Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saying Goodbye to Budapest, the end of the Semester
Well, I am in a tricky spot right now. It is Dec. 14 and tomorrow I will be leaving Budapest to return home. I have tried to catch you all up what I have been doing while I have been here, but still have come short. My previous entries are not nearly as in depth as my others, but I guess, if you want to know more, just ask me when I am back. I also cannot recall entirely what happened at the end of November. On the 27th we did have a Thanksgiving Dinner and even invited some Hungarian friends over to celebrate with us. It turned out pretty good for being in a different country. I made the green bean casserole and other people pitched in to make things also. We had corn, pumpkin pie, a great apple dish, some turkey breast, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, wine, palinka, and stuffing. It was a good turn out. The beginning of December was fun and crazy at the same time. I visited the Museum of Fine Arts with my art history class one last time. Claire and I ventured to Salzburg, Austria from Wednesday until Saturday. While we were there we went on a Sound of Music tour, because it was filmed here, went to the fortress, saw where Mozart was born and where he lived later in life, saw some Hapsburg palaces, went to many Christmas markets, had some more traditional Austrian food, and saw a St. Nicholas day parade willed with St. Nicholas and these scary creatures called krampusse. That parade was one of the scariest things I have experienced. If you would like to hear more about it, feel free to ask me, it is a story told much better in person than through words anyways. : ) So our exams were on the Monday following our trip so on our way there and back (six hours each way) we were studying, I was focusing only on art history. Sunday was filled with more studying along with extra credit work for art history, and some work on my take-home poli-sci final exam. Monday was a tough day. I had my Holocaust lit exam at 10 which was a paper and some brief questioning on the readings we have done through the semester. At 6 I had my art history exam which went better than thought mainly because the final section where we have to analyze a painting was the same painting that I had chosen to analyze for my extra credit paper. And then my take-home exam for poli-sci was due by 11:30pm that night. It was a relief to get all 3 of my exams with over with on the same day, but it was a little stressful at the same time, but I shouldn’t complain, I could have bee taking exams at Calvin-that would have been much worse. On Tuesday we had our closing dinner at a restaurant and after that a small group of us and Mar and Cor went to a bar for beer towers. The towers were basically transportable taps. It was here that I tried my first honey ginger beer. Wednesday there was a Christmas/farewell party for us at Karoli Gaspar College and I got my Holocaust lit exam back from my professor. It was also our final dinner at our prof’s house and the day I got my art history exam back because my art history prof stopped by for dinner. After dinner a large group of us including Mar and Cor went to a bar where I and others tried some Absinthe. Let me just tell you, it is not hallucinogenic anymore but it makes your pupils look funny-one gets dilated and the other does not. It is really cool to see the servers prep the drink too. It involves sugar and fire, so how could that not be cool. I also learned that Absinthe comes in many different types and colors. Now I didn’t get a full shot, I just tried some of other people’s, but I can tell you, it tastes like black licorice, at least the traditional version does. Therefore it wasn’t my favorite, but I am glad I tried it. The drink I actually got at this bar was called a Virgin Lady: it was a virgin drink with pineapple juice, cream, black currant juice, and something else. It was much tastier than the absinthe. Haha Well, as for the rest of my time here in Budapest, I have been to the Christmas market multiple times, I have walked up Gellert Hill, ridden on some fun slides, hung out with some people in our group, walked across the Chain Bridge again, been to Central market again, visited the Great Synagogue (the largest in the world), saw a famous statue called the Little Princess, visited some shops again, and have tried to enjoy my last few days here as much as possible. I have taken lots of pictures while I have been here and have some stories to tell you all when I get home. I have tried to take in every experience, good and bad, while I have been here. I have learned a lot about Hungary and even some more things about myself. I have enjoyed my time here in Hungary very much and am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to study here for a semester. I have met some interesting people and have made some more friends. I have gotten to travel to a lot of great places that I would not have thought to go to and have gotten to experience a side of Europe that has been through a lot of challenges. Overall, I have had a great time and have mixed opinions on coming home. My time here has flown by and it is hard to believe that in 7 hours I will be on my way to the airport to come home again. While I have enjoyed my time here, I am also looking forward to coming home to see you all again and to tell you and show you pictures of my great expedition. I never thought I would ever go on a semester abroad, but I am so glad that I did. So, in other words, thanks for supporting my decision to study abroad for a semester, thanks for reading my blog, and I will see you soon!
Late November
November 17-23. Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal. Holocaust Lit at 10, Culture class at 1, and Art History at 6 and then Poli-Sci at 6:30 respectively. Wednesday was dinner at Cor and Mar’s as usual except this week we had tacos and a guest! Our guest was Szabolcs, who was a friend of Robbie, a tour guide on 2 previous group trips. It was nice getting to know a little about him because Thursday through Sunday he joined half of our group as we ventured to Croatia with Robbie and Janos. Only half of our group went on this trip because the other half, including Corwin and Marilyn, went the previous week. So, 9 of us ventured to Croatia where we experienced lots of new things. While we were there we planted trees, watched the musical movie Hair-which I am a big fan of, visited a museum to learn about the Turks invasion in Hungary, saw slideshows of the regions we were visiting, played with Hungarian/Croatian kids, saw monuments and churches, saw a trashed Hungarian museum, learned about mine fields, learned about Yugoslavia and the war of the 90s, ate the traditional fish soup of the region, ate chicken gizzards, ate a venison soup, and drank and talked with some local Hungarian-Croatians. It was a very busy 4 days, but it was also one of the best trips I have been on.
Brief week description involving Vienna
November 10-16. Monday I had my normal classes except we went to Central European University to hear a lecture by one of the professors there. It was interesting to see another college in Budapest, even though we have seen 3 already, but we did find out that this one was more Americanized than the ones we attend. Tuesday for culture class we went to a Philharmonic Orchestra Concert at the Opera house. It was pretty cool to listen to and to see all of the instruments. If I can recall correctly I believe they played some Mozart and Beethoven and someone else that I forget at the moment. Then Bree, Stephanie, and I left for Vienna the next day where we stayed until Friday. We took a train to get there and it took about 3 hours. When we got there we checked into our really cool hostel and then walked around the city at night to scope out what we wanted to do over the next few days. While we were there we saw some Hapsburg palaces, some great art by Gustav Klimt and others, checked out some cool shops, ate some good food-traditional Austrian food and other types, saw some traditional Austrian clothing, took a tour of the Opera House, and saw where Mozart lived when he was in Vienna. We probably did other things, but I cannot recall them at the moment. Saturday and Sunday were spent catching up on homework and resting up from our busy week.
