Updates

I'm really tired and still have homework to do, so I'll keep this brief.

I dropped European Film Art because I didn't like it, and am now taking Multicultural Voices in American Literature instead.  This is actually one of the classes I have homework for (one page on the poem, "The Middle Passage").

I met a Turkish girl named Olga, and she asked me if I could help her with her English so she could pass the TOEFL, an English test required for her to pass in order for her to go to the main campus for a semester, which is a requirement for McDaniel Budapest students.  Dani and I are going to her house for dinner tomorrow night.

I went to the Messenger meeting today. The staff is very small but seems cohesive, and I liked the atmosphere.  I'm excited about working with them, and it is clear that Intro to Journalism is my favorite class and I'm so glad I'm taking it here.  I'm co-writing a story with a student here, and co-writing the same story with a Free Press student, so that'll be weird.  I'm going to have to figure out how to balance the two.

I also bought textbooks.  It's weird here how books aren't available until the second week of classes.  I don't like not being able to order used books online in advance.  The books ended up costing me about $250, and I'm certain that I could've gotten them for less than $100 if I'd been able to get them elsewhere or used.  The thing is that they're in English, though, so it's not like I can order them from anywhere here- they'd have to come from the US and it'd be impossible to get them in time with the way the timeline is set up here.  Dani thinks it's freeing, but I find it awfully stressful, especially when I didn't have my schedule solidified until the weekend before classes started.

I've made a huge grocery list of stuff I need to fully embark on my culinary adventures.  It's actually not going to be that dramatic or interesting, but I don't have anything basic like flour or sugar or seasonings.  A Tesco trip is planned for Friday, because Tesco is the place to go for things that are harder to find, like bay leaves and tomato paste and apparently even maple syrup and, rumor has it, even peanut butter.

Plans for this weekend:
Tomorrow- Buda Castle, dinner at Olga's
Friday- IKEA, Tesco, dinner party, club
Saturday- West End Mall
Sunday- city exploration, Duna String Orchestra concert