Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Oktoberfest
Two of my roomates bailed, one because he's sick and the other because he doesn't want to spend the money...so i'm flying solo for what I hope will be one of the greatest days of my life. Taking the night train there tonight, arriving at 6am, drinking all day, and taking the night train back and getting to Budapest around 9am...and then leaving for a 4 day weekend in Romania with the API group. Hoping I make it back alive.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Note to self:
Never order sushi in a landlocked nation...everything i know and love about sushi could be destroyed if I ever eat it here again. Soooo not worth it.
Cologne, Germany
The night train to Munich was interesting. Second class cabins on Hungarian trains consist of individual 'rooms' with 6 seats in each. Leg room would have been a bitch had my cabin been crowded, but there was only two others in it with me, and they each departed before the arrival in Germany. After that, a man got on somewhere in Austria and so we each had a row of 3 seats to ourselves to stretch out and attempt to get some rest. I had my backpack on the ground next to me, having read up on possible robberys on trains. The other man however, put has bag up top on the shelf, right next to the door. Over the course of the approximately 2 hours that we both fell asleep, his bag had been stolen. The reality of what I had read began to set in, and I immediately checked my bag to make sure everything was still there. It was. He however lost his credit cards, his TWO cell phones, and his keys to two flats, one in Munich and the other in Bratislava. I felt terrible and offered him money, but he refused. Luckily, he works in Munich and said he would be able to get a hold of a computer to cancel his cards and phone.
Arriving in Munich I randomly passed by a few Americans who are in some of my classes and were on the same train. They were there for the weekend for Oktoberfest, and I told them of the possibility of me being there on Saturday after my trip to cologne, and the possibility of meeting up. But my next train was leaving for Cologne soon, and I didnt really have long to talk to them about specifics, so I grabbed a pretzel for breakfast and hopped on the ICE (Inter City Express) high speed train bound for Koln.
My lord, German Transportation is amazing. The cabin was spacious, sort of like an airplane but with only two seats on each side of the isle, with plenty of legroom. We zoomed along through the countryside, at times reaching 300 km/hr.
After some quick stops in Nuremburg, Frankfurt, and Bonn, among others, I arrived in Cologne around 1130am. I was to meet up with my friend Dan outside of the train station on the other side of the Dom. After meeting up, we went to a brewery house that was right next to the station, called Gaffel, for a few drinks and a quick bite to eat. The beer there was nothing special, and Dan informed me that it was one of his least favorite in the city. I also enjoyed a beef tartar that was just delicious. Afterwords, we made our way to his flat so I could freshen up before heading out into the city.
Dan lives right around the corner from the city park and University of Cologne, so we walked around the campus for a little bit. After grabbing a Brat, we made our way into the city center, and strolled through the shopping district before returning to the Dom. The Dom was worth the trip in itself. It's Gothic architecture makes the building seem almost creepy, but the inside was enormouss. We walked the 500 or so stairs to the top of the lookout, which was the hardest set of stairs I've ever climbed. My calves were still hurting two days later. After admiring the view, we headed down to the treasury, where it is said that the remains of the three wise men are kept. There was also some very impressive artifacts from the 11th century onward, laced with gold and precious gems and the like.
It was then dinner time, and we walked a short distance over to another Brewery House called Fruh. In Cologne, they only serve beer in .2 liter glasses called Kolsch. But the waiters are quick to give you a refill when necessary. The beer was much better here, and I also enjoyed a true German dinner, Fried pork shank with sauer kraut and potato balls. Very good, although the potato balls had a bit to much flour in them for my liking.
After dinner, we moved on to Dan's favorite brewery house, called Paffgen. The beer here was also excellent, as was the atmosphere. We befriended an elder german man named Berndt and his girlfriend Jaclyn and struck up a nice conversation, some in English but a majority in German that Dan had to translate for me every so often. This guy apparently has thrown rock concerts and the like all throughout Europe and knows Mick Jagger. He is now writing a book, I think an autobiography, and hopes to have it finished within the year. This conversation also brought to my attention the tension that is still felt between the Eastern and Western parts of Germany, as well as what Germany on the whole is doing in the political and economic spectrum. Berndt is unhappy with how the German government is shaping up, and expressed deeply his love for the USA, and how it is "the land of the free, people can do as they please and make a living out of nothing." Dan is a very nationalistic German, and disagreed with a few points that Berndt was making, but it made for quite the interesting conversation. In the US, I would find it hard pressed to walk into a bar and strike up a conversation with a stranger about politics, world happenings, and life, but in Germany, this is normal occurance that happens over a few drinks. I wish I could have remembered some of the specifics that Berndt talked about and had been able to actively contribute to that particular topic, but my knowledge of German Politics is not exactly top notch.
Feeling pretty good from drinking a majority of the day, we went back to Dan's Flat to try and plan what that night. I had not slept very well on the train, so we ended up just going out for some late night pizza and a beer before heading to sleep.
I left to catch the 10:20 am train back to Munich so I could get on the last connection back to Budapest without having to take the overnight train, therefore throwing away my chances of spending a few hours at Oktoberfest. However, I do not have class on Wednesday, and am planning on going then, hopefully in the company of a few others to make for one heck of an experience.
The city of Cologne is actually a pretty remarkable story. It was almost completely destroyed by allied bombing during WWII, and little was left standing besides the cathedral. The master plan developed for the city for reconstruction after the war was done up beautifully. It took into account motor vehicle traffic, and incorporates the "ring" system of road networks, with each outer ring extending around the city center like a half circle, eliminating the criss-crossing of roads that many cities in the United States have. The public transportation network is also top notch, as it probably is anywhere else in Germany, with metros, trams, and buses operating routes to get you anywhere in the city in a very timely manner. I wish I had more then just a day to explore the city and its surroundings.
Arriving in Munich I randomly passed by a few Americans who are in some of my classes and were on the same train. They were there for the weekend for Oktoberfest, and I told them of the possibility of me being there on Saturday after my trip to cologne, and the possibility of meeting up. But my next train was leaving for Cologne soon, and I didnt really have long to talk to them about specifics, so I grabbed a pretzel for breakfast and hopped on the ICE (Inter City Express) high speed train bound for Koln.
My lord, German Transportation is amazing. The cabin was spacious, sort of like an airplane but with only two seats on each side of the isle, with plenty of legroom. We zoomed along through the countryside, at times reaching 300 km/hr.
After some quick stops in Nuremburg, Frankfurt, and Bonn, among others, I arrived in Cologne around 1130am. I was to meet up with my friend Dan outside of the train station on the other side of the Dom. After meeting up, we went to a brewery house that was right next to the station, called Gaffel, for a few drinks and a quick bite to eat. The beer there was nothing special, and Dan informed me that it was one of his least favorite in the city. I also enjoyed a beef tartar that was just delicious. Afterwords, we made our way to his flat so I could freshen up before heading out into the city.Dan lives right around the corner from the city park and University of Cologne, so we walked around the campus for a little bit. After grabbing a Brat, we made our way into the city center, and strolled through the shopping district before returning to the Dom. The Dom was worth the trip in itself. It's Gothic architecture makes the building seem almost creepy, but the inside was enormouss. We walked the 500 or so stairs to the top of the lookout, which was the hardest set of stairs I've ever climbed. My calves were still hurting two days later. After admiring the view, we headed down to the treasury, where it is said that the remains of the three wise men are kept. There was also some very impressive artifacts from the 11th century onward, laced with gold and precious gems and the like.
It was then dinner time, and we walked a short distance over to another Brewery House called Fruh. In Cologne, they only serve beer in .2 liter glasses called Kolsch. But the waiters are quick to give you a refill when necessary. The beer was much better here, and I also enjoyed a true German dinner, Fried pork shank with sauer kraut and potato balls. Very good, although the potato balls had a bit to much flour in them for my liking.
After dinner, we moved on to Dan's favorite brewery house, called Paffgen. The beer here was also excellent, as was the atmosphere. We befriended an elder german man named Berndt and his girlfriend Jaclyn and struck up a nice conversation, some in English but a majority in German that Dan had to translate for me every so often. This guy apparently has thrown rock concerts and the like all throughout Europe and knows Mick Jagger. He is now writing a book, I think an autobiography, and hopes to have it finished within the year. This conversation also brought to my attention the tension that is still felt between the Eastern and Western parts of Germany, as well as what Germany on the whole is doing in the political and economic spectrum. Berndt is unhappy with how the German government is shaping up, and expressed deeply his love for the USA, and how it is "the land of the free, people can do as they please and make a living out of nothing." Dan is a very nationalistic German, and disagreed with a few points that Berndt was making, but it made for quite the interesting conversation. In the US, I would find it hard pressed to walk into a bar and strike up a conversation with a stranger about politics, world happenings, and life, but in Germany, this is normal occurance that happens over a few drinks. I wish I could have remembered some of the specifics that Berndt talked about and had been able to actively contribute to that particular topic, but my knowledge of German Politics is not exactly top notch.Feeling pretty good from drinking a majority of the day, we went back to Dan's Flat to try and plan what that night. I had not slept very well on the train, so we ended up just going out for some late night pizza and a beer before heading to sleep.