Mid November
Let me try to catch you all up on the week of November 3-9. Monday was class as usual, but Tuesday was Election Day in the States. Ladies and Gentlemen, I got to vote in my first Presidential election, while overseas. It was great; I request my Absentee Ballot while here and then mailed it in. I thought about turning it in to the U.S. Embassy here, but in the end, I chickened out and just mailed it. It was too intimidating for me, and yes, I realize that sounds a little ridiculous, but it is the truth. Well, anyways, on election day my professor and his wife had a party at their place from 12 am to 3 am. This is of course due to the time difference. Well, we didn’t really find out any results, but it was fun none the less and I learned more about the US election process because my professor is a Political Science prof. Wednesday, it was back to my prof’s house for our group dinners, Thursday wasn’t particularly interesting, and then it was Friday. My friend Breanna and I went to the Budapest Zoo! It was so cool and actually very large with a lot of animals. They had it set up like most zoos grouping animals from specific regions of the world together and even had a Hungarian farm setting with wild Hungarian dogs! After the zoo we went to a restaurant across the street called Robinsons for a late lunch. The restaurant was particularly cool because it was in city park and it floats in the pond there! It was really cool and in a very relaxing and enjoyable setting. After that we went to Gloria jeans for some coffee and then called it a day. Saturday, Bree and I hung out again and went to the Museum of Fine Arts. I had been there once before but did not get to check out the whole museum because it was a class trip for my art history class. So this time I got to check out an Egyptian exhibit and a Ferdinand Hodler exhibit. It was pretty cool, but the museum was so large that it was a bit of art overload, even for me. Then on Sunday our group was invited over to a family’s house for dinner. This was an American family that recently moved to Budapest because of the father’s job in the military; he is a fighter pilot. They have 2 girls, twins, who go to Calvin College, and in fact one of them was in my computer class and the other one lived on my floor freshman year, so I actually knew them a bit. Well, they had had us over earlier in the semester when their daughters were there, but they asked us over again, so we went and had chili for dinner. It was pretty cool to learn more about the family and all of their travels, and the chili was great as well.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
My trip to the Ukraine, which expanded my brain
Now time to catch you up on the week of Oct. 27th. Monday was relatively boring, and Tuesday I got to register for my classes for interim and spring semester at 8 am our time (which was 2 am at home). I got all the classes I wanted, and later found out that my old roomie, Solita, is going to be in the same interim as me! How cool is that?! We didn’t even really plan it. Later that day I had my poli-sci mid-term. It went relatively well, for being the first poli-sci exam I had ever taken.
I’ll fast forward to Thursday now and tell you about my class trip to the Ukraine. We went as a group with our prof and his wife with the same tour guides that took us to Romania, so…we got to ride in the awesome VW vans again! This time one of the guides drove some students and the rest of us took a train to a city in Hungary closer to the Ukraine border to meet up with the other guides. We all managed to get there; some more stressed than others, and then boarded our vans to see some sights. This time the other guide, David, had returned from Canada to accompany us, so a student didn’t have to drive. We then set off to see a church where the famous Transylvanian prince Rakotzi was buried. (That may be the incorrect spelling; Hungarian names are so difficult for me to spell!). Then we drove through the Tokaj wine region to get to the restaurant where we were having lunch. Lunch was started with a warm fruit soup that was not particularly my favorite, and we found out later that is should have technically been served cold, which would have maybe made it a little better. We had other things for lunch too, but none as strange as the fruit soup. After eating, we went back to the wine region for wine tasting. We had to go under the ground into a special wine storage place that used to belong to a Transylvanian prince. Mold was located all over the walls and was used in the special processing of the wine. We got to try 3 different types of wine, a dry white, a semi-sweet rose, and a sweet red. In my opinion the dry white was the best, but everyone had differing opinions on their favorite. We then went next door to a museum on a Christian college and also visited its library. It was a decent museum, but nothing too exciting.
Then it was off to the place where we were staying for the night to check in and drop off our stuff. I stayed in a very large room with 8 other girls that was so cold! We tried to turn the heater up before we left again so the room would warm up, but came back to find that it hadn’t. Then it was off to the restaurant again for dinner. After dinner we came back and watched some homemade movies on the Ukraine that were made by the company our tour guides worked for. They were very informative and also a bit of a preview to what we would be seeing the next day, which was helpful. Then, because we were all so tired, we went to bed that night at 9pm! Because the room was so cold, many of us slept in sweatshirts and I even slept in my gloves.
The next day (Halloween) we awoke, packed everything up, and headed for the Ukraine border. (I got another stamp in my passport!) Our first stop was to visit a gypsy church congregation, one that we had seen in the videos from the night before. We got to see some a church service and then walked around the gypsy compound. This tour of gypsy village was so indescribable. It was a bind blowing experience! There were just dirt and mud roads through the village with houses upon houses in very bad decay; some didn’t even have much of a roof. There was junk and trash everywhere that was meant to be burned for warmth. There were many random dogs and a few cats roaming around the village and every now and again you might see a horse, but that was rare. There were random water pumps around where the people could get clean water, but many of them were broken because the kids would just hang on them, or they were just left running, so big mud pits surrounded the pumps.
There were tons of kids that came out to walk around with us, many held our hands and tried to talk with us. We did the best we could with what little Hungarian we knew, usually we just asked what their ages and names were. Many of these gypsy kids looked similar in their physical appearance, dark skin, dark eyes, dark hair, but there were some slight variations. These kids were very friendly, but the poor things didn’t have very much clothing. Many were walking around with out shoes, and there was tons of broken glass and sharp metal objects in the roads. Some of the toddlers didn’t have pants on, and many of the children had dyed red hair. This was super strange to all of us, but one of our guides, Robbie, told us that it is their way to feel a part of the modern world, a way for them to look like the celebrities.
As we walked through the village, we got some friendly smiles and some disapproving glares. Some adults came up and begged us for money, but we were told not to give them anything, or we would get swarmed. We were also told not to take pictures by our guide David, because it only makes the gypsies feel that much more awkward. I mean they already had some tourist group traipsing through their village, then for us to go and take pictures would just be too much of an invasion of their privacy. After we walked through their village a bit we were told to go back to the church area and many students began playing with the children. Here we took some pictures of the kids, and had some fun with them. It was truly unbelievable the conditions that these people were living in and an experience that I will never forget.
