Hopped on a Bus

Monday morning 5:20am wake up call to catch a bus at 6:30am to Bratislava, Slovakia. I had to walk to the metro, take the metro six stops (I lost count and took it seven stops, had to run to the other side, wait five minutes and take it one stop back), and got on my bus at 6:32am. The bus driver grabbed my ticket, shook his head, I took a seat, and he closed the doors and we were off. I was the last one on the bus. I really didn't think I was going to make it. My two friends were taking a train at 7:30am because the bus was sold out when they tried to buy tickets. So, I got to Bratislava around 8:55am and didn't really know if I was at the correct stop. The bus driver said we had a twenty minute break, but I was almost positive we were in Bratislava. I went into the bus station and asked the lady at the information center if I was at the Bratislava AS bus stop. Sure enough, I was. I went to find the restroom and of course I had to pay money for it (so common and so absurd here in Europe). I didn't have any euros on me, so I had to hold it. I walked about fifteen minutes to the hostel that I had booked and when I got there they said I couldn't check in until 1pm. They let me use the restroom which was all I really cared about. After grabbing a map and mapping out everything I wanted to see in the day, I went to meet Ana and Sarah where we planned to meet at 10:15. I was so lost and getting so frustrated because I could barely read the map on my phone, which didn't coordinate with the map in my hand or the street names. All of a sudden I look over and see a girl running with a tiny little backpack. It was Ana, thank God! And Sarah was trailing behind her. I yelled over to them and I was so relieved that I found them. Honestly, I didn't know if I was ever going to find them. We started off by climbing up a hill to see the Slavin Memorial. We had no idea where we were. At one point we were walking and Sarah goes "okay, so we're at the corner of Namestie Slobody and... Namestie Slobody... what?" Literally an intersection with the same street name. We didn't know how to get there but eventually we started looking up a hill for a giant monument and we finally found it and just worked our way up the hill. After seeing the monument and an incredible view from the top, we made our way down the hill and over to the Bratislava Castle. We walked up a set of stairs that were covered in ice and we thought it was the entrance to the castle, but it wasn't. We walked around some more and came to a dead end. So we went back down the stairs we came up and walked around some more until we found more stairs. We walked up those and still couldn't find the entrance. We literally did an entire 340 degrees around this castle until we came upon the entrance. If we had kept walking a little bit further straight instead of walking up the first set of stairs we climbed up, we would have been at the entrance. Shaking my head... but the walk around the entire castle was awesome because we got some really good views of the city and of the river (the Danube river that flows through Budapest also flows through Bratislava). Here's some pictures of what I saw so far:
Slavin Memorial:

Bratislava Castle:

From the top of the castle, we were able to look over the river and see the UFO Lookout Tower on the top of the bridge. We walked over to the lookout tower because we read that we could take a lift to the top and see wonderful views, but once we got over there it was going to cost about 5euro to go up to the top and we just thought it was too expensive just to look out over the city (a view we already got from the castle).

St. Martins Cathedral: We were allowed to go inside and I started taking pictures and some guy yelled at me in five different languages "no pictures!" oops, sorry!

St. Michael's Gate:

 Sarah and I with a little statue in the Old Town city area. We found a total of four around the city - not sure how many there are in total.

Once we were in Old Town, Sarah and I decided to grab lunch since it was around 1pm. Our two friends, Miguel and Miguel (both from Portugal), met up with us at St. Martin's Cathedral and Ana hung out with them while Sarah and I got lunch. We ate at some Italian restaurant - I just got tomato soup and a side of spinach. After lunch we met back up with Ana and the Miguels. We wanted to see the blue church so we walked over to see it. We couldn't get inside, but this is what it looks like on the outside:

St. Elizabeth's Blue Church - it's name says it all - bright blue pastel church on the outside!

After we saw this church, we headed back to the Miguels hostel and hung out there for about fifteen minutes. The bartender gave us free shots of gin, apparently because he felt bad about Miguels jacket getting stolen. Since the city was so small and easy to see in just a few short hours, Ana and Sarah decided to take a 6:30 train home instead of a 7:50. I was staying the night there, so that I could go to Vienna on Tuesday, but Frederique, Dianne, Helene, and Lukas were all arriving in Bratislava by bus around 6:15pm. So when the others went to the train station, I went to meet the new group at the bus station. It worked out quite perfectly! I met with the others and we finally went back to the hostel to check in. We stopped at a grocery store to buy breakfast for the morning, and then I walked them over to Old Town. We were trying to find a restaurant for dinner and we ended up eating at the same restaurant I had lunch at. It was good and the menu was huge, so I thought it would be good for everyone! I ended up getting a salad this time. After dinner, we walked around a little more but the city was dead. It's a small city, and it was also 'holiday' - day after Easter, so not much was open. We went back to the hostel and hung out for a little and then we all went to sleep. None of us really slept that well and we aren't sure why. I was afraid I was going to miss my bus, probably because I got so close to missing the bus to Bratislava. I tossed and turned all night and finally it was time for me to get up and get ready. I was the only one leaving early in the morning to head to Vienna; the others were heading to Prague later in the afternoon. I made it to the bus station with twenty minutes to spare, but I would rather be early than late! The bus ride to Vienna was quick - about an hour and twenty minutes! I had mapped where the bus was going to drop me off, so I kind of knew which direction I was going. I made a plan for everything I wanted to see and hoped I would get through it all in the one day I had there! I got off the bus and it started snowing. Brrr! I thought it was going to be snowing all day, but it only snowed for a short time and it was light snow. My first stop was to the Belvedere Palace. It was gorgeous and the gardens outside were beautiful! I didn't go inside because I didn't think I had enough time to do the inside tours of anything. Here are a few pictures:

 As I was walking to my next destination, I came upon this. Not really sure what it is, but thought it was cool.

Yes, I found a Forever 21 in Vienna! I thought I would never go in there, but later in the day when I had some time to shop, I decided to go in to see a pair of boots I saw from the window. I had been limping around all day because the boots I brought here are destroyed and give my feet really bad blisters when I wear them for too long. I was in need of a new pair of boots so when I saw the ones at F21, and they fit, and they were reasonably priced, I decided to get them! Glad I did because those other ones will probably be in the trash soon.

Finally I found St. Stephen's Church! The inside was gorgeous:

Then I followed my tripadvisor application on my phone to St. Peter's Church:

I signed the little guest book inside - my name will forever be in St. Peter's church! Thought that was pretty neat! 

After seeing those two churches, I headed over to see the Imperial Palace. Around the palace, there were a bunch of different museums - it was like a Museum square.

Around the palace, I found a starbucks and made my way there to use the bathroom, get some water and coffee, and map out my next move. I knew I had to get on the metro, so I needed to figure out which line to take and everything. 

