nem beszélek magyarul

I don't speak Hungarian.

Today, Julie and I went to a Turkish place for lunch, and when I got to the cashier, I did what I normally do, and say the bare minimum of "good day" and "thank you," while relying on the cash register display to tell me how much money I owe.  The man asked me in English if I spoke Hungarian, and I said no, and he proceeded to lecture me on how I should have told him that so he could have communicated.  I understand that, I guess, but I'm so used to getting by with the basics and not needing anything else because in most cases, the people I interact with do not speak English.

We were told when we came here that assuming people speak English is rude, so I never make that assumption.  I feel uncomfortable using the few words I know because I often get weird looks when I pronounce them incorrectly.

When I was in Paris with Rhaelynn, people would be supportive and helpful with our pathetic attempts to say French words, and I felt comfortable trying.  But here, I don't.  I dread the moments when I am expected to speak the language other than to say "thank you" or "hello," because people seem annoyed at my lack of knowledge of the language.  I don't feel comfortable trying to learn it.  I've even had a couple of people kind of *tsk tsk* at my Americanism, which is disappointing.

With that said, not every encounter with a Hungarian is like this.  I just had lots of awkward moments today and recently.

I wish Marketing didn't overlap with Basic Hungarian.

Oh well.

I go to Prague tomorrow, so I'll be experiencing a different language barrier.  The bus leaves at 7 AM, which means I've got to get up rather early.  It should be fun, but I've got a lot to do tonight.

"Widgets" is a fun word

Since the last time I posted, two McDaniel Budapest students and I have successfully made a website for the McDaniel Messenger, the student newspaper at this campus.  Check it out here.  It's still a work in progress, but most of the work that remains is obtaining and posting the archives.  We used Wordpress, which isn't actually as hard as I thought it would be, and widgets are fun.  Gotta love those widgets.

Laura, Julie, Caitlin, and I went to Arriba Taqueria the other night before Laura and I watched The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, thus concluding the Stieg Larsson obsession until the American movies come out in December.

I can't stop listening to the Sucker Punch soundtrack.  There are a few songs I'm not so excited about, but there are a few I can't get enough of, so it balances out.

I also had a dream about Chuck E. Cheese's.  Strange, but it's relevant because today, someone asked me if there are arcades all over the place in America.  This same person had never had peanut butter and jelly before.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, because it's not like most people in this country have ever had peanut butter, but I felt awkward explaining peanut butter and jelly because it's such a normal thing for me.

I have a whole bunch of newspaper stuff to do, but that's ok because I usually think it's fun.  Tomorrow, though, we have an extra Journalism class at 4 pm.  That'll be awful.  I'm basically gonna be at school from 10:15 to 5:30.   This is unfortunate because it leaves me little time to prepare for the next day's trip to PRAGUE!

Yep, Prague is this weekend.

And then on Monday, I get to go to my first press conference!

Post-Romania, Pre-Prague weekend

This has been an uneventful week for me, which is why I haven't really written anything.  I needed a break after so much back to back traveling.  It was awesome- I spent a whole day doing nothing.

But yesterday, I actually left the apartment for something other than school or food.

Julie, Laura, and I went to the Holocaust Memorial Center.  It ended up costing 100 HUF, which is like 50 cents (again, being a student in Europe has its perks).  It was less emotionally intense than the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., but still really good.  I think what I liked was not just how well everything was explained with various forms of multimedia, but getting to see things from a non-Western perspective. I learned about how the Holocaust happened in Hungary and how it affected people that lived here where I'm living now.  I found out that my apartment is located in what used to be one of the ghettos, and that my bus stop is named after a 20th century Jewish author who was shot in that time.  It was really interesting, and luckily almost everything was in English as well as Hungarian, unlike some of the other museums here.

We went to Kaiser's after, and I didn't need anything but I ended up buying Hungarian Easter candy.  They had MASSIVE kinder eggs.  So amazing.  And kit-kat bunnies, which looked interesting, but I haven't eaten mine yet.  Basically, Easter candy in Europe is super exciting.  They lack all of the jelly beans and stuff like we have in America, but the chocolate selection is awesome.

That night, I reluctantly joined the group to MOM Park, which is a mall, to go see Sucker Punch.  Getting there was a minor adventure, as we somehow managed to leave the sidewalk without noticing because it transitioned to some kind of decorative path on the side of the highway that we were not actually supposed to walk on...but we survived and finally made it to the mall.  When we got there, we realized we couldn't taken a tram.  Oops.  Anyways, the movie was AWESOME! As soon as Emily Browning's cover of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) came on, I knew I'd love it.  It was so visually appealing, and the plot took place on multiple realities, and I just bought the soundtrack and am listening to it because I just can't get enough.  Totally gonna buy this movie when it comes out.

Today, I went to Arena Plaza with Laura and Julie to go shopping.  My pants have all developed holes in them so I needed new ones.  I got new ones, but not after exploring the ENTIRE MALL before finding stores that had normal-sized clothes at prices normal people can afford.  Honestly, the the first 2/3 of the experience, I was under the impression that all Hungarians are rich and anorexic.  So I got two new pairs of jeans.  Awesome.  I also bought lettuce at Tesco because I needed lettuce and Tesco is awesome.

Good day.

But now my feet are killing me.  My shoes are just awful.  New blisters almost every day.  I tried on some shoes at the mall but they were expensive and I didn't love them.  I really ought to get some new shoes soon, though.

My friends are going to see Sanctum tonight, but I'm not interested.  Gonna actually get some work done, I hope.  I read all of "Tracks" in Paris but now that we're discussing it in class, I can't remember anything so I need to reread the chapters for this week.  Also gotta get some work done on the website for the Messenger.

It's Midterms Week.

I'm awful about remembering when exams are.  Today, I have a midterm in Multicultural Voices in American Literature, and I was thinking that it was going to be on Tuesday.   It'll be fine, though, because it's not like I didn't study.  The only other test I have left to take is in Marketing, which will be on Thursday.  

Last night, I attempted to book bus tickets to Poland for this weekend, but the transaction didn't go through because the Internet connection was too slow.  I later talked to my dad about it, though, because it's basically gonna be 1 day traveling there, 1 day in Krakow/Auschwitz, and 1 day traveling back, and I felt weird about spending money on two days of transportation and one day of actually doing stuff.  Don't get me wrong- I'd love to go there, but I'd like to have more time.  Three day weekends aren't always as conducive to travel as one might think.  Anyways, my dad said I should save my money for Spring Break. Or to buy new jeans, because all the ones I've brought have developed holes.  He brings up a good point.

I'm afraid of the malls here, though.   I'm pretty sure they need their own zip codes.

Transylvania, day 3: My boots were not actually made for walking

I woke up way before everybody because I've been getting used to getting up around 7:30.  So I showered and got ready to go, since we planned to check out at 10.  Once everyone was ready to go, we checked out, stored our luggage in the hostel, and set off to go up the mountain to the Hollywood-stlye Brasov sign.


