boldog hálaadás! (happy thanksgiving!)

Thanksgiving in Budapest, even though it did bring up some homesickness for most of us, ended up being almost everything a Thanksgiving should be. Our group headed to the Marriot for a $45 buffet (CIEE paid for half of it, luckily.) A lot of our professors joined us, as well as our director and assistant director. The appetizers alone were enough for a whole mean – caramelized pumpkin soup, venison, buschetta, salad, brie, to name a few. After binging on all of that, we of course had the traditional Thanksgiving food and then some – turkey, ham, salmon, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing and so much more. We definitely got our fix of American food cravings for a bit. Dessert of course had pumpkin pie, which was accompanied by things like chocolate fondue, apple tortes, gingerbread cookies, and Hungarian pastries. I have probably never been more full in my life.

Even though my family was definitely missed, especially since it was my first Thanksgiving away from home, it was an incredible and unforgettable meal. Our group has come together to form it’s own dysfunctional family, and it was nice being with most of them, sharing stories and incredible food. It made me realize how much I’ll miss everyone when this is all said and done.

This Thanksgiving I was thankful for the incredible opportunity I’ve had being here with these incredible people. Though it’s definitely not the normal setting for a Thanksgiving feast, I’m thankful for my Hungarian Thanksgiving.
<3 ali


pics from the recent times - updated
http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069745&l=bdb69&id=2808002

prague!

So I’ve been awful about blogging lately with no real excuse- but I figure I better update on Prague before I head off on my next trip this weekend.
After a small scare, Steph and I made it to Prague! We took a bus that deceivingly left from the bus station metro stop, but not actually from the metro station. But we made it on the bus. We took a student agency bus, which only cost us about $45 round trip, and was really nice. Hot drinks for free, movies and Friends episodes in English! The seven and a half hours pretty much flew by. We got into Prague late on Thursday night, and my friends Sara and Brooke from Tulane met up with us at the bus station. By the time we got back to Sara’s apartment, where I stayed for the weekend, we were ready to crash to get ready for our weekend of sight seeing.

Friday morning Sara had class, so Steph and I followed her there and just wandered around the area. The school was in a nice place – right by a church with a gorgeous old cemetery. We also found a park with a lot of gorgeous views, so we took lots of pictures.


After Sara got out of class, we went to brunch at Bohemian Bagel. Steph and I were beyond excited about this – Budapest almost completely lacks breakfast food to our dismay. After binging on pancakes and bagels, we headed back to the Jewish quarter. We bought passes into some of the old synagogues and the old Jewish cemetery. The cemetery was amazing – it had been built up and up since they were given such a small amount of space to bury everyone. Then we headed to the synagogues that had displays in them. Probably the most intense display we saw there was one of artwork of children during the Holocaust. The people in the Jewish ghetto that they had been sent to came together to try to shelter the children from the horrors that were going on by putting them in dormitories and sending them to school. Part of their education was their artwork. The art traced the whole journey they had been through – the Nazis moving in, life in the ghetto, and their dreams of returning home. Sadly, at the bottom of each piece of art it showed their birth date, the date they were sent to the camp, and in most cases the date that they were killed at Auschwitz.

After that intense experience, we went to go meet up with Brooke and Kelly after they had finished up with class. We went to go get hot chocolates at Café Slovakia, a famous old coffeehouse. We did some sightseeing by dark – the mini Eiffel tour, the Czech version of Castle Hill, Charles Bridge. Dinner was at Radost – an incredible vegetarian restaurant.

The next day, Jacque and her cousin Erin made it to Prague, so we met up with them and all the girls for brunch (love that breakfast food) at a New Orleans themed restaurant. It was funny being there with my friends from NOLA. Next door to the place was a tiny grocery store that sold American food for high prices – Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Barq’s Root Beer, Marshmallows. I caved and bought a box of Kraft Macaroni and cheese for about $4 – totally worth it.

