Sárospatak is in the North-Eastern corner of Hungary. The population of the town is about 13.000. This is a so-called „school-town” with a special atmosphere. Sárospatak is also mentioned as Athens on the river Bodrog and the Hungarian Cambridge. This lovely, little town is rich in historical and cultural traditions.

            Our historical buidings are the Rákóczi castle, which is a museum now; the Reformed College, which is almost 500 years old. You can find here the Great Library and the School Museum too. Among the historical buildings the Picture Gallery and the Saint Elizabeth Church are also worth seeing.

            If you are interested in modern architecture, you can find here buildings designed by Imre Makovecz in organic style. These are the Árpád Vezér Secondary Grammar School (our school), the Cultural Center, the Bodrog Department Store, the Hild square and the entrance of the Spa and Pool of Végardó.

            If you want to chill out in the evening, you can go to the cinema, to the bowling club, to the disco or one of the cafés or restaurants in town.

            If you are into more active relaxation, you can go to the Spa and Pool of Végardó for a swim, you can do watersports on the River Bodrog like canoeing and kayaking, you can go hiking into the hills and mountains of Zemplén. The Tarn on the Megyer mountain is a must to see. It was the most beautiful natural sight in Hungary in 2011. You can get to know the town and the surroundings better by bike too. The Eastern backwater (Berek) and the River Bodrog are great places for fishing.

            Our town is rich in cultural events all year around. In spring there is the Saint Elizabeth Day on whit Sunday and Monday. In summer there are jazz, blues and classical music festivals (e.g.: Zemplén Art Festival and Crescendo con Spirito inAugust), in the wintertime you can enjoy theater productions in the cultural center and you can see and hear lectures about various topics.

            Sárospatak is an important centre of the Tokaj wine-region, so tourists can visit famous cellars here and taste our world-famous wines. An interesting thing to see about the cellars is the noble mould on the barrels and the wine bottles. The Tokaj wine-region is a world heritage site.   

 Our school 

            We attend the Árpád Vezér Secondary Grammar School and Youth Hostel in Sárospatak.

Our school has almost 600 students and 70 workers. The headmaster is Tamás Tóth, the deputy-heads are Erika Dusicza and Mária Bujdos.

The building was designed by Imre Makovecz in organic style. It means that you can see a lot of wood in the structure and there are natural shapes in and outside too. For example the stairs have wings, the pillars in the hall look like trees reaching the sky and the front of the school looks like an owl.

         Our school was named after Árpád, the leader of the Hungarian conquest, so our symbol is a life tree on a (silver-gilt) hairgrip from the Árpád era. This symbol also appears on our uniform tie and handkerchief as part of the school’s crest.

         For the boys the uniform is a dark suit, a white shirt, black scks, black shoes and a deep red tie with the school’s symbol. For the girls it is a dark skirt or trousers, black shoes, a white shirt and a deep red handkerchief with the school’s logo. We have to wear this uniform at celebrations,  commemorations and special occasions.

         Our school has a really busy life, we have many programmes. In September or October there is a raisin initiation party, in November there is a ribbon ceremony for the school-leavers, in February there is a fancy-dress party and we say goodbye to the school-leavers in May.

         Our school-day starts at 8, we have 45-minute-long lessons and 10-minute-long breaks. There is a big break after the third lesson, it is 15 minutes long. We usually have 6 or 7 lessons, so we can have lunch at 13:25 or 14:20 in the canteen.

         Our school’s main profiles are languages, I.T. and talent mentoring. We can learn here English, German and Italian as foreign languages, the other school subjects are maths, hisory, biology, philosophy, social sciences, Hungarian literature and grammar, arts, media, learning methodology, self-knowledge, music, physics, chemistry, I.T., P.E.

         In the afternoon we can join extra curricular activities like handball training, basketball training, football training, aerobics, study circles, media workshop and you can also try robotics. 

         Our school is busy with competitions, study trips and international projects all year around, so life is never dull here.