First, though, we bought soft pretzels for breakfast.  We haven't found any in Hungary so it was exciting.  I was unfortunately crippled by my feet at this point and felt really pathetic for holding the group back with my sad attempts at walking.   Seriously, who gets blisters on the bottom of their toes?!

We walked up the base of the mountain to the cable car station and bought our tickets.  I didn't really like going up because there were a lot of people in there with us, but we survived the ride.   We then walked around until we found the sign.  There was snow on the ground and the trail was slippery, and Laura slipped at one point in a precarious spot.  Finally we made it to the top, and it was gorgeous.  We could see the whole town, and there was also a random cave with a tomb in it.  We took lots of pictures before heading back to the cable car to leave.

Lunch was at Pizza Roma, which we think is owned by the same people as Pizza Pasta Venezia because they even had the same plates.  It wasn't as good as Pizza Pasta Venezia, but it was still better than Hungarian pizza, and it was enjoyable.  American TV shows were playing, and I saw more of "I didn't know I was pregnant" than I've ever wanted to.  It was actually nauseating.

We had so much time to kill before our train departed so we went back to La Republique, where we went the first night, to get tea and hot chocolate because it was so cold outside.

Still having lots of time, we decided we needed a mission so we set out to find me a new purse to replace the one I broke in Paris.  I finally bought one at Terranova.

Even that didn't take up much time, though, so we went to McDonald's.  I hate going to Mickey D's in foreign countries because it makes me feel like a stereotype, but it was so warm in there...

Finally we got back to the hostel after enough time had passed to figure out how to get to the train station without walking there, because I was not in a good place to handle the 30 minute walk.  We got bus information first, but then learned that a taxi would be 8-10 lei, which is about $3.  The woman at the hostel offered to call a taxi for us, so before she did that, we set off in search of snack food for on the train.  European snack food sucks.  It's all potato chips, chocolate, and alcohol.  It's awful.  We were all running out of lei at that point, too, so we pooled our money to buy stuff.

We got to the train station really early, sat there waiting for it to come, finally got on, and then we were off!  This train, in my opinion, was not nearly as nice as the other, but it was fine.  We had fun talking and hanging out, as our original plan was to stay up all night.  Around midnight, though, I felt really sick from not eating real food for dinner, and we ran out of water and got really thirsty, so it became less fun, and I went to sleep in hopes that I'd feel better.  Border control came about 15 minutes after everyone fell asleep.  We arrived in Budapest at Keleti station at 5:25 AM, went to McDonald's for breakfast but it was closed, went to an ABC for water, and then went our separate ways to get home.  Caitlin and I rode the bus home together because our apartments are only a block away from each other.

I got back and felt so sick, I could barely walk and couldn't even force myself to eat rice. I wrote Dani a note explaining not to worry if she didn't see me because I was asleep and asked her to grab some groceries for me if she had time, and then hobbled to my bed for some much-needed rest.

I'm feeling so much better now and Dani is awesome because she got food for me so I wouldn't have to limp to Kaiser's.  My class for the day was cancelled, which worked out well because our heat is broken and I can't shower and don't want to go out in public.

Transylvania, day 2: A palace, a castle, and a fortress

We woke up Saturday morning early enough to shower and eat by 9:30, because the night before we had signed up to go castling, which may or may not be a real word.  Kismet Dao Hostel really has redeemed my opinion about hostels.  The showers were clean, the sheets were clean, the kitchen was clean- the whole place was generally clean.  They provided cereal and tea and coffee for breakfast.  And most importantly, they organized our trip for the day for about 80 RON, which is around $32.  This got us a car and Romanian driver to take us across the Romanian countryside to three locations.

Romanian driving, though, terrifies me.  Apparently lanes and speed limits are merely suggestions...  The cool thing I noticed is that traffic circles usually replace intersections, and people in Romania actually know how to drive through them, unlike drivers in America in my experience.  The driver was nice and pointed out stuff on the way, but I was holding on to my seatbelt for dear life in hopes that I would not die in Romania just to see a castle.

Peles palace was the first stop, and when we arrived, it became apparent that we were much more highly elevated than I'd anticipated, because it was really cold with remnants of snow/ice on the ground.  It was beautiful, though.  We took a lot of photos outside because inside, it was required to purchase a photography pass.  Our student IDs got us in for 5 RON, which is less than $2.  When we got called in for the tour, we were asked to put on slippers over our shoes, which was only a slight ordeal, because they were all either too big or too small for our feet.  This caused us, particularly me, to have to shuffle around the palace in order for the slippers to not fall off.  The palace was beautiful- much less gaudy than Versailles but still just as impressive.  The woodwork was amazing.  There was one room in which 14 types of wood were used, which was astounding because I don't even know if I could name 14 trees off the top of my head.  We were shown the location of a secret passageway, which was super cool.  There were beautiful paintings and wood inlays and furniture throughout the place.  We only got to see the lower levels because we paid for the basic tour, but it was still an amazing experience.  The guide was very informative, too, because he explained what things were for and where they were from and who used them and how, and it was clear that most of the things in the palace were kept in their original state/location, so we saw it how it actually was.

Our driver made us an offer afterward.  He said the for 30 euro, we could experience a traditional Romanian meal at a real Romanian countryside restaurant that normal Romanians go to, and we'd get there by horse and carriage.  Matt flipped a coin to decide, because we were all kind of indifferent since we were planning to eat Romanian food in Brasov that night for dinner, but when the coin said yes, we later knew that it was the right decision.

The carriage ended up being a wooden cart.  We all climbed in with the assistance of a milk crate and a small Romanian boy, who was also the driver of the horse.  It was really funny and really cold.  Seeing the countryside from a horse-drawn cart is way different from the inside of a car, and it took us 15 or 20 minutes to get to the restaurant from the point where the cart ride began.

We arrived at the restaurant, which was scenically located and family-run, I think.  Everything was homemade.  Our driver helped us order and explained that his normal job is actually to take tourists around Romania and help them experience the culture.  He gave us his contact info, which I'll add to the bottom of this post once I get it from Caitlin, in case anyone reading this ever wants to go to Romania, because his prices are fair and he really was instrumental in making Saturday as much of an experience as it was.  So anyways, first course is a soup.  I got vegetable soup, because I don't like soup and I don't usually like meat, and I didn't like the soup, but the others liked theirs.  Caitlin got pork and Matt, Laura, and the Taiwanese girl with us liked their meatball soup.  The bread we were given was pretty good, too, but the weird thing was that sour cream is basically a butter substitute here.  I hate sour cream, and barely managed to escape eating any of it, because our guide was kind of pushy with trying new food and eating everything the Romanian way.  It's not a bad thing, but I have limits.  They all tried sour cream on bread with salt, though, which was apparently the thing to do.  For the main course, Laura and I tried homemade sausages with polenta.  I disliked the polenta, which the guide described as "poor man's bread," but liked the first half of my first sausage, but it was really intense sausage and I couldn't eat more than that, even with pickles.  Some of the others tried it so it wouldn't go to waste.  I'm proud of myself for eating real Romanian food!! Dessert was apple cake, which was actually rather good except I couldn't finish it because I was feeling sickly from too much sausage.  I'm so glad we did that, though.  It would've been hard to order from a Romanian menu without the guide, and we wouldn't really have known what to do with all of the stuff like sour cream and pickles without him, too.