My next stop was Schonbrunn Palace - it was a little bit out of the way, but I had read it was well worth seeing. I found the metro stop once leaving Starbucks and tried to figure out the ticket thing. My credit card wouldn't work in the machine and I was getting frustrated, so I told the guy behind me to go. I don't think he understood because he just wanted to help me get my ticket. He kept showing me and explaining to me what all the buttons meant. He spoke broken English so it was hard to understand. Eventually I got a ticket and then he pointed me to where I had to validate it, and as he walked away I pretended to validate. There were no guards around and I was obviously a tourist with my backpack and camera, so if someone were to stop me I would have just said I didn't know where to validate. That way, I could use the ticket to travel by metro until someone stopped me without having to pay for a ticket each time. Luckily, I never got stopped! So I made it to Schonbrunn after much wandering around, and this is what I first saw! It was huge and beautiful! I walked up to the front and looked at the map. It showed that there were gardens around back, so I made my way to the back.

Little did I know that I would see this in the back:

I decided to climb that hill in the distance, up to that monument and I am so glad I did! This is the view of the palace from the top of the hill:

And this is the monument at the top of the hill.

On the side of the palace were gardens, but I had to pay for a ticket to get in. There really wasn't much to see on the inside so I just took a picture of what I could get from the outside.

Okay, this is really embarrassing and I can't believe I'm writing this on here, but when I was at the top of this hill I had to go to the bathroom SO BAD. I knew that there were bathrooms back at the front, but it was about a 20 minute walk back to the front. Also, the way I was headed wasn't toward the front but to the side of the palace to catch a metro train over that way. So, as I was walking out of the palace area, I was walking through paths that had all these woods around them. There were some occasional runners, but I thought that if I could hide myself well enough in the woods, no one could see me. Camp taught me well. I grabbed a tree and took a squat. No one could see me. And no one passed by either. Hope that wasn't TMI. I decided to take a picture of the woods, so yall would have some sort of understanding:

 After that little adventure, I took a train over to this market that sold a bunch of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and spices. A lot of the stands sold spices- here's a picture:

 I bought a few dates from this guy who was selling them because I wanted a small snack - I hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was already 4 in the afternoon. After buying some dates, the guy said "telephone number?" And I was really confused so I said "what? you want my telephone number?" And he said yeahh... I laughed, looked at him, and said no! (in a "are you crazy?" voice). That was interesting and left me a little perplexed. Like did he really think I would give him my number? It was some old man who I will never see again in my entire life. Weird. After the market, I walked back to the shopping area near St. Stephen's church - I stopped at another Starbucks to check my bus time to make sure I was still planned to leave at 7:30. After starbucks, I walked around the shopping area - it was snowing a little again, but not too bad. This is when I stopped in F21 and bought those boots. After that purchase, I went to a thai place that I read about on trip advisor for dinner. It was delicious! I got tofu and vegetables in a curry sauce! Delicious! Best thai food I've ever had... but I haven't had much. haha! After dinner, I got on the metro and took it to where my bus was picking me up. I thought I was going to a bus station, but turns out it was just one bus parked on a side street! Once I got on the bus, it started pouring! So glad the rain held out until I left! The bus ride back went by pretty fast. It was about 3 hours and twenty minutes, but I slept for most of it. I was exhausted!

It was raining in Budapest, too but thanks to Meghan I had an umbrella to use to get back to my flat! This week has been rather relaxing after traveling Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I met with some group members to work on a presentation due on Monday. Thursday I had class all day and Thursday night I came home and all I wanted to do was just relax and watch online tv. I found a website that I can watch Criminal Minds episodes - I used to have a website where I would watch Criminal Minds but it stopped showing the episodes. I had made it to the beginning of season six (they are on season eight right now) and then I could not watch it for about a year now. I like to watch them in order because I know the background story. So, now I've just been catching up on season six watching episode after episode. I'm addicted. This morning, I made my way over to the Great Market Hall and did some grocery shopping. I decided to walk back to my flat with two huge grocery bags... not such a comfortable walk but glad I did it. I try to walk as much as I can here instead of taking the train. This afternoon/night I have been working on school papers and scholarship applications that are coming up. I've also been putting together my schedule for the fall at USC because I register for classes on Monday. I cannot believe I am registering for my LAST YEAR at USC. The time has flown by! The schedule I have planned now leaves a lot of room for me to work at the events office! Just what I wanted! I'm doing night classes on Monday and Wednesday, so that I can get more hours in the day at work. I can't wait - did I mention I love my job?!

This weekend I don't have much planned. Most Sundays there is a group of us that goes hiking, but I always miss it since I'm traveling, so I'll definitely go this Sunday to the hike, although the forecast is showing rain. Boo! Tomorrow is supposed to rain again, too. What is this Budapest?! I'm ready for hot sunny weather! I don't think I'll ever get it.

I only have two more travels planned and those will probably be my last. I am running out of money and can't afford another trip. I have a weekend in Prague planned mid April and then the weekend after I am going with four others to Krakow, Poland and then over to the Auschwitz concentration camp. I've heard great things about Prague, so I am so excited to travel there! Seeing Auschwitz will be an emotional experience, but I've heard it's definitely something worth seeing. After that, Emily comes in May!! And then I head home at the end of May! The time here has flown by. I can't even believe I only have seven more weeks here. I have no idea where the time went!

...Back to watching a Criminal Minds episode before bed. ;) I think I'll be caught up to season eight by the time I leave here.


xx

Happy Easter! He is Risen!

Happy Easter to my wonderful blog followers!

It's been over a week and I should have updated a few days ago, but you know the story.

Let's see. We have to go back to last Saturday. So, I updated last Friday night when I got into Utrecht and I thought I was going to bed soon after that, but no. Carly and Taylor and the rest of the gang got home from the soccer game around midnight and I was exhausted, but we all went down into the kitchen/living room and started a game of texas hold 'em. Let's just say I have the Hald gambling spirit. Don't know if that's a good thing. But, as soon as we started playing, I suddenly woke up and was super energized. After about three hours of playing, I was the winner!! I have the Hald gambling luck/skill. Dad, can't wait to go to Vegas or Biloxi with you! ha

This is Utrecht:

And this is Carly and I 'fighting on' in Utrecht:

Anyway, so we went to bed late that night, but we wanted to get an early start Saturday to visit Amsterdam so we were up early. We rode bikes to the train station in Utrecht (about fifteen to twenty minutes) and took a 25 minute train ride into Amsterdam. The weekend I went, it was freezing and windy, so after getting over the fact that I was going to be cold all day walking around Amsterdam, I had a little better attitude. I just hate being cold. But even when I'm cold, I can have a smile on my face. I'm in the Netherlands!!