From there we headed back up to the castle hill area. We went through a mirror maze - almost definitely a huge tourist trap, but it was fun playing with all the warped mirrors. We walked over to the national palace and saw the national cathedral (it had felt like far too long since we’d toured a church, now that our CIEE excursions are over). The cathedral and castle were both beautiful.

We did a lot more sight seeing around the area, including some peeing statues outside the Kafka museum and the Lennon wall. The Lennon wall was really cool – it has been decorated over and over since John Lennon died.

For dinner we tried out Czech food at an old beer hall. I went with the Czech version of goulash and dumplings – it was funny how different it was from Hungarian style – definitely good though. We went out for drinks after at a cool wine bar that was made up of lots of caves. We called it an early night though since Steph and I had to catch our bus at 6:30 the next morning.

Prague was a great trip. I had an amazing time catching up with my friends – lots of telling of embarrassing freshman year stories. The city itself was beautiful. I was surprised how different it felt from Budapest. Prague had a unique feel – I feel like I heard a lot more English and there were a lot more American conveniences. But at the same time, it was clear that we were in Central Europe. It was fun knowing that Sam, my brother, had studied there the year before, so now we can compare thoughts on it, though he definitely had a more in depth experience with the city (I somehow managed to get by without getting any black eyes though…)
<3 ali

prague pics: http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070630&l=31ab6&id=2808002

what a city

this weekend was a nice one - after the stress of midterms last week, we finally had a chance to breathe and actually enjoy the city. it is easy to get frustrated with the city when midterm stress is already in action, since being in a city where people don't speak your language is stressful enough. but my roommate had a visitor, so we got to play tourist, which was a fun time to enjoy the city.
it's random moments when i realize how much i love it here.

-parliament runs. during the frustrationg of midterms, my roomate and i decided to blow off steam by running. to run to parliament and back is a little over a mile for us, so it works perfectly. even as negative as we'd get with our midterms, it was amazing to be able to just run down the street a bit and see this gorgeous building all lit up at night, and then be able to look over the river and see the lights reflecting on the danube. blowing off some steam and realizing that the work is worth the opportunity of living in such a cool city makes these runs like no other.

-szechenyi baths by night. okay, the prospect of going to outdoor baths at night in the freezing cold in a bikini soundss absolutely horrifying and insane, i'll admit. but stepping out into the courtyard, you see this gorgeous yellow building surrounding you. the steam rises up from the thermally heated baths creating such a cool effect. on the first of the three outdoor baths has tons of jets shooting up where people just stand and enjoy the massage. in the middle of it, theres a whirlpool area that gets going incredibly flast - a blast as long as you're careful to not run over the children. in the middle there is a big pool for swimming thats freezing cold, which i always avoid. the third is the warmest, and is full of people just sitting and enjoying it. old men sit around playing chess on boards in the water. inside there are more mineral baths and the hottest sauna known to man. the baths never fail to be a refreshing and gorgeous experience.

- the sunset on the danube. it was a gorgeous day friday, and we had just walked along vaci utca, a big pedestrian shopping street. we decided to head over to the river to wait for the tram, and the view was absolutely gorgeous. the clouds gave the city a cool effect and the sun was starting to cast colors over the city. looking over to buda you can see the fisherman's bastion, castle hill, parliament, and other amazing sites.

- the grand market. i am so lucky to have this place right next door to my university, so i can run in to grab a quick peice of fruit or lunch between classes (or who am i kidding, a pastry.) stands are chock full or fresh fruit, strudels and pastries are hot from the oven, raw meat is well.... raw. upstairs are stand selling hot gyros, langos, stuffed cabbage, along with every kind of hungarian souvenir anyone could possibly ever want. i have stands that i frequent, and the people who work at them like challenging me to order and pay entirely in hungarian now. they used to use engish to tell me prices, but no more of that pampering for me. they think it's cute that i try i think.