Our next stop was Bran Castle, which is the famous Dracula one.  Vlad the Impaler is the actual historic Dracula, and my guidebook says it's "possible he defecated there once," but it really is inaccurate to call it Dracula's castle.  It was cool anyways, though, although a bit kitschy.  There was a not-so-secret secret passageway, and awesome views, and low doorways, and general coolness.  Even without a photography pass, we took pictures because there was nobody there to tell us not to and absolutely everyone inside was taking photos like crazy.  Afterwards, we wandered around the marketplace nearby and I bought a tacky t-shirt each for me and my sister, and Laura accidentally knocked over a shot glass, broke it, paid for it, and received a broken Dracula ashtray in return.


Finally we went to Rasnov fortress.  We were all getting tired by then.  A tractor pulled us up the mountain to the citadel.  Our guide actually went in with us this time, which was nice because he kind of gave us a tour. The top of the fortress had a 360 panoramic view of the area, and it was gorgeous.  Rasnov had it's own Hollywood-style sign, too, which was kind of strange but still cool.  My feet were so sore at that point from my blisters, and Laura looked ridiculous because her boots were warped to the point that one of her ankles looked broken when she walked.  This is how we became the gimpy twins.














Back at the hostel, we took a nap before going to dinner.  My guidebook had a restaurant in it called Pizza Pasta Venezia that we went to, and it was really good.  I had some spectacular pizza, Matt had spaghetti, Laura got a HUGE calzone, and Caitlin ate some kind of pasta.  I was glad we went there because it was delicious and fairly priced.  Laura and I ate chocolate gelato for dessert.

On the way back to the hostel, Caitlin kept laughing at my pathetic attempts to walk.  I probably did look ridiculous.

We hung out in the hostel lounge for a few hours.  We eventually were joined by other people staying there as well as the hostel owners, who played darts and video games while listening to loud psychadelic rock.  We didn't really interact with them much because we were having interesting conversations on our own, but they were all nice enough.  On the TV, I caught a glimpse of something going down in Libya and attempted to ask the person watching it to tell me what they were saying, because I couldn't understand the Romanian, and he didn't understand what I was asking.  We soon went back to our room and I got on the Internet to check the news and realized how awesome the Internet connection is there compared to the one here in Budapest.  We didn't go to bed until almost 2 AM.

Course Registration!

While in Romania, I had an awesome internet connection at the hostel, and now that I'm back in Budapest, it's awful, of course, which is preventing me from emailing my advisor about course registration for next Fall.

So, I need to email my course selections to the Registrar after I get approval from my advisor, because the study abroad students are lucky enough to get first priority registration, which means that my schedule is basically guaranteed.

Next semester, I should therefore be taking the following classes: Approaches to Everyday Discourse, Spanish Conversation, Attachment Relationships, Hap Ki Do, Professional Communication, Cardio Kickboxing, and 19th Century Europe- The Age of Anxiety.

I love registration time!! It's really exciting for me, especially now that my McDaniel Plan requirements are mostly out of the way (or at least will be after next semester) and I can start taking stuff I've been looking forward to.  And this year, they even put up a tentative schedule for Spring 2012, which just made my day.

Spring 2012 will be filled with English classes for me: Shakespeare, New Media Writing, Editing and Desktop Publishing, and Writing for Nonprofit Organizations.  And because I need to take an honors course, I'm also gonna sign up for a class about nonviolence.

SO EXCITED!

Transylvania, day 1: General Exploration

We made it to Brasov, Romania this morning after an overnight train ride, which was actually really fun.  I borrowed a fork from the nice man in the dining car so I could eat the mac&cheese I brought with me for dinner.  I like trains.

So, we arrived and tried to find an ATM to get some lei, which is Romanian currency, but the ATMs were being problematic.  Eventually we found an OTPBank, which is what we use in Budapest, so that was successful for everyone except Matt, so we went to 7 different banks before he found someone who would exchange his Hungarian forints.


The city of Brasov itself is kind of normal, post-communist, average...but when you enter the old town, it's amazing and medieval-ish and beautiful.  Strangely, there's a Hollywood-style Brasov sign up on a mountain, and we plan to go up to see it on Sunday.

Today, we mostly just explored.  We climbed up as high as we could go on the streets near our hostel, and saw some great views even though it was exhausting, especially after the 12-hour train ride.  We went to a park and swinged on some swings, which was rejuvenating.  We visited the Black Church, which has a HUGE organ that we didn't get to hear.  Photos weren't allowed inside either. We ate lunch and dinner in an Irish pub that played the most random American music ever- Justin Timberlake, gospel revival, Queen, songs from Grease...it was fun.  Well, lunch was fun.  Dinner, not so much, because we basically were so hungry/tired that we couldn't look for somewhere else, but we got there and were informed that we had to be out in an hour because the whole place was reserved for some concert.  It was stressful because the waiter was trying to rush us out and there were people warming up on their trumpets and accordions, which was cacophonous and unpleasant.  We went to a crepe place after and I drank a lot of tea.  The TV there was showing Romania's Got Talent, which was pretty funny even though we couldn't really understand it.

We walked down the smallest street in Europe, called Rope Street in English, but I don't really know how it qualifies as a street because it was almost just a cobblestone alley, and it's not like any sort of vehicle could fit through.  It was cool, though.

And the hostel, Kismet Dao Hostel, is so nice.  Much better than Friends Hostel in Paris.  This one actually seems legitimate.  They made us fill out forms when we checked in and offered us lots of information and even recommended Romanian restaurants and places to go.  They've set up a tour of three nearby castles for us tomorrow, too.  Best hostel experience so far.  The room is nice and clean and comfortable.  And it feels safe.  Totally worth more than the $15 a night we're paying.

At the end of the night, I was hobbling back to the hostel while Caitlin was laughing at/with me.  I had blisters in between my toes. Weird.  

Castles tomorrow!!!

Video: Bus Karaoke in Pécs

Or click here.

Or go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=070geGiaIEE

Video: A Weekend in Pécs

Or click here.

Or go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f04BVWJHu9w

Paris, part 3: Rhaelynn is awesome

It has come to my attention that I made Rhaelynn sound like an awful travel partner.  Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you that this is not true.

She's amazing!

She took videos for me.  And of pigeons, too!  Gotta love those pigeons.

And she forced me to almost literally stop and smell the roses, which was great because I'd have gone all over Paris on a mission and a schedule if it weren't for her making me be spontaneous and not so dependent on the plan.  This is how we experienced some beautiful gardens and random city streets.