When we first got into Amsterdam we walked through the Red Light District - funny story. So, I was getting my camera ready and Taylor was showing us around but I she didn't say that we were in the Red Light District yet. She just told me that I couldn't take pictures in the Red Light District because the women will get really angry, which makes sense. So, I was like okay well when we get there I'll just shut off my camera. Little did I know we were already there, so I'm just walking along and Carly was all "oh my gosh... this is crazy... like I didn't think it would be like this." And I'm totally oblivious to the women standing in the windows just wearing lingerie. So then we walked by a church and I took some pictures. Still oblivious that we were in the Red Light District. And then all of a sudden I looked over and I gasped because it just shocked me a little. And then I started laughing. I was like "yall I didn't know we were already there!" And Carly looked at me and was like "what did you think I was talking about? You seriously haven't seen the women in windows yet?!" No... haha

So that was an interesting sight to see. It was one of those things that you didn't want to look, but you just had to because it was just so interesting to me. We walked around some more and the other thing about Amsterdam is that selling weed is legal. So, there are a bunch of 'coffee shops' that sell weed lollipops, weed brownies, weed anything. And then we walked past a bar that had a bunch of mini piles of weed and you could pay to go sit at the bar and roll your own joint. What? The term 'coffee shop' in Amsterdam refers to a place that sells weed. A cafe or coffee house is what actually sells coffee. Found that out when I was so confused as to why there was a sign that said "Ages 18 or older" for a coffee shop. That didn't make sense to me at all until Taylor explained that there's a big difference between a coffee shop and a coffee house. And if you're wondering, no, I did not get high in Amsterdam even though all my Budapest friends said I HAD TO DO IT. Nope, not my thang.

After walking around the city, we stopped to get lunch at a little pub. We just had panini's, but it was nice to sit and get out of the cold for a little while. After lunch, we went on a journey to find the I AMSTERDAM sign. Its a giant 3-D sign in Amsterdam that moves around the city every so often. We finally found it and it was really hard to get pictures of it without people getting in the way. Too many tourists... ugh. There was a group of four teenagers who literally did not understand the concept of getting in someone's way. I was taking a picture of Carly and Taylor with one of the letters of the sign, and this girl just dropped her giant pink purse at the base of the letter. So, in this picture it's all normal and then BOOM a giant pink purse. Carly asked the girl "Is this your purse?" And she just shook her head yes... and Carly was like "umm... can I move it?" Like she didn't think anything was wrong with just leaving her purse there while Carly and Taylor wanted a picture. And when I was trying to take the picture...I was only about ten feet away from them, one of the teenagers literally walked in front of the camera five times. Right in front of me. Clearly I was taking a picture, but whatever. They were annoying. Rant over. Here are some pictures from the sign:

Now, imagine a big giant pink purse at the bottom of the 't' - wish I actually had the picture. It was on Carly's camera.

And while I'm posting pictures, here are a few of Amsterdam. Beautiful.

These machines are all over the Netherlands. Basically you put in a euro or 2 euro coin and then you open the door and get food. And it's made fresh and hot. It's like fast food, but really fast. There's just a bunch of little windows and you can grab whatever you want. There are people behind the machines making the food and loading it into the little windows when more food needs to be made. And they're open 24 hours. 'Food from the future' as Carly called it. 

 Bikes everywhere and I love it!!!

 Anne Frank's actual house when she was living in hiding for two years! CRAZY! There's an Anne Frank museum, but I didn't get a chance to go because we were planning on going back to Amsterdam on Sunday so I was going to go then, but then we never went back. Sad.. that would've been really cool. The museum is right next to the house and during the museum tour, there's a chance to actually go see the room where the whole family stayed in hiding. That would've really been awesome to see.

Street art:

Around 5pm we walked back to the train station and literally we were battling a wind storm. The wind was blowing against us so hard that at one point and had to use all my strength just to walk. We were all holding hands just trying to get in the train station. 

On Sunday, we stayed in Utrecht and biked around this little rural area behind Taylor's apartment. It was really, really beautiful back there. 

See, even when I'm cold, I can smile! :)

After we took a bunch of pictures and biked around the boondocks, we went back to Taylor's to warm up and get tea. It was FREEZING. Once we were warm again, we bundled back up and Carly and I biked to Utrecht and spent an hour just biking around the small city. It was fun just to bike and look at all the restaurants, cafes, and shops. Around six, we stopped into some place that looked good for dinner and it ended up being a cinema with four different restaurant/bar areas. We were really confused at first and we had to ask the front desk what the place was. haha I went up to her and I just said, "umm.. what is this?" I didn't really know what to ask but she gave us a brochure of the films being shown and apparently there was a week long film festival there. Pretty cool! Carly and I didn't actually see a film, but we got drinks and appetizers and played cards. They had a bunch of board games and cards so we grabbed a stack and played Egyptian ratscrew and war. Won both games - I was on a card winning streak this weekend. haha! Carly and I spent about an hour or so there and then we biked back to Taylor's flat. Taylor didn't come with us because she had to study for an exam coming up. 

Monday morning we went to a dutch pancake house and got 'all you can eat' pancakes for 10 euro. Not a bad deal! I got a jam pancake, a banana pancake, and a mushroom pancake. All of them were delicious. And so not vegan. ugh. But, "when in Rome.." oh wait, I can't use that to justify it. I just had to try dutch pancakes though. What would a trip to the Netherlands be without trying dutch pancakes!?

After that, Carly and I went to the train station and I headed back to Eindhoven to catch my flight later that evening. Carly went back to Amsterdam for the day to see a friend from USC who was visiting Amsterdam. 

I got back safe Monday night after a long day traveling. From 2:45pm until 10pm. Bleh. But totally worth it! I loved Amsterdam/Utrecht! 

This week was fun! Pretty relaxing.. caught up on laundry and a bunch of Glee episodes. Made it to the gym every day - the lady at the desk knows me by name now and she says "hey girl!" every time I walk in. haha I'd say we're bff's! 

My thursday morning class was canceled because the teacher was sick, so I just had one class Thursday afternoon and that was all my class for the week since I missed class on Monday for traveling. Friday night I met up with a group of people at a bar and then went to Szimpla after (carrot bar!). Ben's dutch friends are visiting, so we had to show them Szimpla! Of course, they loved it! Saturday night, Ben, Anthony, and Dany had a pre party at their flat before a giant bath party! The theme for their flat party was Cardboard Hat theme. We had to wear hats made of cardboard. Hmm... Istvan (Hungarian ESN organizer) wrote on facebook that he found a bunch of cardboard for about ten people, so I decided to have a few people over around 6pm to make the cardboard hats before the party! I wanted to make a snapback hat, but it turned into the Pope's hat. No joke. So I drew some crosses on it. I also made another hat that I liked better. Henrik brought a cereal box over and I cut out the bowl of cereal from the front of the box and attached it to my hat. I also found the word 'Flakers' on the box, so I cut that out and put it on my hat, too. Supporter of the Budapest Flakers. Get it? Like LA Lakers!? haha so I had two hats, but I wore the Flakers one most of the time because I liked that one best. I know someone took pictures, so I'll try to post them once I get the pictures! The best hat was one of Ben's friends hats! He spent hours making it - he's an electrical engineer, so you can only imagine. His had lights and a radio on it. He bought a radio or lamp (I can't remember what he said) and took it apart to make it for his hat. I wouldn't even know where to start. Very impressive! Afterward we all trekked to the bath party. Starting in March and going into April, there is a bath party every Saturday night! Basically the bath stays open until around 3 in the morning, music is playing, and everyone is just hanging out in the baths! I didn't pre order my ticket, but all my friends did, so when I got there they told me it was sold out. I was so bummed. And I didn't really know how to get home, so... I was screwed. I started walking with a group of girls I know, though, because they couldn't get in either and I turned around and said, "No! I'm getting in there.. whatever it takes!" So I went back to the baths, found people who were leaving, asked for their ticket, and went to the lady and said the thing that you rip off fell off. I told her that I would even buy a 'new one' so that I could get in. She bought it. I handed her my money and after about twenty minutes of waiting in line, I got in! I met up with my friends and they were like, "What are you doing here? How did you get in?" haha I just said long story, but glad I finally got in! We stayed until around 3:30am and then the clocks changed last night, so while we were there it actually turned into 4:30am by the time we were leaving... Yes, the clocks changed here, so now I'm back to being nine hours ahead of California and 6 hours ahead of Georgia time. For a while I was only eight and five because the United States had daylight savings time, but Budapest didn't. 

