Flights!

Just in case you have misplaced the new digest, here is all the important information on flights.

Please plan on being in Hungary/Slovakia from June 25th to August 10th.

Here are some very useful websites:

www.kayak.com
www.studentuniverse.com
www.statravel.com (this is great if you might have to change your travel dates--it's only $35 to change your flights)
www.discountfares.com
www.ba.co.uk
www.virginatlatnic.co.uk
www.hotwire.com
www.expedia.com
www.orbitz.com
www.travelocity.com
www.skyscanner.com (thanks Hannah!)

Also, Kristi brought up the great point that it is sometimes cheaper to fly into a major hub such as London (or Frankfurt/Paris) and then use a cheaper European airline (such as www.easyjet.com).

This is a great point, but there are two things to be aware of.

-Make sure that the timing aligns. You might have a large layover
-Sometimes the cheaper airlines fly out of different airports (e.g. instead of flying out of Heathrow or Gatwick, a lot of them fly out of Luton or Stansted). Make sure you check this out beforehand.

Other great cheap European airlines include:

www.ryanair.com
www.wizzair.com (this one is Hungarian :o) )


If you find any good deals, please post on this post and email to the group!

Finally, I'd like you guys to think of places you'd like to have the final concluding session. We could have it in Budapest, but other cities are possibilities too. Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks so much!

-Francesca

VSP Information

Just a friendly reminder of the Village Sponsoring Program (VSP) requirements. As an LE volunteer, we ask you to send out 10 letters to your family and friends. These letters are our main way of fund-raising. We ask volunteers to write a letter to their family and friends describing the opportunity that they will have this summer. This letter will be sent along with one written by our managing director, which explains the process for donating to our NGO.

The volunteer VSP is a vital part of keeping LE running as a fee-free program. Everyone in the organization is required to send out these letters, including Campus Directors, Program Directors, and the Executive Staff. We are a completely student run non-profit and every cent helps us. However, while we require everyone in the organization to participate, there are no requirements of any kind regarding the amount of money you must raise from those letters.

Also, your contacts only be contacted again if they choose to support the organization. We will never ever spam the individuals you send letters to.

And, if you can't come up with 10 family members or friends, don't worry. We will help you identify other possible donation sources to send letters to.

I know it might sound like a hassle, but it's a lot easier than it sounds. If done efficiently, it will take two hours (and it's usually done at Learning Day). It will be quick and painless and the reward is AMAZING and well worth having.

If you have any questions or concerns, any at all, please feel free to email me.

-Francesca

Quick Update

Just a super brief update to let you know all know what's happening on my end!

So, (as you all hopefully know) the program dates are the following:

June 25th: Arrive in Budapest, Hungary for orientation (if all works according to plan, I'll be at the airport to pick you up)

June 26th-27th: Orientation and a little bit of sightseeing in Budapest, Hungary

June 28th: Depart for first host village! (Super exciting!)

June 28th-July 17th: First host village experience

July 17th-July 19th: Mid-point break in Komarno, Slovakia (reunite with old friends, share experiences, prepare for second session)

July 19th: Depart for second village

July 19th-August 8th: Second host village experience

August 8th-August 10th: Reunited for concluding break (location TBD based on your preferences)

August 10th: Depart for States or further travel!

Update on the villages:

We have 20 confirmed villages in Hungary and 16 confirmed villages in Slovakia. It's looking like it will be a wonderful trip.

In the upcoming month, the final selection of volunteers will take place. Once this happens, this will become a much more interactive site!

Get Excited.


-Francesca

Welcome to the Hungary/Slovakia Program 2009!

Welcome to the 2009 Hungary/Slovakia blog! Below you can find all of the wonderful posts from last years volunteers. I welcome you to look through their posts to discover more about this program.

My name is Francesca Mazzola and I am the 2009 Hungary/Slovakia Program Director. The Hungary/Slovakia program is one of LE's oldest and most successful programs and I cannot emphasize enough how excited I am about the program this year. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me: mazzola@stanford.edu. For now, I strongly suggest that you visit our website: www.learningenterprises.org and if you haven't yet, apply by February 21st!


