SZEGED is situated near the southern border of Hungary, just to the south of the mouth of the Maros River, on both banks of the Tisza River. A large part of the town lies on the right bank, while Újszeged (New Szeged), a suburban district of residential housing and parks, is on the left bank of the river. Szeged is the cultural and economic center of South-Eastern Hungary, and a thriving university town famous for its open-air theater. The city center is marked by the medieval Tower of St. Demetrius and the stately twin spires of the Roman Catholic Cathedral (Dóm). This cathedral was built in the first decades of our century to commemorate the reviving of the city after the devastating flood of the Tisza river in 1879.

By Hungarian standards, Szeged is a large city with its population of 177,000 people. The climate is very favorable. The mean temperature is about 52 ^oF, somewhat higher than in the rest of the country. Szeged is sometimes called the City of Sunshine as there is an average 2,000 hours of sunshine annually. The area of Szeged has been inhabited since Roman times. During the period of the Great Migration, from the fifth through the ninth centuries, it was a meeting place for various tribes. Because of this, the region is abundant in valuable archeological sites. The settlement was given the rank of free royal town in 1241; it was an important monastic center in the later Middle Ages; during the 16th and 17th centuries it suffered the Turkish occupation and served as an administrative center for the Ottomans. The huge flood of 1879, mentioned earlier, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The reconstruction that followed - with the help of Vienna, Paris, London, and other European cities - created a modern city with an exemplary layout of avenues and boulevards with a strikingly homogenous architecture that preserves the Eclecticism and Art Nouveau styles of the turn of the century.

Szeged is the economic center of the region and is famous for food production, especially salami and paprika (the Pride of Szeged paprika is a common brand in American supermarkets). Textiles, oil and natural gas processing, and clothing production are also significant, but the city is most famous for its culture, including its various institutions of higher education. Representative schools are the Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, the József Attila University, the Juhász Gyula Teacher Training College, the Liszt Ferenc College of Music, and the College of Theology. A popular place with our international students is the Deák Highschool where classes are taught both in English and Hungarian. The school has an international faculty and student population, and the students of Hungarian Studies often find part time employment there as conversation teachers. Because of the different structure of higher education in Hungary, universities and colleges do not individually have as many students as average American universities. Yet, the total student population of 13-15 thousand fills the streets and squares of the inner city.

As an American travel-guide once noted: "Attila József University's campus at Dugonics tér [square] is always swimming with students - time and season don't seem to make any difference. Speak English loudly, read Newsweek conspicuously, or simply look incredibly lost - chances are you'll make a friend or friends, or possibly find yourself a spot to sleep on somebody's floor."In spite of the fact that Szeged has the atmosphere of a quiet college town, the city is surprisingly cosmopolitan. The UNESCO-sponsored international Center for Biological Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, as well as other institutions of higher education, host a great number of international scholars and students. The local opera is second in reputation only to the one in Budapest. Theaters, cinemas, clubs, the riverbanks, parks, swimming pools and sports grounds provide plenty of possibilities for recreation.