-the fisherman's bastion at night. i still hadn't been, but saturday night i headed over with a couple of the boys to take in the view. the bastion is in buda, and is a terrace overlooking the river. during the middle ages, fishermen were responsible for defending the wall, now it's just a gorgeous site. at night it's absolutely breathtaking, as i can imagine it is during the day. it's frustrating taking pictures, since the camera does it absolutely no justice. it's full of staircases that lead to small castles with arches where you can look over the river from. the whole thing feels as if you're in a fairy tale. the tour groups have left for the day, and the whole thing is quiet and almost churchlike as everyone is taking in the view.


regardless of the inevitable stresses of school, this is a pretty amazing place to be coping with them :-)

<3 ali

more pictures- including the halloween party we hosted (which i feel wasn't nearly as wild as my parents :-P)
http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067541&l=04b19&id=2808002

terror házá

today i made my second visit to the house of terror museum (it's free on sundays for EU students!). it's on andrassy avenue, a gorgeous tree lined street full of posh stores and gorgeous buildings that ends with the incredible hero's square. however, the museum used to be headquarters for the nazi and communist regimes, so it doesn't have such a beautiful past.
the museum is amazingly set up. it looks incredibly modern, and there is effective mood setting music throughout. flat screen tvs everywhere show images of people under the regimes, speaking of the regimes, and speeches being delivered.
it's slightly frustrating being an english speaker there though. each room has a piece of paper in english giving historical information (lots of reading!) but the descriptions of what we are actually seeing are all in hungarian. however, it's pretty easy to get the idea that a lot of suffering was going on, and it should never happen again.
as you make your way down to the basement, an elevator slowly takes you down while showing a video of a man describing the hanging and torturing process. that's when it really hits you how many people were tortured and killed in the same building where you're standing. walking through the reconstructed prison cells is such an eerie feeling, it's amazing that people could actually do such things to each other. it's also disturbing how few people know about the atrocities that took place during the communist regime. having been to house of terror and recsk, the former death camp, it's so weird knowing that people were treated as such subhumans, yet we hardly hear of it. i'm as guilty as anyone else, i'd never know this much about it had i not been here.
at the end there is a beautiful memorial for the people who died. however, perhaps the most chilling part is a hallway full of pictures and names of the victimizers. it's sickening to look at the people and know the horrible things they did. they look like they could be anyone, but they were capable of such awful things.
house of terror definitely is a must see in budapest.

