Hiiii, I know I'm majorly slacking these days. I've been real busy these past two weeks and my camera isn't connecting to my computer, so I don't have the time-line of pictures to follow. BUT the past two weeks have been great, if sad and full of goodbyes. The airport shuttle is picking us up in 20 minutes, and hopefully I will fly home with no problems despite the snow on both ends. I hope to post some sort of an overview of weeks 14 and 15, as well as a summing up post. But for now, a big goodbye, thank you, and love you to Budapest. Man, it's a good place here.
Thanks for reading, guys.
(EDITED on December 29 to revise my big posting promises...)
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Week 13
Late again...my timing is getting as predictable as a CIEE professor's! (Burn.) Yesterday was occupied by writing a paper (a week and a half early, probably a record for me) and making cookies (/watching lots of cookies being made), so you get a Tuesday blog.
Unfortunately, though I did record this week via camera to some extent, my computer is currently not recognizing my camera, so uploading photos is proving difficult. (I've been displeased with my camera lately, so I'm inclined to blame it over my computer, who's only recent fault has been no room, due to my excessive music.) LUCKILY, everyone else is great with a camera, so I do have a few pics. (Thanks Kelsey and Sam!)
Last Tuesday, I got home really late from playing in Buda, and woke up really early to prepare/leave for a trip I did with the Ministry of Education and Culture (where I volunteer.) I was told very little specific information about the event, but I knew I was presenting a "workshop" to secondary/high school students on the "Life of the American College Student." Yvonne, who is my contact person for volunteering told me that I should make up a worksheet with questions about things important/close to me (and include websites to look up the information) and then send it ahead so they could prepare. I decided that I wanted to bring a PowerPoint with pictures to accompany my presentation, but put it off until the last minute because...well, there was fun to be had. So that's how I came to be up at 4:30 in the morning putting together a presentation before a 5:50 pick-up.
Besides that disastrous start, the rest of the day was...a disaster. Definitely worse that I had imagined, and I'd thought up some horror scenes. The high school is located in Orosháza, which is about two and half hours east of Hungary, near the Romanian border. The school, which has about 1000 students, was putting on an America Day, and invited a speaker from the State Department as well as the people who I traveled with, who did a presentation on Los Angeles. It was all very weirdly diplomatic and way too much for tired Avery. I got shuttled around politely from presentation to presentation to lunch, etc. My presentation was the worst, though--they jammed more students in there than for any other presentation I saw. The projector/computer wasn't working, so there was a lot of awkward hanging around time. When I finally started, there were lots of blank stares. I tried to speak clearly, slowly, and simply, but I think the English was too advanced for them. (I learned later that most of them had been studying English for three years, but some for fewer.) I tried to go through the questions in order, but literally no one volunteered, so I just ended up talking about my chosen topics, Middlebury, DC, and Women's Rugby. I finished in lightning speed, obviously, because they wouldn't participate. I had nothing else to say and was standing in front of everybody and couldn't seem to communicate that it was over. They just kept staring at me. Finally, I was just like... "Well thanks again for your attention," and started walking toward the door. They finally clapped. Ugh. It was really uncomfortable. SO ready to be done with that.
Something that was really cool, though, was to witness people of American origin speaking fluent, or at least passable Hungarian. I literally have not seen that so far, but the American from the State Department did a whole introduction in Hungarian. SO COOL! Like, he knows the language. There was also a man related to the school in some way (I never got introduced beyond a name) who has been living in Hungary for 15 years or so, just picking up the language as he goes. He got a private teacher to polish it up a few years in, but he learned most of it through immersion. He was a more tentative speaker than the politician, but I believe that was personality, not language related. I really enjoyed observing this phenomenon for the first time.
The base room where they kept us, and fed us a lunch that was basically mayonnaise with some garnishes.
Students during another of the presentations. MUCH fewer than in mine. (Not salty or anything...it's just so...manageable.)
Students giving their presentations on LA in the LA workshop.
Driving back in the van through the town of Orosháza. It's apparently in one of the poorest areas of Hungary. I really like the focusing in this one.
Tuesday night, I went over to Buda to decompress. They were passing off things they didn't need anymore to those staying longer (a clear sign that they were almost done... :( ) and exchanging music. A lovely evening of lounging and friends.
After a long Wednesday epic day, I worked on a paper with a bottle of champagne, then I went out with Buda friends to a club called Instant near Oktogon.
Meeting beforehand. This picture cracks me up a little.
The walk there was interrupted by a creepy man pushing Lauren and asking for "fire," which she gave him after delivering Meghan's favorite line. "Uh, yeah I can give you fire, but you probably shouldn't push me." We also hung out outside for a while before going in...not sure why.
Instant was fun! We colonized a room upstairs, then a bunch of us focused colonization to a kinda dirty and heavily graffiti'd red room--I loved it. We sat there for a LONG time being silly, drinking, and taking photos/video. We also graffitied the wall, leaving a BSCS mark on the wall FOREVERRR. So wonderful.
Discovering the red room.
A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF ME AND VALERI HARTEG.
Giggling at a man in a Santa hat who was impressed at the number of girls we had in the room.
Fun night--and apparently everyone had even more fun after the first group left...
