Here we go. Get your reading glasses on, whatever you gotta do to stare at the screen for a while. It's gonna be a long post. My dearest friend, Lindsay Sack, reminded me it's been six days too long since I've posted, and I know many of you just want to know every detail. Good thing I'm a detailed writer.
Okay, so let's go back to Thursday. What a wonderful night! We had our flat warming party that night before the Traffic Light Party. All I can say is our neighbors weren't happy that night, but we were all out of the flat by midnight. They wake me up every morning at 6am screaming - I think there's six kids living in the bedroom right next to mine. It's awful. So we had around 40 people in our flat, but since our flat is pretty open it didn't really feel like that many people. Then the party was only a block away from our place, so we all walked over there and had a blast! We even started a limbo toward the end of the night. I know, sounds like middle school dances, but it was so fun!
Friday afternoon I decided to run through Budapest and around Margaret Island. A few of us were supposed to meet at the bridge that goes over to the island, but since I ran there, I was a bit late and missed everyone meeting. I think while they were on one side of the island, I was on the other and we just totally missed each other. But it was a great run! I felt so good! I haven't been running for a while, so it was good to get back to it. I ended up running for about an hour and a half. It was great! The island has a 3.3 mile track around it and everyone there is running! There's also a hotel, swimming pool (good to know for when it gets warmer), and little playgrounds all over the island. I think it will be beautiful when it starts to warm up here. On my way back to my flat on my run, I found a place called Culinares. My favorite. It has everything I've been looking for here, except for Chia seeds. Can't find them anywhere. But, I was able to buy celery and sweet potatoes (literally cannot find sweet potatoes anywhere else) and I also bought some vegan pesto - yum! They had coconut water, amazing sun dried tomatoes, and spinach. It's ridiculously hard to find spinach here, too. I tried ordering it at a restaurant one time and they said they were out of it. Thought that was weird, but I guess it's just not something they have in abundance here. I wasn't able to buy anything on my run because I didn't have money, but I was definitely looking at everything that I would buy the next day! Friday night was a really good night; Ben, Anthony, and Dany invited me and my two flat mates (Ana and Freddie) and Helen over for dinner. Ben is a vegetarian and they know I'm a vegan so they totally catered to me. I told them I could bring a salad, but they told me not to. They made vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, and broccoli), rice, and Ben made spicy tofu for me, while Anthony and Dany cooked stuffed pork for everyone else. Definitely a satisfying meal. Ana made a cake for desert, so while everyone was eating that I decided to start cleaning. I'm used to the "guys cook, girls clean" tradition at my dad's house, so I said that to Ben, Anthony, and Dany and they were shocked! It was funny! Dany came to help me out because he felt bad and I kept telling him I didn't mind doing the dishes. He said we could do them after desert. So we all sat around, had desert, and laughed a whole lot. Anthony, Dany, and I did the dishes in record time and then we all sat down in the living room to watch a movie! First movie night here in Budapest. We watched The Replacements... a good ol' football movie! The movie ended around 12:30 and all of us were exhausted so we headed home.
Saturday, I decided to go for another run - I loved my run on Friday, so I was ready to go again! I woke up early, felt good, and got outside. It was colder this morning than it was on Friday when I ran, but wasn't too bad. Makes me run faster. I only went for an hour this time, and wasn't feeling as strong as on Friday. I was really sore, too. Crazy how different muscles are used for different activity and when you don't do it for a while, your body can definitely tell! I came back and showered, and then met everyone to go to the House of Terror Museum. We had such a big group, so it was hard to hear the tour guide and he was going through the museum so fast. I decided to stay back and just do it on my own with a few people. We eventually caught up, but the tour guide was like sprinting through every room and didn't give us time to watch any of the videos or anything. The House of Terror museum is all about the Hungarian Nazis - I'm sorry, I may be a little naive but I had no idea there were Hungarian Nazis. I thought it was only a Germany thing. But the House of Terror used to be the party headquarters of the Hungarian Nazis in 1944. Then between 1945 and 1956 it was home to communist terror organizations. The museum had videos of victims who survived during the time period, and their stories were incredible. They survived in the concentration camps on very little food, and were forced to bury the bodies of their families and friends when they died. I was sick to my stomach listening to the stories. They said the smell was dreadful; there was just a ditch where they would throw the dead bodies and they would try to bury the bodies, but they constantly had to re-bury bodies as the dirt eroded and more bodies were added to the ditch. In the basement of the House of Terror museum they set up a fake prison and torture chambers, but some of the things were actually from the time period. This was a torture chamber - they had hot plates that they would burn the victims hands and faces on. There was also a whip and some other things. The tour guide told us that the victims would some times have to stand up against the wall with either their nose, or hand or something touching the wall, and if they lost contact with the wall from fatigue, they would be tortured. And they'd have to stand like that for days at a time.
There was a wall of the faces of all the victims.
This is where they would hang the victims.