pecs and riots: a hungarian weekend

so as weird as it sounds, this weekend was a pretty relaxed one. it was our first long weekend, so jacque and i were the only ones on the program who were around and not traveling. my friend courtney from tulane was in town from brussels, so we had a great time showing her around the city.
she got into town on thursday night, so we took her out to dinner at marxim- our favorite pizza place. it's quite an experience. the restaurant has a communist theme, and the pizza's have names like "pussy pussy monica and bill." but the pizza is awesome and the beer is cheap, so it has quickly become a favorite of ours.
friday we did a lot of site seeing around pest. it was absolutely freezing though - the coldest it's been yet. saturday we decided to go for a change of scenery, so jacque, courtney, and i woke up at 5 in the morning to make our way to the train station. we headed to pecs, a city in the south part of hungary, about a 3 and a half hour train ride away.
pecs was an adorable little town. it was fun to wander around a new place with no guide book to tell us where to go. we got there starving, so our first priority was to find breakfast. "breakfast" ended up coming in the form of incredible desserts and the largest coffees that i have seen since i've been here, so we were pretty excited about that. after that we made our way to a mosque that had been transformed into a catholic church. it was cool to see the combination of both types of symbols in one building. after that we found the big basilica, which was amazing how beautifully and elaborately decorated it was. one of the main attractions in pest is the early christian underground burial chamber. we saw one, but i have a feeling we didn't get the full experience since we left not entirely sure what the glass covered room was.
after that we wandered around a little more before meeting up with garret and tyla, who were spending the weekend there. we headed to lunch and ice cream with them, before taking the train back.
sunday courtney and i spent wandering aroud margaret island and buda. along the river in buda we saw the craziest little outdoor art exhibit. using a panoramic shot of the city, secondary and university students had created what they imagined the city would look like in 2056, a hundred years after the 1956 revolution (more about that later). the best part of the display was the music - while we were looking at it, we heard the beatles, frank sinatra, and some kind of indian music. once we saw that and got our fill of buda, we met up with jacque and made our way to the szechenyi baths. it was about 6:30 when we got there, and cold and dark, so the idea of changing into our bikinis was slightly horrifying, but so worth it. the outdoor baths are heated, and the steam looks gorgeous in the courtyard of such a beautiful building. we hit up the indoor ones and the sauna too, and left feeling incredibly relaxed and refreshed.
courtney left yesterday morning, and then jacque and i spent the day at her apartment catching up on work and the internet. things got interesting though when we headed back to figure out what the McCafe was right by my apartment. as we were walking in we noticed tons and tons of police cars and ambulances rushing a couple of blocks away, but we didnt pay them much attention. but as we were leaving, we noticed the tram line and a lot of streets were shut down so we knew something was going on. we hurried the couple of blocks next to my apartment and turned on the t.v. to see that hundreds of police officers in riot gear were right where we had been ten minutes before. today is the anniversary of the 1956 attempted communist revolution, when hungarians overthrew the communists, then the soviets brought in tanks and stopped the revolution. last year the riots turned crazy- the t.v. station got overtaken and a lot of tear gas was used. we called our RD to find out what was going on, since all the news is in hungarian, and she basically told us everything was fine but not to leave our apartment.
as of today things are a lot calmer, but i'm at jacque's apartment which is outside of the city, so i'm not sure what's going on back where i live.
anyhow, among all this craziness, i have a history midterm tomorrow, so i better get back to studying! it's hard to believe that 2 months from today i'll be back in the states. time is definitely flying (and having a 2 day week this week should help!) it should be a good week after i get through with the midterm - poland on thursday, i can test the pierogies already!
<3 ali
more pictures
this weekend:
http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067536&l=80439&id=2808002
random budapest: http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067541&l=04b19&id=2808002

transylvania: vampire count = 0

i haven't fallen off the face of the earth! things have just been insanely busy, so blogging has lagged behind. but before it gets too far in the past, i better get my act together and report on the trip of transylvania!

after waking up insanely early and taking a insanely long bus ride (with pee breaks wayyy to frequently) all the way to transylvania, our first stop was a big outdoor market, one that is only open for a week of every year. to be completly honest, i could have turned around and gone home right then and there. it was absolutely freezing and it was raining, and our bus was parked way far away, so we had to walk down the side of a narrow street with semis blowing past us. but after a miserable couple of hours, the trip perked up. we made our way to a small hungarian village we were staying in, and there split up into our host families. i ended up staying with a woman named ibi and her husband istvan. they were absolutely incredible, even though we had a hard time communicating, as it was all based off of our tiny hungarian vocab skills. they had a pig, which we decided to name norbert after they laughed when we asked his name, along with some chickens, and a dog who was actually named rex who was chained to the outhouse. and yes. i did say outhouse. and transylvania's temp averaged around 0°C during the day. so going at night was always an experience. not only would you wake up the rooster and have him "cockle doodle doo"-ing at 3 in the morning, but it was absolutely freezing. and i of course had the extremely smart (and possibly palinka influenced...) decision to go out there in shorts and a t shirt. times like that i was glad steph, jacque, and i were all stuck in the same bed, thank god for body heat.

during the trip we did a lot of sight seeing. lots of churches, as always. we went to another market place where we got to see a man make chess sets, and then we did a lot of shopping around. transylvanians are into beautiful textiles, all made by hand. 2 families invited us into their houses to see their "clean rooms" where they had gorgeous beaded and embroidered textiles and clothing. another night, a family had us in to see them do a traditional hungarian dance performance. another major site for us was seeing people skinning a cow on the side of the road, and deciding that we should stop and watch. intenseeee. i'll spare everyone the site of that (but it is in the photo album) but we saw the cutest old lady there.