Not much was notable on Thursday...I was gonna go and get hot wine with Sam, but I got the teensiest bit freaked out about work and ended up staying in to get some done (but blogged instead...)
Friday, usually blissfully free from classes, was instead a 5 hour make-up Lit class. Oof. I overslept, too, so I missed the first 15 minutes of Fateless, the movie we watched instead of the novel we were supposed to read. Holocaust movies in the morning...definitely my thing. My lateness also meant I didn't get to bring as many snacks as I wanted--essential for a Friday make-up class. Too bad.
After hanging out in Buda for a while (highlight: "Gentle...deep") and coming home to do a little work, I went BACK to Buda to head out for the disco bath party. No big deal. We had tickets that allowed for entry to four of the baths, but we ended up going only to Gellért, the froofiest of the Budapest baths. It was a little sketchy inside (we saw someone vomit in one of the pools, gross), but still so relaxing. We stayed for at least 3 hours, which was so nice. I was all pruny and mellow by the end. Mmm. The outdoor pool was especially nice, though, yet again, nothing was quite as HOT HOT HOT as I wanted it to be. Sometimes you just want to scald yourself a little.
Saturday morning, after falling asleep to Elf with Julie and sleeping over in "my" bed in Lauren and Julie's room, I got up super early to return to the dorm. I had to quickly change my clothes and gather up my stuff, because Sam and I were off to VIENNA/WEIN! We made out 7:10 AM train, with 2 minutes to spare: a small miracle. After a three hour ride, we arrived to a cloudy Vienna day. We were pretty hungry by that time, so had to deal with that, but were pretty indecisive as a result. It took us about 2 hours to find a place to eat, but once we got there, it was so good! We were rejuvenated by delicious German-y food and not-too-expensive beer at Salm Brau near the Belvedere. We found it with help from a Greek friend who ambushed us near the entrance to the Belv, asking us to come to his restaurant and drink lots of wine with him, and buy souvenirs (art souvenirs, vienna souvenirs, football souvenirs...) We managed to escape his clutches, though I think we might have deceived him into thinking we would come back later.
Sam likes real dark beer, but I always chicken out and go a little lighter. Both good, though.
It miraculously got beautiful out while we were eating (just like in Tata!) So we decided to postpone the Belvedere and go see the Schönbrunn Palace gardens. There ended up being a big ol' Christmas market there, too, which was quite fortuitous.
Yellow Habsburg buildings.
Little St. Nick.
After some delicious and expensive sweet pretzels, we headed back to the Belvedere for some art time. So beautiful! I really enjoyed it, but I got a little arted out by the end. I can never really spend more than an hour and a half in a museum without getting a little antsy, even on my own time. I wish my pictures were working, though--I forgot that I took a bunch of cool pictures of my favorite collection there. Messerschmidt, an Enlightenment era sculptor, made these awesome heads ("Character Heads") meant to display certain emotions. SO COOL and modern, especially for the 18th century. I really loved them. There are some pictures and a little more info here.
Post-Belv, we hit up the shop, then went out to yet another Christmas market around the back. Here, we enjoyed drinks and more food: this time, hot punch with rum, vanilla, and sour cherries, as well as a dish of potatoes layered with fried onions, bacon, and french cheese. SO YUMMY and so filling.
Candy at the Christmas market.
A festive tram.
Finally, we took the tram back and appreciated the lights, which were quite gorgeous. Sam didn't take any pictures of them (dummy), but man...it was ornate. Vienna was really beautiful. Much more royal than I expected, palaces on every corner! So expensive though...I don't know if I would be able to make it day after day. Super glad to return to reasonable/cheap Budapest.
I stopped home for a few moments before being summoned to Buda to participate in a "last night" sleepover. Only a few people left permanently on Sunday (or right before), but it felt like the last night anyway because their program ended and even the people who are staying through January are scattering for travel. It was a grade-A sleepover, with toenail painting, friendship bracelet making, cookie baking, and snuggling. Six hours of sleep felt like forever after the very few hours of the night before! Plus, I sleep better with people to snuggle around. :)
On Sunday, a big ol' group packed off to the airport for a mass farewell. Miss Johna Iannitto went home to the US of A, a group went to Istanbul, and another group to Greece. A few of us came along for the journey and last goodbyes. I do love airport goodbyes...it's nice to actually be there for the parting time. I felt teary, but didn't cry. A bunch of people had a cry-fest in Arriba, the burrito place, on Saturday night, which I unfortunately missed due to being en route from Vienna. I was sorry to miss it--I love group cries. So releasing. I'm going to need a good cry sesh at some point, but I'm not sure when it's coming. Hopefully not at a weird inconvenient time...
Coming back, I had plans to go to a Christmas market in Óbudá with some of the gang, but I soon realized I really couldn't handle that. I hadn't slept in my room in two nights and I still had a wet towel on the floor from the baths on Friday night. I stayed in and was sad and vegged and did laundry...a good choice in the end, I think.