After our visit, we headed to our lodging to drop off our things. We stayed in a newly constructed retirement home that was not yet open for permanent residents. It was such a nice place! There were only 2 people to a room and we had actual beds. The place was heated and best of all, our room had a door! This is something I thoroughly enjoyed, because like I have said previously, my room in Budapest lacks a door. We ate dinner here and got to visit the local grocery store, which was fun. I got to see lots of the Ukrainian alphabet, which is similar to Russian because it uses lots of weird symbols. (I forget the correct term for which this writing is called.) After dinner we watched more homemade movies and saw the old town square of the town we were staying in. Then it was off to bed.
The next day, after breakfast, we headed off to a cemetery to see the locals celebrating All Saint’s Day. We saw some graves of military personnel and regular people. There were so many fresh-cut flowers and candles being put out in various patterns and designs by the living for their lost loved ones. Many of the sites were being swept and various plants were being pruned to make the graves look better. We saw various types of headstones; some had pictures, some just words. It was cool to see, but I felt pretty awkward being there because we had no real purpose in being there. It felt like we were disrespecting the traditions of the locals, by parading through the cemetery of their lost loved ones, but luckily we didn’t stay there long, so I didn’t have to feel too uncomfortable.
We drove back to the square where we went the night before and saw it in the daylight and visited a crappy market that just sold everyday and pre-packaged goods. Nothing too exciting again, but afterwards we went to have lunch with the pastor from the gypsy church, his wife, and some girls our age from another church community. The pastor is not a gypsy, but preaches to the gypsy community along with another Ukrainian one. They were so nice to us all, and served us goulash soup for lunch. Goulash is a dish that I have come to really enjoy while on this semester. They also shared some of their homemade palinka, which I tried only a sip of. Oh m gosh was it strong! It was flavorless, but tasted like acetone and burned from the minute it touched your lips. My sip made my lips, gums, tongue, and throat burn for a few minutes after sipping it. It was crazy strong; the strongest I have ever had! But, it was pretty funny just watching people take sips of it to see their reactions. Haha. After our meal we headed to a Ukrainian children’s hospital to visit some abandoned children, most of which were gypsies. This was another moment I will never forget. There were maybe 7 babies there ranging from about 6months old to 3 years old. The 3 year old, a girl, we learned was brought in recently after having been badly beaten by her father. She was so small and did not seem developmentally to be a 3 year old, yet she was so smiley. The others also had various problems, developmentally and superficially, like cross eyes, skin conditions, etc. It was so sad to see that these little babies were unwanted and we learned that they would most likely have to remain in the hospital for some time until the government declared them to be orphans. Then they would get sent to an orphanage to live and maybe get a chance to be adopted. It was interesting to see the students interact with the babies, and I even saw our professor hold one. I was resistant at first to hold one, but eventually did and formed a tie with a baby boy that had the name Bogart. I liked to think of him as Humphrey, for Humphrey Bogart. He was an older baby, with some obvious developmental problems. He had crossed eyes, jerky body movements, and an uneven breathing pattern that was very raspy sounding. He was so cute though! We played peak-a-boo and other games until I had to leave him. It was sad to know that he would probably have a life full of governmental institutions and no real parents to love and care for him.
After our touching baby experience, we returned to the retirement center for dinner and a group game followed by a showing of the famous Hungarian cult classic movie, the Witness. It was a great film about the ridiculousness of communism portrayed through the events of a common man’s life. I would definitely recommend seeing it, if you can find it anywhere.
Sunday was our last day of travel, so we got ready and departed the retirement home to go to a traditional Ukrainian church service. We didn’t stay for the whole thing, as they were serving communion, so instead we drove to another gypsy village near by to see a church which bears a bell that was funded by a previous Calvin group that came to Hungary. While there we were greeted by more gypsy children, which were more diverse in appearance than the last group we saw. Some of the children had dark skin and hair with light eyes; others had light skin, hair, and eyes. It was surprising to see. After a sufficient time of playing, we departed and headed off to see a castle on a hill and then paid a visit to an elderly woman that makes embroideries and rugs from old pieces of clothing. She was maybe in her early to mid 80s and had many options of rugs and embroideries for us to buy. Unfortunately, I was one of the last to get in to buy anything, so a lot of stuff was already picked over, but I did end up with a nice embroidery. We then left to head back to Hungary and some of us had to again take the train back to Budapest; I was one of these people. There was some confusion on train schedules so we ended up having to take the slow train back, which took 6 hours, but we eventually made it back.
It was great getting to visit the Ukraine. I saw so many things and learned so much more about the gypsies. I guess I had a general idea of their living conditions, but never imagined them to be a poor as they actually were. It was nice to get to visit with an organization that was actually doing something about the gypsy’s living conditions, but we learned that there is so much more that needs to be done. They are lacking so much in political and social recognition. I had a truly eye opening trip.
I’ll fast forward to Thursday now and tell you about my class trip to the Ukraine. We went as a group with our prof and his wife with the same tour guides that took us to Romania, so…we got to ride in the awesome VW vans again! This time one of the guides drove some students and the rest of us took a train to a city in Hungary closer to the Ukraine border to meet up with the other guides. We all managed to get there; some more stressed than others, and then boarded our vans to see some sights. This time the other guide, David, had returned from Canada to accompany us, so a student didn’t have to drive. We then set off to see a church where the famous Transylvanian prince Rakotzi was buried. (That may be the incorrect spelling; Hungarian names are so difficult for me to spell!). Then we drove through the Tokaj wine region to get to the restaurant where we were having lunch. Lunch was started with a warm fruit soup that was not particularly my favorite, and we found out later that is should have technically been served cold, which would have maybe made it a little better. We had other things for lunch too, but none as strange as the fruit soup. After eating, we went back to the wine region for wine tasting. We had to go under the ground into a special wine storage place that used to belong to a Transylvanian prince. Mold was located all over the walls and was used in the special processing of the wine. We got to try 3 different types of wine, a dry white, a semi-sweet rose, and a sweet red. In my opinion the dry white was the best, but everyone had differing opinions on their favorite. We then went next door to a museum on a Christian college and also visited its library. It was a decent museum, but nothing too exciting.
