Twenty-two year old Gergely Nemeth, better known as 'Nemo' is from Hungary. Majoring in Marketing and Economics, Nemo tells us about the university he is attending. “I go to Bryant University in Rhode Island. It was kind of funny I really like the show ‘The Apprentice’ while I was a senior in high school and one of the stars of the show came to speak at Bryant so I decided to go what a great experience to meet them,” he says. I was amazed by what the school had to offer technology, the friendly people, and the small class sizes and that is why I decided that I really wanted to apply and I invited my dad over to America to check it out and see what America is all about and he was very, very impress with the school and we decided to make the decision and I stayed.”
Adjusting to life in the United States wasn't a challenge for Nemo being that his first opportunity to come here was as an exchange student. “I started out as an exchange student and I had a very good host family as an exchange student and I really started liking America,” he says. “I wanted to come to the U-S because I wanted to learn the language, but it turned out to be much more than that. I decided to apply to college. I got in, got some money and decided to stick around.”
Nemo says having a mentor and also joining a fraternity has helped him enjoy his time at Bryant University. “It has been a great experience. I joined a fraternity my freshman year and it turned out to be one of the better decisions I’ve made. It is Delta Chi fraternity and with the help of some members in the fraternity I was able to get an internship at a big company and I’ve met some very, very great friends and I think those friendships will last a lifetime,” he says.
“My professors have been great especially one of my Economics professors he has been kind of my mentor and he was my internship advisor and he really help me explaining how the system works, what are some of the challenges I have to face and I was very scared of the transition, but for me it went very smoothly which I am very glad about.”
When it comes to cultural and educational differences, Nemo says, “First of all the technology. Hungary is dragging behind it is nothing like the high tech American technology and the class sizes are huge, anywhere from two hundred to five hundred in a class. At Bryant University we only have thirty people on average in the classes,” he says. “Also I don’t feel like the professors have as much of a personal relationship as they do here in the U-S and I really like the fact that I can just be in the grocery store and just start talking to anyone,” he says.
“There is more like stricter social guidelines I would say in Hungary, but here it just seems so friendly and I had the chance to take a road trip out to Arizona last winter and down South people are more friendlier than here in New England so that is what I can say in a nutshell and its great. I really like that!”
One memorable experience Nemo recalls since attending college is, “I was an orientation leader at my school and just meeting the new people who are getting very excited to be going to go to college, just seeing that transition that they make from high school to college is so great you know seeing all their excitement in their faces and seeing how they are beginning to experience this stage in their lives which was somewhat I had to go through and just re-living that experience it is a great thing every time.”
Nemo will graduate in May next year. When asked what are your plans once you graduate, he says, “ Because I had an internship this summer at Mass Mutual, a life insurance company, I would like to stay with them. Hopefully they will offer me a job and then I would build a career hopefully here in America, meet a nice girl, marry her and you know have a family.”
