The Director of the Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (CSEEES) Angela Brintlinger will lead this year’s Global May Hungary (Slavic 2797.02) study abroad program. CSEEES Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow Siobhan Seigne will serve as graduate teaching assistant for the trip. Slavic 2979.02 has been added to the GE category CITIZENS FOR A JUST AND DIVERSE WORLD and can be counted toward that requirement. The 3-credit course can also be counted toward a minor in Slavic Studies. 

The course provides students with a basic grounding in the history, geography, and politics of Central Europe. Students will have the chance to compare the former Hapsburg city of Budapest with Warsaw, a city that was part of the Russian Empire before becoming the capital of a Soviet satellite state and is now a bustling international metropolis in post-Socialist space, as well as with the southwest Hungarian city of Pécs. Budapest lies in the center of the Carpathian Basin and is spread across both sides of the river Danube. The city is home to a lively cafe culture along with many world-renowned sites, theaters, monuments, and spas. In recent years several parts of Budapest have been placed on UNESCO's World Heritage list.  

This program explores contemporary Central Europe through a historical lens, addressing questions of cultural identity, citizenship, diversity, and justice. Through site visits to political and cultural institutions, historical monuments and museums, as well as in daily lectures and seminar discussions of films and readings, students analyze this region as a unique space for shared experiences of national belonging and transnational connection. Students learn about the long history of the region as part of various empires, starting with imperial Roman traces in Budapest itself, and explore the legacies of empire, including oppression, that helped to form the region. Relationships with larger entities—from the Catholic Church to the EU to NATO—and with neighbors, including Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia, will help to situate current cultural and linguistic identities and shed light on recent political tensions.  

The program will take place May 6-29, 2024. Students will spend most of the four weeks in Budapest, Hungary and they will fly to Warsaw, Poland for a long weekend. No previous knowledge of the region is required. 

Scholarship funding is available across the university to help students travel internationally. Arts and Sciences students can apply here with a deadline of Monday, January 15, 2024, at 4 p.m. Additional opportunities from across the university are available at that link or this one. Don’t miss your chance to visit this amazing part of the world! 

Students can learn more and apply now at go.osu.edu/GlobalMayHungary. The study abroad application deadline is January 17, 2024. For questions, please contact Global Education Specialist Kathryn Burden.