Then it was off to the place where we were staying for the night to check in and drop off our stuff. I stayed in a very large room with 8 other girls that was so cold! We tried to turn the heater up before we left again so the room would warm up, but came back to find that it hadn’t. Then it was off to the restaurant again for dinner. After dinner we came back and watched some homemade movies on the Ukraine that were made by the company our tour guides worked for. They were very informative and also a bit of a preview to what we would be seeing the next day, which was helpful. Then, because we were all so tired, we went to bed that night at 9pm! Because the room was so cold, many of us slept in sweatshirts and I even slept in my gloves.
The next day (Halloween) we awoke, packed everything up, and headed for the Ukraine border. (I got another stamp in my passport!) Our first stop was to visit a gypsy church congregation, one that we had seen in the videos from the night before. We got to see some a church service and then walked around the gypsy compound. This tour of gypsy village was so indescribable. It was a bind blowing experience! There were just dirt and mud roads through the village with houses upon houses in very bad decay; some didn’t even have much of a roof. There was junk and trash everywhere that was meant to be burned for warmth. There were many random dogs and a few cats roaming around the village and every now and again you might see a horse, but that was rare. There were random water pumps around where the people could get clean water, but many of them were broken because the kids would just hang on them, or they were just left running, so big mud pits surrounded the pumps.
There were tons of kids that came out to walk around with us, many held our hands and tried to talk with us. We did the best we could with what little Hungarian we knew, usually we just asked what their ages and names were. Many of these gypsy kids looked similar in their physical appearance, dark skin, dark eyes, dark hair, but there were some slight variations. These kids were very friendly, but the poor things didn’t have very much clothing. Many were walking around with out shoes, and there was tons of broken glass and sharp metal objects in the roads. Some of the toddlers didn’t have pants on, and many of the children had dyed red hair. This was super strange to all of us, but one of our guides, Robbie, told us that it is their way to feel a part of the modern world, a way for them to look like the celebrities.
As we walked through the village, we got some friendly smiles and some disapproving glares. Some adults came up and begged us for money, but we were told not to give them anything, or we would get swarmed. We were also told not to take pictures by our guide David, because it only makes the gypsies feel that much more awkward. I mean they already had some tourist group traipsing through their village, then for us to go and take pictures would just be too much of an invasion of their privacy. After we walked through their village a bit we were told to go back to the church area and many students began playing with the children. Here we took some pictures of the kids, and had some fun with them. It was truly unbelievable the conditions that these people were living in and an experience that I will never forget.
After our visit, we headed to our lodging to drop off our things. We stayed in a newly constructed retirement home that was not yet open for permanent residents. It was such a nice place! There were only 2 people to a room and we had actual beds. The place was heated and best of all, our room had a door! This is something I thoroughly enjoyed, because like I have said previously, my room in Budapest lacks a door. We ate dinner here and got to visit the local grocery store, which was fun. I got to see lots of the Ukrainian alphabet, which is similar to Russian because it uses lots of weird symbols. (I forget the correct term for which this writing is called.) After dinner we watched more homemade movies and saw the old town square of the town we were staying in. Then it was off to bed.
The next day, after breakfast, we headed off to a cemetery to see the locals celebrating All Saint’s Day. We saw some graves of military personnel and regular people. There were so many fresh-cut flowers and candles being put out in various patterns and designs by the living for their lost loved ones. Many of the sites were being swept and various plants were being pruned to make the graves look better. We saw various types of headstones; some had pictures, some just words. It was cool to see, but I felt pretty awkward being there because we had no real purpose in being there. It felt like we were disrespecting the traditions of the locals, by parading through the cemetery of their lost loved ones, but luckily we didn’t stay there long, so I didn’t have to feel too uncomfortable.
We drove back to the square where we went the night before and saw it in the daylight and visited a crappy market that just sold everyday and pre-packaged goods. Nothing too exciting again, but afterwards we went to have lunch with the pastor from the gypsy church, his wife, and some girls our age from another church community. The pastor is not a gypsy, but preaches to the gypsy community along with another Ukrainian one. They were so nice to us all, and served us goulash soup for lunch. Goulash is a dish that I have come to really enjoy while on this semester. They also shared some of their homemade palinka, which I tried only a sip of. Oh m gosh was it strong! It was flavorless, but tasted like acetone and burned from the minute it touched your lips. My sip made my lips, gums, tongue, and throat burn for a few minutes after sipping it. It was crazy strong; the strongest I have ever had! But, it was pretty funny just watching people take sips of it to see their reactions. Haha. After our meal we headed to a Ukrainian children’s hospital to visit some abandoned children, most of which were gypsies. This was another moment I will never forget. There were maybe 7 babies there ranging from about 6months old to 3 years old. The 3 year old, a girl, we learned was brought in recently after having been badly beaten by her father. She was so small and did not seem developmentally to be a 3 year old, yet she was so smiley. The others also had various problems, developmentally and superficially, like cross eyes, skin conditions, etc. It was so sad to see that these little babies were unwanted and we learned that they would most likely have to remain in the hospital for some time until the government declared them to be orphans. Then they would get sent to an orphanage to live and maybe get a chance to be adopted. It was interesting to see the students interact with the babies, and I even saw our professor hold one. I was resistant at first to hold one, but eventually did and formed a tie with a baby boy that had the name Bogart. I liked to think of him as Humphrey, for Humphrey Bogart. He was an older baby, with some obvious developmental problems. He had crossed eyes, jerky body movements, and an uneven breathing pattern that was very raspy sounding. He was so cute though! We played peak-a-boo and other games until I had to leave him. It was sad to know that he would probably have a life full of governmental institutions and no real parents to love and care for him.
After our touching baby experience, we returned to the retirement center for dinner and a group game followed by a showing of the famous Hungarian cult classic movie, the Witness. It was a great film about the ridiculousness of communism portrayed through the events of a common man’s life. I would definitely recommend seeing it, if you can find it anywhere.
Sunday was our last day of travel, so we got ready and departed the retirement home to go to a traditional Ukrainian church service. We didn’t stay for the whole thing, as they were serving communion, so instead we drove to another gypsy village near by to see a church which bears a bell that was funded by a previous Calvin group that came to Hungary. While there we were greeted by more gypsy children, which were more diverse in appearance than the last group we saw. Some of the children had dark skin and hair with light eyes; others had light skin, hair, and eyes. It was surprising to see. After a sufficient time of playing, we departed and headed off to see a castle on a hill and then paid a visit to an elderly woman that makes embroideries and rugs from old pieces of clothing. She was maybe in her early to mid 80s and had many options of rugs and embroideries for us to buy. Unfortunately, I was one of the last to get in to buy anything, so a lot of stuff was already picked over, but I did end up with a nice embroidery. We then left to head back to Hungary and some of us had to again take the train back to Budapest; I was one of these people. There was some confusion on train schedules so we ended up having to take the slow train back, which took 6 hours, but we eventually made it back.
