Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Day 3

Kenzi here for our third day in Budapest!
We had two business visits today including Kopint-Tarki Economic Institute and the European Union Commission. As you might have guessed, both of these visits informed us of Europe economic situation and a lot about their history. You can tell people that were raised in Hungary are proud of where they come from and what the country has done to overcome things of the past, especially when it comes to the communism era. We had a guest speaker today from Bosnia, too. It was kind of sad to here her talk about the current economic situation in her home country. Their unemployment rate is 45% and nobody from there knows where they are headed in the future or what will happen to their country.
After our first visit we ate lunch and got to shop at a large mall. A group of about ten of us decided to enjoy a cafe nearby and it took close to two hours to get our food and pay. We got done just in time to catch our next business visit, but unfortunately left no time for shopping!
One thing I specifically remember from our second visit that day is that women in Hungary get nearly 100% of their salary for 6 months after having a child.  Most mothers don't return to work until the child reaches the age of 3 and daycare isn't very common at all for children in Hungary. During this visit the EU representative also explained to us their 20 year plan for the European Union.
By the time our scheduled events were over many of us seemed to be ready for a quick, or not so quick, nap. While others took the time to sight see or shop. It was a very interesting day and I'm excited to see what the rest of the trip has to offer!



XOXO,
Wanderlust

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