The museum was an eye opener. It was a long tour, and we were all pretty tired, but it was totally worth going to see. After the museum, me and three other girls finally went to Culinares and I bought everything I wanted. I ended up spending quite a bit of money there, so I can't go there often. But it was good to have a taste of home. After Culinares shopping, we got back to the flat and got ready to see Dusky! Dusky is a group of two guys from London who compose electronic music. Tobias (from London) invited us over to his flat before Dusky, and he was the one to organize the night for us to go see Dusky! It was so much fun! The club where Dusky performed was close to my flat, so super convenient! Tobias let the place know the day before that a group of about 40 of us was coming and they told Tobias that if we all came before midnight, they would let us skip the line to get in. We got there and they let us enter through the back door! It actually took a lot longer than it should have, but once we were all inside we were happy! I got home late that night, or should I say early Sunday morning, because Dusky wouldn't stop playing.
Sunday morning, I woke up around 9am.. obviously on little sleep, and met with Amanda (from USC) to go to a church that she found on the internet. It's called Danube International. It's on the Buda side so we had to take a bus to get there and at first we couldn't find it. Amanda thought that the building number was 1119 and we were really confused because we only saw street numbers in the 50's. Eventually, Amanda was like oh wow I am so stupid! The zip code is 1119, and the street number is 55! haha the way that addresses are written here is kind of confusing. They put the zip first, then the street name, and then the street number. Still getting used to it. So we finally found the church and walked in quietly because we were a bit late. There were so many families and kids there - I had a good feeling about the church as soon as I walked in. They played music first and then they welcomed all the guests. I wasn't expecting this, but they asked if there were any newcomers into the church and if there were, asked us to stand. umm... I never had to introduce myself to an entire church before! So, Amanda and I stood up and then they came over with a microphone and we just had to say our names, where we are from, and why we are in Budapest. It was a little different, but after we introduced ourselves, so many people came up to us wanting to meet us and engage us into the church. Very very welcoming. The service was all in English and most of the families there were missionary families or travelers. We will definitely be going back there on weekends we aren't traveling. Amanda and I both really liked it! We had to leave a bit early to meet a group of people for Sunday hiking, though, and we felt bad, but we told them we would definitely be back. We changed in the bathroom and then sprinted to catch the bus to meet with everyone. We ended up hiking to Erszebet Lookout Tower! It was all snow, and I was definitely not prepared for hiking in snow. I should have worn my snow boots, but instead I wore tennis shoes. Amanda, Knut, and I were the only ones really dressed for a hike and we wanted to get a good hike in so we went ahead of everyone else! It was funny because we kept slipping the whole way up, but it made it fun. I was freezing, so I needed to hike quickly to warm up. Here's some pictures of us when we made it to the top:
This is Amanda and me on top of the Lookout Tower! Such a beautiful view - we want to come back when it's warmer and on a clearer day because the view would be even better!
Almost to the top!
USC Marshall School of Business is doing a photo contest with all the students who are abroad right now and you can enter into two categories. One has to be a picture with a USC presence (either yourself or someone else wearing USC gear, or a USC flag). The other can be anything - free style - pretty much the best picture taken while abroad! I'm thinking I might use this for the USC presence category, unless I get a better one in the next few months!
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This is a picture from the top when we were waiting for everyone else to get up!
This is Amanda, Knut, and me - first ones to the top!
On our way back down, we stopped at a little restaurant and got hot wine. We were all so cold, so it was a nice treat! I wrote about hot wine in a previous blog post, but it's basically hot wine with cinnamon spices. It's really tasty! Amanda, Knut, and I finished the whole hike while the rest of the group took a bus down. ha! After the hike, I went home and had some delicious tomato soup - I was still freezing! At 8pm, I went over to Cecile, Nienke, and Chloe's flat to plan our weekend trip to Zagreb, Croatia!! They made food and about 10 of us showed up to plan the trip. We ended up booking our hostel and then planned a meeting day to buy our train tickets! There is a group of us leaving on Thursday and another leaving Friday. I'm in the Friday group because I didn't want to miss my Thursday classes. We can only miss three classes all semester, so I wanted to save those skips for a longer trip. The Friday group is going to have more fun on the train, anyway. I bet you can sense some friendly competition. The Thursday group is going to the zoo in Zagreb on Friday though. I'm a bit jealous about that. But, I am planning a day to go to the Budapest Zoo. Right now there are about 17 of us going to Zagreb and more and more people keep wanting to join! It's going to be a lot of fun! We are going this weekend! The train ride is six hours (ugh!) but we'll find a way to entertain ourselves. I'm trying to find an English book store, so I can get a book to read for the trip! We'll be going Friday to Sunday - short trip, but I can't believe I'll be in Croatia! So surreal. After we booked our hostel Sunday night, I went over to Anna-Lena's flat to watch a movie with some people! We watched City of God, based on a true story in Brazil. It was a brutal gang movie, but it was really really good! It was all subtitles, but I really liked the movie! It was after midnight when we all left, and a few of us had 8am class Monday morning. Very hard to get up for that...