I left to catch the 10:20 am train back to Munich so I could get on the last connection back to Budapest without having to take the overnight train, therefore throwing away my chances of spending a few hours at Oktoberfest. However, I do not have class on Wednesday, and am planning on going then, hopefully in the company of a few others to make for one heck of an experience.
The city of Cologne is actually a pretty remarkable story. It was almost completely destroyed by allied bombing during WWII, and little was left standing besides the cathedral. The master plan developed for the city for reconstruction after the war was done up beautifully. It took into account motor vehicle traffic, and incorporates the "ring" system of road networks, with each outer ring extending around the city center like a half circle, eliminating the criss-crossing of roads that many cities in the United States have. The public transportation network is also top notch, as it probably is anywhere else in Germany, with metros, trams, and buses operating routes to get you anywhere in the city in a very timely manner. I wish I had more then just a day to explore the city and its surroundings.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Weekend traveling....
Yesterday's bike ride to Szentendre went fairly well...except that I got a flat tire 12 kilometers outside the city with about 6 more to go, so I had to hop on the commuter train the rest of the way! Trying to get a ticket with a bicycle outside the city brought me back down to earth a little bit, as I haven't really had any problems communicating because a lot of people in the city speak English...however outside the city it is not as much of a requirement to learn it. I missed the first train because I tried to enter a cabin that apparently I wasnt allowed to with a bike, and everyone sort of yelled and pointed and I didnt know where to go. Fortunately I found a nice lady who pointed out the area where you could get on with a bike, so I had to wait another 15 minutes for the next one. Once I got on it was no big deal, but it really hit me that I should get a few sentences in Hungarian down for situations like these that would help me out a great deal.
Once I arrived and met back up with Kevin, we went to grab lunch and we both had goose liver with caviar, which was scrumptious, and walked around the town and visited Kovacs Museum, which displayed artwork from local artists, most of it being pottery and sculptures and the like. We also visited the Marzipan Museum (for those that dont know, Marzipan is similar to cake icing, only made primarily out of almond meal. They had a life size sculpture of the late great Michael Jackson made completely out of the stuff, and also different scenes from disney movies and sculptures of notable Hungarians, past and present. It was pretty interesting to say the least.
Last night we went to the Moulin Rouge Budapest to meet up with some of the Frenchies and Germans, expecting a caberet and dancers and whatnot, but it really was just a glorified dance club/bar with a stage and two girls in feathers not really doing much of anything. But I had a really good time, and the music there was awesome. I've discovered that in Budapest, some DJ's are extremely good, and others just play 5 year old American Pop/Hip-Hop songs that honestly I've had enough of back home. My love for techno and electronica, as well as house music has increased since I've been here, and I always seem to have a good time at the clubs/bars that play those types of music.
Tonight, I am leaving for Germany. I am taking the overnight train from Budapest to Munich, and then transferring for my train to Cologne, arriving around noon time on Friday. Thankfully, most sightseeing in Cologne can be done in a day, and my friend Dan has promised to take me out to enjoy some traditional Cologne meals and drinks. Saturday morning I plan on hopping on a train to Munich with hopes of spending a good 7-8 hours at Oktoberfest, and taking the night train back and arriving in Budapest Sunday morning. The API group has a day trip planned to visit the Danube Bend and visit the towns of Visegrad and Esztergom, and take a short hop over to Slovakia. I hope to update sometime Sunday evening, but it will most likely be on Monday!
Enjoy your respective weekends everybody!
Once I arrived and met back up with Kevin, we went to grab lunch and we both had goose liver with caviar, which was scrumptious, and walked around the town and visited Kovacs Museum, which displayed artwork from local artists, most of it being pottery and sculptures and the like. We also visited the Marzipan Museum (for those that dont know, Marzipan is similar to cake icing, only made primarily out of almond meal. They had a life size sculpture of the late great Michael Jackson made completely out of the stuff, and also different scenes from disney movies and sculptures of notable Hungarians, past and present. It was pretty interesting to say the least.
Last night we went to the Moulin Rouge Budapest to meet up with some of the Frenchies and Germans, expecting a caberet and dancers and whatnot, but it really was just a glorified dance club/bar with a stage and two girls in feathers not really doing much of anything. But I had a really good time, and the music there was awesome. I've discovered that in Budapest, some DJ's are extremely good, and others just play 5 year old American Pop/Hip-Hop songs that honestly I've had enough of back home. My love for techno and electronica, as well as house music has increased since I've been here, and I always seem to have a good time at the clubs/bars that play those types of music.
Tonight, I am leaving for Germany. I am taking the overnight train from Budapest to Munich, and then transferring for my train to Cologne, arriving around noon time on Friday. Thankfully, most sightseeing in Cologne can be done in a day, and my friend Dan has promised to take me out to enjoy some traditional Cologne meals and drinks. Saturday morning I plan on hopping on a train to Munich with hopes of spending a good 7-8 hours at Oktoberfest, and taking the night train back and arriving in Budapest Sunday morning. The API group has a day trip planned to visit the Danube Bend and visit the towns of Visegrad and Esztergom, and take a short hop over to Slovakia. I hope to update sometime Sunday evening, but it will most likely be on Monday!
Enjoy your respective weekends everybody!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Artist colonies, child operated trains, and the like
It has been a few days so let me recap:
Thursday and Friday I don't remember doing much of anything of note besides going to my two classes on thurs and just relaxing on fri. Actually, on Friday my roomate Dan's friend Kevin arrived. He is backpacking through eastern Europe, and we offered him accomodation to use as his home base on his travels, and I may even be accompanying him to Croatia at somepoint.
On Saturday, the API group took a day trip to the town of Szentendre, approximately 25km north of the city center. The town has become somewhat of an artists colony, and you cannot walk around a corner without seeing one of them set up with all their artwork out on display. There are also many contemporary and non-contemporary art galleries located sporadically around town. An open-air exhibit is also very popular, and is located just outside the town limits. This is from its website: "The aim of founding the Szentendre Open Air Museum was to present folk architecture, interior decoration, farming and way of life in the Hungarian language area from the 2nd half of the 18th century to the 1st half of the 20th century, through original and authentic objects, relocated houses arranged in old settlement patters. The more and more elaborate settlement plan appropriates the relocation of more than 400 edifices into the museum, arranged into village-like regional units on the basis of ethnographical considerations. Within the units buildings are fitted into the traditional system of peasant households, supplemented by sacred, communal and outbuildings which used to be integral parts of traditional villages. Dwellings and farm-buildings represent the typical houses and outbuildings having evolved historically in each region." Basically it was a trip back in time to see what typical Hungarian villages were like in specific time periods.
The town was very laid back and you could walk around the center in about 15 minutes and see everything. The Danube also runs right along side it so it made for some very nice views from up top and down below. Food wise, we snacked on what might be my new favorite thing in the world. It is called a Langos, and is a deep fried flat bread topped with sour cream and cheese and rubbed with garlic butter. It is the greasiest, most garlicy, most delicious thing I've ever had, and oh my god was it a heavenly experience. For a lunch, we ate at the most well known restaurant in Szentendre, called Rab Raby. My roomates have yet to really been adventurous eaters, and both ordered goulash. I on the other hand ordered a crispy goose leg with red cabbage and potatoes...soooo good. It was between that or goose liver and caviar, but I've decided to go back there soon just to have it. Kevin and I are actually thinking about biking back to Szentendre on Wednesday just we can eat there haha.
Hannah's friend came to hang out Saturday night with one of his buddies. She knew him from home, and he is now playing basketball for a team in Hungary after playing for UMASS for four years. Now, I consider myself a pretty tall guy, but you can imagine what I was thinking when I only came up to this dude's shoulders. I think he said he was 7 feet tall. But he said it was nice for them to come and interact with other American's, because I guess where they play not a whole lot of people understand or speak English. We all enjoyed drinks together and ended up at a bar called Szimpla later that evening. All in all it was a good night, and we all promised them that we could come and enjoy one of their basketball games sometime soon.
We had a free morning on Sunday, and most of us took advantage of this by sleeping in. In the afternoon, the API group, Kevin, and Erica's parents who were in town met up for an afternoon excursion in the Buda Hills. We took a cog rail train up one of the hills, which really was nothing special as it was no different from the regular trams I take everyday except for the fact that it went uphill.