I can't wait to meet all of you,

Francesca

Slovakia Music Video

The music video I made with my students in Tomasikovo, Slovakia.

-Max

Wrapping It All Up

Since our program does not have a concluding event, I wanted to do a little bit of a wrap-up.

1. (number one, since this is the most important) Thank you all for being awesome volunteers! I hope you all had a great experience in Hungary/Slovakia.

2. Because you enjoyed it so much, don't you want to stay active in the LE community?!? Seriously, working for LE in my current capacity has been a gratifying and meaningful experience on so many levels (this is thanks to you guys.) I highly recommend that you remain involved, on campus or with Hungary/Slovakia specifically.

3. Finish VSP. I do not want to hunt you down. If you had a great experience with LE, this is one of your best ways to say thank you. In case you cannot remember what to do, here is the summary:
- email 5 photos to lephotos2008@gmail.com
- send a package of
3 postcards describing your experience and thanking the donor
7 letters: (which you completed in your village)
3+ class thank you letters
4+ individual student letters (send as many as you have)
to :Learning Enterprises c/o Maureen- you recieved an e-mail already with her address.

I know you are almost all back to the US, but I also have to remind you to finish you blog posting (from the second village) and America Learns postings (5 total.) Just get it over with. Thanks!

I will be e-mailing you within the week to have you fill out village descriptions. As many of you remember from mid-point break, I had you fill out a piece of paper with info about your individual village. I am making a database, and your participation is vital, especially for the upcoming years.

If you have any questions, please shoot me an e-mail. Once again, thanks for all of your hard work and participation! I miss you all already!

Catherine

as promised

i promised a few of you that i would post something that you could respond to, and i wouldnt read. feel free to comment on this post, and i wont read it until everything is wrapped up.

however, do remember that this is a public blog.

-catherine

"Tales from the Village" session 2

so, your second village....

many of you have lamented about leaving your first host families- but, do not fear, your second village has a lot in store for you.

here's the post to comment on with all your awesome teaching experiences, wacky ice cream flavors, adventures, and other topics.

once again, i will be living vicariously through you, so make sure you fill in all the blanks!

post away.

- catherine

Yo, check out my village.... Session 1

Hey all,

This is where you post your session one village descriptions! (and read about each others') Please post a comment to this post and write your description there.

Here are some things you might want to touch upon:
- how awesome it really is
- host family and village life
- teaching and classes
- what worked and what didnt

HAVE FUN IN YOUR VILLAGE, AND MAKE ME PROUD!!!

Last Minute Questions

Hey Everyone,
Two days 'til I board a plane and begin the journey! I'm so excited to meet you all. Here's a few last minute questions for Catherine/Zsofi....

What time are we meeting you in the Martos Hostel? It says dinner in the itinerary and last year's blog had a specific time, so I thought I should make sure I'm not missing this detail! I'm checking in a little early, and I'm assuming that our reservations are under Learning Enterprises?

As far as getting to our first village goes...(Samantha asked this on the blog earlier)....I know you'll be helping us with getting to our villages from Budapest by way of the train, but how do we get to our host family's house? Will they pick us up? I'm bringing their contact and everything, but wasn't sure how much preparation we should have done by now to get there.

Next...Komarno! Last year, it looks like Imre took care of everything - is this year the same? I'm guessing we'll be getting more info while we're in our first village, but do we need to do make any arrangements for the midpoint break before we leave the states?

And last but not least, when will we get our second batch of host family contact info?

Thanks and CAN"T WAIT!!!!

Introducing... myself (Zsofi B.)

Hello, volunteers!

Just a quick note to introduce myself, since your wonderful PD has asked me to contribute a bit to the blog: my name is Zsofi Budai (I hope you can keep all the Balazs's and Zsofi's straight!), and I was a volunteer with what was then known as the Eastern Europe Village Project in 2004 and 2005. The two following years I served as LE's European Liaison, working with both the Hungary/Slovakia and Croatia/Romania programs. This summer will be the first in four years that I won't attend the program orientations and midpoint breaks, but I hope that I can still be of some use to all of you! If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask them -- I know both the Slovakia (where I volunteered) and Hungary (where I'm originally from, and where I found a lot of the villages that currently participate) programs inside and out!

