own weight, and a new democratic system was emerging with a lot of help and support from the nation’s young people. I spent two happy and exciting years in Szeged, but after finishing my second year at college, I started to feel the urgent need for a change. I wanted to move on, to do something different, so I decided to inter­rupt my studies for one year and visit my relatives in the United States. I wanted to practice my English and see America for myself. Very soon, though, something happened to me that I hadn’t expected: I fell in love. I met my boyfriend while taking evening classes, studying En­glish as a second language at Fairfield High School. He is from another part of the world, Sao Paolo, Brazil. He is a living model of the beautiful Brazilian culture: an excellent singer, dancer, musician, and an exceptional personality. He gave me a rea­son to stay in the United States, and al­though I miss my country very much, I will never regret my decision. I’m here now, presently a student at Sacred Heart University, not having any idea what tomorrow might bring, but open to everything new, always in search of new experiences, new friends and new lessons. THANKS FOR A LIFE-TIME OF HUNGARIAN ART A year ago the Magyar News ran an article on a world reknown Hungarian art­ist, Joseph Dómján. Though he settled in New Jersey, he came to our area several times. At the Bridgeport Discovery Mu­seum he had an exhibition of his color woodcut prints. Joseph Dómján passed away at the end of the year leaving us with thousands of exceptional Hungarian art in museums, in­stitutions and private collections all over the world. Also in his museum in Sárospatak, Hungary. We will miss him, his enthusi­asm, his devotion and his creative Hungar­ian spirit. We will remember Joseph Dómján and cherish his art. Page 4

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