At the top, we walked a few minutes over to the entrance to the Children's Railway. It is operated almost entirely by children, except for the driving of the engines. It was started back in the days of communism, and was called the Pioneer Railway. It was initiated to help children get acclimated to the railroad network, but today is more of a boy/girl scout sorta thing. The children are under close watch by adults, but they mainly are in charge of ticketing, the gates, and for lack of a better word, 'watchmen.' We road for a little while, winding around the tops of the hills, until we reached what seemed to be nothing in particular. Reka told us we had to hike up to the top of the hill to where the lookout tower was, and it was quite the hike! But wow it was well worth it. At the top was Elizabeth Tower, a newly fashioned building that sort of looked like it was part of a castle. Stairs led us to the top, and WOW...I will let these pictures describe the type of view I was looking out on...
Yesterday started up another week of class, and besides my little biking excusion back to Szentendre on Wednesday with Kevin, nothing really exciting will be happening until the weekend. So peace out girlscouts!
Future travel plans: This weekend, I am heading to Cologne, Germany to meet up with a German friend I have met here in Budapest. I am leaving Thursday night and coming back Saturday night, with a possible 4 hour stopover in Munich to get just a taste of Oktoberfest before I go next week. Sunday the API group is going to the Danube bend to visit the towns of Visegrad and Esztergom to explore the castles and take in the scenery. I am looking forward to it.
Thursday and Friday I don't remember doing much of anything of note besides going to my two classes on thurs and just relaxing on fri. Actually, on Friday my roomate Dan's friend Kevin arrived. He is backpacking through eastern Europe, and we offered him accomodation to use as his home base on his travels, and I may even be accompanying him to Croatia at somepoint.
On Saturday, the API group took a day trip to the town of Szentendre, approximately 25km north of the city center. The town has become somewhat of an artists colony, and you cannot walk around a corner without seeing one of them set up with all their artwork out on display. There are also many contemporary and non-contemporary art galleries located sporadically around town. An open-air exhibit is also very popular, and is located just outside the town limits. This is from its website: "The aim of founding the Szentendre Open Air Museum was to present folk architecture, interior decoration, farming and way of life in the Hungarian language area from the 2nd half of the 18th century to the 1st half of the 20th century, through original and authentic objects, relocated houses arranged in old settlement patters. The more and more elaborate settlement plan appropriates the relocation of more than 400 edifices into the museum, arranged into village-like regional units on the basis of ethnographical considerations. Within the units buildings are fitted into the traditional system of peasant households, supplemented by sacred, communal and outbuildings which used to be integral parts of traditional villages. Dwellings and farm-buildings represent the typical houses and outbuildings having evolved historically in each region." Basically it was a trip back in time to see what typical Hungarian villages were like in specific time periods.
The town was very laid back and you could walk around the center in about 15 minutes and see everything. The Danube also runs right along side it so it made for some very nice views from up top and down below. Food wise, we snacked on what might be my new favorite thing in the world. It is called a Langos, and is a deep fried flat bread topped with sour cream and cheese and rubbed with garlic butter. It is the greasiest, most garlicy, most delicious thing I've ever had, and oh my god was it a heavenly experience. For a lunch, we ate at the most well known restaurant in Szentendre, called Rab Raby. My roomates have yet to really been adventurous eaters, and both ordered goulash. I on the other hand ordered a crispy goose leg with red cabbage and potatoes...soooo good. It was between that or goose liver and caviar, but I've decided to go back there soon just to have it. Kevin and I are actually thinking about biking back to Szentendre on Wednesday just we can eat there haha.Hannah's friend came to hang out Saturday night with one of his buddies. She knew him from home, and he is now playing basketball for a team in Hungary after playing for UMASS for four years. Now, I consider myself a pretty tall guy, but you can imagine what I was thinking when I only came up to this dude's shoulders. I think he said he was 7 feet tall. But he said it was nice for them to come and interact with other American's, because I guess where they play not a whole lot of people understand or speak English. We all enjoyed drinks together and ended up at a bar called Szimpla later that evening. All in all it was a good night, and we all promised them that we could come and enjoy one of their basketball games sometime soon.
We had a free morning on Sunday, and most of us took advantage of this by sleeping in. In the afternoon, the API group, Kevin, and Erica's parents who were in town met up for an afternoon excursion in the Buda Hills. We took a cog rail train up one of the hills, which really was nothing special as it was no different from the regular trams I take everyday except for the fact that it went uphill.
Yesterday started up another week of class, and besides my little biking excusion back to Szentendre on Wednesday with Kevin, nothing really exciting will be happening until the weekend. So peace out girlscouts!
Future travel plans: This weekend, I am heading to Cologne, Germany to meet up with a German friend I have met here in Budapest. I am leaving Thursday night and coming back Saturday night, with a possible 4 hour stopover in Munich to get just a taste of Oktoberfest before I go next week. Sunday the API group is going to the Danube bend to visit the towns of Visegrad and Esztergom to explore the castles and take in the scenery. I am looking forward to it.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Bratislava Recap
6:00am Wednesday morning: I wake up 20 minutes later then I want too, most likely due to the fact that we all went out the night before and I didnt go to bed til 3. Keep in mind the bus is leaving Nepliget station, not exactly right around the block, in an hour at 7.
6:03: I stumble into Corey's room and yell at him to wake up.
6:05: I jump into the shower to try and wake up.
6:10: I get out of shower, Corey gets in shower.
6:18: Corey and I are running around getting dressed and packing up our backpacks. I still had all my stuff in from my flight so I basically threw everything onto my desk and packed money/passport/change of shirt/language book.
6:25: About to walk out the door when I realize I dont have my camera. I run back and grab it trying not to wake Dan up in the process.
6:27: Walking towards the elevator when I ask Corey if he has his passport. He says "oh crap," and runs back and gets it.
6:30: We leave the apartment building and start walking toward Deak Ter, where we are getting on the "Red" line, or so I thought.
6:38: We arrive at the metro station, and I look at the metro map while heading down to the red line to make sure its the right one. I don't notice a Nepliget stop, so I check the blue line map, and of course its there...6 stops away.
6:41: We hop onto the blue line hoping 6 stops doesn't take longer then 15 minutes in case we have to look around for the station once we get there.
6:50: I am getting nervous because we've only just arrived at the 4th stop. Two more to go. I'm worried the bus station won't be right there and I will have to ask someone. Ugh
6:54: We arrive at Nepliget metro stop, and Corey immediately sees signs for buses and "Orangeways," which was the company we were looking for.
6:58: We board our bus to Bratislava and find our seats in the very last row.
7:01: Bus leaves the station.
7:20: It is announced that they will be showing Wedding Crashers in Hungarian with English subtitles, woo.
7:33: Corey falls asleep.
9:15: I wake Corey up.
9:34: We arrive at the bus station in Bratislava. Wooo.
9:40: Trash is talked about how shitty the bus station is.
9:44: We look around desperately for signs and or guidebook/map stands to no avail.
9:47: Corey and I wander aimlessly out of the bus station onto the street, with no plan. The one thing I thought we could have done a little better was PLANNING aka writing down what bus/tram to take to the city center, where to eat, what to see, etc etc before we left. Guess that's what happens when you book the trip the day before, go out the night before, and wake up to late the morning of...
9:49: The walk begins as we start to go toward the Castle that we saw on the way in, hoping to find a nice little breakfast shop on the way.
10:00: After walking by about 6 coffee shops that served no food at all, not even pastries or croissants, we happen upon a nice little place that actually has a menu.
10:04: We order coffees.
10:10: We finish our coffees.
10:20: Pondering why our waiter has yet to bring us over food menus as we watch him walk by and look at us a good 5 times.
10:22: We finally are given menus, I order an omelet with peas, mushrooms, and something else while Corey orders the Vienna plate; some slices of ham, cheese, tomatoes, and hard boiled eggs.
10:23: Our waiter gives us a basket of bread, but we were smart and asked if it was complimentary or extra charge. Of course it was extra charge, so we decided not to eat it to stick it to the man.
10:36: We finish our breakfasts and pay, and head back out to try and find the city center.
10:40: Luckily it wasnt that far away, and we finally found signs showing us exactly where to go and what was near!
10:45-4:15: We explore the city. The main touristy area of Bratislava is called the Old Town, and that is where you can find most of the historical buildings and whatnot. We visted the Primate's Palace, Michaels Gate, Grassalkovich Palace, the National Theatre, Bratislava Castle, Novy Most, Saint Martins Cathedral and crypt, walked by dozens of different embassys, explored cobblestone streets and alleys and alot of walkways on Castle Hill. We had lunch at a Slovak Cellar restaurant, and Corey and I both enjoyed a creampy cheesy potato soup as a starter, while Corey had the schnitzel (given its proximity to Austria not surprising), while I had some bacon and onion dumplings.