With greetings from Moscow,

Zsofi B.

P.S. Do check out last year's (somewhat incomplete) blog to read about past volunteers' experiences in their villages: lecentraleurope.blogspot.com

International cell phones

What is the best way to obtain an international cell phone once I'm over in Hungary?

Thanks! So excited to see you all in less than a week.

Last Year's Blog

Hi All,

Last year's PD, Janelle, and long-time CC and awesome member of the LE family, Zsofi Budai, created a great blog for volunteers last summer: lecentraleurope.blogspot.com. This is truly a great resource, and something I highly recommend that you take a look at!

Hope all is well,
Catherine

Host Family Gifts

Does anyone know what kind of thank you gift for the host family would be appropriate? Also, what kind of American things are people bringing aside from pictures and magazines?

Money

So I remember my LE campus person telling us that Chase is not a great bank to have when going to Hungary, but I can't remember the exact reason why. Is this true? After doing a little research online, I can't find anything that would make me think that having Chase would be an issue...

Slovakia?

So I've been contacted by my first HUngarian village family and contacts and all, but Iwas just wondering about the second villages? When are we getting info on those, or will we only find out when were in Europe?

Insurance

This more of a question for Catherine. What level of insurance do we need? For instance, my insurance said I would be covered for an emergency room visit. Is that enough? I read the addendum we were sent but it sounded like the level of coverage was up to us. I personally would be willing to take my chances but I wanted to make sure and see whether LE had more specific requirements.

planning before hand?

Hi everyone, my name is Alison and I'm a sophomore at Georgetown-- and so excited to meet all of you in nearly a month!

I was just wondering if anyone was doing any lesson plan preparations beforehand, or if there was really any planning necessary before the orientation in Budapest. I was planning on buying random supplies-- papers, markers, pens, balloons?, and whatever strikes my fancy as I walk down the school supply aisle at the store-- but I was just curious if there was anything more that should be done on that front before we jet off.

Thanks!

coffee

I was wondering what the coffee situation is like. Do most families drink coffee in the morning, or if they don't, are coffee shops prevalent? I know it is an odd question, but I am a bit of an addict. Thanks!

eastern european outlets???

what do we need? transformer? converter? what's the difference again haha?

Hi Everyone!

Hey! I just figured out how to blog as well. I'm a senior at BU and looking forward to the summer very much.

I know a lot of you have been writing about traveling after the program ends, and I am definitely doing that. I just booked my tickets, and my return flight leaves on August 26th from Paris, so anyone who wants to Euro-trip towards France with me, let me know! Also, I may do 'wwoofing', which is where you live on a random organic farm and help them in return for free housing and food. They have it all over the world, and I've heard that its an amazing experience. Google it if you're interested :)

Can't wait to meet you guys!

i figured out how to add a new post :)

Question: Me and Gabrielle were talking yesterday, and Martos hostel came up. Do we have to book our own reservations there or how does it work?

Also, Budapest has amazing thermal spas, so during our free time, I really wanna check at least one of them out, anyone wanna get in on that??...It supposedly cures all illnesses...sweet :)

Oh and also, what's the alternative to a rolling suitcase. I mean backpack yeah, but is everything gonna fit in a backpack?

Haha sorry this is long, but also anyone who has facebook befriend me please, we already found a few of us who I think befriended each other, everyone else I can't find...

Transportation from Budapest

Hey everyone,

This is more of a question for Catherine, but maybe everyone will benefit from it: after we meet for orientation in Budapest, how are we getting to our individual villages scattered around Hungary? Are we expected to make travel arrangements of our own, or do our host families come and pick us up?

Thanks!
-Sam

Size of backpack

Hi, I haven't got a backpack so I need to buy one, does anyone have any idea what kinda size i will need?(i.e.litres) I haven't a clue! Thanks x

Volunteer Interviews: Post them here!

Hey team!

Once you have written your "get to know you" from your interview with a fellow volunteer, please post it by commenting on this post!

Thanks, everyone.
-Catherine