Budapest-City is the only Rotaract club in Hungary with English as the official language at our meetings. We welcome anyone who would like to join or is simply interested in what we do to come to our meeting! It doesn't matter if you are a university student in Hungary or an exchange student from another country, we will welcome you into our club and you will find a great community with us!
A handful of youngsters full of enthusiasm met Langh Peter at his gallery. There was hardly anybody among them who had an idea what Rotary, let alone Rotaract actually was. Just for the mere thought that they could help others. They thought this so-called international "students' net" was fairly interesting and they would like to know more about its purpose and importance. They were kind of baffled, for they all but did not know the others, anyway they initiated a humble conversation, and by the end of the evening they all sensed something could come out of it. This is how Rotaract Club Budapest-City was born. After the promising beginning a period full of struggles ensued, as usual in each young organisation's life. For in the very beginning we weren't actually efficient, rather just tried to get to know each other better, plan our future activity, but this was how it all started. As we were trying to set the Rotaract machine in motion, some gadgets fell out: some people just did not bear the stress. It was hard to buld a stable team. We in Rotaract are aware of the fact that sometimes there are things in life we do not have ample time and space for. Studies, carrier, internships, private live...it is hard for us to decide which one to pay the most attention to. Yet if somebody has ever tasted what Rotaract is, they surely know it is too hard to just skip. With the help of our mentors in Rotaract, Péter and Paksi Attila, we became too many to fit into Péter's gallery. The time we spent there will be always referred to as the Underground Movement, alias the first stage of our development as a club. As our number grew, we became ever more active in terms of both our programs and our participation in the life of international Rotaract community. We officially became part of the latter after a stormy weekend in April 2006. We've seen a lot of faces since the beginning. Some came to stay, others were but visitors. Students, teachers, lawyers, physicians, economists, artists. We are the only officially international Rotaract Club in Hungary, that's why the official language of our meeting is English. Most foreigners staying in Hungary regard us as their Rotaract home here. Maybe it is the friendship we offer them that binds them to us, for friendship is what best describes the atmosphere in our club, the reason why we attend meetings and programs, in a word: why we love being together. We want to be members of an intelligent, open, outward bound community, where we are accepted no matter what our life is like.
- by Arpad Koszegi -