This morning I got up early and headed to church! Ben and two of his Dutch friends wanted to come with me so I told them to meet me at a bus station, but they weren't there at the time we were supposed to meet so I waited for a little while longer and then just hopped on the bus without them because I didn't want to be late. I walked into church and there was Ben and his two friends!? Apparently they couldn't find me, but Ben knew how to get there and they were late for our meeting time so they just found their way there! Ben kept saying how American the church is - it really is, though! I think almost all the people there are from the United States. And the preacher is from the south. 

After church we got some coffee at... Burger King! ha delicious. and now I'm blogging! We are planning on going to the Buda castle soon - there is a big Easter festival there with food, music, artwork, activities/games! Should be fun. It's raining, though, so hopefully it's still going on! 

Happy Easter, yall! Have a blessed day! He is risen.

"Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." 

Romans 6:8-11 ESV

P.S. - Don't know if yall noticed, but my pictures aren't sideways anymore!! YAY!

Pure Bliss

Greetings from the Netherlands!

This past week has been a week of studying, and of course, finding time to hang out with friends and experience even knew things in Budapest! Definitely did a lot of studying, but it wasn't as bad as the killer midterm weeks at USC. Those are rough. Very rough. Like non stop, 5am bed times and 8am wake ups to study. Pulling eight hours straight at a coffee shop memorizing and summarizing notes. But despite how hard they are, we all make it through. As us trojans like to say, we always fight on. Sorry, getting a little USC sick after I've had a touch of school from seeing Carly today. Let's be honest... I felt like I needed an escape from USC, something different, exciting, and adventurous and I've gotten just what I wanted! And when next fall rolls around, I'll be that much more excited to finish off senior year at a wonderful university!

So Monday afternoon was my first midterm exam at Corvinus University for my Tourism Management and Marketing class. I was expecting really, really easy. So, I basically studied major concepts and didn't memorize much of the lists that were presented in class. I obviously was able to come up with answers for the written exam, but it was harder than I expected. I still think I did fine. After the hour and a half exam, we had a twenty minute break and then I had my presentation after the break. We had to present on a specific location and analyze the tourism aspects of that location (demand, future opportunities, competition, etc). I did my presentation on St. Martin/St. Maarten - I've never been, but my dad and uncle both have and have really enjoyed their stays there! Anyway, I was previously in a group with three other guys and then they added another guy to the group, so we had a total of five group members for the presentation. The maximum was four, but the guys were insistant that it would be okay to have five. Me being me, I emailed the teacher just to make sure. Turns out, we could not have a group of five, so I opted to do the presentation by myself, making it much easier to just work on it on my own time. So, the group of guys I was supposed to present with went before me, and then I went after them. The teachers really enjoyed my presentation and the feedback I got was great; obviously I need to cut out the number of times I say "ummm" - that's always been a fault of mine in presentations, but they they said I was very professional and relaxed, which was nice to hear.

After class I headed over to the Great Market Hall to buy some groceries for the week. I really wanted to clean out my system so I read up on low fat raw vegan diets and tried it for four days. Really felt a lot more energized and clean - I ate mostly fruits and vegetables in really high quantities. Like four oranges for a snack. And the only fats I ate were from chia seed, which are an excellent source of omega fats! Wednesday and Thursday I tried no fat. I noticed that on those days I had to eat even more fruit to stay energized. It's all a learning process and testing out how your body reacts to different foods. Let's just say I left the market on Monday with an abundant amount of fruit and vegetables - all of it couldn't even fit in my fridge. Good think oranges, bananas and apples don't have to be refrigerated!

Monday night I went out to dinner to celebrate a dear dutch friend of mine's birthday (Ben) and also Istvan's birthday! Istvan is an ESN organizer and is from Hungary. We had so much fun at the restaurant, despite how annoyed our waiter was with us. She could have been a little more positive and patient, but hey, "this is Hungary!" (We say that a lot about ridiculous stuff here to justify the different and absurd ways they do things here). After dinner we headed over to Morrison's 2 which is a bar that most international students go to every Monday night. Monday Morrisons! I haven't been in a while, but the past two weeks have been Monday Morrison birthday celebrations, so I had to join and celebrate with my friends! I taught some of the international kids how to play the game quarters - and we actually played with a quarter that I had in my purse! I thought it would only be appropriate. That quarter fell on the ground several times and over the times of it falling on the ground, it eventually turned into a hungarian forint coin. Not sure how that happened, but the quarter was lost and we were playing with a forint coin. Who knows?

Tuesday, I met a hungarian friend, Vera, to go swimming at the Corvinus pool. It was awesome! I really did not know what to expect and I could tell Vera didn't know how good of a swimmer I was so she was a little hesitant. She made sure I was wearing a one piece bathing suit because she didn't want people to make fun of me for wearing a bikini. I don't think she really realized I have experience with swimming. So we get there and head out to the pool - the teacher is apparently really strict and she doesn't speak much English, so Vera introduced me and told the teacher she brought a friend along. Vera told me after speaking with the teacher what the teacher had said. Apparently she said it was fine for me to join the class but she wasn't going to jump in and save me. Gee, thanks! So, the class is an hour swimming class but it's really basic. The teacher just said to swim 1 kilometer. I thought that was warm-up or something but Vera clarified that that was the workout we had to complete for the day. Only 1000 meters. Okay, that's pretty easy. So, once we were finished we were able to grap kick boards and other pool things to practice our strokes. Most of the class had finished the 1000 meters early - I thought if that was the whole class, then sure these people didn't know how to swim. No, they are just way more relaxed about sports here. Everyone finished within the same time frame and then all continued to swim and practice strokes! I told Vera I wanted to continue coming every week with her and she was happy I enjoyed it! After class, I stopped by McCafe - yes, McDonalds cafe to get some coffee and then walked to my class which was a few blocks away. The pool is on the Buda side and the swimming class is right before my class that I have on the Buda side - convenient! I'm usually late to this class, walking in about fifteen minutes into lecture. Now, you're thinking fifteen minutes... that's kind of a long time. No, I'm there only 3-5 minutes late every time, but each class has a different location so I spend about ten minutes listening into every closed door until I hear my professors voice. It can take up to a long time. Luckily this time I made it early. I even made a joke to my teacher about it and he just laughed - he's super giddy and excited about teaching. He's probably the most interesting, bubbly, exciting person I've ever met - like I can't spend too much time around him because I just keep wondering how he is just so happy and excited to talk about vines and grapes. He thinks that cutting vines, pruning, and the color of berries and how they grow to make wine is the most magnificent thing that has ever happend on planet Earth. I, on the other hand, enjoy my wine - don't get me wrong - but I'm not that excited about what the leaf looks like and the different clusters of berries. As long as I can have a glass of wine. :)
Like I said in one of my previous blogs, we were supposed to watch a movie on a vineyard and drink wine. The movie happened, but not the wine part. I almost said something, but didn't want to be greedy! The movie was pretty interesting, though. It was about a famous vineyard in France known for it's white wine that sells for about 300 euro a bottle. They have wine stored up in a cellar dating back to the 1700-1800s. Couldn't even believe it! The wine is so expensive, though, because they are very particular. In one harvest year, if it rains too much, they could potentially lose 80% of their grapes because of how selective they are. In fact, this happened several times to them in the past.

