Monday I had class from 8am until 2:30pm. This is a picture I took on my way to class Monday morning - it had been snowing all day Sunday and Monday morning.
Advertising Management and Tourism Management and Marketing. We formed our groups in Advertising Management - I'm working with my friends Anna-Lena and Laurent, and then two other guys that I just met in class that day. These groups will last the whole semester as we prepare for an advertising pitch that we'll give at the end of the semester to real advertising managers. Sounds interesting and fun!
In Tourism class we had a new teacher. I guess there are two instructors and they each teach every other week. That could get confusing, but the teacher I had this week was really cool. She let us out early and made class fun! After class on Monday, I decided to walk all the way to a shopping center (about 35 minutes away) to buy the Timberland boots that I really wanted and would be great for the weather here. On my walk there, I was marching alongside a protest group and I wasn't really sure what was going on. There were many police and police cars, people wearing raggy clothing and holding signs written in Hungarian. They were walking pretty slow, so I picked up my pace and continued to walk, confused as to what was going on. Eventually, I got to Astoria (one of the main squares that I live near in Budapest) and there was a news car and camera about to film the march. I stopped and started to watch, still in disbelief and wonder as to what was going on. I turned to a lady next to me and asked her if she spoke English. She said of course, so I asked her what was going on. She explained to me that these were the poorest people living in Hungary and they were marching to be heard by the prime minister. She said their signs were pleads for work and bread, and that they had been walking for about two weeks now; some came from the country side all the way to Budapest to take part in the march. I asked her if the prime minister had done anything in response to their action and she laughed and shook her head no. Her eyes started to swell with tears as she is explaining this to me, while the poor people marched past us. She excused herself so that she could continue walking with them and I decided to tag along. It was such a memorable experience. Instead of going to buy my boots, I decided to stick with the crowd to watch it all play out. I think it was God's way of telling me that I am blessed with all my belongings now. I was going to use the money that I would've spent on the boots to buy a bunch of bread, and something told me I should, and thinking back on it I really wish I had, but since there were so many police - I really wasn't sure what I could and couldn't do. It sounds cowardly as I write it. I would've been able to buy out three or more bakery shops here with $100. Most giant loaves of bread here only cost $1. It makes me sick to my stomach every time I think back on it. All these people wanted was some bread and WORK. They had walked for two weeks, so that they could get a job. That's unheard of in the United States. After that, I went home and reflected on all that happened. I couldn't get over it. It definitely struck me pretty hard. Here are a few pictures I took from the Hunger Strike:
Later that night, I decided to turn my room into a gym. Not really, but I worked out in my room doing squats, raised lunges from my bed, and tricep dips from my window sill. I also did a bunch of jumping jacks, push-ups, etc for an hour. I already felt sore thirty minutes after the workout. While everyone else went out to Morrissons 2 (tradition every Monday night), I decided to stay in and get some sleep. Tuesday morning, I woke up feeling refreshed but extremely sore. I wanted to get another work out in, but didn't have time before class to make it to the gym, so I did another workout in my room. Probably not the best idea because today I can't even move. I had my first Resources of Viticulture (class all about the history and process of wine making). It is actually at the campus on the Buda side (a little bit further from the campus I normally attend on the Pest side). There are only about fifteen people in the class and we literally all huddled into a tiny room (almost like an office) and had class in there. It was so intimate - I actually really enjoyed it. We talked about the history of viticulture from the time of Mesopotamia up until now. My professor is super enthusiastic about the subject and thinks everything about it is "fantastic!!!" He told us many interesting stories, my favorite being how they first made champagne. He makes class interesting and it really doesn't even feel like I'm in class. He told us that for champagne making, all the bottles were placed in racks, neck down. After all the dirt fell to the neck of the bottle, they would freeze the bottles. When the wine was frozen, they would take of the top and about three inches of the frozen wine would pop out because of the carbon dioxide. The part that came out contained all the dirt in the bottle. After that they would add a liquor that contained yeast and sugar to fill the bottle back up. They would re-bottle it and let it sit through its second fermentation period. He definitely told it in a much more enthusiastic and exciting way, but I thought it was cool.
For dinner that night, my french roommate, Frederique, made crepes which is a French tradition on Fat Tuesday! I didn't have any, but she made so many for her, Ana, and our other French friend Helene. They ate the crepes with lemon and sugar. Some they ate with chocolate and whipped cream. It looked good, but after having tried some incredible cheeses here, I'm back to being a vegan. Here's a picture of the crepe-making:
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Later that night, I met up with people at a sports bar near my flat to watch two soccer games. The Champions League just started here in Europe, so I decided to go to learn more about soccer. I honestly am oblivious to any rules in soccer, and to tell you the truth, besides the one soccer game I saw at USC, I have never watched or seen another one since. Oh, I did watch the end of a game one time when I was in Honduras. But this time, I actually watched the game and started to get into it once Henrik, Marco, and Laurent explained some of the rules to me! I was cheering for Paris and they won! I even wore a blue shirt just for Paris! I definitely like american football better, but I'll definitely have fun watching soccer here! My friends and I decided we are going to watch a game here in Budapest (even though the team here isn't good, we just want to experience a game here - especially since I've never been to one before).