On Monday, I wrote my art history paper in the morning, like I said. Then, we had a party in Hungarian class in honor of Saturday night's holiday, Mikulás Day. (More information, thanks Wikipedia.) Basically, Hungarians get two exciting December holidays with presents, because Santa comes on the evening of December 5th. (Separate from Christmas, when the angels or Baby Jesus bring presents. In the Buda dorm on Saturday night, some of the college students still put out shoes outside their door to be filled! Anyway, the party was fun. We each took a holiday, wrote a sentence in Hungarian about it, and brought in a treat to share. I had to present on the Hungarian New Year's Eve, Szilveszter, so naturally I brought in champagne. Besides copious amounts of chocolate and food, there was also wine and palinka...I may or may not have been a little tipsy in/after class. Uhhh...
After, I went over to Buda to provide moral support for a cookie baking fest. Unfortunately, I was still really full from the party, so I didn't eat many, but FORTUNATELY, there are a ton left and packed away ready to be eaten. YUM.
Monday evening, I went out to dinner with friends and Val and her mom. So great, so nice to meet Val's mom. I love to meet parents. Megan and Lauren came back to my room to watch a few sodes and meet Lydia and Kelly via Skype...the first time Buda friends have seen my space. Weird, as I'm over there most every day. It's just much easier that way...you have to sign visitors into my dorm and they keep your ID while you're there. If the doormen at the Buda dorm have noticed that I'm always there, they haven't said anything yet...thank goodness.
That's it for this week. I fly home in 12 days. Super crazy. I'm perpetually torn between being excited to be home and preemptively being so nostalgic and missing for Hungary. It'll be an interesting transition, that's for sure. Unfortunately, these last two weeks here are marred by too much work and too many finals. However, I feel lucky to have two more weeks to spend in the coolest city ever, AND I even have friends left here to love me and to love. Super convenient!
P.S. Check Johna's vlog, per usual. Cute clips of me and Meghan giggling and loving each other, along with other great footage.
Unfortunately, though I did record this week via camera to some extent, my computer is currently not recognizing my camera, so uploading photos is proving difficult. (I've been displeased with my camera lately, so I'm inclined to blame it over my computer, who's only recent fault has been no room, due to my excessive music.) LUCKILY, everyone else is great with a camera, so I do have a few pics. (Thanks Kelsey and Sam!)
Last Tuesday, I got home really late from playing in Buda, and woke up really early to prepare/leave for a trip I did with the Ministry of Education and Culture (where I volunteer.) I was told very little specific information about the event, but I knew I was presenting a "workshop" to secondary/high school students on the "Life of the American College Student." Yvonne, who is my contact person for volunteering told me that I should make up a worksheet with questions about things important/close to me (and include websites to look up the information) and then send it ahead so they could prepare. I decided that I wanted to bring a PowerPoint with pictures to accompany my presentation, but put it off until the last minute because...well, there was fun to be had. So that's how I came to be up at 4:30 in the morning putting together a presentation before a 5:50 pick-up.
Besides that disastrous start, the rest of the day was...a disaster. Definitely worse that I had imagined, and I'd thought up some horror scenes. The high school is located in Orosháza, which is about two and half hours east of Hungary, near the Romanian border. The school, which has about 1000 students, was putting on an America Day, and invited a speaker from the State Department as well as the people who I traveled with, who did a presentation on Los Angeles. It was all very weirdly diplomatic and way too much for tired Avery. I got shuttled around politely from presentation to presentation to lunch, etc. My presentation was the worst, though--they jammed more students in there than for any other presentation I saw. The projector/computer wasn't working, so there was a lot of awkward hanging around time. When I finally started, there were lots of blank stares. I tried to speak clearly, slowly, and simply, but I think the English was too advanced for them. (I learned later that most of them had been studying English for three years, but some for fewer.) I tried to go through the questions in order, but literally no one volunteered, so I just ended up talking about my chosen topics, Middlebury, DC, and Women's Rugby. I finished in lightning speed, obviously, because they wouldn't participate. I had nothing else to say and was standing in front of everybody and couldn't seem to communicate that it was over. They just kept staring at me. Finally, I was just like... "Well thanks again for your attention," and started walking toward the door. They finally clapped. Ugh. It was really uncomfortable. SO ready to be done with that.
Something that was really cool, though, was to witness people of American origin speaking fluent, or at least passable Hungarian. I literally have not seen that so far, but the American from the State Department did a whole introduction in Hungarian. SO COOL! Like, he knows the language. There was also a man related to the school in some way (I never got introduced beyond a name) who has been living in Hungary for 15 years or so, just picking up the language as he goes. He got a private teacher to polish it up a few years in, but he learned most of it through immersion. He was a more tentative speaker than the politician, but I believe that was personality, not language related. I really enjoyed observing this phenomenon for the first time.
The base room where they kept us, and fed us a lunch that was basically mayonnaise with some garnishes.
Students during another of the presentations. MUCH fewer than in mine. (Not salty or anything...it's just so...manageable.)
Students giving their presentations on LA in the LA workshop.
Driving back in the van through the town of Orosháza. It's apparently in one of the poorest areas of Hungary. I really like the focusing in this one.
Tuesday night, I went over to Buda to decompress. They were passing off things they didn't need anymore to those staying longer (a clear sign that they were almost done... :( ) and exchanging music. A lovely evening of lounging and friends.
After a long Wednesday epic day, I worked on a paper with a bottle of champagne, then I went out with Buda friends to a club called Instant near Oktogon.