She also was really patient with my picky eating and let me choose restaurants and put up with my weirdness.  Rhaelynn also got me to try new food, which is a huge accomplishment.

The invention of the word, plog, is all her doing.

Her apparent magnetic abilities when it comes to forward men were a prime source of entertainment on this journey.

She protected me from the creepy old man by valiantly giving up her sleep the last night...or maybe she just too scared to close her eyes...

...yay Rhaelynn, the best travel partner I've had so far!

Japan tsunami

Okay so, I go to Paris for the weekend and the world falls apart.  A woman in the cafe our first day told us of the tsunami, so I wasn't totally unaware, and I saw some headlines on the newspapers that French people were reading, but I can't read French so I didn't catch much other than that a disaster happened.

I love traveling, but I hate coming back to see that I've missed so much.

Click here to donate to the Red Cross for Japan relief.

Paris, part 2: Versailles, Plogging, and the hostility of Friends Hostel

Plog - (n.) Paris blog, (v.) to blog about Paris, either by video or text

We plogged a lot while we were in Paris, so expect an awesome video or two within the next week or two (after I finish my final Pécs video).  Rhaelynn was actually pretty good about putting up with the videography, and even participated and filmed me a few times.  It was a nice change from people ceasing activity when they notice the red light.

Day Two was Versailles.  I was really stressed out initially at the thought of us returning to the hostel, because we went there in the morning to drop off our luggage since we were to stay there that night.  The luggage room wasn’t even locked.  And they were really confusing with our room assignments and initially said we’d be separated, which I didn’t feel comfortable with at all.  Have I mentioned that I hate Friends Hostel?

We took a light green metro line to its end, connected to RER C, took it to a place where it split, got off, got back on a different RER C and made it to Versailles by lunchtime.  Turns out you can buy a day pass for about 7 euro, which was a really good deal and served us well. 

Versailles was beautiful.  Rhaelynn thought it was gaudy, and I can understand why, but it was still amazing to behold.  We were both hungry though, and we saw the long lines to get in and decided that we needed to get lunch first.  I ended up having to drag her in to a Franco-Italian place because she was being affected by her low blood sugar to the point where she was just kind of moving down streets oblivious to the numerous restaurants around her.  It ended up being amazing.  I got garlic pasta and she got something with chicken, cheese, and pasta.  They also served us bread with spicy olive oil.  And we shared chocolate mousse for dessert that was utterly delicious.  I unfortunately do not remember the name of this restaurant, but it was medievally decorated, a bit expensive but worth it, and located kind of near a marketplace.  Oh, and I had some delightful mint tea.

So, back to Versailles.  At the information desk, I was told that my Hungarian residency permit could actually get me in for free if I also showed them my student card.  So that saved us about 18 euro.  Awesome.  It was really crowded, though.  That’s probably because we went on a Sunday [as we were leaving, a guard stopped us because we looked miserable and asked if we were okay (Rhaelynn was limping because her shoes hurt her feet so much), and he said we should’ve come on a Tuesday].  People could rent a little headset thing that would allow you to do a self-guided tour, basically, and we didn’t buy one.  Everyone else did, though, so we’d be trapped in a room with a bunch of people standing around listening to stuff and we couldn’t get out because it was so crowded.  It really took away from the experience because I just generally hate crowds and get a bit claustrophobic, and Rhaelynn just felt like she needed to get out of there.  It was disappointing, though, because there was an exhibit of really cool scientific curiosities that I would’ve liked to actually see, but I could only catch glimpses of astronomical equipment and random inventions through the crowds of people.  It was the same situation in most of the Chateau, actually.  It was hard for me to appreciate it because most of the rooms looked like someone had shoved as much random stuff in there as possible so we’d have to look at it, like it’d been turned into the museum.  The Hall of Mirrors was ruined that way, with thrones of old placed everywhere.  I think it would’ve been better for us to see Versailles the way it was lived in.  When we got to the Dauphin’s quarters, that’s how it was, and it was much more enjoyable.  I like seeing how people lived and how the multitude of rooms was actually used and what paintings were actually there originally.  And Rhaelynn just thought the whole thing was a waste of money and space.  The gardens, though, were lovely.  If it was nicer out that day and if Rhaelynn’s shoes weren’t breaking her feet, it would’ve been nice to take a stroll through them.

The rest of the day was really just a bunch of metro exploration.  We probably traveled on every metro line of Paris.  I think there are 13. We were going to go to a teahouse but it was closed by the time we made it back to the city center. We  instead sought out Berthillion’s, an ice cream shop Rhaelynn had read about, and it was delicious.  I got chocolate ice cream that was too much for me to handle, and she tried mocha and vanilla.  In an attempt to try out French cuisine, which honestly terrifies me, we tried to go to Robert et Louise, which was in my guidebook, but we couldn’t find it.  We spent almost an hour looking for it but just kept ending up at the Bastille.  It was just as well because neither of us were really hungry. 

Back at the hostel, we discovered that we would be in the same room, thank goodness, and we went in to see who we’d be staying with.  There were a bunch of people speaking either Spanish or Portuguese, and they didn’t have much to say to us besides telling us which two beds were open.  We got the two closest to the random old man.  Yes, you see, there was an aged man sleeping in the bed right next to mine, the bed under Rhaelynn, and it was weird.  I don’t know why he was there, but every time we were at the hostel (which honestly was as little as we could manage, because we tried to avoid it), he was just in that bed, sleeping or pretending to sleep. 

Leaving the room because we felt awkward, we sat in the only common area of the hostel- a courtyard with deck furniture.  Classy, I know.  We met two Americans from Syracuse University, both of which were studying film production, and talked for a while about our experiences in Paris so far.  They were in Paris for Spring Break, and had been banished to the hotel their first nights, too.  I was hungry, as it was after 10 PM and I hadn’t eaten dinner, but Rhaelynn wasn’t and most places were closed so there was no point seeking any real food.  Our fellow Americans recommended the Quick across the street.  Quick is the French version of McDonald’s, apparently.  It felt very awkward ordering French fries in France.  I was afraid they’d get offended or something.  The meal was decent, and indeed comparable to McDonald’s.  It was still creepy though because we had to cross the dreaded corner of sketchy men to get there and back.  

Sleeping that night was basically impossible.  Many people in that room were snoring.  One of them sounded like a cross between a braying donkey and a cat being bathed.  My earplugs did not help.

Unsurprisingly, I was in a miserable mood the next morning, because I can’t exist without sleep.  We bought a French baguette, butter, and nutella, and also stopped at a fruit stand for some awesome grapes.  It was a healthy whole grain baguette, too.  Still, though, we went back to the hostel to eat, and the deck furniture was wet and crowded, and my mood was thus reinforced.  Friends Hostel was the cheapest in Paris, and I guess you get what you paid for, but so much of what they advertised was misleading.  At least the beds were clean.  But there was no soap anywhere.  Ew.  Luckily, Rhaelynn had hand sanitizer…

So, the first stop of the day was a park.  If I remember correctly, it was called Park Monceau.  We walked around it and sat on benches and relaxed and enjoyed the flowers and trees for over an hour.  It made me feel a bit better.

