Despite having visited multiple different countries on this trip thus far, stepping foot on Hungarian soil was the first time I actually felt like I was in a different country. Ironically, this was also the only border crossing that was unceremoniously ignored - no passport check, no stamp, no interrogation about my motives/intentions/departure date... Yet, for the first time, I felt like I was in a new country.
I think, as an American, I'm spoiled rotten. I was raised in a country that boasts examples of almost every geographical phenomenon, culture, language, religion, and lifestyle within its boarders. Western Europe, therefore, was just too similar to feel like an entirely new place. Even in Germany, surrounded by people who spoke a language I don't know, it felt eerily similar. Maybe I traveled too much when I was small, maybe I'm jaded, maybe this isn't the same as your experience... but it was mine. Then I stepped foot in Budapest.
For two days, I was mesmerized. My eyes hurt from trying to take in every detail around me. My camera is probably still exhausted from those two days. One the third day, my Hungarian friend, Dávid, took me back to his hometown (Köryne, a village of about 4,500 people) for a football game and lunch with his parents.
While driving through the Hungarian countryside, I had this overwhelming feeling of connection with all of humanity. I know thousands of great poets, writers, philosophers, political/religious leaders, and probably millions of others have written and spoken about the human condition and how we're all connected - it's a tired subject. However, it's one thing to read about it and another to experience it.
There's something about driving around in a different country thousands of miles from your own that makes you realize exactly how much of a social construct nationality is. That Hungarian countryside could have been in Virginia, England, Ireland, or Austria. I've seen identical countrysides split by identical roads in each. The only difference is the language the street signs are in. The football (soccer) game was identical to any football game played in the States, the UK, Germany, or Spain. One team won, one team lost. Someone screamed at the ref over a bad call. A player got mad at another player. The same scene in every country.
So why does it matter what piece of land we were born on? We all breathe the same air, drink the same water, look at the same stars, love, fight, eat, sleep, work, live... Who cares if you were born on that piece of dirt and want to go check out another piece of dirt? It's the same dirt. Why shouldn't you be allowed to go see it?
In college we read an article entitled Becoming A Citizen of the World. It's been a while since I've reread it, but from what I recall, it basically advocated getting out in the world and doing things - participating. In this way, we could become citizens of the world. After this week, I'd argue we're all citizens of the world - most of us just haven't realized it yet.
