The “Canadian Experience” through the eyes of a Hungarian

It’s shaping up to be a year unlike any other for 17-year-old Kira Panta from Debrecen, Hungary. Panta arrived in Canada, in September, and has been experiencing something new every day since she left her home. “You have to know that this was my very first flight and that I am afraid of planes,” said Panta. Over the next year, she will be living with three host families while attending Gloucester High School in Ottawa as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program.

Her trip began at 4 a.m. Hungarian time with a two and a half hour drive to Budapest, the country’s capital for her first flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Panta waved goodbye to her family with tears in her eyes and walked through the gate distracting her thoughts by watching the planes outside.

“I felt my heart beating like never before,” said Panta, explaining how she felt after stepping onto an airplane for the first time. “When I looked [out the window] everything was so beautiful and I felt myself calm down,” she said.

This portion of her trip was over all to quickly. After landing in Frankfurt, Panta ran to the Air Canada terminal barely catching her next flight. “It was a really really long flight [after that],” said Panta. 

Unlike the cold, jet lag didn’t affect this young traveller, and she learned the difference between the Hungarian and Canadian climates very quickly. “One day I woke up and looked out my window and it was frozen everywhere,” said Panta, who has never experienced temperatures like this in the fall.

With September came, not only new temperatures, but a different school environment as well. In Hungary it is required that all students complete high school with a second language, which is different than the school system in Ontario. Panta has been learning English since Grade 3. She then had the opportunity to learn colloquial English from the Canadian exchange student who lived at their house in Hungary while her older sister was on exchange in the United States, four years ago.

At Gloucester High School, Panta is enrolled in a mix of Grade 11 and 12 classes and understands the material very well. She will have to redo her eleventh year when she returns to Hungary next September. “I would say that [school] is easier here than in Hungary,” said Panta who has already completed the course material for math 12 in Ottawa at a Grade 10 level in Hungary.

She is also learning lots about the Canadian culture. “People are more open…everyone is always saying thank you and sorry,“ she said. “I was in Costco once and I bumped into a lady pushing a cart and she [said] I’m so sorry – but I bumped into her,” said Panta, who was blown away by the politeness. “People in Hungary are nice, but not that nice,” she added.

Although Canada is in many ways different from Hungary, parts of Ottawa are making Panta feel at home. “When I look out the bus window the landscape is kind of the same as Hungary,” she said.

The young exchange student is looking forward to the year ahead with plans of joining the school’s volleyball team, meeting with other exchange students, travelling to Quebec [City] for Carnival and enjoying Beaver Tails on the Rideau Canal.

Out of this year I [also] want to get to know the culture and…myself a little bit more,” she said. With only four weeks under her belt and still no poutine, this Hungarian’s “Canadian Experience” is just getting started.

Danielle Clarke is a journalism student at Carleton University, in Ottawa.