Tuesday afternoon and into the night I studied. Wednesday morning, I studied some more. And snuck in some time for the latest Revenge episode. And then comes one of the most exciting things I have done thus far in Budapest...


I ROWED ON THE DANUBE!!!!!
I was so excited I couldn't contain it. The boat house is on the island that I like to run around, so I jogged up to the island and then eventually found the hidden boat house. The other three girls I was rowing with were already there, but they had to change, so I didn't feel bad for being a little late. After paying and figuring out which boat to take (this actually took like an hour... things move slow in Hungary... "this is Hungary..."), we finally took out a quad. This is a four person sculling boat - meaning four people sit in the boat and each person rows with two oars, one on each side. I have never sculled before in my life, so I told the other three to be a little patient for me to learn. I said it could be a disaster and was expecting it to be a huge failure. When I competed in high school rowing, I did sweep rowing, meaning each person has one oar. I was on the starboard side, so when I sat in the boat (back facing in the direction the boat is moving), my oar was on my left hand side. The oars alternated sides, so the girl in front of me and the girl behind me would be on the right side, and so on from there. Never having sculled before, I was a little nervous. And the only advice I really got was... "make sure you keep your left hand over your right" - if any of you are confused about what I'm talking about, just youtube scull rowing and you'll see. So that's it. Left over right. Okay, I got this. I got in the boat and there I was. On the water. It had been two years since I have sat in a boat on the water. I felt immediately like I was back in my element. The sound of the water skimming under the boat. Ah, to die for. Rowers, you know what I'm talking about. So me and the girl in front of me sat out, while the two girls behind me warmed up first. Then it was my turn and I started with just arms, and eventually added in the legs. I was a little wobbly at first, but to my surprise, picked it up pretty quickly! I definitely have some more practice, but I was expecting disaster which didn't actually occur. I only bumped my hands a few times trying to get the right ratio of left arm over right arm when I came in to finish the stroke. The feathering of the blade was a little difficult to pick up just because I wasn't used to doing it with two blades, but after about five minutes I had it down well enough to keep up with everyone. Then my other favorite part about rowing, being in identical formation with the girl in front of me. I immediately felt like me and the girl in front of me where right on que with each other - and I've only felt that with a few other strokes in my life. Sliding up slowly together, digging the blade in strong, and hitting hard through the stroke. We had identical rowing strokes. I love rowing. There, I said it. I miss it. A lot. It can't even compare to any other sport I've ever done in my entire life. I miss it more than eating fresh cooked, tender chicken from the oven, I miss it more than Monday and Friday morning camp breakfast, I miss it more than the beautiful blue skies and sunny weather of California... the list could go on. If ya'll don't quite understand, think of the thing you miss the most right now... multiply it by 1000 and then think of the joy you have when experiencing the thing you miss after two-three years! Pure bliss. Pure joy. Loved it! Sorry for such an emotional exaggeration, but not really an exaggeration. Rowing changed my life in high school and I don't regret giving away countless hours every week to the Chatahoochee River and to the women at AJRA. They were my life in high school and I was completely and utterly content with that. I would do a number of things to go back in time to rowing for AJRA; even the horrible days of practice.

Dedication to AJRA over. I apologize.

So I didn't leave the boat house until around 7:15. And yes, we finished our row as it was getting dark and the beautiful lights were reflecting off the water. Such a beautiful sight. We are going to try to row every week from now on. And eventually, once my one month gym membership ends, I think I am going to get a month membership at the boat house - they have ergs and bikes there that I can use whenever I want and then I can row all day any day. eeek!
Wednesday night I came home and was on a high, but knew I had to settle down to study for my two exams on Thursday. I had all the summaries I made for both exams, so I just had to read through, memorize them. I read through the notes for my first exam a few times, but was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. I ended up falling asleep early, so that I could get up early before my 9:40am exam to study for a 1.5 hours before hand. I went to a coffee shop near school, had an excellent cafe americano, and had a solid hour and a half to study. The exam was super easy - went well and walked out confident! Then I had four hours until my next exam that I hadn't put much studying into. I wanted to get to the gym, though, during that time, too, so I rushed home and went to the gym, got a solid arm workout in and then came back home, showered, and only had an hour to study. I was kind of freaking out, but I was able to really focus in and felt confident going in to the exam. The good thing about studying for this exam was that I really paid close attention in every one of the classes because the teacher was able to engage us in activities every time. Activities and group discussions help me actually learn material better than just reading slides from a powerpoint. I was able to not just memorize the notes, but remember in class what we talked about. Anyway, that exam went well and I was finally done with midterms! Hallelujah! It was Thursday afternoon, I came home, and started packing and getting ready for my early morning departure to the Netherlands!! I packed really quickly... I can only bring one backpack on the plane, so I learned to pack light. I met up with a few friends at a flat party and stayed until around 11:15 which was later than I was planning because I had to be at a bus station at 4 in the morning. I didn't get home until around 11:45, quickly got ready for bed, and passed out. I was tossing and turning all night, though, because I knew I had to get up early and was afraid I would miss my alarm. I got up around 3:20, and left my flat around 3:50. My flat mate still wasn't back from the party that everyone at the flat party went to after I had left. ha! The girl I rowed with on Wednesday is from the Netherlands and it just so happened that she was taking the same flight as me this morning, so we decided to travel together to make it easier! We had to take two public transportation buses to the airport and on our way, we ran into another girl from the Netherlands who was studying at Corvinus with us and was flying on our same flight! I was thankful we ran into her, because after I landed in Eindhoven, I had to take another bus and then another train to Utrecht (a smaller city outside of Amsterdam) to meet Carly and Taylor. We got to the airport and the security line was longer than we expected, but we moved through it pretty quickly. Again, we took a bus from our gate to our plane and another mad rush to find seats on the plane. It's first come first serve. So strange. It was absolutely FREEZING this morning. I couldn't shake off the chill in my body. It had to be in the 20 degree fahrenheit range. No joke. And we had to stand on a bus, waiting for everyone, with the doors open for about twenty minutes. And then making the mad dash from the bus to the plane, I thought I was going to be knocked down by how hard the wind was blowing. I threw my hood over my head, knelt down, and had everyone else around me block the wind. I was dying. I hate the cold. Wednesday was perfect weather- sunny and about 55 degrees. Thursday it started raining again and Thursday night/Friday morning was miserable. The whole plane ride I was still frigid. I couldn't get the chill out of me. I put my gloves on and kept my big coat on the entire two hour plane ride. The two girls I was traveling with laughed at me, but I didn't care. I also passed out for the entire two hours. I was so exhausted, but it made the flight go by extremely fast. Before I knew it we were getting ready for landing.