Today I started to gather all the forms I needed for the immigration office - I have to get my residency permit. My flatmate, Ana, who is also from the United States, and I worked on it for about an hour or so compiling all that we needed. We made a trip to our landlords office, which is near the U.S. embassy, so that we could get some forms and signatures from them. After that we went over to the U.S. embassy, which was completely everything I expected from the U.S. embassy. It was all on lock-down. It had a huge giant gate around the whole building, with security guards all around. To drive through, there is a bridge that has to be let down by a guard and then another gate that opens to let cars through. They wouldn't even let us inside the gated area. An officer came out and spoke with us and gave us a card telling us we needed to call and schedule an appointment. Turns out, we don't even need to go to the embassy to get the residency permit; we have to go to the immigration office which is about an hour away from us. We are going to make appointments and go some time next week. I'll probably have to make a few trips there because I'll probably not bring one of the required forms the first time. I'm just hoping it gets done quickly. I need to do it before next Friday, which will already be the one month mark of being here. I have to get the permit within a month of being here. I can't believe it's almost a month. Crazy. Time really does fly when you're having fun! So after leaving the U.S. embassy, Ana and I took a few pictures with the Ronald Reagan statue:
And this is another random statue standing on a bridge - not sure who it is, but wanted to take a picture with him! :)
After leaving the U.S. Embassy, I thought I was going to pee my pants. Sorry for TMI, but I honestly could not make it home. Ana and I ran into a bank to ask if they had a bathroom and the lady looked at us and was like "NO." Okay, fine. I stormed out of there knowing that they had to have had a bathroom, but whatever. We decided, out of desperation, to stop back at our landlords office to use their bathroom. While I was using the restroom, the lady asked Ana, "What happened?!" And Ana just laughed and said "I don't know she just really had to go to the bathroom!" haha thanks momma for the small bladder. There was no way I was making it home. I was about to just go on the side of the street; I was at the point that I didn't care. After that eventful afternoon, we came back to the flat, and I've been reading the book Safe Haven since I got home. I cannot put it down... it's so darn good. I bought it at the airport on the way here and only read 20 pages. I started reading it again yesterday and I'm already on page 237. I love a good book. I don't think I'll be able to see the movie here in Budapest, but maybe when I get home in the summer.
Tomorrow we are having our house-warming party before the big Traffic Light Party that ESN is planning for everyone. Since the Traffic Light Party is near our flat, we decided to have the house-warming party here before the Traffic Light Party out of convenience. Basically, you either wear green, yellow, or red depending on your relationship status, hence why the party is also on Valentine's day. I think I'm going to go with yellow, just for the fun of it. Also because I want to wear a cute yellow shirt that I brought. :)
We are expecting around 50 people to come to our house-warming party, which is a heck of a lot of people. Our neighbors may hate us, but we'll only be there until around 11 when we move out to the Traffic Light Party.
I was supposed to go to the House of Terror last weekend, but it filled up, so they are doing a second trip this coming weekend that I am going to! Should be very interesting.
On Friday, Ben, Anthony, and Dany invited me and my two flatmates over for dinner! Ana is baking a cake and I'm bringing over a salad and maybe some fruit.
Upcoming travels -
not this weekend, but next weekend, a few of us - or maybe a lot... I'm not sure how many are committed to going - will be taking a train (about five hours I think) to Zagreb, CROATIA! I'm so excited! We will all just stay in a hostel and visit the city for a couple of days. I'm so excited! That will be my first travel outside of Budapest.
Then the first weekend in March, ESN is planning a trip to Slovenia! I'll definitely be going on that, as well. I'm so excited to discover Eastern Europe! Trips to Vienna, Prague, Transylvania, Venice, and Germany hopefully to come. And if I'm real lucky, a trip to Brussels and Barcelona. I'll definitely keep yall posted on travels. That's way more interesting than blogging about what I'm learning in class, although I like to summarize the interesting stuff for yall. Until Sunday, after a fun and adventurous weekend (I think I may hop on a train to Vienna on Friday... it's cheap and only takes two hours.. I'm kind of feeling it!) Who knows?!
Happy Ash Wednesday to my Catholics!
And even though I'm not Catholic, I've decided to participate in lent as a way to show sacrifice like Jesus did for us. I'll be giving up late night snacking. After dinner, nothing else, unless I'm incredibly hungry and then in that case I'll have a piece of fruit or something healthy.
your yellow-wearing valentine
xoxo
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