Meeting beforehand. This picture cracks me up a little.
The walk there was interrupted by a creepy man pushing Lauren and asking for "fire," which she gave him after delivering Meghan's favorite line. "Uh, yeah I can give you fire, but you probably shouldn't push me." We also hung out outside for a while before going in...not sure why.
Instant was fun! We colonized a room upstairs, then a bunch of us focused colonization to a kinda dirty and heavily graffiti'd red room--I loved it. We sat there for a LONG time being silly, drinking, and taking photos/video. We also graffitied the wall, leaving a BSCS mark on the wall FOREVERRR. So wonderful.
Discovering the red room.
A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF ME AND VALERI HARTEG.
Giggling at a man in a Santa hat who was impressed at the number of girls we had in the room.
Fun night--and apparently everyone had even more fun after the first group left...
Not much was notable on Thursday...I was gonna go and get hot wine with Sam, but I got the teensiest bit freaked out about work and ended up staying in to get some done (but blogged instead...)
Friday, usually blissfully free from classes, was instead a 5 hour make-up Lit class. Oof. I overslept, too, so I missed the first 15 minutes of Fateless, the movie we watched instead of the novel we were supposed to read. Holocaust movies in the morning...definitely my thing. My lateness also meant I didn't get to bring as many snacks as I wanted--essential for a Friday make-up class. Too bad.
After hanging out in Buda for a while (highlight: "Gentle...deep") and coming home to do a little work, I went BACK to Buda to head out for the disco bath party. No big deal. We had tickets that allowed for entry to four of the baths, but we ended up going only to Gellért, the froofiest of the Budapest baths. It was a little sketchy inside (we saw someone vomit in one of the pools, gross), but still so relaxing. We stayed for at least 3 hours, which was so nice. I was all pruny and mellow by the end. Mmm. The outdoor pool was especially nice, though, yet again, nothing was quite as HOT HOT HOT as I wanted it to be. Sometimes you just want to scald yourself a little.
Saturday morning, after falling asleep to Elf with Julie and sleeping over in "my" bed in Lauren and Julie's room, I got up super early to return to the dorm. I had to quickly change my clothes and gather up my stuff, because Sam and I were off to VIENNA/WEIN! We made out 7:10 AM train, with 2 minutes to spare: a small miracle. After a three hour ride, we arrived to a cloudy Vienna day. We were pretty hungry by that time, so had to deal with that, but were pretty indecisive as a result. It took us about 2 hours to find a place to eat, but once we got there, it was so good! We were rejuvenated by delicious German-y food and not-too-expensive beer at Salm Brau near the Belvedere. We found it with help from a Greek friend who ambushed us near the entrance to the Belv, asking us to come to his restaurant and drink lots of wine with him, and buy souvenirs (art souvenirs, vienna souvenirs, football souvenirs...) We managed to escape his clutches, though I think we might have deceived him into thinking we would come back later.
Sam likes real dark beer, but I always chicken out and go a little lighter. Both good, though.
It miraculously got beautiful out while we were eating (just like in Tata!) So we decided to postpone the Belvedere and go see the Schönbrunn Palace gardens. There ended up being a big ol' Christmas market there, too, which was quite fortuitous.
Yellow Habsburg buildings.
Little St. Nick.
After some delicious and expensive sweet pretzels, we headed back to the Belvedere for some art time. So beautiful! I really enjoyed it, but I got a little arted out by the end. I can never really spend more than an hour and a half in a museum without getting a little antsy, even on my own time. I wish my pictures were working, though--I forgot that I took a bunch of cool pictures of my favorite collection there. Messerschmidt, an Enlightenment era sculptor, made these awesome heads ("Character Heads") meant to display certain emotions. SO COOL and modern, especially for the 18th century. I really loved them. There are some pictures and a little more info here.
Post-Belv, we hit up the shop, then went out to yet another Christmas market around the back. Here, we enjoyed drinks and more food: this time, hot punch with rum, vanilla, and sour cherries, as well as a dish of potatoes layered with fried onions, bacon, and french cheese. SO YUMMY and so filling.
Candy at the Christmas market.
A festive tram.
Finally, we took the tram back and appreciated the lights, which were quite gorgeous. Sam didn't take any pictures of them (dummy), but man...it was ornate. Vienna was really beautiful. Much more royal than I expected, palaces on every corner! So expensive though...I don't know if I would be able to make it day after day. Super glad to return to reasonable/cheap Budapest.
I stopped home for a few moments before being summoned to Buda to participate in a "last night" sleepover. Only a few people left permanently on Sunday (or right before), but it felt like the last night anyway because their program ended and even the people who are staying through January are scattering for travel. It was a grade-A sleepover, with toenail painting, friendship bracelet making, cookie baking, and snuggling. Six hours of sleep felt like forever after the very few hours of the night before! Plus, I sleep better with people to snuggle around. :)
On Sunday, a big ol' group packed off to the airport for a mass farewell. Miss Johna Iannitto went home to the US of A, a group went to Istanbul, and another group to Greece. A few of us came along for the journey and last goodbyes. I do love airport goodbyes...it's nice to actually be there for the parting time. I felt teary, but didn't cry. A bunch of people had a cry-fest in Arriba, the burrito place, on Saturday night, which I unfortunately missed due to being en route from Vienna. I was sorry to miss it--I love group cries. So releasing. I'm going to need a good cry sesh at some point, but I'm not sure when it's coming. Hopefully not at a weird inconvenient time...
