Blog: Finally a Good Experience

FTC Rail Cargo Hungaria's new Spanish star Nerea Pena signed from Spanish side Grupo Asfi Itxako Navarra this season.

In her first blog for ehfCL.com the 22 year-old right back speaks of her move from Spain to Hungary and how she is finding life in her new club and country.

I thought a lot before leaving Itxako because I grew up in that team. The years spent with them were beautiful, so I think back to them with a bit of nostalgia. I really did not appreciate how good it was when I was there.

But the situation became really bad there, so I needed to find a new team. Despite having a serious injury, I received several offers.

When Ferencváros sent me their offer, I was thinking about it because I had never thought about playing in Hungary before.

I compared their offer with the others and it seemed much better in every aspect. First and foremost I was able to regain that technical playing level that I had before my serious knee injury, and for that I am very happy with my decision.

It is a bit funny that my coach, Ambros Martín also transferred to Hungary alongside me. We both have different plans but I am sure we both chose the best ones. Eventually destiny wanted us to come up against each other. Teacher against student…

My first impressions are really good at Ferencváros. The team treats me very well, I cannot say anything negative. The truth is that after the many changes happened in my life, this is finally a good experience.

We have some communication problems in the team, as the Hungarian language is very difficult and not all of my team mates speak English.

Besides this small problem, the other girls and I understand each other well. I keep learning their language, but I do not have a teacher, so I am learning from my team mates.

I am trying to learn the basic terms to understand the most important sentences and to speak a bit, although, it is very hard, and I am improving quite slowly.

I also like the capital city, Budapest. This is one of the greatest cities I have ever visited and I can always find something new here.

I have tried to visit everything I possibly can, but there are a lot of sights. I am sure I have only covered a small part of the city. People’s temper and traditions are quite different here, and I really like the food.