Riding the trains in the Netherlands is free for students and then each student can travel with three other guests and the guests get a 40 percent discount. The girl I met in Budapest that had to take the train with me, ended up not having to take the same exact one. So, she found someone at the airport that was going to her same location, so she was able to buy the 40 percent discounted ticket. I asked one girl and she was going to the stop right before mine. A risk I was willing to take, so she waited for me as I bought my discounted ticket and then I got on the train with her. She was very nice and explained to me what the person over the intercom was saying in dutch. She got off at the stop before me and I had to find another student to "travel" with, just in case security came to check tickets. If they saw I had a discounted card and I wasn't with a dutch student, then I could get a big fine. Luckily the girl sitting next to me was also a student and she was getting off at the stop I was! phew! Didn't have to go looking for another student! I was really pleased with how nice and warming the dutch people are! I waited in the train station for about twenty minutes for Carly and Taylor - enough time to pay 50 cents of a euro to use the restroom and wait in about a ten minute line for a starbucks coffee! Once they picked me up, we walked outside into the downtown Utrecht area - it's adorable! Pictures to come later - I didn't bring my camera cord with me! The dutch people are beautiful. Like, when I say beautiful, I mean some are blessed by the gods! One boy rode passed me on his bike and I just stared at him. I'm sorry I couldn't help it; he noticed me staring and just started giggling as he continued to ride by. Adorable. I felt like a little kid again having a crush on a boy on a playground or something. That's another thing... everyone in the Netherlands rides bikes. There are bike paths every where that there is a street for a car. On some roads, there is more room for bikes than there is for a car! I LOVE IT! Carly and Taylor rode bikes to the station to get me and then we walked around the downtown area for a while; Taylor had asked a friend if I could borrow her bike for the day, so we walked to where it was parked and then I rode the bike back to Taylor's flat. I was on cloud nine. Giddy as can be. Again, pure bliss. I haven't been on a bike in ages. Granted, it's a crappy bike... nothing like my road bike back at SC, but it's a bike with two wobbly wheels that is able to transport me from point A to point B. We got settled at Taylor's flat and relaxed for a little. Carly gave me two cards and some small gifts that Meghan and Boneshia had given to Carly to give to me. Let me explain who these wonderful women are... Meghan and Boneshia are both full time employees at the USC Events office that I spend most of my time outside of class, not because I need the money (which I desperately need after my expenditures here in Europe...), but because I love this office so much. It's like my home away from home. I absolutely love going in to work, I love learning new things every single day, and find myself continuously being challenged and trusted, which has really allowed me to grow and expand my knowledge in the industry of event management. The Events office has been such an influential factor in my career choice and has showed me that there are jobs out there that are made for particular people to enjoy; not everyone enjoys the work they do and I believe that any field of work one chooses to go into, it must be something they love. Otherwise, its temporary and stressful and not worth it. Well, for me, at least. I have to love what I do. And I found what I love to do. Anyway, back to Boneshia and Meghan. Not only have they put a great amount of trust in me as a student coordinator at the office, but they have shown me more love than anywhere else at USC. They have respected me for who I am and I can't explain to you how much it means to me. They see my potential and have taken their time to train me and teach me. I respect that, a lot. Meghan just started working last fall when Jenny (who I am a student coordinator for) when on maternity leave. It was Meghan and me tackling the fall events! whew! Somehow we got through it, and everything turned out fantastic! I could go on forever about the work we've done together, but all in all, these two women have shaped me and will continue to shape me during my college experience! I truly look up to both of them, as they inspire me each day to continue learning and aspiring to be an event manager or work in the field of events in the future! They sent me beautiful cards and a few gifts to keep me going here! Meghan sent an umbrella - it's been quite wet over here and I could definitely use it! She also sent me a case to keep all my credit cards and other traveling cards in - super convenient; she sent a bag that can fold up into a little ball and is perfect for keeping in my backpack for when I need to stop at the market or pick something up from the store. In Budapest, every time you get groceries, you have to pay for bags, unless you bring your own - this little bag is perfect for that and even for traveling with! Lastly, she gave me a mini emergency kit "for a gal's tiny troubles!" It's adorable!! It has 17 essentials a girl could need - bandage, pain reliever, double sided tape, breath freshener, floss, hair spray, lip balm, earring backs, safety pins, deodorant towelette... etc. It's so cute and it comes in a little, silver glittery case! I absolutely love it and think it's so clever! Boneshia sent me a card with such words of encouragement, it brought tears to my eyes; she also sent along a mini candle. She has the same candle in her office that I always smell and love every time I walk in there! Now I'll have a little scent of Bo every time I walk in to my room here in Budapest! I was overwhelmed with joy after receiving these gifts and just felt so honored and cared for; thank you both for thinking of me. I miss you and the events office so much! Can't wait to come back in the fall and tackle the last year of events I'll have with ya'll!

After that long explanation about how much Meghan and Bo mean to me, I'll continue with my day here in Utrecht.

We decided to grab lunch in the town, so we rode our bikes back to the city (it's about a 10-15 minute ride) and ate at an Italian restaurant right on the canal. It was wonderful; I just had a bowl of tomato soup and Carly and Taylor shared a pizza. Then we went to check out a pub that serves 200 different flavors of beer. I had no idea what to get because the menu was extremely overwhelming. I had tried a honey and ginger beer on Monday and really liked that, so I asked the bartender if he had anything like that. He said he had a honey beer, so I went with it. It's called Barbar - a belgian honey beer. The bottle was so cool - it popped open like a bottle of champagne! The bottle looked like this:

And I wanted to keep the bottle, but when the waiter went to take it from me, I asked politely if I could take it and he awkwardly said no. We thought he was kidding, and then he just walked away... we burst out laughing because of how awkward he was. After that, we rode our bikes back to Taylor's flat and stopped at a grocery store on the way. We got back and I met everyone she is living with - there are seven people total living in the flat, and it's more set up like dorm style. Each person has their own room; there is an upstairs and downstairs, but its just two long hallways with doors entering into the rooms. And then there is one big kitchen and living room that everyone hangs out in. I think it's cool they all live together because there's constantly people around and people to talk to. Taylor had bought her and Carly tickets to an Amsterdam soccer game before she knew I was coming, and they couldn't find me a ticket last minute. I honestly did not mind at all. They are going tonight, so I have had time to update this blog and watch a little bit of TV, and just relax. I would have totally loved to see an Amsterdam soccer game, but it's also been a long day and it's beyond freezing outside, so I was okay with not going. They should be back shortly anyway!

So far, I love the Netherlands! I haven't been to Amsterdam yet, but Utrecht is beautiful! The people here are beautiful, happy, and extremely tall! Really, really tall.