Coming back, I had plans to go to a Christmas market in Óbudá with some of the gang, but I soon realized I really couldn't handle that. I hadn't slept in my room in two nights and I still had a wet towel on the floor from the baths on Friday night. I stayed in and was sad and vegged and did laundry...a good choice in the end, I think.
On Monday, I wrote my art history paper in the morning, like I said. Then, we had a party in Hungarian class in honor of Saturday night's holiday, Mikulás Day. (More information, thanks Wikipedia.) Basically, Hungarians get two exciting December holidays with presents, because Santa comes on the evening of December 5th. (Separate from Christmas, when the angels or Baby Jesus bring presents. In the Buda dorm on Saturday night, some of the college students still put out shoes outside their door to be filled! Anyway, the party was fun. We each took a holiday, wrote a sentence in Hungarian about it, and brought in a treat to share. I had to present on the Hungarian New Year's Eve, Szilveszter, so naturally I brought in champagne. Besides copious amounts of chocolate and food, there was also wine and palinka...I may or may not have been a little tipsy in/after class. Uhhh...
After, I went over to Buda to provide moral support for a cookie baking fest. Unfortunately, I was still really full from the party, so I didn't eat many, but FORTUNATELY, there are a ton left and packed away ready to be eaten. YUM.
Monday evening, I went out to dinner with friends and Val and her mom. So great, so nice to meet Val's mom. I love to meet parents. Megan and Lauren came back to my room to watch a few sodes and meet Lydia and Kelly via Skype...the first time Buda friends have seen my space. Weird, as I'm over there most every day. It's just much easier that way...you have to sign visitors into my dorm and they keep your ID while you're there. If the doormen at the Buda dorm have noticed that I'm always there, they haven't said anything yet...thank goodness.
That's it for this week. I fly home in 12 days. Super crazy. I'm perpetually torn between being excited to be home and preemptively being so nostalgic and missing for Hungary. It'll be an interesting transition, that's for sure. Unfortunately, these last two weeks here are marred by too much work and too many finals. However, I feel lucky to have two more weeks to spend in the coolest city ever, AND I even have friends left here to love me and to love. Super convenient!
P.S. Check Johna's vlog, per usual. Cute clips of me and Meghan giggling and loving each other, along with other great footage.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Week 12
Late blog post this week, due to the visit of my wonderful Mama from last Wednesday, November 25th, to Monday, November 30th. I should be working on my Anthropology assignment due tomorrow, but a late blog has proved to be more stressful to my (generally not stressed these days) mind, so I'm getting this done.
The week started off fairly eventfully with BATHROOM FEUD, Episode 3? 4? 5? At the beginning of the semester, after Tasha's super messy roommates told the management that my roommates and I were leaving the bathroom messy...(!!), we (/I) made up a schedule giving each of the six of us two weeks to be responsible for the bathroom. During your week, you are supposed to buy toilet paper as well. It has generally been working smoothly, except for one of Tasha's roommates didn't clean the bathroom or buy toilet paper for either of her weeks. As it was nearing the end of the second week she didn't clean, the bathroom was getting a bit raunchy and I think most of us stopped using it in favor of the hall bathroom. (At least, this is what I did, due to lack of wiping supplies.) However, apparently the condition of the bathroom was displeasing to the princesses next door, as these beautiful notes showed up on Monday or Tuesday (I don't remember which).
Basically, Audrey and I were operating a nasty note exhibition...people kept coming in and out to see the notes. Finally, after a few cups of forralt bor, Tasha confronted Roommate 1 (the non-cleaner), who admitted to writing one of the notes and claimed she didn't clean the bathroom because she doesn't use it. (Ironically, we had had one of our regular meetings in the bathroom over tooth brushing right before that...) She did end up putting paper in the bathroom, though there is none right now, unfortunately. It's Roommate 2's week, but she's out of town, apparently!
On Tuesday, I bailed on my volunteering to have a few hours to myself. Really glad I did in preparation for Mama's visit--it was nice to have a restful Tuesday.
Wednesday brought Mama! I went to pick her up at the airport, chatted her ear off all the way back, and after a few snacks we set out to go folk dancing. That's right folks, my mother wanted to go folk dancing her first night here after an overnight flight from the states. Unfortunately, our plans were foiled and the normal táncház (literally: dance house) didn't take place. In lieu of standing around and watching music sans dancing, I took Mama home to her hostel and her new friends Gábor and Bálint.
On Thursday, Mama accompanied my Art History class to the Castle District for another scintillating field trip at the National Gallery. I then went to Hungarian and did some work while she took a siesta and we met up again to go to my lit class. Weekend, finally! That evening, while most everyone in my program went to a fancy American-style Thanksgiving dinner at the Marriott, we ate snacks/rabbit food (Mama) and a grilled cheese (me). (SIDE NOTE: Mama claimed surprise at my abilities to grill a sandwich! Has she never TASTED my tuna melts! Humphity humph.)