We tried to go to the Catacombs, because I really wanted to go there.  6 million dead Parisians- who wouldn’t?  But it was Monday, and so the place was closed.  It seems that lots of things in Paris are closed on Mondays.  That made it hard to find lunch.  It seems that just eating bread for breakfast is not good, because this time I was the one that needed to be dragged into a restaurant.  It worked out well in Versailles but not so much this time.  First criterion was a menu subtitled in English, and second was food that I’d find edible.  That was difficult.  We finally settled for a café that claimed to have French fries.  They came in a pot.  They were really just mushy potato sticks- inedible and expensive.  Rhaelynn got a fancy and huge salad that was rather French.  I also got a burger, but it had slices of pig on top that they called bacon, and some mystery burger sauce that seemed to be pink mayonnaise.  Also inedible.  I scraped off everything repulsive and ate what I could, which was enough to satisfy my immediate need for food.  I also drank a 4 euro coke.  4 euro. For a coke.  I can’t believe I spent that much money at that restaurant, but the people working there were really nice and the atmosphere was pleasant and it’s not like I had any other options. 

Next, we went to the Louve and the Tulieries.  I just wanted to see the outside of the Louve, which was gorgeous, because I don’t think I could handle an art museum that huge, and besides, Rhaelynn wasn’t interested in huge museums or art or tourism locations.  We sat for a while in the garden, where people were forbidden from walking on grass, and were going to go to a small free museum with some stuff by Monet, but by then it was too late because it would’ve been closed. 

We decided to find Robert et Louise since we failed at that endeavor the day before.  Walking along the river, a man approached Rhaelynn and started speaking to her in French.  He was surprised that she was American and then told her that she was beautiful and he wanted to get to know her better.  I thought this was hilarious, because yet again, she was approached by a random man, but this one was nice.  It was also funny because she wants to live in Paris one day and ideally marry a rich Frenchman so she can just ride horses.  We asked him for help finding the road of the restaurant, and he made fun of us for not knowing how to use the map, but then he couldn’t find it either.  So we talked for a few minutes.  He’s studying at the Pierre and Marie Curie Institute (I think that’s what it was called…), and pretended to be interested in literature because we’re both English majors.  For the goodbye, he was cute, and told Rhaelynn that maybe it would’ve worked in another life, and asked her if she’d remember him.  And then he did that European goodbye kiss thing.  Alfonso does it, too, and I’m always confused as to which side you’re supposed to do first.  And the Parisian thought it was weird that Americans don’t kiss the air next to your check on either side as a greeting or farewell, and he said that now we know how to French kiss.  That was funny, and Rhaelynn said that isn’t what French kissing is in America, and he apparently knew what she meant and laughed and asked if she’d like to make a memory of French kissing a Frenchman in France, and she politely declined and we went our separate ways as I struggled to contain my laughter. 

We finally found the restaurant.  It was closed.  Our feet were killing us and by this point we each had some fully formed blisters.  I was really hungry and we decided to go try to see the Luxembourg gardens before eating.  We had to take an RER to get there, and then we found that it was closed, because it was nighttime.  Finally, we made it back to the hostel area and bought some dinner ingredients at a grocery store to just cook in the hostel kitchen.  The hostel kitchen was gross, by the way.  We had to scrape gunk off the utensils and wash everything extra.  Also, when you buy a jar of sauce that says tomato and basil, that does not mean that those are the only two ingredients.  It just means that there is so much basil that you can’t taste the other ingredients.  It was kind of disgusting.  We talked with our fellow Americans for a while, while everyone else in the courtyard was getting drunk from beer and tequila and was singing songs in other languages so loudly that the hostel people came and shut it down.  The website of the hostel said there was no curfew, but all common areas were closed at 10 PM each night, which was disappointing because that left us stuck in the room with the old man.  Our other roommates had left that day, I guess, because it was just us and the man.  I slept well because there was now no snoring, but Rhaelynn apparently was up all night, afraid that he was going to knife us in our sleep. 

The next morning, we bought another baguette for breakfast, but the hostel people got mad at us for trying to sit at the table to eat because they were “cleaning.”  They swept and sneezed on stuff but didn’t really wipe anything down.  Cleaning should’ve happened when they kicked us out last night, in my opinion, because it makes more sense to do that stuff when people are already gone.  And apparently people aren’t allowed to be in the rooms between 10 AM and 3 PM because that’s when they clean beds and all the rooms, so that also would’ve been a good time to clean up.  They make people check out at 9 am, and it was about 8:15 at that point, so I was a bit annoyed that they were cutting into our schedule illogically and rudely. 

Friends Hostel is just gross, honestly.  I’d never stay there again.  It was cheap, but it was the one thing about the trip that caused all of the miserableness.  The reviews on hostelbookers.com even warned us of much of the things we experienced, but I didn’t believe them because they seemed so acidic.  I never believe reviews, generally.  But these ones were correct.  Rhaelynn and I are going to review the hostel together, and do it honestly and be candid and detailed.  It was a hostile hostel, in her words. 

I don’t remember much of the trip back because I was exhausted.  I did buy crispy M&M’s from an airport shop, though, which was exciting because I haven’t seen those in the US in years. 

I’m still really tired, and I didn’t go to class today because I woke up with a fever and sore throat and stuff, probably from all of the germs in the hostel or airplanes.  Oh, and my purse broke the third day so I need to go buy another one at some point.

Paris, part 1: Arrival, Tourism, and Strange Men

I have now been to my first Western European country- France.

And it was mostly awesome.

When people say that Budapest is the Paris of Eastern Europe, I really don’t understand why.  Budapest is so obviously post-communist, while Paris is quite the opposite.  Other opposites include the general attitude of the population, the culture and arts, and attitude towards tourists/Americans. 

Dani thinks it’s because of the geographic centrality to the region.  Beats me.

Be warned- this post will be rather long.  I’ll try to break it up with photos eventually, but I may need to take a trip to McDonald’s for decent enough wi-fi to manage that.

So, I didn’t pack at all the night before, but I did make a list.  Go me.  Therefore, I got up at 5 AM to pack the next morning.  Little did I know that this was the beginning of a pattern of sleep deprivation.

Rhaelynn and I met at Jazai Mari Ter, our tram stop, to go one stop down where the train station is.  Apparently, Rhaelynn had told Caitlin B that she could meet us there, because she was also going to the airport.  Julie showed up first, to our surprise, to figure out how to get to the airport, where she’d have to pick up her sister the next day.  And Caitlin was late so we had to take a later train.  Not a huge deal because the airport is only 20 minutes away, but I hate not being early to places, so I was a bit stressed out. 

The train was crowded.  We managed to get off at the right place, but once we walked the short distance to Terminal 1, we got on the wrong bus to get to Terminal 2.  So we got off as soon as we realized that and had to trek back along the side of the highway to get back to the airport, and Rhaelynn’s suitcase broke.  Finally, we got on the correct bus, and it turns out that there was a bus stop right next to our train station.  Go figure.