Much love coming your way...


xx



P.S. - I have been thinking back a lot recently on my first days traveling to Europe and how scared I was to come here. I remember sitting in the Frankfurt airport waiting for my connection flight, regretting ever deciding to come to Budapest. I was out of my comfort zone, alone, and hated what I was experience. All I wanted to do was get back on a flight to the USA and call it a semester. But I had no option. I was getting on that plane to Budapest and I would do it, no matter what. Looking back, I just keep thinking about how crazy I was for not wanting to come here. I'm having the time of my life and couldn't be more happy getting to experience such different cultures, people, and lifestyles. I'll remember this semester for the rest of my life. Pure bliss. Pure happiness.

My wonderful friend, Cecile, and I sharing a moment of pure happiness. 

It's also been gearing me up for other wild and crazy adventures I can take in the future. I know my mom will want to ring my neck after reading this... she was probably hoping my adventurous spirit would calm a little bit after traveling through Europe. Unfortunately for her, I don't think my wings will ever stop flying. I would love for my my next travel - maybe after graduation - to be backpacking Central America. All eight countries. Honduras has always had a place in my heart; I've been there twice, but I think it would be amazing to see the rest of the countries surrounding it. And hopefully making a stop to see my beautiful and precious children in San Buena Ventura whom I miss dearly...
pictures for a walk down memory lane:

Midterms = MADDIE MIA

Just so you don't worry about me...

I have four midterms and a presentation next week, so I probably will not be posting for a while. I need to study, study, study. Something I feel like I haven't done in a long time. The last big exams I had were in December back at USC for finals. 

Just a little update...

It's freezing here! It snowed all day Thursday and Friday! And it's just been cold today. Yesterday was National Day here in Hungary. All museums were free, so Dany, Anthony, and me went to the Holocaust museum and the National Museum. The Holocaust museum was incredible, fascinating, and extremely disturbing. It was a lot of reading and pictures, and I just couldn't believe what I was learning. I didn't know that they used the Jews for pseudo-medical experiments. For example, they would use infected needles on people to see how they would react. Or, they used a baby to experiment on doing a bunch of things that I cannot even write down because it just breaks my heart. The bodies I saw were literally nothing - skin and bones. I don't know how the survivors did it. I learned that the Hungarian jews were the quickest group of jews to be rejected and that Hungary was the fastest country to "de-Jew." I also learned that it wasn't pressure from Nazi Germany for Hungary to start ridding Jews, but it was actually pressure from the extreme right government of Hungary. Additionally, the Hungarian Jews were the greatest population of deaths at Auschwitz concentration camp, which further increased my desire to see Auschwitz. I am planning a trip right now to go to Krakow, Poland and then take a quick bus to see Auschwitz. As much as it will be a shocking experience, I think is is something I just have to see in my life and while I'm here, I want to do it. I've heard that it's a really hard place to visit. I'll probably be in tears the entire time, but again, it's part of history and the part of history I want/need to see. 

I booked my flights to go to Amsterdam next weekend!! Going to see my Dutch heritage! I am meeting my best friend from USC, CARLY SANTIAGO, there!!! She will be visiting one of her friends from high school who is studying abroad there (whom I've met before). I cannot wait to see Carly - it's been way too long!! I wish all my friends from SC were coming to Europe for their spring break! 

After Amsterdam weekend, I have the weekend trip to Transylvania with ESN! Transylvania is the second, and last, ESN organized travel weekend and I wasn't going to go (and instead use the long weekend to visit a country in western Europe), but I decided I'm going to go because I don't think I'll have another chance in my life to visit Romania! I chose Budapest for its Eastern Europe location, so I want to stick to the eastern Europe side. I'm sure I'll have a chance to come back to Europe and see France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, and Portugal, but for now I think it's worth it to visit all the eastern European countries near Budapest. 

So, my travel plans have changed a bit. After Transylvania, I am planning on doing Prague, Vienna, Krakow/Auschwitz like I said, Bratislava, and Greece. If I have time and money for any other trips then I will consider it, too! 

So long as I hibernate for a week for midterms. I will most likely write after my trip to Amsterdam unless anything super fascinating comes up! 

xx

sLOVEnia

Hello lovely people! I miss you all dearly. I haven't taken the time to really reflect on how much I miss home, my family, and friends. It just hit me today that I haven't really spoken to a lot of you in a long time; the distance, me being busy all the time, and not having a phone make it difficult. I'm sorry if I've seemed at all absent in your lives - I know I have and I don't mean to be, but I guess the best way to put it is that I'm in a whole different life over here. And soon enough, I'll be back to the United States! I booked my flights home the other day - I'll be returning Saturday, May 23rd, just missing my brother's graduation... he had to remind me that he sat through my entire graduation. I'll be headed to camp May 29th, so just enough time to unpack and repack for another eight to nine weeks! Anyway, what you really want to hear about is my trip to Slovenia!

So, we met early Friday morning around 7:30am and departed on two buses around 8:30am. We slept, listened to music, played cards... the usual bus activities. Interesting law here - when we stopped at a gas station, I was wondering why we were all hanging out for so long when we should've just been getting back on the road. I found out that bus drivers have to take a 45 minute break every 4 hours of driving. Can you believe it? How do they make it anywhere? 

This is Anthony and me making fun of Ben sleeping on the way there! ha

We eventually got to Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia) around 3pm and quickly had to head to our hostel and then meet at a restaurant for lunch/dinner. All 150 of us showed up at a restaurant that wasn't ready to serve us. ESN had made reservations for us, but apparently they had no idea. Come to find out, a restaurant with the same name actually had our reservation and was waiting for us with all 150 meals ready. We didn't know that until after the restaurant we were at quickly busted their butts to serve all of us. After our meal, we headed to a tour guide office to take a tour of the city. It was supposed to be during the day, but by the time our meal was over it was already dark outside. I thought it would be pointless to do a night time tour, but I actually really enjoyed it and the tour guide did a wonderful job! Slovenia has a total population of 2 million people; it's tiny! Ljubljana was such a gorgeous city, though - it was extremely clean with a beautiful river running through it. We walked over a few bridges during our tour, went inside a church, and walked the entire city in a short amount of time.

Locks on one of the bridges. People who got married would put the lock on the bridge and throw the key in the river - awesome idea!

River in Ljubljana

Building during our night tour

After the tour, we all walked around on our own and went to a grocery store to stock up on food/drinks. All grocery stores in Ljubljana close around 9pm and most restaurants are closed shortly after. All of us are used to having 24hour markets and food places in Budapest, that we were shocked we couldn't find anything opened really after 11pm. Small town lifestyle. We went to a club Friday night called Cirkus, and it was a little creepy, not gonna lie. There were people dressed up... clowns, penguins, and superman and they would come up to us and just freak us out. We tried to stay away from them. I almost legitimately punched the clown in the face because he kept scaring me. 

