Last weekend’s XpatLoop Charity Gala had that unmistakable community energy I’ve grown to love here. Andrew was DJing, so we arrived early, and by the time the room filled, it felt as if everyone had brought half their village with them. We saw friends who had driven...
It’s the first week of December and Budapest is slipping into Christmas-party mode. Between the Irish-Hungarian Business Circle’s glittering celebration and XpatLoop’s big charity event this weekend, my calendar already looks like it’s had a confetti cannon fired at...
The fog has settled thick over our little patch of western Hungary, the kind that makes the morning feel half-finished. Andrew and I are closing down the cottage for the season and preparing to migrate back to Budapest, where the Christmas markets are already in full...
Wednesday night’s immigration event at KLUSTER with Dr. Sánta came with the usual mix of practical questions, and one in particular stuck with me: someone asked about the health-insurance requirement for residence applications. It was a simple question, but a sensible...
As the leaves gather in Budapest’s courtyards and steamy coffee powers me through Márton-nap (St. Martin’s Day) weather, my husband, Andrew, and I are also on a timely mission familiar to many: booking our annual flu shots. Sorting healthcare as a foreigner still...
Sunday Morning: New Borders, Familiar Confusion It’s Sunday morning, and the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) officially begins. I just came back from Rome yesterday, and even there, you couldn’t miss it - posters, screens, and warnings everywhere across Europe. This...
Every October, as the evenings draw in and the air smells faintly of roasted chestnuts, I find myself scrolling through restaurant menus instead of Netflix. Budapest’s Restaurant Week 2025 has just kicked off (2–19 October), and this year more than a hundred of the...
I was genuinely surprised when I first learned how inheritance works here in Hungary. Having lived in Canada, the US, and the UK, I’d always assumed that if you left a will naming your spouse as your sole heir, that would be that. Simple. But in Hungary, the law has...
As watch the bins being hauled out this morning - first chilly one of October - I realised our street in Budapest looked a little more alert than usual. Lids properly shut. No artful pyramids of recycling. It’s not paranoia: MOHU waste collection rules 2025 kicked in...
The rain is coming to finally break Budapest’s summer heat, and the city feels alive again. September always has that “back to school” energy, even for grown-ups like me. It’s also the month when my inbox fills with the same question: “How do I actually get Hungarian...
I’m Anikó Woods, a Canadian-Hungarian who’s been knee-deep in life here since 2017 - bureaucracy, culture, and everything in between.
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