One Year Later…
It has been one year since we have been back from Hungary. I have done a lot of reflection about my time in Budapest, and about all the adventures we had as a family. I figured it was worth updating my blog with what has been happening since my Fulbright ended, particularly related to my Fulbright work and my time in Hungary.
Academic Work
I love talking about our time in Hungary; I could seriously sit and talk about it for hours and hours! No one really wants to hear all about that though, so instead I have disseminated information about the Fulbright in a few other ways. The Early Career Forum for the Society for the Study of School Psychology asked me to write a post about the Fulbright for their forum. This focuses mostly on general considerations about applying for the Fulbright rather than my time in Hungary, but will hopefully encourage other school psychologists to consider applying for the Fulbright.
I led a symposium at our national school psychology convention about the Fulbright experience. This panel consisted of Fulbright alumni who went to Vietnam, Singapore, Ukraine, Greece, Finland, and of course, Hungary. We got to talk about our own experiences with our Fulbright travels and some of the nuances of the different countries we visited. The symposium was only 2 hours, which was definitely not enough time to talk about so many awesome experiences!
At my university I connected with the director of International Partnerships and Research. We met with the marketing director who is working on a potential article about the Fulbright experience, and I answered several interview questions for him about my Fulbright journey. I am also reviewing Fulbright applications for future potential Fulbrighters.
I am working on a potential research collaboration with my colleagues in Hungary that may end up expanding to other areas. We had several conversations about the different classroom management practices in the United States and Hungary, and came up with the idea of translating a survey that can be used for teachers in both the US and Hungary examining teacher’s views of classroom behavioral management. After speaking to other international colleagues, we think this may be an idea that could be expanded to examining classroom management strategies across different cultures. I am hoping to leverage this into some grant funding, both within my university and perhaps more large-scale.
Personal and Family Stuff
Coming home from Hungary, the kids had to be reenrolled in school. Their teachers had been keeping up with us throughout the fall, and we were trying to follow the weekly lesson plans that they sent to us. On the first day of ‘real’ school, it was dark, cold, and really early! The kids weren’t used used to getting up at 6:00 am, so it was a difficult transition. But the kids were happy to get back to school, as teaching/learning from home is tough. They missed their friends, and were happy to bring back souvenirs for all their friends and classmates.
The kids were both able to talk to the other children in their class about their travels and the time in Hungary. They brought all students in their classes some szaloncukor, or Hungarian Christmas chocolates, and Hungarian coins. They got to show photos of some of their favorite things they did and teach the students some Hungarian words. I was glad that they got this opportunity to share the Hungarian culture with their friends and the other students in Kentucky.
The kids had different reactions to our return home. Zoey said multiple times she wished we could stay in Hungary or travel more across the world. We hit several of her ‘bucket list’ items, but she still wants to visit lots more places. Ronin was more difficult to read; he could take it or leave it. I think he would be happy anywhere. Willow was the one who was homesick. She missed her ‘uni’—her giant unicorn that we have at home. She was very happy to get back home, but now says she wants to go back to Budapest “just to visit”. The kids bring up topics about Hungary or our other travels often, and will usually want to cheers with an Egészségedre!
One of the biggest things our big trip has led to is a wanderlust to explore more places! JonPaul and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean in August, visiting Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, St. John, St. Thomas, and the Bahamas, and we took the kids on a cruise to the Caribbean over Christmas, visiting Puerto Rico, Haiti, St. Maartin, St. Kitts, Antigua, and St. Lucia. Of course, a cruise is definitely not the best way to become immersed in a culture, but it was fun to visit so many places and introducing the kids to the Caribbean. In October, I went to Peru with my sister to hike to Machu Picchu. This was an amazing experience, and was easier since my sister speaks fluent Spanish! That is more travels in one year than we had done in probably 10 years prior to our trip to Hungary.
In the next few years, we are planning several more trips, including an epic road trip to some of the national parks out west, a trip to Tokyo to visit family friends, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, visiting some of the national parks in the states surrounding Kentucky, a trip to Seattle and possibly Alaska from there, and an international school psychology conference in Latvia to hopefully present data on our projects. Zoey is really pushing for a trip to Egypt to see the pyramids, and I would like the chance to hike the W in Patagonia and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (eventually!).
As I continue my connection to the Fulbright association I hope to be able to do another Fulbright someday. Perhaps we can return to Hungary on a sabbatical or during a summer break. Or maybe we will end up in another country, but I can’t imagine anywhere being as special as Hungary has been. I am so glad that the Fulbright experience has affected our family so much, and I will definitely be a Fulbright alumni for life!