That evening, we ventured kinda north to go dancing at a place recommended to us by Máté--the Guzsalyas táncház. It ended up being pretty cool, and definitely gave Mama a taste of Hungarian folk dancing.
Mama in the mix!
Great feet.
I was really sleepy, though, so we didn't stay that late. It was interesting to mark the differences between this place and Gödör, which forever has my heart. I look forward to going back to Gödör next week...for the last time. :(
I had to attend yet another field trip on Friday, this time to the House of Terror. The morning was rather eventful, as I overslept my meeting time with Mama, then realized that I thought we were meeting as a class half an hour earlier than we actually were. Then, I got pooped on by a bird. All before we even got into the museum, which turned out to be quite different than I expected. It's located at the former headquarters of first the Arrow Cross Party (Hungary's Nazi Party) and then the Communist Party in Hungary. I suppose what surprised me was how artsy it was--there were a lot of rooms that were more symbolic than informative. A lot of energy was put into the aesthetics and you could tell--it was very sensually entertaining. You definitely paid for it as well. I'm so spoiled by DC...1800 forints, or about 10 dollars seems like so much to pay for a museum!
We hurried back to gather cooking materials for the BSCS Thanksgiving due to take place that evening. Chocolate bars, arborio rice, butter, good salt, home roasted chestnuts, Spar wine, etc. in arms, we headed over to Buda to cook with friends. I did mostly menial labor such as cutting mushrooms and finding endless pots...no wonder my mother is surprised I can grill a sandwich! I have no kitchen charisma.
The flourless chocolate torte and mushroom risotto turned out great, as did Sam's vegetarian stuffing and ALL the rest of the food. It was a most impressive and delicious layout, full of families of both the real and heart types. I feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful group of people to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Johna also made an absolutely beautiful slideshow for the occasion. I have a copy on DVD and I'm sure I will shamelessly watch it to cry when I get home. ALSO! Check her vlog, as usual, for very cute documentation of the activities I describe here.
Some pictures.
Mama was here with me! (Credit Kelsey--I carried my camera around a disgustingly little amount this past week, so many of these pictures are from others. Thanks guys.)
Love.
Mama pointing out the pálinka bottle! (Credit to Kelsey.)
Meghan and Mama dancing.
Lauren: Could your mom do that all night? Cause maybe someone should warn Meghan...
On Saturday, Mama and I were going to go visit Esztergom. However, due to reasons Mama made fun of me for, wanted to follow our friends to Lake Tata to try and catch a geese migration. Luckily, we ran into Sam and snatched her up for our adventure in the train. It ended up being VERY WET in Tata, and we had trouble meeting up with the group. So, we strolled for a while, had some delicious snacks, and tried to stay dry. Finally, we miraculously met up with the group (Lauren: We're AT THE CASTLE!). They had been wandering for a while and were pretty damp, so we decided to head into a cafeteria for lunch. This ended up to be a wonderful idea, not only because the food was delicious, but because it cleared up while we were inside. It was absolutely beautiful heading over to the lake.
All of these pics are Kelsey's or Lauren's.
Tree climbing!!
The actual event turned out to be amazing...thousands of geese came and landed on the lake in front of a gorgeous sunset. Everyone was fairly in awe, as well as fairly cuddly, making for an enjoyable and highly photogenic experience.
There they are!
After training back to Budapest, Mama, Sam and I went to a Belgian Beer Bar in honor of Sam's birthday eve. No pictures of that, but it was fun and delicious! When we got back, Sam and I chatted with Kelly for a little bit (worlds colliding!) then started to watch a sode but we got SO sleepy! Great night's sleep.
Sunday was Miss Sam's 22nd birthday, so we celebrated accordingly, with a PASTRY CRAWL. Brilliant idea. Sam, me, Mama, and a conglomerate from CIEE and BSCS programs set out on a beautiful day intending to consume PASTIES. We ended up only visiting two places (pastries are SO RICH), but they were both delicious stops. A bunch of us ended at the Christmas market, where we enjoyed forralt bor, huge and greasy onion-y potato pancakes, and live music.
Forralt bor! (These are all Kelsey, again...)
Conquered by grease.
After putting Mama to bed (and a failed attempt to watch Love Actually), I ended up going to hang out in Buda for a while. Highlights: too much slinky fun, being yelled at by a person with a megaphone in the apartments across the street to shut up (illlgh, oops), baby face camera setting, and some really great ugly face photos.
Monday morning, Mama and I went to Széchenyi Baths. My first time at the baths, despite being a complete water baby! For some reason, purchasing tickets and doing the baths is really stressful for me, and so I've just never really gone through with it. We did this time, though, and it was really nice. I didn't eat anything before we went, though, and I wasn't adequately hydrated, so I wasn't really able to fully partake in things like the sauna (which felt great but left me a little light-headed.)
We traveled back in time to get gyros for lunch (YUM), shower, and make it to Hungarian class. Mama got to see the things that have been bothering me in Hungarian. Having her here was gratifying in terms of validating the struggles I have been having with the overall attitude of the generic CIEE participant. She was able to confirm that it's not just me--the apathy is nearly tangible.
Post-Hungarian, I finally activated my debit and credit card, with a few free 1-800 calls through Skype. It took longer than I would have liked, but less long than it could have taken, so I'll be thankful for that. This also meant I was able to clear all my debts on Monday, which was SO GREAT.