It was great getting to visit the Ukraine. I saw so many things and learned so much more about the gypsies. I guess I had a general idea of their living conditions, but never imagined them to be a poor as they actually were. It was nice to get to visit with an organization that was actually doing something about the gypsy’s living conditions, but we learned that there is so much more that needs to be done. They are lacking so much in political and social recognition. I had a truly eye opening trip.
Monday, November 17, 2008
An eventful time
So, this is now time to catch up on the week of Oct. 13th until the 26th. This first week, all of our classes taught by our Calvin prof. were cancelled because he ventured back to America for some meeting, so it was just the students and his wife, Marilyn, in Budapest. My art history class was also cancelled, so I only had my Holocaust Lit class. It was pretty great. Many students went on extended vacations, so the apartment was pretty empty as well. At one point, it was just me and my friend Catherine that were left in the dorm and this lasted for a few days. I didn’t travel anywhere on this extended break because I was expecting a visitor, my last roomie from Calvin, Solita was coming to visit me on Thursday!
On Wednesday nights, my prof. and his wife usually have dinners for the students, usually a soup and some bread. Well, because Corwin, my prof., was away, along with many other students, just Catherine, Marylin, and I had soup together. It was very nice and I got to know them both a little better during this time. Plus, because of the small group, we got more special food. We had some great corn chowder, cheesy bread rolls, and even dessert! Marilyn went all out and we even got to take some leftovers home, but I never got to eat them, but that’s ok.
Then, on Thursday, Solita arrived to visit me for 10 days! She is doing a semester abroad program in Romania, so since we were in such close proximity and she had a big break, she decided to come spend her time with me in Budapest. J Our first few days together were rather uneventful. I took her to see some sights like our big grocery store, Auchan, but most of the time was spent doing homework, going to class, or studying for my art history exam, which was on the 20th. On the 22nd, Solita and I had a pretty busy day. Solita and I, along with another girl on the trip, went to the big central market for a bit and then we went to a pretty well known Mexican restaurant called Iguana for lunch. It was decent, probably the best Mexican food they have in Hungary, but Solita and I had made chicken tacos a few nights before and we decided that ours were much better. It was nice to go though. Afterwards, my friend Bree split and Solita and I ventured off to City Park for a bit and also to the Szechenyi baths. It was a pretty interesting experience filled with warm, supposedly healing waters, many old men in speedos, and a super hot sauna. The sauna was so warm that when you released a breath, the air coming out of your body was colder than the air going into it. It created a weird internal feeling that was indescribable. The baths were pretty nice though. There were 3 different pools, one was very warm the middle one was like a swimming pool and relatively similar in temperature, and the last was in between temperatures. We entered the very warm one first, unaware of the difference in temperatures and left the pool having difficulty moving due to feeling super heavy. Then we entered the middle and coldest pool. Brrr. So we quickly left and went to the final pool where there was a fun whirlpool. It was definitely a European, cultural experience.
After the baths, we decided on a whim to go see if we could get opera tickets, even though we were not dressed to attend an opera, were tired, and were still a little soggy from the baths. We ended up getting tickets, but because they were the cheap seats and on the upper level of the opera it wasn’t as bad not to be dressed up. We saw the play Tosca, which at the time was not very exciting, since neither of us had heard of it, but since seeing it, it has come up in discussions often, so I am glad I have gotten to see it. It is a tragic love story, between an artist and a woman and some political figure. I believe it was in Italian, but there was a translation screen that translated the lyrics into Hungarian. Too bad I couldn’t understand that much either! Haha. It was interesting to see though, and the Opera house was beautiful!
On Thursday, we traveled to Prague by train. This was a quickly planned, spur of the moment trip, but I really wanted to see Prague and I don’t think Solita minded getting out of my apartment for a while. The train trip took around 6 and a half to 7 hours to get there, and it left at 5:30 in the morning! We had to get up and get ready so early; even public transportation wasn’t running yet, so we had to take a taxi to get to the train station. I hadn’t gotten to bed until about 3 in the morning before we left, so I mainly slept my way to Prague. Solita had gotten a little more sleep than me, but she slept on the train too. When we arrived, we hopped on some public transportation and checked into our hostel, dropped off our stuff, and went out t o see the town. We walked around the Old Town Square, saw a famous astrological clock, went into a Mucha Museum which was pretty cool (he is the artist that designed some cigarette wrappers, I forget for whih company) and I got some Starbucks coffee to help keep myself awake. (Yes, they had Starbucks!!) It was pretty chilly in Prague, but I luckily brought a few layers to help keep me warm, since I was stubborn and didn’t bring my winter coat.
We saw a little grocery store called IHOG: International House Of Groceries, which had a lot of American brand treats like stove top stuffing, candy bars, apple jacks cereal, etc. I thought about buying something, but the stuff was so expensive, I decided I could go a little longer without having a special American treat since I have made it this long. Next door was a cool restaurant called Red, Hot, & Blues that featured more American cuisine and a performance nightly or either rock, jazz, or blues. This is where we had dinner, and I think there are some of these restaurants in America as well. I had a great chili that was so spicy, Solita had some tortilla soup, and we both got to watch a guy play some blues on the piano and his harmonica. It was a pretty nice way to start our trip. We both agreed over dinner that Prague felt so Western in comparison to Hungary and Romania, which we later heard a differing opinion that made us chuckle. After dinner, we were whipped, so we headed to bed at 9 pm! I know, I know, you can’t believe it, but it’s true. We were both out like lights as soon as our heads hit our pillows. I only woke a bit when 2 more people checked into our 8 person room, but fell back asleep right away.
