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?
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