4:15: Hop on a bus for about a 20 minute ride over to the municipality of Devin, where the remain's of the famous Devin Castle are.
4:33: We arrive in Devin and are greated by a towering cliff side with bits and pieces of what used to be a castle on top. It is pretty impressive.
4:37: Walking up towards the entrance to the top, a guard tells us that they are closing for the night. We look at the hours and it is supposed to be open until 5pm, so I am a little angry we cant go up there for at least a few minutes to look around.
4:38-5:35: Corey and I decide to explore the area beneath the cliff that is open all day, and let me just say it was an extremely beautiful area. The Danube roars by and the Morava river empties into it right below the castle. I didnt realize this at the time but everywhere I looked across either rivers was the the territory of the country of Austria. Found that fun fact out when I got home later that evening.
5:35: Caught the bus back to Bratislava city center.
6:00-7:15: Sort of meander around the old town. Corey was on a mission to find cookies gelato because he had seen a sign for it earlier in the day. We found the place, but unfortunately they didnt have any, so Corey had a small let down.
7:20: We arrive back at the bus station for our 730 departure only to find that there werent any Orangeways buses hanging around. Nervousness comes over me that maybe it left earlier or was heading to a different station in Bratislava, but after 25 minutes of checking schedules and talking to other passengers we are sure it is just arriving a little late, and sure enough it does.
7:55-1030: Board the bus and drive back home to Budapest.
All in all, I'd say the day was a success. We felt that we had seen all the important sights that needed to be seen, and both of us came to the conclusion that any longer then two days in Bratislava on a sight-seeing trip was too long. It can all definately be done in a day, especially at the pace we were going at, but taking a normal pace to it and spending more time at each place or in a museum would get you a good two days worth of exploring to do. The city itself was a surprise to me, as I didnt think it would be as built up as it was, but there were still reminders all over of its soviet/communist past in the architecture across the city.
Future travel plans update: On Saturday, the API group gets to go to the town of Szentendre, 20 minutes north of Budapest. Sunday we are heading off to the Buda Hills for a short train ride and a hike to an observation point. I will update again detailing those journeys.
Until then...
6:03: I stumble into Corey's room and yell at him to wake up.
6:05: I jump into the shower to try and wake up.
6:10: I get out of shower, Corey gets in shower.
6:18: Corey and I are running around getting dressed and packing up our backpacks. I still had all my stuff in from my flight so I basically threw everything onto my desk and packed money/passport/change of shirt/language book.
6:25: About to walk out the door when I realize I dont have my camera. I run back and grab it trying not to wake Dan up in the process.
6:27: Walking towards the elevator when I ask Corey if he has his passport. He says "oh crap," and runs back and gets it.
6:30: We leave the apartment building and start walking toward Deak Ter, where we are getting on the "Red" line, or so I thought.
6:38: We arrive at the metro station, and I look at the metro map while heading down to the red line to make sure its the right one. I don't notice a Nepliget stop, so I check the blue line map, and of course its there...6 stops away.
6:41: We hop onto the blue line hoping 6 stops doesn't take longer then 15 minutes in case we have to look around for the station once we get there.
6:50: I am getting nervous because we've only just arrived at the 4th stop. Two more to go. I'm worried the bus station won't be right there and I will have to ask someone. Ugh
6:54: We arrive at Nepliget metro stop, and Corey immediately sees signs for buses and "Orangeways," which was the company we were looking for.
6:58: We board our bus to Bratislava and find our seats in the very last row.
7:01: Bus leaves the station.
7:20: It is announced that they will be showing Wedding Crashers in Hungarian with English subtitles, woo.
7:33: Corey falls asleep.
9:15: I wake Corey up.
9:34: We arrive at the bus station in Bratislava. Wooo.
9:40: Trash is talked about how shitty the bus station is.
9:44: We look around desperately for signs and or guidebook/map stands to no avail.
9:47: Corey and I wander aimlessly out of the bus station onto the street, with no plan. The one thing I thought we could have done a little better was PLANNING aka writing down what bus/tram to take to the city center, where to eat, what to see, etc etc before we left. Guess that's what happens when you book the trip the day before, go out the night before, and wake up to late the morning of...
9:49: The walk begins as we start to go toward the Castle that we saw on the way in, hoping to find a nice little breakfast shop on the way.
10:00: After walking by about 6 coffee shops that served no food at all, not even pastries or croissants, we happen upon a nice little place that actually has a menu.
10:04: We order coffees.
10:10: We finish our coffees.
10:20: Pondering why our waiter has yet to bring us over food menus as we watch him walk by and look at us a good 5 times.
10:22: We finally are given menus, I order an omelet with peas, mushrooms, and something else while Corey orders the Vienna plate; some slices of ham, cheese, tomatoes, and hard boiled eggs.
10:23: Our waiter gives us a basket of bread, but we were smart and asked if it was complimentary or extra charge. Of course it was extra charge, so we decided not to eat it to stick it to the man.
10:36: We finish our breakfasts and pay, and head back out to try and find the city center.
10:40: Luckily it wasnt that far away, and we finally found signs showing us exactly where to go and what was near!
10:45-4:15: We explore the city. The main touristy area of Bratislava is called the Old Town, and that is where you can find most of the historical buildings and whatnot. We visted the Primate's Palace, Michaels Gate, Grassalkovich Palace, the National Theatre, Bratislava Castle, Novy Most, Saint Martins Cathedral and crypt, walked by dozens of different embassys, explored cobblestone streets and alleys and alot of walkways on Castle Hill. We had lunch at a Slovak Cellar restaurant, and Corey and I both enjoyed a creampy cheesy potato soup as a starter, while Corey had the schnitzel (given its proximity to Austria not surprising), while I had some bacon and onion dumplings.
4:15: Hop on a bus for about a 20 minute ride over to the municipality of Devin, where the remain's of the famous Devin Castle are.
4:33: We arrive in Devin and are greated by a towering cliff side with bits and pieces of what used to be a castle on top. It is pretty impressive.
4:37: Walking up towards the entrance to the top, a guard tells us that they are closing for the night. We look at the hours and it is supposed to be open until 5pm, so I am a little angry we cant go up there for at least a few minutes to look around.
4:38-5:35: Corey and I decide to explore the area beneath the cliff that is open all day, and let me just say it was an extremely beautiful area. The Danube roars by and the Morava river empties into it right below the castle. I didnt realize this at the time but everywhere I looked across either rivers was the the territory of the country of Austria. Found that fun fact out when I got home later that evening.
5:35: Caught the bus back to Bratislava city center.
6:00-7:15: Sort of meander around the old town. Corey was on a mission to find cookies gelato because he had seen a sign for it earlier in the day. We found the place, but unfortunately they didnt have any, so Corey had a small let down.
7:20: We arrive back at the bus station for our 730 departure only to find that there werent any Orangeways buses hanging around. Nervousness comes over me that maybe it left earlier or was heading to a different station in Bratislava, but after 25 minutes of checking schedules and talking to other passengers we are sure it is just arriving a little late, and sure enough it does.
7:55-1030: Board the bus and drive back home to Budapest.
All in all, I'd say the day was a success. We felt that we had seen all the important sights that needed to be seen, and both of us came to the conclusion that any longer then two days in Bratislava on a sight-seeing trip was too long. It can all definately be done in a day, especially at the pace we were going at, but taking a normal pace to it and spending more time at each place or in a museum would get you a good two days worth of exploring to do. The city itself was a surprise to me, as I didnt think it would be as built up as it was, but there were still reminders all over of its soviet/communist past in the architecture across the city.
Future travel plans update: On Saturday, the API group gets to go to the town of Szentendre, 20 minutes north of Budapest. Sunday we are heading off to the Buda Hills for a short train ride and a hike to an observation point. I will update again detailing those journeys.
Until then...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Travel Plans
Tomorrow (Wednesday), Corey and I are venturing off to Bratislava, the capital city Slovakia, because neither of us have Wednesday classes. We found a bus that leaves Budapest at 7am and arrives in Bratislava at 930am, and the return bus leaves at 730pm and we arrive back home around 10. So we will have a good 10 hours to explore the city and surroundings. It was very cheap at only 22 dollars a person for the roundtrip. I'm expecting it to be a good time and I will let everyone know how it goes!
Cheers
Cheers
Monday, September 14, 2009
Operation Goulash = Complete
Here is a pic of the traditional Hungarian meal that I took a shot at making myself...Goulash. It was very yummy!
First day of classes
Talk about complete opposites...
In my 'History of Modern Europe' class, I believe there are 15 Americans and 2 German students in it, with a professor from Austria.