Once at Terminal 2, Julie left.  The rest of us checked in and I got my US dollars converted to Euros.  I immediately felt like I was broke.  I hate the Euro.  It’s so expensive.

The flight to Frankfurt was nice enough.  Lufthansa is a good airline, but honestly, I think all European airlines are just better than American ones.  They give you good food.  Well, it’s nothing I liked, but I could tell it was much better quality than American airplane peanuts and pretzels. 

Finding a departure board in Frankfurt was strangely difficult.  We finally figured out where to go, and then accompanied Caitlin to her terminal, since her flight to Rome departed an hour before ours.  I was really hungry, as it was past lunchtime, so I bought a frankfurter and a brochen.  And I ate it with German mustard.  I ate a frankfurter in Frankfurt! 

So anyway, Caitlin left, and I was a bit worried about her going off to Rome all by herself, but according to Facebook, she had a wonderful time.  I’m interested to hear from her how it was, what she did, etc.

Our flight to Paris was delayed because the plane was late getting in from Sweden.  I entertained myself by reading free newspapers with old news while Rhaelynn attempted to sleep on the table.

Finally, on the plane, I’m stuck between Rhaelynn and this man who hits me in the arm everytime he turns the page in his French newspaper.  Drove me crazy until he relocated to an empty row. 

And then we arrived in Paris!!

I darted onto the shuttle at the last minute, and the doors closed, separated me and Rhaelynn as I got whisked away to our intended destination of RER B, a train we needed to take to get into the city.  After reuniting, we bought a book of 10 metro tickets, but turns out they don’t work for the RER so we had to buy another ticket.  It wasn’t an issue because we figured they’d work once we actually got in the city.

On the RER, I nearly fell on the floor as I tried to sit down on a seat that folded back up right after I pushed it down.  That was fun.  It was cool being able to catch glimpses of the city from the train, at least when it wasn’t underground. 

We got off at Gare du Nord to transfer to metro line 4, when all of a sudden I notice some strange man talking to Rhaelynn, asking a lot of questions.  I thought he was trying to distract us so someone else could come steal our purses or something, so I kept a close eye out.  I think he was actually just trying to get into the metro station without a ticket, but once he started getting really creepy, telling Rhaelynn that he wanted to be her friend and asking where we were staying, I pulled her into a shop as she hastily bid him farewell.  Rhaelynn later told me that he’d been on the RER with us, watching her for some of the trip.  Ew.

That wouldn’t be the first time she got hit on by random men, though.  Stay tuned.

We stay on the 4 only for one stop, getting off at Barbes-Rouchechuard or something like that.  I surely did not spell that correctly.  By this time, it was dark.  Friends Hostel was right off the stop, though, which was a relief because we were exhausted. 

We were also a bit scared, though.  Or at least, I was.  On the corner of the street was a large group of men trying to sell us cigarettes and making catcalls.  Walking quickly and avoiding eye contact, we entered the hostel with relief, only to be told that there was construction occurring that would render our room unsafe for the next two nights.  Looking around, the hostel actually looked to be pretty occupied, and I’m fairly certain they just overbooked us.  So, the man gave us directions to Hotel Montmartrois, which he said was owned by the same people in charge of the hostel.

We set off with our luggage down the street, past the creepy men, and ventured off into the night.  I was really annoyed, because they didn’t give us advance notice or offer a taxi or anything.

It took us two hours to find the hotel.  Why? Because the directions sucked.  They did not include an address, so when we asked people on the street for help, they couldn’t tell us much, although they were very nice.  We walked up and down the street right next to the street of the hotel for some time before Rhaelynn asked a homeless man for help.  I didn’t know he was homeless until Rhaelynn told me later; I just thought he was drunk, but he was very helpful.  He called over another guy to look at our map, and then random Parisians kept stopping to help, too, until someone told us to literally turn left and it was there, hidden on a cobblestone side street that was actually rather beautiful. 

We hated Friends Hostel at this point, though.  Hotel Montmartrois was actually nice, which was good considering we were spending two nights there.  However, they gave us only one bed.  We had paid the hostel for two.  Rhaelynn went down to the front desk to ask for a second room or an air mattress or an extra pillow, and they gave us a sheet.  And they explained how to use it, as if we don't have sheets in America.

We went back out to explore a little bit, because with our luggage, we hadn’t really been paying attention to what was around to do.  I was hungry and wanted food, so we stopped at a convenience store and I got Coke Light, Pringles, and some French cookies.  Not the healthiest dinner, but it was really our only option because nearly everything was closed and the hotel didn’t have a microwave or anything.  We also paid to use an internet kiosk, because I had no cell phone reception and hadn’t yet told my parents I’d made it safely.

The next morning, we woke up rather tired from the long day before and a night of restless sleep from us being together in a bed smaller than a full size.  But breakfast was good.  The hotel provided croissants, bread, butter and marmalade, and hot drinks.  I had some amazing tea and discovered a love for real French croissants. 

The first item on our agenda for the day was to find the meeting spot for Sandeman’s New Paris tour, which was free.  We ended up in Pigalle, which is the sex district.  It was strange- there were families with small children just walking down the street, passing sex shops and sketchy bars and even an erotic art museum.  After navigating out of there, we made it to Notre Dame, but that was the wrong place to go, too.  I suppose that was my fault for not remembering the directions clearly.  So, no free tour for us.

Instead, we wandered around.  Whenever we saw something that looked cool, either on the map or in the distance, we just went there.  As a result, I have a lot of photos of things I can’t identify, but it was still really cool.  We ended up in a garden behind Notre Dame, and there were flowers!! It was so nice, considering we left Hungary in wintery weather and arrived in Paris in Spring. 

We walked along the river, entered Notre Dame and explored it a bit (which I absolutely loved but Rhaelynn didn’t, because she hates tourists and places that tourists go), saw a cool tower thing, rode a carousel, and stumbled upon a really good café for lunch.  The man working there spoke English but tried to teach us a few French words.  And I tried new things! I bought some kind of pasta I couldn’t identify, a chocolate cake thing, and Orangina to drink, which Rhaelynn got a panini, a lemon tart, and water.  We tried each other’s food.  I didn’t like my pasta at first but then I did.  And my cake was awesome.  And her tart was not to my liking.  And oh my gosh was that Orangina delicious!  It became my French obsession.

After that, we did some more random stuff.  There was an archaeological crypt under Notre Dame that we ventured into, and it ended up being free.  It was cool and kind of reminded me of Pécs.  We also went to the Pantheon.  I tried to get in for free using my Hungarian residency permit, because most places are free to EU residents under the age of 26.  But no, they guy saw I was actually American and made me pay 5 euro to get in.  Rhaelynn didn’t enjoy it much- she thought it was a waste of space.  I thought it was beautiful but a bit disappointing, because it’s one of those things that you always hear about and are supposed to go see, but really, I don’t know what it’s purpose is.  We went underground and saw the tombs of people like Voltaire.  We got shushed by some guards for apparently being too loud, but in our defense, the crypt was echoey and our sounds were amplified.  And we saw Foucault’s pendulum.  We also sat in a random park for a while, which was beautiful, but nearly everyone there was eating McDonald’s.
 

