Kinga

Photo by: Sibylla Chipaziwa

Meet Kinga Toth, a Political Science major from Budapest, the capital of Hungary. She moved to the United States in 2008, where she finished high school in 2012. She is due to graduate from Purchase in 2016.

Why Purchase?
It is reasonably priced, and because I’m an international student, I don’t qualify for state aid. I was looking for a good price for school, something that was close to home. Also, dorms usually cost a lot of money, and I really wanted to save money. Maybe for grad school, I could go to a more expensive school.
Yeah, we’re more likely to get scholarships, I agree.  A lot of lists that rank schools rank Purchase high for it’s affordability.
I like the school very much. Even though it has an affordable price, it looks very pretty.

What do you feel is the biggest differences living here and in Hungary?
If you compare the two countries, just the whole mentality is totally different, but it’s very hard to explain… I guess just living here [in Courtlandt Manor] is also different from living in Budapest, which is a city. You can get around very easily by public transportation, but here, you have to have a car, otherwise you cannot go anywhere.
There’s also the difference that Budapest is old. Cities in Europe are much older. You can just walk around and see all these historic buildings, old castles from the Middle Ages; if you come to the U.S., everything is so new compared to that.

What is one thing you miss the most about Budapest?
I don’t miss the place so much. I just miss my best friend, I miss her the most.