Around four-thirty, we left to meet friends to go to an Invisible Exhibition in Southern Budapest. This museum (we colloquially called it the blind museum) is made to give you the experience of a blind person. Though it was a little stressful to find the place and collect the money to pay for the tour, it ended up being really cool. Every tour is led by a blind guide, who takes you through a series of rooms in complete darkness, encouraging you to use your other senses to identify objects and surroundings. At some points, it was a little claustrophobic/challenging for me, but in a really good way. I'm glad we ended up doing it.
A picture of the exhibit.
Geez, I am just too funny.
After, Mama, Sam and I went to Siesta, a Hungarian restaurant. Delicious, but I'm still a little salty that he charged us for the rice he offered us! On the way back, we stopped in at Cafe Creme for some delicious hot chocolates. YUM. Mama also had a shot of Pálinka, that saucy minx. After our nightcap, I said goodbye to Mama and went on home. I ended up only sleeping two and a half hours that night...BUT that is for next week's blog!
A quick flash-back: Two pictures that I love from two weeks ago--recently posted by Rachel on Facebook, so I thought I'd include them.
Warming poor cold Lauren up.
Communist arm shapes are always so similar!
In general, I'm feeling full and happy of big love all the time these days. What a great place this world is, and so full of people to love and be friends with!
The week started off fairly eventfully with BATHROOM FEUD, Episode 3? 4? 5? At the beginning of the semester, after Tasha's super messy roommates told the management that my roommates and I were leaving the bathroom messy...(!!), we (/I) made up a schedule giving each of the six of us two weeks to be responsible for the bathroom. During your week, you are supposed to buy toilet paper as well. It has generally been working smoothly, except for one of Tasha's roommates didn't clean the bathroom or buy toilet paper for either of her weeks. As it was nearing the end of the second week she didn't clean, the bathroom was getting a bit raunchy and I think most of us stopped using it in favor of the hall bathroom. (At least, this is what I did, due to lack of wiping supplies.) However, apparently the condition of the bathroom was displeasing to the princesses next door, as these beautiful notes showed up on Monday or Tuesday (I don't remember which).
Basically, Audrey and I were operating a nasty note exhibition...people kept coming in and out to see the notes. Finally, after a few cups of forralt bor, Tasha confronted Roommate 1 (the non-cleaner), who admitted to writing one of the notes and claimed she didn't clean the bathroom because she doesn't use it. (Ironically, we had had one of our regular meetings in the bathroom over tooth brushing right before that...) She did end up putting paper in the bathroom, though there is none right now, unfortunately. It's Roommate 2's week, but she's out of town, apparently!
On Tuesday, I bailed on my volunteering to have a few hours to myself. Really glad I did in preparation for Mama's visit--it was nice to have a restful Tuesday.
Wednesday brought Mama! I went to pick her up at the airport, chatted her ear off all the way back, and after a few snacks we set out to go folk dancing. That's right folks, my mother wanted to go folk dancing her first night here after an overnight flight from the states. Unfortunately, our plans were foiled and the normal táncház (literally: dance house) didn't take place. In lieu of standing around and watching music sans dancing, I took Mama home to her hostel and her new friends Gábor and Bálint.
On Thursday, Mama accompanied my Art History class to the Castle District for another scintillating field trip at the National Gallery. I then went to Hungarian and did some work while she took a siesta and we met up again to go to my lit class. Weekend, finally! That evening, while most everyone in my program went to a fancy American-style Thanksgiving dinner at the Marriott, we ate snacks/rabbit food (Mama) and a grilled cheese (me). (SIDE NOTE: Mama claimed surprise at my abilities to grill a sandwich! Has she never TASTED my tuna melts! Humphity humph.)
That evening, we ventured kinda north to go dancing at a place recommended to us by Máté--the Guzsalyas táncház. It ended up being pretty cool, and definitely gave Mama a taste of Hungarian folk dancing.
Mama in the mix!
Great feet.
I was really sleepy, though, so we didn't stay that late. It was interesting to mark the differences between this place and Gödör, which forever has my heart. I look forward to going back to Gödör next week...for the last time. :(
I had to attend yet another field trip on Friday, this time to the House of Terror. The morning was rather eventful, as I overslept my meeting time with Mama, then realized that I thought we were meeting as a class half an hour earlier than we actually were. Then, I got pooped on by a bird. All before we even got into the museum, which turned out to be quite different than I expected. It's located at the former headquarters of first the Arrow Cross Party (Hungary's Nazi Party) and then the Communist Party in Hungary. I suppose what surprised me was how artsy it was--there were a lot of rooms that were more symbolic than informative. A lot of energy was put into the aesthetics and you could tell--it was very sensually entertaining. You definitely paid for it as well. I'm so spoiled by DC...1800 forints, or about 10 dollars seems like so much to pay for a museum!
We hurried back to gather cooking materials for the BSCS Thanksgiving due to take place that evening. Chocolate bars, arborio rice, butter, good salt, home roasted chestnuts, Spar wine, etc. in arms, we headed over to Buda to cook with friends. I did mostly menial labor such as cutting mushrooms and finding endless pots...no wonder my mother is surprised I can grill a sandwich! I have no kitchen charisma.
