Take a Walk with me through Budapest

My last two blog posts were very rushed blogs, which is how I feel most of mine will be because I’ve been nonstop busy since I got here. I can’t even remember what day it is. I’ve just been staying at the hostel since I got here and everyone here is so much fun! There’s a group of about 15-20 of us and we just hang out all the time. During the day we have been looking at flats to rent, and then at night we go out with all the international students who will be studying at Corvinus University. I was supposed to see two flats today, but the second one got changed to tomorrow. The one we saw was unfurnished but it should be furnished with Ikea furniture by next week. The flat I’m supposed to see tomorrow is in a really good location and it seems like it will be a great flat! Hopefully I’ll be getting settled in soon. I can’t stay in Marco Polo hostel much longer. I took my first shower since being here… typical Maddie. Like I said, I’ve just been too busy and catching up on sleep. I’m still a little tired, but I’m definitely adjusting to the time difference pretty quickly.

So a few different things here. The elevators. They move so fast, you wouldn’t believe it. Every time I’m about to get on an elevator, I feel like Will Ferrell from Elf when it takes him five minutes to step on the elevator. You have to like time it perfectly and jump on quick. It’s scary and extremely steep. The public transportation is great here. For about twenty dollars a month, we can ride unlimited on all the buses and metros. It makes getting around the city really easy.

The bars. They are fabulous. Most bars have like several different rooms, indoors and outdoors and in each room there is a different bar and different music. It’s like a five-in-one thing. One bar we went to just felt like it was never ending. Also, last night we went to a bar that’s really close to our hostel and they served carrots. No joke. Like big sticks of carrots. And waitresses will walk around with a bowl of carrots and you can buy them! It was hilarious. We bought one just for kicks.

Food. Everything has meat in it. They think of vegetarians as people who eat a cheese-only diet. They make fried cheese. I guess like mozzarella sticks, but they are like rectangular and huge. But, I also don’t eat cheese. So my biggest meal so far was today and I’m finally full. Two bananas, a huge pack of almonds, and dried figs. Yes. And I also found V8 – my favorite drink in the world. Never in my life would I have thought they’d have V8 here. And bread is super cheap. It’s their staple food. They serve sweet breads and cheesy breads at all the metro stations. And at the grocery store a big piece of bread is only 14 forints, which is less than 10 cents in America. Very cheap. Everything here is cheap. It’s awesome.

What else? Oh the people here are ridiculously friendly. Last night we were at a bar and then we wanted to find our friends at a different bar and this Hungarian guy walked me and three other guys all the way to the other bar that was probably an hour walk away! We honestly thought he was going to mug us or something, but he was just being really nice. We were shocked.

District eight is the forbidden district. A few guys went there to look at a flat and they almost got robbed. This man came up to my friend Anthony and was asking him about his belt and was like “let me see it. I want to buy a belt, too” and as he was looking at his belt he reached into his pocket and tried to steal his wallet. Anthony said it fell on the ground because the guy dropped it and he grabbed it and ran away from the guy. You’ll never find me in district eight. Budapest is split up by districts and the good places to be are district 5, 6, and 7. I’m pretty sure I’m in district 6 right now.

Apparently my school is gorgeous, but I have not been there yet. I was looking at pictures that someone took with their camera and it looks like a huge museum. I cannot wait to check it out and show y’all the pictures!

And update on my swollen neck. It is getting way better. I think being on the airplane flight irritated it and made it swell up even more. But now it’s almost healed. Thank God!

Oh and when we were walking around we passed by a fitness center so we decided to check it out. For what it is, it’s so expensive. I think about $40 a month and there are just some weights, a really old bike, and two treadmills from the seventies.

All the water here is bubbly. I have yet to find just normal water. It’s killing me because I am used to drinking so much water. I thought I found one today and I was so excited, but then it bubbled as I opened it. What a let down.

Well, we are about to go to dinner soon and then back to the bar that serves carrots. Ha! I think tonight is going to be an early night though. We all are really tired because we didn’t get back until around 6am last night. People just stay up so late here! And while I was at the bar some hungarian girl came up to me and she was like "your mother!! your mother!! she's looking for you!" And I was like, my mom's not here!?" And she was like "No, on facebook!" And then I remembered that my mom posted a picture of me on to the international students facebook page saying if anyone saw me, to let her know! Gosh, so embarrassing. But, I know if I were a momma, I'd be freaking out, too. I just didn't have a way of contacting anyone the first few hours I was here.

I also met a girl from Sacramento, California – she’s a niners fan! At least I’ll have one other person to cheer on the 49ers with! And one of my friends from Germany said that just recently, within the last five years, Germany gets really into the Superbowl. They start their festivities around six or seven pm with dinner and then just stay up for the superbowl. And they said they make it a super American night. They get chicken wings and just pig out while watching the game!

I’m just doing the same thing until I get into my flat, but I’ll keep you posted if anything new comes up! We may visit a thermal bath tomorrow. I think we could all use it.

xoxo

P.S. My friend Ben from the Netherlands asked me last night if I have a square. I stared at him for about five minutes until he started laughing and said “like Madison Square Garden!” I lost it. And then two other people later that night, when I told them my real name was Madison, they were like oh yeah like Madison Square Garden? I didn’t know it was that popular!