When we woke in the morning, so did 2 of our other roomies and so we talked a bit with them. They were American students studying abroad in Spain and were very friendly. After that we got our breakfast and hit the sights. We saw some of the Jewish district, saw something Christmas being filmed, saw the river and the bridges, saw some of the castle from a far, and visited some shops. Then Solita and I had some lunch at a place called Bohemian Bagel. It was nice to have a bagel again and the food was pretty affordable, it tasted good, and we got free refills!!!!! Then we ventured around some more, saw a Hare Krishna parade that reminded me of George Harrison and the movie Across the Universe, and ran into a Calvin Alum. (We were both wearing Calvin sweatshirts and I got a picture with him, what are the chances?!) We got to see the once Lenin wall, now Lennon wall which is filled with Beatles lyrics, images of John Lennon, and other peace images. Many people have signed the wall, and I found a few Ohioans that signed the wall and drew a Brutus, so naturally I signed my name near them and of course took many pictures. It was so cool and right up my alley! : )
Afterwards I got to do something that I had hoped I would get to do, but didn’t know if would actually happen or not….I got to meet up with my friend Colleen!!!!! She is studying this semester in Luxemburg and made the long trip to the Czech Republic with a friend. We met up in the evening and went to an Irish pub to talk and have a drink. There I tried my first hot wine, which was pretty good, but odd because it also had orange slices and raisins in it. I got to introduce Colleen to my old roomie Solita and she introduced me to her friend Ryan. It was a pretty great time, even though it didn’t last too long. We got to catch up a bit on each other’s semester and all the places we have travelled too. I even got to hear Colleen’s impression of Prague. This is where you can tell that I have been in Eastern Europe more and she has been in Western Europe more, because she said they could tell instantly after crossing the border from Germany into the Czech Republic that they were in Eastern Europe. This floored Solita and me because we had already remarked how Western Prague was. I mean, it even had some Starbucks stores! You can’t find any of those past Vienna. Haha. Well, it was great to get to see Colleen again, but unfortunately we couldn’t hang out too long, for Solita and I had tickets to a black light show. So, we said our good-byes for now and exchanged excitement over seeing each other when we get back to the states.
So, Solita and I headed off to see our black light show called Cats, but quickly learned it was more about the cats of Prague rather than the Broadway musical. It was so funny to watch because it combined people in cat costumes, hand puppets of cats, poorly translated and heavily accented English music that was lip sung, and of course black lights. It was great to see just for fun, but I probably wouldn’t want to watch it again. Solita and I were the only ones laughing during the show, which was awkward, but great nonetheless. After the show we headed back to the hostel and went to bed.
The next day was our day to leave. We got ready, checked out of the hostel and went to spend our last bit of time in Prague by hanging out at the Starbucks drinking coffee and playing cards. It was a great way to kill some time. In total I went to Starbucks like 4 times on our trip, 2 times for caffeine and 2 times to warm up with a hot chocolate. It was so nice to have a reminder of home so close by! We got on the train and made the voyage back to Budapest. I did some homework and Solita read and listened to her ipod. At one point a guy from Turkey came over and started talking to Solita and I about traveling and colleges. It was interesting to listen to, but very distracting when I was trying to do homework, oh well. It got done.
Then we arrived in Budapest and made our way back to my dorm. After living off of lots of peanut butter for some meals, we fixed some French toast for ourselves and watched a movie that night. It was our last night together in Budapest, for the next day was Sunday the 26th and Solita had to leave, unfortunately. That night, daylight savings time occurred, which was so weird, because I always thought Daylight Savings Time occurred the same day it does in America, but I was obviously incorrect in that thinking. Luckily I had heard about this change for Solita’s travel sake. On Sunday we woke up, had a brunch together, and then Solita started packing. She left in the afternoon to head to Cluj Romania and I resumed my normal life in Budapest. It was great to have a friendly, familiar face around for a while, especially because we were both getting a little homesick. I had a great time bumming around with Solita and was blown away that I got to see Colleen too! A two for one kind of deal! What more could a girl ask for? : )
On Wednesday nights, my prof. and his wife usually have dinners for the students, usually a soup and some bread. Well, because Corwin, my prof., was away, along with many other students, just Catherine, Marylin, and I had soup together. It was very nice and I got to know them both a little better during this time. Plus, because of the small group, we got more special food. We had some great corn chowder, cheesy bread rolls, and even dessert! Marilyn went all out and we even got to take some leftovers home, but I never got to eat them, but that’s ok.
Then, on Thursday, Solita arrived to visit me for 10 days! She is doing a semester abroad program in Romania, so since we were in such close proximity and she had a big break, she decided to come spend her time with me in Budapest. J Our first few days together were rather uneventful. I took her to see some sights like our big grocery store, Auchan, but most of the time was spent doing homework, going to class, or studying for my art history exam, which was on the 20th. On the 22nd, Solita and I had a pretty busy day. Solita and I, along with another girl on the trip, went to the big central market for a bit and then we went to a pretty well known Mexican restaurant called Iguana for lunch. It was decent, probably the best Mexican food they have in Hungary, but Solita and I had made chicken tacos a few nights before and we decided that ours were much better. It was nice to go though. Afterwards, my friend Bree split and Solita and I ventured off to City Park for a bit and also to the Szechenyi baths. It was a pretty interesting experience filled with warm, supposedly healing waters, many old men in speedos, and a super hot sauna. The sauna was so warm that when you released a breath, the air coming out of your body was colder than the air going into it. It created a weird internal feeling that was indescribable. The baths were pretty nice though. There were 3 different pools, one was very warm the middle one was like a swimming pool and relatively similar in temperature, and the last was in between temperatures. We entered the very warm one first, unaware of the difference in temperatures and left the pool having difficulty moving due to feeling super heavy. Then we entered the middle and coldest pool. Brrr. So we quickly left and went to the final pool where there was a fun whirlpool. It was definitely a European, cultural experience.
After the baths, we decided on a whim to go see if we could get opera tickets, even though we were not dressed to attend an opera, were tired, and were still a little soggy from the baths. We ended up getting tickets, but because they were the cheap seats and on the upper level of the opera it wasn’t as bad not to be dressed up. We saw the play Tosca, which at the time was not very exciting, since neither of us had heard of it, but since seeing it, it has come up in discussions often, so I am glad I have gotten to see it. It is a tragic love story, between an artist and a woman and some political figure. I believe it was in Italian, but there was a translation screen that translated the lyrics into Hungarian. Too bad I couldn’t understand that much either! Haha. It was interesting to see though, and the Opera house was beautiful!