In my 'International Business' class, the Professor is from Singapore, and the countries students are from include: USA, China, Germany, France, Hungary, Sweden, not just 1, but TWO kids from MONGOLIA!!! Also, Russia, Vietnam, Mexico, Turkey, Slovakia, Korea, and the Netherlands. Quite the international flair!
My 'International Economics' class is later this evening, and I am not expecting as much diversity as in the IB class but definately not one dominated by kids from one country like the history class.
In my 'History of Modern Europe' class, I believe there are 15 Americans and 2 German students in it, with a professor from Austria.
In my 'International Business' class, the Professor is from Singapore, and the countries students are from include: USA, China, Germany, France, Hungary, Sweden, not just 1, but TWO kids from MONGOLIA!!! Also, Russia, Vietnam, Mexico, Turkey, Slovakia, Korea, and the Netherlands. Quite the international flair!
My 'International Economics' class is later this evening, and I am not expecting as much diversity as in the IB class but definately not one dominated by kids from one country like the history class.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Early morning bedtimes
Jo napot!
So a lot has been going on over here. I'm at the point right now that I'm happy today is a free day because I just need to settle down and relax. I am heading to the grocery store in a little bit to pick up a few items so I can try my hand at making Porkolt (Goulash) for everyone this evening.
Orientation Thursday morning was a piece of cake. It was supposed to last for two hours but we we're in and out in 45 minutes....which was great because Corey, Dan, and I were all hungover from the night before and were clutching water bottles haha! We went to Morrison's 2, which was WAYYYY better then Morrison's 1. Open air courtyard with bar, upstairs with a balcony surrounding the courtyard, it seemed like 5 different dance floors, some underground in the basement; quite the good time! We all met up with a bunch of our European friends and proceeded to meet even more European friends, as well as a few Americans.
Nothing exciting ended up happening after orientation. We met up with a few tandem partners and went out to eat with them, and I just ended up going back to the flat to sleep afterwards.
Thursday night was a repeat of Morrison's 2 because the girls hadn't gone the night before and heard all our stories about how great it was! Two bottles of wine and some beers later, I was home fairly early at around 1am.
Friday was a very eventful day. Woke up, grabbed a gyro downstairs, and walked over to Parliament for our quick tour. The Hungarian Parliament building is quite impressive, and is the 3rd largest Parliament building in the world, behind only those in London and Bucharest, Romania. We entered through the side of the main entry way, because apparently the main entry way is only opened for foreign dignitaries and distinguised guests. Walking in, we saw a scaled down model of the building that was built entirely out of match sticks. Turning to our right, we came upon the Grand Staircase that led us up to the great hall. The interior of the building is remarkable; a lot of marble, granite, and even sold gold was used throughout many of the decorations, etc. Moving forward, we walked into the large dome room where the symbol of Hungary is housed; the Crown Jewels. Just like you would expect, they are housing in a bulletproof glass case protected by armed guards. The crown was given to the first king of Hungary by the Pope himself. We also visted the debate chamber, and a few random hallways that I couldnt figure out the significance of because our tourguide spoke terrible english and talked in a monotone voice the whole time.
Immediately following the end of our Parliament tour, we met up with another tour guide who was going to take us around on the Buda side of the city. Before we did that, we went to the Dohany Street Synagogue for what I thought would be a quick walk around. Lets just say I was wrong. We went inside, and I had to wear one of those little hats that I cant remember the name of, and that felt, well, weird. The lady who talked to us about the Synagogue was very boisterous and forward, and almost scared all of us when she kept asking us questions that no one knew the answer too. We sat in there for a good 45 minutes on the most uncomfortable bench ever trying to understand what she was saying. The interiour of the place was very nice, and a lot of marble and gold and whatnot was used in the architecture. We proceeded to walk into a courtyard behind the Synagogue where there were memorials to all the Jews that had died during WW2. That in itself kind of put everyone in a sad, depressed mood for the remainder of the day...
We took a bus over to the Buda side to visit Castle Hill and the old town. The views from up there were amazinggggg!!! The entire hill is covered with various lookout spots looking out over the Danube and Pest. I want to buy a house there, thats how much I fell in love with it. We didnt end up going inside any of the buildings, because later in the semester we have days that we will do that, but we saw all the landmarks, including the Castle up close obviously, Matthias Church (The Church of our lady), Fisherman's Bastion (incredible doesnt begin to describe the views), and the entrances to the underground labrynths that encompass much of the insde of the hill.
That evening, most of us decided that we were going to go to Club Rio. It is one of Budapest's most popular open air clubs, and sometimes has held 5-6000 people at a time. A group of about 20 of us made the walk there, and the place was poppin! I'd say a good 2,500 people were there just going crazy and dancing!! Some drinking, a lot of dancing, and meeting some new people went on, and before I know it its 5am and I'm taking the tram home! Someone had told me that it was the last night that the club was open before it closes down for winter, but I'm hoping that isn't the case as I would very much like to go back.
12:45 pm Saturday afternoon...everyone is rolling around dreading waking up for our cooking lesson with Reka at 1. We make it over there, me in rough shape of course, and learn how to make a vegetable stew with sausage and this pastry type dessert. They were both very good. Afterwards, me and the guys headed over to the Budapest International Wine Festival held over in Buda on Castle Hill. There were SO many wine stalls within the castle grounds, and it made sense because the place was packedddd. You paid 2300 forints (about 12 dollars) for an entry fee and a wine glass with its own little carrying case. You then could purchase tickets for 100 forint each (about 50 cents) to give to the vendors to sample a glass of wine. Most wines cost about 2 or 3 tickets, so it wasnt bad at all. There were wines from all over Hungary, Europe, and as far away as Argentina! I've never really been a big wine drinker, so I was surprised the a Rose or a Chardonnay or a Merlot could taste so different from each individual winery. After, all of us met up with some Europeans and had a real low key night (well except Corey haha) hanging out at the rooftop bar looking out over the city.
Like I said, today was a free day, so Dan and I went out and go some groceries for our attempt to make Gulyas Porkolt (Goulash stew) tonight. I will be sure to let everyone know how that goes.
Finally, this is a pic I took from up on Castle Hill at dusk....awesome right?
So a lot has been going on over here. I'm at the point right now that I'm happy today is a free day because I just need to settle down and relax. I am heading to the grocery store in a little bit to pick up a few items so I can try my hand at making Porkolt (Goulash) for everyone this evening.
Orientation Thursday morning was a piece of cake. It was supposed to last for two hours but we we're in and out in 45 minutes....which was great because Corey, Dan, and I were all hungover from the night before and were clutching water bottles haha! We went to Morrison's 2, which was WAYYYY better then Morrison's 1. Open air courtyard with bar, upstairs with a balcony surrounding the courtyard, it seemed like 5 different dance floors, some underground in the basement; quite the good time! We all met up with a bunch of our European friends and proceeded to meet even more European friends, as well as a few Americans.
Nothing exciting ended up happening after orientation. We met up with a few tandem partners and went out to eat with them, and I just ended up going back to the flat to sleep afterwards.
Thursday night was a repeat of Morrison's 2 because the girls hadn't gone the night before and heard all our stories about how great it was! Two bottles of wine and some beers later, I was home fairly early at around 1am.
Friday was a very eventful day. Woke up, grabbed a gyro downstairs, and walked over to Parliament for our quick tour. The Hungarian Parliament building is quite impressive, and is the 3rd largest Parliament building in the world, behind only those in London and Bucharest, Romania. We entered through the side of the main entry way, because apparently the main entry way is only opened for foreign dignitaries and distinguised guests. Walking in, we saw a scaled down model of the building that was built entirely out of match sticks. Turning to our right, we came upon the Grand Staircase that led us up to the great hall. The interior of the building is remarkable; a lot of marble, granite, and even sold gold was used throughout many of the decorations, etc. Moving forward, we walked into the large dome room where the symbol of Hungary is housed; the Crown Jewels. Just like you would expect, they are housing in a bulletproof glass case protected by armed guards. The crown was given to the first king of Hungary by the Pope himself. We also visted the debate chamber, and a few random hallways that I couldnt figure out the significance of because our tourguide spoke terrible english and talked in a monotone voice the whole time.Immediately following the end of our Parliament tour, we met up with another tour guide who was going to take us around on the Buda side of the city. Before we did that, we went to the Dohany Street Synagogue for what I thought would be a quick walk around. Lets just say I was wrong. We went inside, and I had to wear one of those little hats that I cant remember the name of, and that felt, well, weird. The lady who talked to us about the Synagogue was very boisterous and forward, and almost scared all of us when she kept asking us questions that no one knew the answer too. We sat in there for a good 45 minutes on the most uncomfortable bench ever trying to understand what she was saying. The interiour of the place was very nice, and a lot of marble and gold and whatnot was used in the architecture. We proceeded to walk into a courtyard behind the Synagogue where there were memorials to all the Jews that had died during WW2. That in itself kind of put everyone in a sad, depressed mood for the remainder of the day...
