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!