every morning and night we were given some of the absolute best food ever home cooked by ibi. breakfasts were huge spreads of cold cuts, jams, breads, and cheese. dinner she'd make soup, cabbage rolls, or potatos with pork chops. it was definitely an authentic and hearty dining experience. and of course every meal started with shots. our last night there was istvan's 55th birthday, so we got to celebrate with him by having an even bigger feast than normal, plus more palinka and beer from the bar. we were sad to have to say bye to our family, and we exchanged gifts with them. they gave us cutting boards that istvan made himself, and we loaded them up with chocolates and wine.

on the way back to budapest, we stopped in the same place we stopped on the first day for the market. the last day of the market, it turns into an animal market. it was a wild experience. there were trucks everywhere carrying cows and sheep, and horse drawn carriages running around. andrew even got his foot run over by a truck, but luckily it turned out to just result in a bad bruise. the market was fascinating, but at the same time hard to take in. there was a sheep being skinned right next to two other live sheep. it was insanely dirty, and the animals weren't all in the best shape. but it was one of those things that we couldn't look at through american eyes.

overall, transylvania is nothing i expected, but so much more. there were no thunderstorms and vampires, but instead an incredibly different society from anything i've ever experienced. it was a place where it was entirely normal for cows to be wandering our street in the morning, and for horse drawn wagons to be the main form of communication. it's weird how the things that i take for granted and assume everyone does is not the way at life at all for people in other parts of the world. transylvania is a place i'll never forget, and not just because of the outhouse...

<3 ali
p.s.- pictures:
http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066898&l=e3998&id=2808002
http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066904&l=149e9&id=2808002

the northern hungary pictures are up...
http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066102&l=aca98&id=2808002

eger wine cellars are amazing.

So we survived another group excursion! Those things are always a good time – you put 20 incredibly random Americans on a bus together and send us traveling through Hungary and it’s bound to be interesting.
After a superrr early morning meet-up at Hero Square, we got on our bus. This bus wasn’t as big and luxurious as last time, and our bus driver didn’t seen to be able to drive much faster than 50 kph, but amazingly we eventually made it to the Aggtelek caves. They were hugge (Europe’s largest under ground network), and we took a tour of them. There were tons of cool formations and everything, but the highlight was probably this huge underground performance hall. It was basically a big room of a cave, with a “stage” full of cool rock formations where they do concerts and even weddings. To give us a feel of what the acoustics were like, our tour guide put on an Enya song that went along with a light show. Pretty wild to say the least.
After grabbing lunch by the caves, we got back on the bus and headed to Szilvásvárad to see the Lippizaner horse farm there. Unfortunately it was really rainy and gross, but we looked through the museum and then got to see the horses, which of course I was incredibly excited about. The horses were gorgeous. The ones there are used for the carriage competitions, so it wasn’t quite as cool as seeing the dressage ones would be, but I still enjoyed it.
Next we headed to Eger, which is where we spent the night. We checked into our hotel (our room had 6 girls and 8 beds in it), then headed down to the Valley of Beautiful Women. Eger makes tons of wine, a special kind of red wine, called Bull’s Blood, and the valley has lots of different cellars where you can go and taste the wines for really cheap. Our favorite one was the first one that we went to. The woman who ran it made it a blast. We tried 5 wines, a white, a rosé, a Portugeuser, a Bull’s Blood, and a dry red. To serve the wine, she had a huge glass siphon type vessel, that she’d fill with wine from the barrel, then basically just shoot it into the glasses. As if it couldn’t get cooler, she then would have us lean our heads back with our mouths wide open and then she’d shoot the wine straight into our mouths. Basically the beer bong of wine. Awesome. After having dinner and visiting a couple more cellars, we ended up calling it a fairly early night.
In the morning after hitting up the hotel breakfast buffet, we went and saw some more sites around Eger. First, we stopped at the Cathedral, which was beautiful. Then, across the street, we climbed tons of stairs to see the camera obscura, basically a huge old pinhole camera that could project scenes from the entire city onto a table. It was amazing how well you could see that city from it.
Then we headed to the Eger castle, where parts of it were still standing from the Turkish occupation. There were tons of kids there playing all sorts of games and doing competitions along with people dressed up in costumes. It reminded me of some sort of Hungarian Renaissance Festival. We got a tour around and learned about some of the strategies they used to protect themselves from the Turks, some of which were pretty clever.
After a quick lunch of chicken paprika, we got back on the bus and headed to Recsk. Recsk was a death/forced labor camp that was open for 3 years during Stalin’s regime. As they ran out of room in prisons for people who most likely did nothing wrong, they’d be sent to Recsk where they’d have to do intense labor with little foood and awful conditions. It was weird being there and knowing what happened, because the site itself is in a peaceful and gorgeous area that looks more like a summer camp than anything. Learning about Stalin’s regime is shocking, especially since I knew so little about it before. It’s weird how common to not know much about it is though, considering more people died under his regime than the total number of people who died in WWII.
Last, we took the winding and slowww ride to Kékestetü, where the highest point of Hungary is. We climbed up a little bit to get to it, and saw the view there. By that time though, we were pretty ready to make it back to Budapest, so we got back on the bus after seeing it (and having a glass of mulled wine) and headed home.
This weekend in Budapest is the first annual Palinka and Sausage Festival, so we decided to rally and make it to that last night too, instead of going today. Palinka is one of Hungary’s signature drinks, a fruit brandy with all kids of flavors. We tried a few kinds (the honey peach was the best) and ate some incredible sausage. As cool as it was to try the different kinds of palinka though, Jacqui and I ended up with a beer in hand and felt a lot more satisfied. It was fun being at Castle Hill at night – we could see so much of the city there all lit up and glowing on the river.
This week should be a pretty standard one. We’re taking today to head to California Coffee Company (big coffee cups!) for some American comfort and to catch up on work. Then we’re all looking forward to this weekend – our 4 day trip to Transylvania! On the subject of traveling, I’m heading to Rome in December! Rome at Christmas time – can’t wait! It’ll be a good last trip before making the way back to the States.
<3 ali