We took a bus over to the Buda side to visit Castle Hill and the old town. The views from up there were amazinggggg!!! The entire hill is covered with various lookout spots looking out over the Danube and Pest. I want to buy a house there, thats how much I fell in love with it. We didnt end up going inside any of the buildings, because later in the semester we have days that we will do that, but we saw all the landmarks, including the Castle up close obviously, Matthias Church (The Church of our lady), Fisherman's Bastion (incredible doesnt begin to describe the views), and the entrances to the underground labrynths that encompass much of the insde of the hill.
That evening, most of us decided that we were going to go to Club Rio. It is one of Budapest's most popular open air clubs, and sometimes has held 5-6000 people at a time. A group of about 20 of us made the walk there, and the place was poppin! I'd say a good 2,500 people were there just going crazy and dancing!! Some drinking, a lot of dancing, and meeting some new people went on, and before I know it its 5am and I'm taking the tram home! Someone had told me that it was the last night that the club was open before it closes down for winter, but I'm hoping that isn't the case as I would very much like to go back.
Like I said, today was a free day, so Dan and I went out and go some groceries for our attempt to make Gulyas Porkolt (Goulash stew) tonight. I will be sure to let everyone know how that goes.
Finally, this is a pic I took from up on Castle Hill at dusk....awesome right?
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Quick update and some observations
Szia!
Last night my group got to go on a short 1 hour river cruise on the Danube. Budapest at night looks incredible, especially Buda Castle and the Chain Bridge. We were given audio equipment to listen to the 'tour guide' talk to us about the different buildings and such that we passed by. It was a good time and I enjoyed the complementary beverages we were given! There are a few pictures up on the other website for your viewing pleasure.
This morning we had to wake up really early to head over to the immigration office on the Buda side to get our residence permits extended. Besides it being pretty chilly outside, it all went fairly well. I guess in the past the immigration officers havent been the friendliest of people, and Reka said some students used to get yelled at, but apparently they hired new people and we were in and out in a very timely manner.
I made my first trip grocery shopping afterwards, stopping at Tesco, which is very similar to Wal-mart. I picked up some meats; i think turkey, steak, and ground beef? Not really sure but it looked like them haha. I also picked up a few bottles of local wine and liquor because they were VERY cheap, like, 4 dollars a bottle cheap.
This afternoon we have another short orientation at the school with API, which shouldn't be too bad. I'm hoping to stop at the Great Market to pick up some fresh veggies and other fixens so our kitchen actually looks like someone uses it!
And now some observations I have had:
Friday we are touring the parliament building and then going over to Buda for part 2 of our city tour...I will have pictures up of that soon after that.
Until then...
Last night my group got to go on a short 1 hour river cruise on the Danube. Budapest at night looks incredible, especially Buda Castle and the Chain Bridge. We were given audio equipment to listen to the 'tour guide' talk to us about the different buildings and such that we passed by. It was a good time and I enjoyed the complementary beverages we were given! There are a few pictures up on the other website for your viewing pleasure.
This morning we had to wake up really early to head over to the immigration office on the Buda side to get our residence permits extended. Besides it being pretty chilly outside, it all went fairly well. I guess in the past the immigration officers havent been the friendliest of people, and Reka said some students used to get yelled at, but apparently they hired new people and we were in and out in a very timely manner.
I made my first trip grocery shopping afterwards, stopping at Tesco, which is very similar to Wal-mart. I picked up some meats; i think turkey, steak, and ground beef? Not really sure but it looked like them haha. I also picked up a few bottles of local wine and liquor because they were VERY cheap, like, 4 dollars a bottle cheap.This afternoon we have another short orientation at the school with API, which shouldn't be too bad. I'm hoping to stop at the Great Market to pick up some fresh veggies and other fixens so our kitchen actually looks like someone uses it!
And now some observations I have had:
- Hungarians dress VERY well...I feel like a slob when I walk out in shorts and a polo!
- You have to pay for things here that you wouldn't normally have to pay for in the US, such as WATER at meals (ugh), chopsticks, paper and plastic grocery bags, to use a public restroom, and to use a shopping cart.
- The food is very hearty: a lot of meat and potatoes as well as thick soups, and they come in fairly large portions.
- There are A LOT of pizza and gyros shops up and down the streets. I think I've eaten a gyro for either lunch or a late night snack at least 4 of the 6 days I've been here! And I'm not complaining about it :-)!
- A lot of the younger generation speak English, and surprisingly a few of the older generation also do too. And if you at least attempt to say hello, goodbye, and thank-you in Magyar they will appreciate the effort, especially if they know you're an American.
- The women are beautiful. Enough said.
Friday we are touring the parliament building and then going over to Buda for part 2 of our city tour...I will have pictures up of that soon after that.
Until then...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
All Settled In...
Hi everyone!
It has been an eventful and somewhat exhausting weekend.
Saturday morning consisted mostly of sleeping, as jet lag hit me in full force friday night. I fell asleep at 9pm and woke up at 1am, and proceeded to stay awake until 6am when I was finally able to fall back asleep until 1130. It actually ended up working out farely well as I've been on somewhat normal sleeping patterns (for a college student at least) since then.
In the afternoon, I did a little exploring in the general area where my hotel was. Hotel Ibis Centrum was located on Raday Utca, which apparently is Budapest's "Famous Restaurant Street." It lived up to its name as there was a good 40-50 cafes, bars, and sit-down restaurants located along this 3/4 mile long strip. At dinner time, all the participants in the group (7 in all) finally met up with each other because most of them arrived throughout the afternoon. We met our on-site director from API, Reka, who is a very friendly, knowledgable, and helpful lady and I believe she enjoys what she is doing a great deal. She teaches English composition at Central European University along with babysitting the 7 of us, but she seems to be in control most of the time. Trofea Etterem was our destination for dinner, which was a great "first meal" for all of us, as it was what Americans call a 'buffet' with all traditional Magyar (Hungarian) cuisine. I tried various dishes, including beer tartar (raw spiced ground beef, my favorite dish), venison stew, goose liver, and head cheese (for those of you who dont know, head cheese is a combination of various parts of the head of the pig in a form that looks like bologne). After dinner the 7 of us went out to grab drinks and sat in the hotel lobby and got to know each other.
The next morning, we met Reka for a short orientation session, and then took the tram over to where our apartments were so we could have a look-see a day before we were scheduled to move in. More on the apartment later. After that, a tour guide met up with us back at the hotel for a 4 hour walking and public transport tour of the Pest side of the city (Budapest is divided by the Danube River into two sides, Buda and Pest). We toured Vaci Utca, Deak Ter, the Hungarian State Opera House, Budapest City Park, Szechenyi Thermal Baths, Liberty Square, and Saint Stephen's Basilica, among other places. She was very knowledgable about the history of Hungary and the many different forms of architecture that are present in the city. Sunday evening we had dinner at a really neat restaurent, Klatenberg Etterem. It was a german inspired hungarian sit-down restaurant that was actually underground, and it had a very medievil feel to it. I orderd the roast duck...yum! Most of us who were able to stay up late proceeded to go over a bunch of french and german kids' flat whom Dan (my other roomate) had met while staying at a hostel before the program started. I thought it was funny that kids from all over Europe came to Budapest for the reason of "improving their English." But many of them speak it very well and it was funny trying to converse with them in the very little french and the few german phrases I know. The suspicion that Europeans are not very fond of Americans is not true so far, at least from what I've seen from the younger kids that I've met.
Monday was move-in day. A lot of us were up earlier then we wanted to because of the construction going on outside the hotel. A lot of Budapest's sidewalks and underground is under construction, and it seems like everything is happening all at one time. Reka told us that the city has/had a deadline to meet and things werent going quick enough so they are trying to get everything done in one big swoop.
Around 11am Reka had a car sent for us at the hotel to drive us to our flat. All I can say is that I was NOT expecting the apartment to be as NICE as it is. Like, WOW. It is right in the middle of the financial district in downtown Pest, literally two blocks walk from the Danube (and when I get around to it I'll take a video of walking from my flat and what is around the general area so you all can see), two blocks from the Basilica, about 3-4 blocks from the Parliament building (which is breathtaking) and around the block from the U.S. Embassy (feel better now Mom/Dad?). Our Apt is on the 3rd floor of the building, sandwiched between two lovely courtyards (one outside our front door, one outside my bedroom windows). I'm not sure exactly, but I think the ceilings are a good 15 feet high, hardwood floors, a very spacious living room, two VERY spacious bedrooms, and nice entry foyer, fully equipped kitchen, and separate potty and shower rooms.
