The end of week one

The bus tour led by a member of the McB faculty on Thursday was awesome.  It gave me a good idea of where I was located in the city.  We  went to Gellert Hill, where we walked around the Citadel, saw amazing views of the city, and visited the Statue of Freedom.  Some photos are below, but there's even more on my photo page.

Later, Dani and I went to Kaiser's, which was like a normal grocery store, thank goodness.  I bought all sorts of stuff like garlic and carrots and nutella.  I've been eating so healthily here.  It's going to be horrible when I have to go back to eating at Glar, because I'm getting used to fresh ingredients and cooking for myself.


I went to bed early because I had a headache.

I woke up the next morning feeling really sick, probably from adjusting to a new eating schedule.  I also still had a headache.  Figuring it was from caffeine withdrawal, I chewed some caffeinated gum I'd ordered from thinkgeek.com when I was back in the states.  I was so miserable I almost didn't go to our final orientation activity- a survival Hungarian lesson.  I made it, but I can hardly remember anything that was taught.  I took notes, thank goodness, and afterward, we looked through stuff previous McDaniel students had left behind and I picked up some beginner level Hungarian CDs, so maybe I can pick up something even though I can't take the class.

I guess I forgot to mention scheduling.  I've decided not to take gym classes here, so other than dropping badminton and aerobics, those are the only schedule changes I need to make.  The classes I'm left with are European Film Art, Principles of Marketing, Intro to Journalism, and Organizational Communication.  Classes start on Monday, and my first one is at 8:30 am.  I'm excited, although I don't want to wake up early (I have to allow at least 30 min for the commute).

Well, Friday night, Dani, Laura, Julie, Caitlin, and I went to Beckett's, an Irish pub and restaurant.  Julie and I shared a chocolate souffle that was awesome.  Although a bit more pricey than other places we've been, it was nice because the people working there spoke English.  Weird thing about Hungary is that American music plays everywhere.  This restaurant in particular had a strange selection - Kid Rock, Abba, Snow Patrol, Norah Jones, Soft Cell...oh, and Gladiator was playing on the television.  Random.  Another thing here is that so many people smoke! It's acceptable for people to smoke indoors at most restaurants and bars.  I'm getting used to the smell, strangely, but I think it's less intense here in some way.  The filters must be better or something.  I just know that I no longer start coughing when I walk by someone smoking.

Also while at school Friday morning, we were given suggestions of what to do this weekend.  One of these was to go to the central market, which was actually what Dani and I had originally planned.  This morning, I woke up at 7 to leave for the market at 8:30.  We went with Laura, Julie, and Caitlin.  It was spectacular.  The building itself is beautiful, as is the view nearby.  Inside, there's three floors of shops.  Downstairs is fish, mostly.  The ground level is fruit and meats and some other things.  Upstairs is souvenirs and other Hungarian goods, and also little food shops where you can buy a Hungarian meal.  We bought langos, which Laura said is like an elephant ear, which I've never had, so my comparison is funnel cake.  It was available with numerous different toppings, from bacon to mexican to cheese to nutella, but Dani and I shared one with powdered sugar.  It was awesome.  I bought potatoes there as well, with the intention to make french fries.

After the market, we went back to our apartment to drop off our stuff, and then headed to the nearby West End mall.  It is HUGE!  Four floors, at least 4 blocks long...inside, it was almost like a typical expensive American mall, except that the words on signs were often in Hungarian and the food court featured Hungarian cuisine.  I bought a purple hat, because it's so cold here and I didn't bring one.  We were all exhausted by the time we explored about 60% of the mall, not even going into many shops, so we left and went our separate ways.

I got back to the apartment and crashed.  I slept for about 2 hours.  It's so exhausting having to walk everywhere.

When I woke up, I attempted to make french fries.  Epic fail.  I ended up with some burned potato chunks, basically, but Dani liked them.  I made garlic pasta again.  It's kind of my favorite.

Now, I just have a bunch of stuff to do.  Make a budget, figure out prices of transportation to nearby countries, explore ideas for Spring Break (Germany!), make a video of week 1, organize my desk, unpack my suitcase, do laundry...good thing it's only Saturday.