On Thursday, we traveled to Prague by train. This was a quickly planned, spur of the moment trip, but I really wanted to see Prague and I don’t think Solita minded getting out of my apartment for a while. The train trip took around 6 and a half to 7 hours to get there, and it left at 5:30 in the morning! We had to get up and get ready so early; even public transportation wasn’t running yet, so we had to take a taxi to get to the train station. I hadn’t gotten to bed until about 3 in the morning before we left, so I mainly slept my way to Prague. Solita had gotten a little more sleep than me, but she slept on the train too. When we arrived, we hopped on some public transportation and checked into our hostel, dropped off our stuff, and went out t o see the town. We walked around the Old Town Square, saw a famous astrological clock, went into a Mucha Museum which was pretty cool (he is the artist that designed some cigarette wrappers, I forget for whih company) and I got some Starbucks coffee to help keep myself awake. (Yes, they had Starbucks!!) It was pretty chilly in Prague, but I luckily brought a few layers to help keep me warm, since I was stubborn and didn’t bring my winter coat.
We saw a little grocery store called IHOG: International House Of Groceries, which had a lot of American brand treats like stove top stuffing, candy bars, apple jacks cereal, etc. I thought about buying something, but the stuff was so expensive, I decided I could go a little longer without having a special American treat since I have made it this long. Next door was a cool restaurant called Red, Hot, & Blues that featured more American cuisine and a performance nightly or either rock, jazz, or blues. This is where we had dinner, and I think there are some of these restaurants in America as well. I had a great chili that was so spicy, Solita had some tortilla soup, and we both got to watch a guy play some blues on the piano and his harmonica. It was a pretty nice way to start our trip. We both agreed over dinner that Prague felt so Western in comparison to Hungary and Romania, which we later heard a differing opinion that made us chuckle. After dinner, we were whipped, so we headed to bed at 9 pm! I know, I know, you can’t believe it, but it’s true. We were both out like lights as soon as our heads hit our pillows. I only woke a bit when 2 more people checked into our 8 person room, but fell back asleep right away.
When we woke in the morning, so did 2 of our other roomies and so we talked a bit with them. They were American students studying abroad in Spain and were very friendly. After that we got our breakfast and hit the sights. We saw some of the Jewish district, saw something Christmas being filmed, saw the river and the bridges, saw some of the castle from a far, and visited some shops. Then Solita and I had some lunch at a place called Bohemian Bagel. It was nice to have a bagel again and the food was pretty affordable, it tasted good, and we got free refills!!!!! Then we ventured around some more, saw a Hare Krishna parade that reminded me of George Harrison and the movie Across the Universe, and ran into a Calvin Alum. (We were both wearing Calvin sweatshirts and I got a picture with him, what are the chances?!) We got to see the once Lenin wall, now Lennon wall which is filled with Beatles lyrics, images of John Lennon, and other peace images. Many people have signed the wall, and I found a few Ohioans that signed the wall and drew a Brutus, so naturally I signed my name near them and of course took many pictures. It was so cool and right up my alley! : )
Afterwards I got to do something that I had hoped I would get to do, but didn’t know if would actually happen or not….I got to meet up with my friend Colleen!!!!! She is studying this semester in Luxemburg and made the long trip to the Czech Republic with a friend. We met up in the evening and went to an Irish pub to talk and have a drink. There I tried my first hot wine, which was pretty good, but odd because it also had orange slices and raisins in it. I got to introduce Colleen to my old roomie Solita and she introduced me to her friend Ryan. It was a pretty great time, even though it didn’t last too long. We got to catch up a bit on each other’s semester and all the places we have travelled too. I even got to hear Colleen’s impression of Prague. This is where you can tell that I have been in Eastern Europe more and she has been in Western Europe more, because she said they could tell instantly after crossing the border from Germany into the Czech Republic that they were in Eastern Europe. This floored Solita and me because we had already remarked how Western Prague was. I mean, it even had some Starbucks stores! You can’t find any of those past Vienna. Haha. Well, it was great to get to see Colleen again, but unfortunately we couldn’t hang out too long, for Solita and I had tickets to a black light show. So, we said our good-byes for now and exchanged excitement over seeing each other when we get back to the states.
So, Solita and I headed off to see our black light show called Cats, but quickly learned it was more about the cats of Prague rather than the Broadway musical. It was so funny to watch because it combined people in cat costumes, hand puppets of cats, poorly translated and heavily accented English music that was lip sung, and of course black lights. It was great to see just for fun, but I probably wouldn’t want to watch it again. Solita and I were the only ones laughing during the show, which was awkward, but great nonetheless. After the show we headed back to the hostel and went to bed.
The next day was our day to leave. We got ready, checked out of the hostel and went to spend our last bit of time in Prague by hanging out at the Starbucks drinking coffee and playing cards. It was a great way to kill some time. In total I went to Starbucks like 4 times on our trip, 2 times for caffeine and 2 times to warm up with a hot chocolate. It was so nice to have a reminder of home so close by! We got on the train and made the voyage back to Budapest. I did some homework and Solita read and listened to her ipod. At one point a guy from Turkey came over and started talking to Solita and I about traveling and colleges. It was interesting to listen to, but very distracting when I was trying to do homework, oh well. It got done.
Then we arrived in Budapest and made our way back to my dorm. After living off of lots of peanut butter for some meals, we fixed some French toast for ourselves and watched a movie that night. It was our last night together in Budapest, for the next day was Sunday the 26th and Solita had to leave, unfortunately. That night, daylight savings time occurred, which was so weird, because I always thought Daylight Savings Time occurred the same day it does in America, but I was obviously incorrect in that thinking. Luckily I had heard about this change for Solita’s travel sake. On Sunday we woke up, had a brunch together, and then Solita started packing. She left in the afternoon to head to Cluj Romania and I resumed my normal life in Budapest. It was great to have a friendly, familiar face around for a while, especially because we were both getting a little homesick. I had a great time bumming around with Solita and was blown away that I got to see Colleen too! A two for one kind of deal! What more could a girl ask for? : )
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Off to the land of the Dancing Queen where the Winner Takes It All with Money, Money, Money
So, I am going to try to be better at keeping up with this blog. Sorry for leaving you all hanging! Let me try to catch you all up on what I have been up to for the past few weeks.
So, October 9-12 two girls and I took a trip to Stockholm, Sweden. We got into the airport pretty late in the evening only to find that we were still a little over an hour away from the city itself, so we had to take a bus from the airport to the city. After getting into the city we had to take a taxi to get to our hostel for the night, which didn’t take too long, but with these sudden, unexpected expenses, we weren’t too thrilled that night. Not to mention, by the time we reached our hostel, it was around 1:00 am. Yawn!