Saturday morning, Amanda and I woke up earlier than everyone else so we could walk around the city more and get some coffee before we headed to Lake Bled. We walked around the Saturday morning market (fruits, veggies, cheese, purses, and shoes for sale) and I bought some delicious strawberries that I ate while drinking an espresso at a coffee shop. It was drizzling a little in the morning, and continued to rain pretty much for the rest of the day. Lake Bled was only an hour away, so it was a quick bus ride to get there. On our way there, we got to enjoy the swiss alps:

 We hiked up to a castle at Lake Bled that overlooked the lake and the small island in the middle of the lake. Google pictures of Lake Bled, Slovenia to see what it looks like. Most pictures are of when it is green and sunny. Since it was raining when we went, we had a different view of it, but still beautiful nonetheless. And the snow capped swiss alps in the background made for a beautiful view! Here are some pictures...

After taking a bunch of pictures at the top of the hill, we walked around inside the castle that was up there! It was a tiny museum with artifacts particular to Slovenia. After about thirty minutes in the museum, we were all starving and only had an hour before needing to be back on the bus to head back to Ljubljana. We found a mexican restaurant (yes! Haven't had tex mex in a while!). It ended up being a major ordeal when there were eight of us at a table getting served twenty minutes after a table of 5 of our guy friends who showed up fifteen minutes after us and ordered pretty much the same thing as us. We complained and ended up getting a 15 percent discount. The waiter said it wasn't his problem and I wanted to ask him then whose problem is it.. ours?  But, I just let it go. Amanda told him it would have been nice if he could have given us just a heads up that our food would take longer, and the waiter just didn't understand that concept. Difference between here and the United States service. 

After lunch we got back on the bus and headed back to the city. When we got back, Amanda and I climbed to the top of a hill in the city where there is a famous castle. We had a great view of the city from up there:

We walked around a little up there and took some pictures and then came back down and got ready to head to dinner. On our way from the hill to the hostel, we ran into a protest. Apparently, the previous majority had been overthrown by a different majority? Not really sure why or for what reason, but I snapped this picture to remember it.

 We had to take our buses to dinner - only a ten minute ride. We had to waiters - one who could speak English and another who couldn't. The funniest thing about Saturday dinner was when one of the ESN organizers was talking to the waiter who could speak English and was complimenting him on his efficiency as a waiter and then said he should get rid of the other guy (saying how rude he was, etc) and then the waiter said, "It'd be nice, but that's my father!" hahah the ESN organizer felt terrible, but we all got a laugh out of it. 

After dinner, we went to another club that was closer to our hostel and Amanda, Sarah (from Canada) and me all left pretty early so we could get some sleep. Sunday morning, Amanda, Sarah, and I woke up early again to walk around the city some more and to get some coffee before the day ahead of us! It was still raining on Sunday, but by this point we just accepted being wet. It took us about an hour to get to the caves that we were visiting on Sunday and all of us were pretty exhausted at this point. I even told Amanda I just wish we were headed back to Budapest because I wanted to get back at a reasonable time... not 11pm. But, we did the cave tour and it was absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, which I was bummed about, but looking back I'm glad I didn't experience the caves through the lens of my camera. Pictures wouldn't do it justice, anyway. I told Amanda I would have paid the entire $120 for the trip just to see the caves. I was absolutely shocked, in awe, on the verge of tears seeing the caves. I can't believe there is such natural beauty in this world, and it just proves to me how amazing and present God is. Amanda and I talked about how after seeing the extreme beauty of the caves and how amazing they were, we couldn't understand how anyone could deny God's presence. It could only be explained by the power of God; we felt so strongly about it and I can't even put into words really how incredible it was. The caves were two million years old, with the stalagmites and stalactites still growing, but very slowly. Our tour guide told us that they only grow one millimeter in 10 to 15 years. The biggest stalagmite of the cave was 15 meters tall and was still actively growing (can be seen by the white limestone on the rock). It was huge!! The second part of the cave tour was awesome - there was a river flowing through that we got to see. Our tour guide explained that the river used to run through all of the cave until it changed course and stopped running through the first part we went through. How does a river just change course? What? The river was flowing really fast and we could hear it before we even saw it - I asked the tour guide if it was always running that quickly and he said no, but since it had been raining a lot, it was running that fast. So all the rain we complained about the day before and that morning, was the same rain that made the river flow so fast and loud which made the cave experience even better! Another realization... everything happens for a reason. We had to deal with all the rain, but in the end, we got to see the river flow at incredible speed in the caves! As you can probably tell, the caves were my favorite part of the trip! We were able to take pictures after exiting the cave, so here's one of me and Anthony, and another of the river flowing outside of the cave just before it started to flow into the cave.  

The bus ride home was long. The first two hours felt like an eternity because everyone was sleeping and I couldn't really sleep, so I was bored. Eventually, though, everyone woke up and we blasted some music and played cards.

We got back around 11pm Sunday night and we were all exhausted. Thank God I only had one class on Monday - my other one was canceled. So I was done Monday at 11am and was able to spend the rest of the day unpacking, catching up on things at home in Budapest. I got a membership at the gym! And on my way home from the gym I walked past a vegan health store... I found Chia seed!!!! Hallelujah now I can get my omega-3s! haha The gym is not the greatest, but it will have to do - there are a bunch of free weights and weight machines, four treadmills, two ellipticals, a bike, and a little step machine.
Monday night I met with Foster and Leigh Ann, and Foster's parents (parents/grandparents of friends from camp) who were visiting Budapest! We had dinner together and it was lovely! I haven't had such a nice meal in a while, and I really appreciated spending time with them! Although I was happy to see them, it also got me thinking of home and camp. I must say, I'm a little homesick and campsick at the moment... but it's not a bad thing - I have something to look forward to when I have to leave Budapest in May!
After dinner with the Yeildings, I met up with friends at a bar (Morrisons 2 - every Monday people go there, but I haven't been since the first Monday I was here) to celebrate Dany's 21st birthday! We had a lot of fun just talking and dancing!
Today I went to my Resources of Viticulture class... it never fails that I'm late to that class since it's so far away on the Buda side. And every time the class meets in a different room so I spend about five to ten minutes having to find the room. Next Tuesday I will be on time! Our teacher told us that next week we will watch a movie on a vineyard in Hungary while sipping a glass of wine from that particular vineyard. How neat!
After class today, I went to a starbucks nearby to try to skype call my dad. Still not working... I was able to get it to work when I was at dinner with the Yeildings, so I thought it was just the wifi at my flat that wasn't allowing for skype calling to work. But when I went to starbucks it didn't work there either... hm. I'll just have to go back to the hotel we ate dinner at to skype call mom and dad! :)
After starbucks, I came back to my flat, worked out and did laundry, and started working on a presentation due Monday. Next week I have four midterms and a presentation. All of a sudden a pile of work thrown on me. I guess it's okay since so far this semester I haven't had too many assignments.
Sorry this blog post wasn't very interesting... I'm really tired and just kind of rushed through this one but hopefully you got the main points of my trip to Slovenia!
This weekend I am staying home in Budapest and I'm so looking forward to it! Traveling is exhausting, so I'm glad I get to spend some time just relaxing here to study for midterms!

Miss yall so much!

xoxo