We put up a poster near the bar and asked everyone the same thing. Where are you in your Hungary story? By the end of the night it was covered in answers, and a good half of the crowd could not squeeze themselves into a single box. That is the HOW TO HUNGARY September Social in one image. It sold out at 65 people on Wednesday 16 September at KLUSTER Budapest, near Astoria in District V, and the wine was never the point. The point is what happens when 65 people who are all building a life in the same country finally stand in the same place.

Andrew and I have hosted and produced events for years, in Canada and here in Budapest, and we have run the HOW TO HUNGARY socials at KLUSTER since 2025.

One Question, Six Boxes

The poster asked people to place themselves. Who is in the room tonight, and where are you in your Hungary story? There were six boxes to mark. Born and raised here. Hungarian roots, moved back. Just arrived. Settled in Hungary. Planning the move. And, for everyone who did not fit the other five, it’s complicated.

That last box did the most work. People stood there genuinely weighing it up. Hungarian roots and only just arrived. Settled for years and still discovering the place. Planning the move on paper, already half here in spirit. The line along the bottom of the poster put it better than I could: Different Stories, One Community. By the end of the night every category had filled up, and it’s complicated was nowhere near the emptiest of them.

A Very Small World

The crowd was properly mixed. Canadians, Americans, British, Dutch, Germans, guests from South America, and plenty of Hungarians who know this city better than any of us do. English was the shared language, not the shared background.

My favourite moment happened entirely by chance. I got talking to one of the Canadians, and we worked out that we had both been at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, at the same time. Two people who passed through the same small university, chatting properly over a glass of wine on a terrace in Budapest, decades later.

Most of Us Are Sorting Something

Scratch the surface and almost everyone at these evenings is in the middle of something practical. Some are chasing citizenship after years here. Others are working through permanent residency, or trying to sort their healthcare and find doctors who will treat them in English.

That last one is exactly why it matters to have FirstMed Budapest with us, our main supporter and a private English-speaking clinic in Budapest. When someone by the bar says they cannot find a doctor, it helps to be able to point them across the room to people who can.

This is the quiet engine of the socials. The friend you make over a glass of wine is often also the person who tells you which office to call, which form you need, or who to see about the thing that has been stuck for months. You arrive for the company. You leave with your life here a little more figured out.

Making Friends at This Age Is Hard

Here is the part few people say out loud. Most of our guests are in their forties, fifties and sixties, and making real friends at this stage of life is genuinely hard. You are well past the built-in friendships of school and first jobs. You have moved to a country where your old network does not reach. It can be lonelier than anyone admits at dinner parties.

That is who these evenings are for. People who want English-speaking friends who enjoy a proper laugh, a good glass of wine, and a conversation that actually goes somewhere. This particular crowd leans towards the arts. There was a lot of talk about live music, about theatre, about what people had seen recently and what to book next.

These are not just networking contacts. They are the start of a social life, which is a far harder thing to build from scratch at fifty than a stack of business cards.

The Best Sign It Worked

I can always tell whether a night has done its job by what turns up in my inbox afterwards. This time, people wrote in asking to be introduced to others they had met, or spotted across the terrace and not quite reached. That is the whole thing working exactly as intended.

One guest emailed simply to say she had made so many great connections, and to please hold her a ticket for the December social already. You cannot manufacture that. It only happens when people genuinely click.

The People Behind It

None of this runs with just Andrew and I alone. FirstMed Budapest, our main supporter, is the reason these evenings can stay open and welcoming rather than a sales pitch. KLUSTER give us a venue and a terrace nobody wanted to leave. Nimród Kovács Winery provided the reds, rosés and whites that kept every conversation going.

Angela Anderson from Angel Cakes made the cupcakes, which disappeared faster than anything else on the table, and our volunteers kept the door and the glasses moving so the whole thing felt effortless from the guest side. That is exactly how it is meant to feel. And Andrew, my husband, was co-host, co-producer, setup crew and DJ Woods all at once, as he always is. We have been throwing parties together for as long as we have been together, and I would not do it with anyone else.

Video and December

Marko from NOVKOV Visuals is cutting together a video of the night, and the clips alone are lovely. Keep an eye across Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to catch it when it lands.

Then save the date. The next one is our Christmas Social on Wednesday 16 December, the evening we go all in on the lights, the music and getting properly dressed up. As ever, the details reach the newsletter before tickets go public, so that is the place to be if you want a spot. Going by the emails already asking me to hold a ticket, it will not stay unsold for long.

Related Reads

• Community: HOW TO HUNGARY @ KLUSTER: Residency & Immigration 2025, for a sense of what these KLUSTER evenings are like from the inside.
• Community: Is Hungarian Impossible? What Happened at KLUSTER, a look back at one of the more memorable KLUSTER sessions.
• Living here: Life in Hungary 2025: Culture, Social Life & Language, for why community evenings like this one matter so much here.

FAQ

What is the HOW TO HUNGARY September Social? The HOW TO HUNGARY September Social is an evening wine social for internationals and Hungarians in Budapest, hosted by Anikó Woods and Andrew three times a year at KLUSTER. The September 2026 edition ran on Wednesday 16 September and sold out at 65 people.

Who comes to the HOW TO HUNGARY socials? Mostly English-speaking people building a life in Hungary, alongside Hungarians who love the city. The September crowd included Canadians, Americans, British, Dutch, Germans and South Americans, largely in their forties, fifties and sixties, many of them drawn to the arts, live music and theatre.

When is the next HOW TO HUNGARY social? The next one is the Christmas social on Wednesday 16 December 2026. Full details go to the HOW TO HUNGARY newsletter before tickets are public, so joining the newsletter at howtohungary.com is the way to get first access.

Where is KLUSTER Budapest? KLUSTER Budapest sits in District V, right by Astoria, within easy walking distance of most of downtown. The M2 metro stops directly at Astoria station if you are coming from further out.

What is included at a HOW TO HUNGARY social? Your ticket covers wine from Nimród Kovács Winery, nibbles through the evening, and music from DJ Woods. Non-alcoholic options are always available too, so there is no need to drink wine to enjoy the night.

Come in December

The poster said it best. Everyone in that venue has a different connection to Hungary, and every one of them is building a life here on their own terms, with all the paperwork, the language and the quiet loneliness that involves. What we really do is give people one evening where that feels a good deal less solitary. Different stories, one community, exactly as the poster promised. That a book I once wrote at a desk grew into this still amazes me.

If you are finding your own way here, my HOW TO HUNGARY guide is on the here, and the newsletter is where the next invitation lands first. Come on 16 December, and tell us where you are in your Hungary story. We will pour you a glass.