Back at the hotel, I fell asleep while Rhaelynn looked at the map and the Paris section of my guidebook.  I had a nice nap, but was hungry when I woke up and so we decided to go eat in the hotel’s restaurant.  It looked closed, though, and as Rhaelynn and I were arguing over who would go in to ask if we could get food there, we heard a guy ask us which state we’re from.  That is how we met Steven, the guy from Texas who was in Paris to join the French Foreign Legion.  We talked for a while, and then Rhaelynn invited him to join us for dinner, and we set off to find a restaurant from my guidebook called, Breakfast in America.  It’s an American-style diner in Paris.  You may think this is a bit of a cop-out, but we were very interested to see what Europeans thought of American food.  It took over an hour to find the place, which was on a side street around Rue Rivoli, but it was fun exploring because we saw some really cute streets and pretty cafes.  Finally arriving, we see that the place is tiny and we had to wait outside for a spot to open up where we could be seated.  I ate an amazing cheeseburger, Rhaelynn got banana pancakes (she was really excited because in Hungary, pancakes always are actually just crepes), and Steven just drank espresso. 

After that, we went to Basilique du Sacre Coeur.  We basically got to make like mountain goats and hike up a steep cobblestone path, followed by lots of stairs.  It was illuminated and therefore looked amazing in the night.  There were guards with big guns, which was weird, but there was also an amazing view of the city.  We saw the Eiffel Tower from there, as well as a bunch of other landmarks.  I took a photo for some people, got separated from Rhaelynn and Steven, and then found them again.  Rhaelynn had apparently met another forward man, who asked her lots of questions and wanted to know if she was in Paris alone. 

Our journey back down was also eventful, as at the bottom of a different set of stairs, we were accosted by a group of Guinean men.  Rhaelynn and I escaped as Steven was caught by one of them.  They do this thing where they ask you to hold a piece of string, on which they proceed to make a bracelet, put it on you, and expect payment.  I was not interested.  The one thing about Paris that really bothers me is people trying to sell me stuff I don’t want, or people providing a service I didn’t ask for and then expecting me to pay for it, like the people that sing or play instruments on the metro.  With the musicians, I usually would give them a couple coins if they were good or fun or nice, but these Guineans would just not take no for an answer.  That’s how Rhaelynn got hooked; they followed us as we waited for Steven down the street.  I was the only one of us not being tied up, and therefore I had no chance either, because it’s not like I could go off by myself and leave them there.  The first guy actually tried to grab my hand after I said no multiple times and multiple ways, and I firmly told him not to touch me.  He backed off, calling me names and saying I was a “dirty, ugly girl” and a “bad American.”  One of his buddies had the nerve to come up to me after that and sweet talk me, but at that point I knew it was pointless to resist because they’d just keep coming, so I finally let someone make a bracelet for me.  He said, “Hakuna Matata” and started complimenting America way too much.  He was almost nice, but I was such a mindset that I didn’t believe a word of it.  I don’t know- perhaps they actually meant what they said about wanting to come to America and how much they like Obama and how wonderful my country is.  But then again, maybe he just wanted money.  When he asked for 20 euro for the string bracelet, I got annoyed and basically said, “Hell no” and Rhaelynn and Steven came to my rescue and said they’d paid 2, so that’s what I paid as well. 

On the way back to the hotel, we walked down some amazing cobblestone streets with cafes and bars and art shops and general French cuteness, and then stopped at the convenience store near the hotel.  I bought a 2-liter of Orangina and it was amazing.



Paris, part 2, coming soon.

Home Sweet Budapest

Got back to Budapest today.
I really missed my computer.
There's so much to say about Paris, but I'm exhausted and have a lot of journalism homework to do, so...check back tomorrow night to read about Orangina, strange men hitting on Rhaelynn, our hostile hostel, and the rest of our French adventure.
I can't wait to go to bed.

McDaniel on TV: The Commercial

Rebekah tagged me in a Facebook status with this link: http://www.futoparbaj.hu/  

It's still buffering on my computer because my internet is soooo slow, as usual, but it seems to be that commercial we were in!!

Watch it!



In other news, McDaniel trustee Barbara Thomas spoke to us today about her involvement with Habitat for Humanity in a Housing Forum for Europe and Central Asia.  It's in three weeks, and is taking place right here in Budapest!  I was actually going to help out with it, but it's at the same time I'll be in Prague.  For info on the forum, click here.

Also, Rose Falkner, the Director of International Programs, spoke with us about our experiences so far in Hungary, wanting to know how the transition went and what surprises we encountered, etc.



Tonight, I might be watching The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo with Laura.  I'm really tired, though.  Gotta get ready to go to Paris.  It still doesn't actually feel real.

Spongebob Mac&Cheese

The title is what I'm eating right now.  My boyfriend sent me some in a care package. So exciting! I love mac&cheese.  It doesn't seem to exist in Hungary.

Living in an apartment is kind of strange.  Don't get me wrong- I really like it.  But it's weird living in a place with so many people and not knowing any of your neighbors.  And it's frustrating having no control over when building maintenance occurs, leaving me with no power or hot water right when I'm trying to get ready to go to class.  Just stuff like that.

But besides those kinds of things, it's almost like a good transition from dorm life to real life, because I'm in a city, responsible for myself and living by myself (and Dani), but someone else takes care of maintenance, and utilities are included in what I'm paying to study abroad, and all of that real life stuff.  Next semester, back in Westminster, it'll be similar because I'll probably be living in a house owned by the school.  It's pretty cool.

I thought I had more  to say, but either I forgot it or that was it, so yeah.

I leave for Paris tomorrow!!

I have one more class today at 2:15, and then a mandatory meeting with some people that came from the main campus.  Then, I'm probably gonna pack and stuff.  Nothing too exciting.

How McDaniel College Got on Hungarian Television

If the embedded video fails, click here.

If that doesn't work, copy and paste this into your URL bar:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugpZaKsMX4g

Note my lack of faith in the Internet.

A Day for Celebrating Women

Today is International Women's Day.

It's cool that being a female is worth celebration, and the whole city is offering all sorts of stuff to honor us.  Sweet.  In the Funzine (English language event guide), there are a bunch of advertisements for good deals in various restaurants and stuff.  Tonight, we will be taking advantage of this by eating out at Ring Cafe and Burger Bar.

Rhaelynn and I will be meeting at Nyugati at 4 to figure out the best way to get to the airport, because we leave for PARIS on Friday!  It's so exciting.  Last night, we spent over an hour planning out stuff we want to do.  Being under 26 in Europe is pretty much perfect, because so many things are free or discounted.  That's how we're getting into the Louve for free when we arrive Friday night, and that's how we're visiting Versailles on Sunday for a really good price.  That's awesome, because according to my guidebook, Paris is going to be mega-expensive.