So, we make it to our hostel, which was actually a boat, which sounds cooler in theory than it was in actuality. We were in a small room with 12 other people in bunk beds. The room had steep stairs to get in and out of it and the bathroom and shower room were located at the top of these stairs as well. It was pretty crammed. Luckily we were only in this hostel for one night.
The next day, we woke up early, went to a coffee house for breakfast, and then made our plans for the day. We decided to go to a music museum that had student discounts on tickets and it proved to be a great decision. They had many musical instruments from countries around the world, many of which you could actually play! They had information on these instruments and also sound clips and recordings of people professionally playing these instruments. It was such a fun place to visit! They had some musical exhibitions also and one of them was for ABBA! In case you didn’t know, ABBA is from Sweden, but they don’t really have much stuff about them there. The ABBA museum is yet to open (2009).
After the museum it was late lunch time, so what better way is there to get to know Sweden than to go to T.G.I. Fridays?! Haha. I know, it was pretty ridiculous of us to eat at an American restaurant, but we were hungry, it was there, and it wasn’t too pricey considering the other restaurants. We all ordered our meals- chicken fingers, a quesadilla, and a sandwich- and the best thing we all got…..free refills! This is something that is non-existent in Eastern Europe, so you bet we took advantage of it. In the end, our meal came to a total of about 80 U.S. Dollars, just for lunch! Let me just tell you now, things in Sweden are not that cheap.
Well, after getting some energy back we walked around the city, talked to a strange man who claimed to be from the states (but he obviously wasn’t for reasons I won’t explain), and checked into our other hostel, which was so nice, it was more like a hotel! This time just the three of us had a room to ourselves. After checking in, we headed back out to take pictures of the city by night, bought some snacks at one of the million 7-Eleven’s in Stockholm (seriously, they are on every corner!), and then watched TV in our hostel. Don’t worry, we realized how ridiculous it was for us to just hangout in our hostel at night while we were in Stockholm, but let me just tell you how nice it was to watch TV in English again. It was like a breath of fresh air, even though we were watching South Park, still, it was refreshing.
The next day we got up early, walked to a special store to pick up something special for someone, and then had lunch at a fast food place called MAX. It was pretty similar to a Mc Donald’s but better and cheaper! It was much cheaper than our meal at Friday’s, so that was nice. After a recharge to our batteries, we headed off to see Old Town. There we just looked at the pretty buildings, went in a few shops, and passed some time people gazing before having to catch our bus to take us back to the airport.
Overall, the weather was on the cooler side, low to mid 50s with some cool winds. Like I said earlier, things were pretty pricey there, not only because it was Western Europe, but also because it was in the Scandinavian region. I had a nice time traveling with just a small group as opposed to our large group excursions. I also enjoyed seeing all of the waterways and beautiful people. People in Sweden dress so nicely and many of them speak English!! It was great to get out of Hungary for a few days, even if it was expensive. It was worth it and a great trip overall.
So, October 9-12 two girls and I took a trip to Stockholm, Sweden. We got into the airport pretty late in the evening only to find that we were still a little over an hour away from the city itself, so we had to take a bus from the airport to the city. After getting into the city we had to take a taxi to get to our hostel for the night, which didn’t take too long, but with these sudden, unexpected expenses, we weren’t too thrilled that night. Not to mention, by the time we reached our hostel, it was around 1:00 am. Yawn!
So, we make it to our hostel, which was actually a boat, which sounds cooler in theory than it was in actuality. We were in a small room with 12 other people in bunk beds. The room had steep stairs to get in and out of it and the bathroom and shower room were located at the top of these stairs as well. It was pretty crammed. Luckily we were only in this hostel for one night.
The next day, we woke up early, went to a coffee house for breakfast, and then made our plans for the day. We decided to go to a music museum that had student discounts on tickets and it proved to be a great decision. They had many musical instruments from countries around the world, many of which you could actually play! They had information on these instruments and also sound clips and recordings of people professionally playing these instruments. It was such a fun place to visit! They had some musical exhibitions also and one of them was for ABBA! In case you didn’t know, ABBA is from Sweden, but they don’t really have much stuff about them there. The ABBA museum is yet to open (2009).
After the museum it was late lunch time, so what better way is there to get to know Sweden than to go to T.G.I. Fridays?! Haha. I know, it was pretty ridiculous of us to eat at an American restaurant, but we were hungry, it was there, and it wasn’t too pricey considering the other restaurants. We all ordered our meals- chicken fingers, a quesadilla, and a sandwich- and the best thing we all got…..free refills! This is something that is non-existent in Eastern Europe, so you bet we took advantage of it. In the end, our meal came to a total of about 80 U.S. Dollars, just for lunch! Let me just tell you now, things in Sweden are not that cheap.
Well, after getting some energy back we walked around the city, talked to a strange man who claimed to be from the states (but he obviously wasn’t for reasons I won’t explain), and checked into our other hostel, which was so nice, it was more like a hotel! This time just the three of us had a room to ourselves. After checking in, we headed back out to take pictures of the city by night, bought some snacks at one of the million 7-Eleven’s in Stockholm (seriously, they are on every corner!), and then watched TV in our hostel. Don’t worry, we realized how ridiculous it was for us to just hangout in our hostel at night while we were in Stockholm, but let me just tell you how nice it was to watch TV in English again. It was like a breath of fresh air, even though we were watching South Park, still, it was refreshing.
The next day we got up early, walked to a special store to pick up something special for someone, and then had lunch at a fast food place called MAX. It was pretty similar to a Mc Donald’s but better and cheaper! It was much cheaper than our meal at Friday’s, so that was nice. After a recharge to our batteries, we headed off to see Old Town. There we just looked at the pretty buildings, went in a few shops, and passed some time people gazing before having to catch our bus to take us back to the airport.
Overall, the weather was on the cooler side, low to mid 50s with some cool winds. Like I said earlier, things were pretty pricey there, not only because it was Western Europe, but also because it was in the Scandinavian region. I had a nice time traveling with just a small group as opposed to our large group excursions. I also enjoyed seeing all of the waterways and beautiful people. People in Sweden dress so nicely and many of them speak English!! It was great to get out of Hungary for a few days, even if it was expensive. It was worth it and a great trip overall.
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