Monday, I had class. And then I had to go buy fee stamps for my residency permit. We can't pay cash at the immigration office, so we have to buy stamps before going. I went into the 'posta' and ended up going to three different counters before someone could help me. Oh, the trouble of not being able to speak Hungarian. Finally I got my fee stamps and then on my way home I ran into an organic food shop and juice bar. I got some freshly made juice and vegan soup - yum! I also found spirulina at the organic shop. Can you believe it, momma?? For those who don't know what spirulina is, look it up. It's an extremely healthy supplement/powder.
Monday night I stayed in and caught up on Revenge. It's getting so good! But, too many people are dying all of a sudden. I guess it was bound to happen - I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't watched, but I was so sad after the last episode. Almost in tears.
Tuesday, I finally made it to the immigration office. It was about a 30 minute trip to get there.. on the buda side... in the middle of nowhere. The office looked so sketch. I was a bit scared. They open at 13:00 on Tuesdays, and I got there at 12:40. There was already a line of about twenty people outside. I got in line and waited until they opened the doors at 13:00. I then could choose to either go to the left or the right. All the signs were in Hungarian, go figure, so I chose right. I stood in line for another ten minutes and finally got to the counter. I said I needed to apply for a residency permit, they gave me a number, and I sat down and waited. Some people who've gone had to wait up to three hours, but I think I was the second person in line for residency permit - score! I only waited for about twenty more minutes and then number 101 was flashing on the screen! I went back to the desk and handed the lady a stack of all my papers. I had no idea what I needed, but she went through it all and handed me back papers and copies she didn't need and kept the rest. I had to fill out a few more forms, and I waited for her to process everything. It took about thirty minutes. Then she took my picture and finger print, and I was on my way! I'll be getting my residence permit mailed to me hopefully by March or April. It was around 13:50 when I was leaving the immigration office and I had class at 14:00. I wasn't planning on going, but since I was only going to be a few minutes late, I decided to go. It's my Resources of Viticulture class, so I wanted to make it if I could! When I got to the class room, it was locked and I guess they changed the location of the room to a laboratory. These two ladies tried to help me find the room and eventually I found it. I walked in twenty minutes late and made a big scene. The teacher is cool, though, so he didn't really mind. We learned all about the roots and pruning process of the grape vine. We even got to cut a few of the vines as practice for pruning. The next two weeks of the class are study trips. We choose one day out of the next two weeks to travel to a vineyard to practice pruning and other stuff. Not really sure what it's going to be like, but should be fun! Freddie and I both don't have class on Wednesdays so we are going to go on one of the Wednesday trips! I'll let you know how it goes.
After class yesterday, we got home around 4:30 and had to start getting ready for the second pub crawl. We met at 6pm for the pub crawl - way too early - and went to three different ruin pubs and then the last place was a club called Instant that most of us had already been to. We felt a little ripped off by this pub crawl because we paid about $10 and didn't really get our money's worth. The first one we did was much better, probably because it was actually organized through ESN. We thought this one was organized by them, too, but it turns out it wasn't. Hmm? So we left the pub crawl early and went to Szimpla! The carrot bar next to my flat! We all just hung out there and had a good time, eating carrots. :)
This morning I got up and decided to take a short walk to get some coffee. I was craving a good cup so I decided on Starbucks - never a bad choice! The sun is out today and it is beautiful! I am totally missing the California sunshine. Here's a few pictures from my walk this morning:
It's already 1:30 here (sorry I keep changing between military time and standard time... when events are posted in military time, I just remember that and not the standard time. On my own watch, I'm still on standard). I'm definitely going to get outside while the sun is out - maybe another run on Margaret Island - I love it!
Trips that are definitely planned so far:
This weekend in Zagreb, Croatia!
The next weekend in ROME, ITALY!!! I am so so so excited!
And the weekend after that, an ESN organized trip to Slovenia!
I'm planning to visit Prague in April when it is warmer, and since Vienna is only a two hour bus trip, I may try to do that on a Tuesday and Wednesday during the week since I don't have class Wednesday. Can't wait for what's to come!
Oh, and how could I forget!? My best friend of all time... thirteen years and counting... Emily Kehner, is coming to visit me in May!!!!! I am so excited! All my friends here are totally gonna love her! I've already told the majority of my friends that she's coming. Thinking back to the days when Emily, Meaghan, and I were nine years old watching our little brothers play baseball... never in my life would I have imagined Emily and I being in Budapest together when we were older! I cannot believe it's happening - it will be such a memorable experience!
Also, I forgot to mention - If you would like to send me a letter I can give you my address here. A few of you reading this blog have been my writing partners while in college, and I wouldn't want Budapest to stop us from writing each other! I do not want to post it on the blog, but email or facebook message me and I would love to give it to you. I'm still trying to figure out the post office stuff here, but once I do, I will definitely start mailing letters/post cards!
Well, you made it. Another long post. I will definitely be writing next week about my trip to Zagreb!
xoxo
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