It's almost hard to believe that I'm about to begin actually traveling Europe.  Strangely, I only have one full day in Budapest next week, because after that, I'm going to Romania.  We're buying train tickets for that tomorrow.

I don't really know what else I've got planned...I really ought to do homework, but right now I feel like actually studying is more of a cover story for traveling.  I do not feel scholarly right now.

Actually, I am I bit annoyed at some school-related things at the moment.  For instance, teachers here reschedule class when they have to cancel it.  This is strange to me, and it does not happen back on the main campus.  I don't think we should be required to attend class on a day/time outside of the schedule we signed up for.  Especially when it's a Friday that I'm going to be out of the country...  If it wasn't mandatory, I wouldn't have a problem with it, but since not going to a class that was not on the syllabus/schedule will count against me, I'm not too pleased.  Rant over.

Weather update: STILL FREEZING!  It's March.  We keep having little hints of Spring and then the weather gods take it away and then make it snow, which is their way of laughing in our shivering faces. I hope Paris will be warmer.

Pécs

The ride from Budapest to Pécs was about 3 hours long.  We were on the same bus we had for the city tour during the first week, which was pretty comfortable, and we stopped halfway at a gas station for a break.  Hungarian gas stations seem to be much better than American ones.  Even better than Wawa!  Well, in terms of cleanliness and stuff.  The food selection actually was awful.  There were a few sandwiches and then 60% of the rest of the food was chocolate.  And then there were a few racks of potato chips and pretzels.  I think I miss the American selection of junk food.

Entering the city of Pécs, it seemed much less urban than Budapest.  I didn’t notice trams or metro stations, and there were even hardly any buses.  It seemed more familiar, actually, because it was apparent that most people traveled by car.  There were parking lots and trees and open spaces. 

But then we entered the historical part of the city and it was like entering a different world!  The buildings were all sorts of different pastel colors, many of the streets were cobblestone, and pedestrians dominated cars in number. 

The bus ended up climbing a mountain via a winding road at speeds that kind of freaked me out a little, but the views were amazing.  Ignoring the almost hairpin turns and focusing on recording everything on my FlipVideo camera, I ended up getting a lot of cool footage- video coming soon!

We got to the top of the mountain and approached the TV Tower, only to be stopped by a group of people who were in the midst of filming a television commercial.  Two men in workout attire stopped us and asked us where we were from and why we were here and we discovered that they were promoting some sort of fitness event, and that apparently they were famous Hungarian fitness personalities.  Go figure.  It was the most random encounter ever.  They ended up inviting us to join them, and about half of our group participated in the event.  I recorded most of it and have already made a video, which I will be posting as soon as I can get it on YouTube.  Watching my fellow students do the warm-ups next to the athletic group of Hungarians was hilarious, and probably the best part of the day.

We later joined them on top of the TV Tower, and the views would’ve been spectacular if it weren’t so foggy.  I attempted to take photos, but none of them are very good.  It was also bitterly cold, and kind of a relief to get back on the bus and make our way back down the mountain.

The next stop was Hotel Patria, which was decorated 60’s-style.  We had about 40 minutes to settle in and relax before going off to explore the city with a McDaniel Budapest professor as our guide.

She showed us how to use landmarks to get back to the hotel, and then we walked over to a catholic cathedral, passing some kids doing parkour in an empty fountain.  A mass was being held, so we were unable to go inside the cathedral. 

Next, we went to a museum of zsolnay ceramics.  It was interesting, and some of the pieces were quite spectacular.  I got some photos before one of the guards got mad at me.  They didn’t tell us cameras weren’t allowed, so I didn’t know. 

After about 30 minutes there, we went to see an art installation.  I found it creepy, but after the art history professor explained it a bit, I could at least appreciate it.  Still, though, not a place I’d like to go alone at night.

One Hungarian Valentine's Day tradition (according to a thing I read somewhere...) involves putting a lock on a gate somewhere in the city to symbolize your love/commitment/whatever.  I obviously have no clue what I'm talking about, but we did see these locks, and they were super cool.  One of them even had my name on it.

We then went to the main square, which was breathtaking.  There was a catholic church with a history as a Turkish mosque that we passed by and would be returning to the next day.  The professor explained how to get back to hotel and told us when to be back for dinner, and then we had about 2 hours to explore by ourselves. 

We walked down Kiraly Utca, which means King Street.  Someone later compared it to Epcot, and I agreed that it didn’t even seem real.  When we got to the end of the street, we split up and I ended up going to a bakery with Luke, Laura, Catherine, Dylan, and Nick.  From there, we ventured into a cukrazda, where we each tried different kinds of cake and hung out until it was time to meet for dinner.

Dinner was at a restaurant that was too fancy for my taste.  It came in three courses, and even though I ordered the vegetarian option, I didn’t like anything.  The salad was elaborate and had bits of tofu on top, which I initially thought were croutons.  I did at least try the tofu, but it seems that I am not a fan.  The main course was fried cheese and little fried mushroom ball things on top of a lot of cooked vegetables.  You’d think I’d like the cheese since I’m such a fan of mozzarella sticks, but that was not the case.  It was the same cheese in the mozzarella sticks I got at McDonald’s that made me sick.  Hungarian cheese is just weird.  Dessert was some kind of pineapple crepe.  This is why I don’t go to fancy restaurants. 

The next day, we ate breakfast in the hotel, which for me consisted of bread, cucumbers, and tea, and then went to see more sights.  First, was an archaeological site that was pretty cool, and was followed by an even bigger and cooler archaeological site of Christian catacombs. 

I got some great video footage and bought a keychain.  Laura and I were thirsty and bought water at the gift shop, too, but it was the nasty sparkling water that just makes you thirstier.  I don’t understand why people like it.  I didn’t even feel like I could pour it out outside for fear of killing the grass.  We also went to the Csontvary museum, which was actually really interesting.  His massive paintings were really big, obviously, but there was so much detail within them that I feel like you could write a 10 page paper about one of them (although, I don't know enough about art to do this).  He had one painting that reminded Laura of Middle Earth and one that reminded her of Rivendell- typical Laura.  Our final stop was the church from the day before, which we wandered around briefly, admiring the architecture and frescos. 

We got 90 minutes to ourselves before the bus ride home, and so we set off in search of French fries, which Laura and I were really craving for some reason.  Skipping Mcdonald’s, we ended up in a pub with some unfriendly waitresses.  It took them 40 minutes to make French fries and salads, and it took us 10 minutes to eat and get out of there before their eyes bored holes through our souls. 

We went to an ABC store to get food and drinks for the bus ride back, and that was the end of our experience in Pécs.

I still have this packet to do, though.  We were given a bunch of questions to answer and places/paintings to identify while we were there, but of course, I never had it with me when we needed it.