We had a few hours to get settled in, after which we had a short orientation session with Reka down at the school. Corvinus has it's older building set right on the Danube about a 10 minute tram ride away from our flat. What I forgot though is that they had built a new building, and when we all saw that we got pretty excited. It's a very modern building with all the bells and whistles that you would expect. Our course schedules were given to us by a lovely lady named Gitta, who is the International Programs Supervisor? I think? But anyways, I have class Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and I got into all the classes that I had approved back home at UT! So I was excited and glad I didnt have to go about trying to change anything. In Europe, the time slots for classes are somewhat strange. For example, I have an International economics class Monday evening, and the second meeting each week isnt on Weds like it would be in the US, its on thursday afternoon. That may take a week or two to get used too. But all in all im pumped and kinda want school to start but really don't haha.
Immediately after that little orientation session, our "tandem" partners arrived to mee us. These are Hungarian students studying at Corvinus who are assigned a foreigner to 'mentor' in a way. Reka said we will be doing various things with them throughout the semester. My tandem partner's name was Adam, and he is originally from Budapest, a real nice guy, but I had to speak a lot slower because his English was not as good. So there were those awkward moments where you really arent sure what to say for fear that the other might not understand you, but it was fine. Everyone and their tandem's went to Margit Island for a little picnic and pow-wow, which was nice. Margit island is in the middle of the Danube river and has a few pubs, a jogging trail, a musical fountain, and I feel I may spend a lot of time there running because Hungarians will look at you weird if you run through the streets. I get enough glares from the old ladys as it is so I dont want any more pf them thank you very much.
Monday evening was my first night at a real club in Budapest. We all went to a place called Morrison's Music Pub right near the Opera. It was underground, and had long and narrow bar area before it opened up for some seating and a dance floor in the very back. When we got there is was PACKED. Like inching and squeezing your way through some very attractive young ladies, which was wonderful, and some not so attractive freaky european men hahaha. But there was a drink special going on, before 11pm, 500 forints gets you inside and 3 tickets for free beer. So, I spent 3 dollars to get in and have 3 beers. I love Hungary. But once the special stopped the bar seemed to be somewhat managable to walk through. It was a very lively crowd that night, and kareoke was non-stop. Hungarian, German, Spanish, and American songs were all being played, and it seemed like everyone knew the words to every song! I did hear some classics that I must say havent heard in America in years...like Barbie Girl from Aqua (kill me now!). I guess because it was a monday, the bar closed at 1am, so we all made our way, accompanied by some swedish ladies and norweigian lads, around the corner to another bar that was still open. It seemed like everyone else had the same idea, and in no time this quiet bar was poppin off. I befriended a Hungarian gentlemen who seemed shocked that an American could speak Magyay, even though all I said was thank you very much to the bartended. He called over his buddies, and none of them could speak english very well at all, but I managed to get 3 shots of Palinka out of them without paying. Woohoo! I met up with everyone else again and we sat around and chatted with random Euro's before adventuring back to the flat. So I'd say my first 'night out' in Pest was a success!
That's all I have for now! Vizlat everyone!
It has been an eventful and somewhat exhausting weekend.
Saturday morning consisted mostly of sleeping, as jet lag hit me in full force friday night. I fell asleep at 9pm and woke up at 1am, and proceeded to stay awake until 6am when I was finally able to fall back asleep until 1130. It actually ended up working out farely well as I've been on somewhat normal sleeping patterns (for a college student at least) since then.
In the afternoon, I did a little exploring in the general area where my hotel was. Hotel Ibis Centrum was located on Raday Utca, which apparently is Budapest's "Famous Restaurant Street." It lived up to its name as there was a good 40-50 cafes, bars, and sit-down restaurants located along this 3/4 mile long strip. At dinner time, all the participants in the group (7 in all) finally met up with each other because most of them arrived throughout the afternoon. We met our on-site director from API, Reka, who is a very friendly, knowledgable, and helpful lady and I believe she enjoys what she is doing a great deal. She teaches English composition at Central European University along with babysitting the 7 of us, but she seems to be in control most of the time. Trofea Etterem was our destination for dinner, which was a great "first meal" for all of us, as it was what Americans call a 'buffet' with all traditional Magyar (Hungarian) cuisine. I tried various dishes, including beer tartar (raw spiced ground beef, my favorite dish), venison stew, goose liver, and head cheese (for those of you who dont know, head cheese is a combination of various parts of the head of the pig in a form that looks like bologne). After dinner the 7 of us went out to grab drinks and sat in the hotel lobby and got to know each other.
The next morning, we met Reka for a short orientation session, and then took the tram over to where our apartments were so we could have a look-see a day before we were scheduled to move in. More on the apartment later. After that, a tour guide met up with us back at the hotel for a 4 hour walking and public transport tour of the Pest side of the city (Budapest is divided by the Danube River into two sides, Buda and Pest). We toured Vaci Utca, Deak Ter, the Hungarian State Opera House, Budapest City Park, Szechenyi Thermal Baths, Liberty Square, and Saint Stephen's Basilica, among other places. She was very knowledgable about the history of Hungary and the many different forms of architecture that are present in the city. Sunday evening we had dinner at a really neat restaurent, Klatenberg Etterem. It was a german inspired hungarian sit-down restaurant that was actually underground, and it had a very medievil feel to it. I orderd the roast duck...yum! Most of us who were able to stay up late proceeded to go over a bunch of french and german kids' flat whom Dan (my other roomate) had met while staying at a hostel before the program started. I thought it was funny that kids from all over Europe came to Budapest for the reason of "improving their English." But many of them speak it very well and it was funny trying to converse with them in the very little french and the few german phrases I know. The suspicion that Europeans are not very fond of Americans is not true so far, at least from what I've seen from the younger kids that I've met.
Monday was move-in day. A lot of us were up earlier then we wanted to because of the construction going on outside the hotel. A lot of Budapest's sidewalks and underground is under construction, and it seems like everything is happening all at one time. Reka told us that the city has/had a deadline to meet and things werent going quick enough so they are trying to get everything done in one big swoop.
Around 11am Reka had a car sent for us at the hotel to drive us to our flat. All I can say is that I was NOT expecting the apartment to be as NICE as it is. Like, WOW. It is right in the middle of the financial district in downtown Pest, literally two blocks walk from the Danube (and when I get around to it I'll take a video of walking from my flat and what is around the general area so you all can see), two blocks from the Basilica, about 3-4 blocks from the Parliament building (which is breathtaking) and around the block from the U.S. Embassy (feel better now Mom/Dad?). Our Apt is on the 3rd floor of the building, sandwiched between two lovely courtyards (one outside our front door, one outside my bedroom windows). I'm not sure exactly, but I think the ceilings are a good 15 feet high, hardwood floors, a very spacious living room, two VERY spacious bedrooms, and nice entry foyer, fully equipped kitchen, and separate potty and shower rooms.
We had a few hours to get settled in, after which we had a short orientation session with Reka down at the school. Corvinus has it's older building set right on the Danube about a 10 minute tram ride away from our flat. What I forgot though is that they had built a new building, and when we all saw that we got pretty excited. It's a very modern building with all the bells and whistles that you would expect. Our course schedules were given to us by a lovely lady named Gitta, who is the International Programs Supervisor? I think? But anyways, I have class Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and I got into all the classes that I had approved back home at UT! So I was excited and glad I didnt have to go about trying to change anything. In Europe, the time slots for classes are somewhat strange. For example, I have an International economics class Monday evening, and the second meeting each week isnt on Weds like it would be in the US, its on thursday afternoon. That may take a week or two to get used too. But all in all im pumped and kinda want school to start but really don't haha.
Immediately after that little orientation session, our "tandem" partners arrived to mee us. These are Hungarian students studying at Corvinus who are assigned a foreigner to 'mentor' in a way. Reka said we will be doing various things with them throughout the semester. My tandem partner's name was Adam, and he is originally from Budapest, a real nice guy, but I had to speak a lot slower because his English was not as good. So there were those awkward moments where you really arent sure what to say for fear that the other might not understand you, but it was fine. Everyone and their tandem's went to Margit Island for a little picnic and pow-wow, which was nice. Margit island is in the middle of the Danube river and has a few pubs, a jogging trail, a musical fountain, and I feel I may spend a lot of time there running because Hungarians will look at you weird if you run through the streets. I get enough glares from the old ladys as it is so I dont want any more pf them thank you very much.