The flourless chocolate torte and mushroom risotto turned out great, as did Sam's vegetarian stuffing and ALL the rest of the food. It was a most impressive and delicious layout, full of families of both the real and heart types. I feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful group of people to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Johna also made an absolutely beautiful slideshow for the occasion. I have a copy on DVD and I'm sure I will shamelessly watch it to cry when I get home. ALSO! Check her vlog, as usual, for very cute documentation of the activities I describe here.
Some pictures.
Mama was here with me! (Credit Kelsey--I carried my camera around a disgustingly little amount this past week, so many of these pictures are from others. Thanks guys.)
Love.
Mama pointing out the pálinka bottle! (Credit to Kelsey.)
Meghan and Mama dancing.
Lauren: Could your mom do that all night? Cause maybe someone should warn Meghan...
On Saturday, Mama and I were going to go visit Esztergom. However, due to reasons Mama made fun of me for, wanted to follow our friends to Lake Tata to try and catch a geese migration. Luckily, we ran into Sam and snatched her up for our adventure in the train. It ended up being VERY WET in Tata, and we had trouble meeting up with the group. So, we strolled for a while, had some delicious snacks, and tried to stay dry. Finally, we miraculously met up with the group (Lauren: We're AT THE CASTLE!). They had been wandering for a while and were pretty damp, so we decided to head into a cafeteria for lunch. This ended up to be a wonderful idea, not only because the food was delicious, but because it cleared up while we were inside. It was absolutely beautiful heading over to the lake.
All of these pics are Kelsey's or Lauren's.
Tree climbing!!
The actual event turned out to be amazing...thousands of geese came and landed on the lake in front of a gorgeous sunset. Everyone was fairly in awe, as well as fairly cuddly, making for an enjoyable and highly photogenic experience.
There they are!
After training back to Budapest, Mama, Sam and I went to a Belgian Beer Bar in honor of Sam's birthday eve. No pictures of that, but it was fun and delicious! When we got back, Sam and I chatted with Kelly for a little bit (worlds colliding!) then started to watch a sode but we got SO sleepy! Great night's sleep.
Sunday was Miss Sam's 22nd birthday, so we celebrated accordingly, with a PASTRY CRAWL. Brilliant idea. Sam, me, Mama, and a conglomerate from CIEE and BSCS programs set out on a beautiful day intending to consume PASTIES. We ended up only visiting two places (pastries are SO RICH), but they were both delicious stops. A bunch of us ended at the Christmas market, where we enjoyed forralt bor, huge and greasy onion-y potato pancakes, and live music.
Forralt bor! (These are all Kelsey, again...)
Conquered by grease.
After putting Mama to bed (and a failed attempt to watch Love Actually), I ended up going to hang out in Buda for a while. Highlights: too much slinky fun, being yelled at by a person with a megaphone in the apartments across the street to shut up (illlgh, oops), baby face camera setting, and some really great ugly face photos.
Monday morning, Mama and I went to Széchenyi Baths. My first time at the baths, despite being a complete water baby! For some reason, purchasing tickets and doing the baths is really stressful for me, and so I've just never really gone through with it. We did this time, though, and it was really nice. I didn't eat anything before we went, though, and I wasn't adequately hydrated, so I wasn't really able to fully partake in things like the sauna (which felt great but left me a little light-headed.)
We traveled back in time to get gyros for lunch (YUM), shower, and make it to Hungarian class. Mama got to see the things that have been bothering me in Hungarian. Having her here was gratifying in terms of validating the struggles I have been having with the overall attitude of the generic CIEE participant. She was able to confirm that it's not just me--the apathy is nearly tangible.
Post-Hungarian, I finally activated my debit and credit card, with a few free 1-800 calls through Skype. It took longer than I would have liked, but less long than it could have taken, so I'll be thankful for that. This also meant I was able to clear all my debts on Monday, which was SO GREAT.
Around four-thirty, we left to meet friends to go to an Invisible Exhibition in Southern Budapest. This museum (we colloquially called it the blind museum) is made to give you the experience of a blind person. Though it was a little stressful to find the place and collect the money to pay for the tour, it ended up being really cool. Every tour is led by a blind guide, who takes you through a series of rooms in complete darkness, encouraging you to use your other senses to identify objects and surroundings. At some points, it was a little claustrophobic/challenging for me, but in a really good way. I'm glad we ended up doing it.
A picture of the exhibit.
Geez, I am just too funny.
After, Mama, Sam and I went to Siesta, a Hungarian restaurant. Delicious, but I'm still a little salty that he charged us for the rice he offered us! On the way back, we stopped in at Cafe Creme for some delicious hot chocolates. YUM. Mama also had a shot of Pálinka, that saucy minx. After our nightcap, I said goodbye to Mama and went on home. I ended up only sleeping two and a half hours that night...BUT that is for next week's blog!
A quick flash-back: Two pictures that I love from two weeks ago--recently posted by Rachel on Facebook, so I thought I'd include them.
Warming poor cold Lauren up.
Communist arm shapes are always so similar!
In general, I'm feeling full and happy of big love all the time these days. What a great place this world is, and so full of people to love and be friends with!
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