I remember my last week in Hungary before I came here. It took about a week to pack my suitcase. It was very difficult to decide what to bring and what not to bring with me. I had no idea how people were dressing here and my suitcase was small; I had to pack cleverly.
How do children dress in school?
I thought a lot about what I should wear on my first day here. I remember when I read in the school handbook what I could wear, and I saw I can’t have holes in my pants, and I can’t have my shoulder out and everything else. I was surprised when I saw that the kids usually wear a sweatshirt and sweatpants. Some days the girls dress up here, but this is not really common; usually on home game days.
If we watch my country on the weekdays, the view is so different. In school, the kids never wear sweatpants and crocs and checkered pajama trousers. If you wear these, your classmates will laugh at you or just look at you weirdly because it’s considered really bad. The girls in the American school like to wear leggings; in Hungary, you can’t do this because this is disrespectful to teachers. We only wear leggings in gym class, in practice after school, or at home. The kids in my country wear jeans or every other color of pants and a T-shirt and a cardigan or a nice sweater for some of the guys. In Hungary, ripped jeans are also popular, but in some schools, you can’t wear those because this is disrespectful. The girls like to wear skirts or dresses, but in the winter you can’t wear summer dresses; we have warmer and thicker, more layered winter and fall skirts. If you wear a skirt in school you should wear tights too because if you don’t wear them, this is also disrespectful to the teachers. I love to wear tights; this is my favorite part because I have lots of different colored tights. For example, I have yellow, red, green, purple, orange, pink, blue, black, brown. In the summer when there is no school or in the last month of the school year when the weather is hot you don’t need to wear tights, except when going to the church. High-heeled boots are very popular with girls in winter. For example, I have an ankle boot and an above and below knee boot. In better weather, sandals and sports shoes and elegant shoes are common.
My school has similar exams to the finals here. In those exams, the boys have to wear a white shirt, black pants, and black shoes, not trainers, and suits and ties. The girls wear a black skirt and white blouse and tights. My school has a uniform, but we only have to wear it on the school’s first and last days, and some other days. The girls’ skirt is blue and the boys’ tie is blue also but everything else is the same.
Everyday dressing
In Hungary, if it is a weekend when you wake up and you want to run to the store because you need some groceries for your breakfast, you should dress up. I mean you can wear jeans and an easy t-shirt, but not sweat pants and leggings and crocs. The big grocery shopping on the weekend is also the same. I remember when I saw a person in Walmart who didn’t wear shoes, only shocks. I know there are exceptions everywhere, but the people here wear leggings and pajama pants in the stores when they go shopping.
If you are going for a weekend dog walk or just walking in the city, it’s not nice to wear a sweatpant because you look underdressed. These are not explicit rules, but if you wear sweatpants to school or on the street in the city for example, you are likely to feel uncomfortable because other people are dressed up.
In the winter people usually wear elegant or sports coats with hats, scarves, and gloves. The jumper is also really popular with jeans and boots. Some women wear skirts or dresses with tights. When the weather gets better, more people wear skirts and dresses and shorts. The summer and spring footwear is usually sandals; you can find elegant and sporty sandals also.
When people go to work, men usually wear shirt and trousers, nice shoes, not sports shoes, a tie, and a suit. Some men only wear a shirt without a suit. When women go to work ,they wear trousers in every color, a nice jumper or sweater or a blouse, and the footwear are boots and high heels. Overall, it's really important you wear elegant clothes at your workplace.
If you are going to a restaurant or theater you really need to dress up. I mean in the theater the ladies wear a similar dress as the prom dresses here. The men wear suits with a tie and a white shirt and black trousers.
Overall, it is really different how people dress in my country. For me this is an important what I want to wear in school or somewhere. I am very curious to see how the countries will change their dressing and will America’s fashion ever reach the Hungarian schools.