Monday evening was my first night at a real club in Budapest. We all went to a place called Morrison's Music Pub right near the Opera. It was underground, and had long and narrow bar area before it opened up for some seating and a dance floor in the very back. When we got there is was PACKED. Like inching and squeezing your way through some very attractive young ladies, which was wonderful, and some not so attractive freaky european men hahaha. But there was a drink special going on, before 11pm, 500 forints gets you inside and 3 tickets for free beer. So, I spent 3 dollars to get in and have 3 beers. I love Hungary. But once the special stopped the bar seemed to be somewhat managable to walk through. It was a very lively crowd that night, and kareoke was non-stop. Hungarian, German, Spanish, and American songs were all being played, and it seemed like everyone knew the words to every song! I did hear some classics that I must say havent heard in America in years...like Barbie Girl from Aqua (kill me now!). I guess because it was a monday, the bar closed at 1am, so we all made our way, accompanied by some swedish ladies and norweigian lads, around the corner to another bar that was still open. It seemed like everyone else had the same idea, and in no time this quiet bar was poppin off. I befriended a Hungarian gentlemen who seemed shocked that an American could speak Magyay, even though all I said was thank you very much to the bartended. He called over his buddies, and none of them could speak english very well at all, but I managed to get 3 shots of Palinka out of them without paying. Woohoo! I met up with everyone else again and we sat around and chatted with random Euro's before adventuring back to the flat. So I'd say my first 'night out' in Pest was a success!
That's all I have for now! Vizlat everyone!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Pictures!
New pictures are up, just click on the 'Photos' link. A more detailed post coming later this evening.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Szia ból Magyarország!
"Hello from Hungary!"
After 12 hours of travel time, I had finally made it! The overnight flight to London was actually very comfortable, and I was able to nap for about 2.5 hours of the 6, and I made use of the rest of the time by indulging in British Airways onboard entertainment and watched The Hangover(which I had only seen once and have been wanting to see it again) and Angels and Demons (which I had never seen before and thoroughly enjoyed).
I arrived at Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, and boy is a thing of beauty, opening just last year and becoming the main terminal for British Airways. Harrod's, Hugo Boss, Lambourghini showcases, it has it all.
Moving on, the flight from London to Budapest was interesting. For one, they changed my seat from an exit row seat to a window seat the seemed to have a lot less leg room then it should have. Secondly, I had an 80 year old Englishwoman who thought that it was OK to use my left shoulder as her little head rest. Despite the constant nudging from me and the tapping awake from her husband (who felt really bad about it) she couldnt resist cuddling up next to me. SOO on top of not having leg room, I couldnt move my left arm or lean on that armrest. Ugh. But it was a short flight and I was happy to get out of there.
All in all, everything went well after I landed; both bags arrived, airport shuttlebus attendent spoke good english, and I was on my way to the hotel in less then 15 minutes....
Budapest airport is about 15 kilometers outside the city center, and driving through the neighborhoods before the city was like a trip back in time. Concrete block apartment complexes, old rotted down checkpoints, barbed wire and concrete fences surrounding properties and the railroads; I seriously thought I was traveling through a Cold War era Soviet bloc nation. But come to think of it, it's only been 20 years since Hungary did away with its communist government, and to this day it is still changing and evolving into a free market democracy, highlighted by its recent admission into the European Union.
The city itself is a thing of beauty. A mosh-posh of Parisian architecture, Venetian swagger, and a certain mysteriousness about it make me happy that I chose this as my home for the next 4 months. I walked the river, did a little exploring, and managed to meet up with my roommate Corey for some beverages (at TGI Friday's no less).
I'll wait to give a better description of the city after I have a few more days of walking around and taking everything in. The tourist in me had me taking a few pictures of my exploration, so they are here for your viewing pleasure.
Probably will update again on Sunday. Peace out.
After 12 hours of travel time, I had finally made it! The overnight flight to London was actually very comfortable, and I was able to nap for about 2.5 hours of the 6, and I made use of the rest of the time by indulging in British Airways onboard entertainment and watched The Hangover(which I had only seen once and have been wanting to see it again) and Angels and Demons (which I had never seen before and thoroughly enjoyed).
I arrived at Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, and boy is a thing of beauty, opening just last year and becoming the main terminal for British Airways. Harrod's, Hugo Boss, Lambourghini showcases, it has it all.
Moving on, the flight from London to Budapest was interesting. For one, they changed my seat from an exit row seat to a window seat the seemed to have a lot less leg room then it should have. Secondly, I had an 80 year old Englishwoman who thought that it was OK to use my left shoulder as her little head rest. Despite the constant nudging from me and the tapping awake from her husband (who felt really bad about it) she couldnt resist cuddling up next to me. SOO on top of not having leg room, I couldnt move my left arm or lean on that armrest. Ugh. But it was a short flight and I was happy to get out of there.All in all, everything went well after I landed; both bags arrived, airport shuttlebus attendent spoke good english, and I was on my way to the hotel in less then 15 minutes....
The city itself is a thing of beauty. A mosh-posh of Parisian architecture, Venetian swagger, and a certain mysteriousness about it make me happy that I chose this as my home for the next 4 months. I walked the river, did a little exploring, and managed to meet up with my roommate Corey for some beverages (at TGI Friday's no less).
I'll wait to give a better description of the city after I have a few more days of walking around and taking everything in. The tourist in me had me taking a few pictures of my exploration, so they are here for your viewing pleasure.Probably will update again on Sunday. Peace out.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." St. Augustine
September 3rd, the day of. Today is the day I begin exploring another 'chapter' of this wonderful planet.
I haven't really been able to sleep all week and last night was no different: fell asleep at 2 (thank god for old school iron chef being on) and was up at 7. My stomach is churning with anxiousness, and all I really want to do right now is be at the airport and getting on the plane.
I have everything pretty much done...except for a few randoms still left to throw in the suitcases (which both of them still have plenty of room in which I am completely shocked I was able to pull that off); a haircut still to get; and picking up and depositing my last real paycheck.
The flight will be easy part of this day...connecting in London and not having to leave the terminal I arrive at will be good...in Budapest though it may be a challenge. Here's hoping my bags get there on time for one thing, and another that the people at the shuttle bus counter speak English, so I don't look like a psycho American pointing at a piece of paper with an address screaming TAKE ME HERE! But really, this shuttle bus is supposed to be cheaper than a cab ride to my hotel, and I have a 100% less of a chance to be ripped off by them.
All in all, I'm ready for this. I've been counting down the days since I signed up for the program, and the day is finally here. I will update again once I'm settled down in Budapest.
See everyone on the other side.
I haven't really been able to sleep all week and last night was no different: fell asleep at 2 (thank god for old school iron chef being on) and was up at 7. My stomach is churning with anxiousness, and all I really want to do right now is be at the airport and getting on the plane.I have everything pretty much done...except for a few randoms still left to throw in the suitcases (which both of them still have plenty of room in which I am completely shocked I was able to pull that off); a haircut still to get; and picking up and depositing my last real paycheck.
The flight will be easy part of this day...connecting in London and not having to leave the terminal I arrive at will be good...in Budapest though it may be a challenge. Here's hoping my bags get there on time for one thing, and another that the people at the shuttle bus counter speak English, so I don't look like a psycho American pointing at a piece of paper with an address screaming TAKE ME HERE! But really, this shuttle bus is supposed to be cheaper than a cab ride to my hotel, and I have a 100% less of a chance to be ripped off by them.
All in all, I'm ready for this. I've been counting down the days since I signed up for the program, and the day is finally here. I will update again once I'm settled down in Budapest.
See everyone on the other side.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Pre-Departure
Well,
I am leaving the country 2 days from now, flying on British Airways out of Philadelphia Sept. 3 and connecting in London before making my way to Budapest. I will be studying at
My feelings currently are that of anxiousness and excitement, as I really CANNOT wait to get over there. The past few weeks I was feeling a bit nervous but I think I've overcome that. I am arriving a day before my program starts, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get my feet wet and get adjusted to the time difference/start exploring a bit on my first day there.
Most of my preparations are done, including shopping, ordering of the currency, "saving" up a decent amount of money, etc etc. All that is left is to do is pack, which I will probably get around to doing the night before my flight.
The next update will probably be the day of my departure, so until then...peace out.
I am leaving the country 2 days from now, flying on British Airways out of Philadelphia Sept. 3 and connecting in London before making my way to Budapest. I will be studying at My feelings currently are that of anxiousness and excitement, as I really CANNOT wait to get over there. The past few weeks I was feeling a bit nervous but I think I've overcome that. I am arriving a day before my program starts, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get my feet wet and get adjusted to the time difference/start exploring a bit on my first day there.
Most of my preparations are done, including shopping, ordering of the currency, "saving" up a decent amount of money, etc etc. All that is left is to do is pack, which I will probably get around to doing the night before my flight.
The next update will probably be the day of my departure, so until then...peace out.
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