I know, it’s been forever! I’ve been keeping myself busy and that has led to fewer blogposts. But today I’m home in bed thanks to some kind of what I hope will only be a 24 hour bug (no worries, I’m fine), so at least the good part of this is that I can finally update this.
Last week was pretty uneventful. Classes are still going well, and are actually starting to feel like real classes as our books are showing up. Thursday night my apartment (Jacqui basically counts as our third roommate) threw a dinner party for one of the apartments of guys. We provided the food, they provided the desserts and wine. Jacqui and I had quite the adventure running around the market trying to find all of our ingredients. Luckily we found a cute little stand that had everything we needed, and the guys working it were very nice and played along with our attempts to communicate only in Hungarian. The cooking itself was kind of an adventure too, since we don’t quite know how to work everything in the kitchen, so there was a good amount of guess work to it. But we pulled off in my opinion a good meal of pasta, salad, and garlic bread. And the boys provided plentyyy of wine and incredible pastries, so I’d consider the evening a success.
This weekend we did a lot of taking it easy, since we had traveled the weekend before, and are traveling the next two weekends. We did some more exploring around, hit up 2 different H & M’s, went to IKEA for 100 forint hot dogs, and our biggest accomplishment was probably finding an incredible Indian food restaurant really close to my apartment. Jacqui and I had been craving Indian, so we decided to try a place we had just seen a sign to, and we were not disappointed. It’s weird that you can feel at home eating Indian food in Hungary, but we totally did.
This week I started one of my volunteering programs. One of our Hungarian teachers, Maria, also teaches at a college across the bridge from us that is mostly attended be Hungarian students from smaller towns. I’m working with students there who are taking English so they can practice their conversational skills. The students are all very nice and are trying so hard to learn the language. It’s amazing, so many of them can speak like 3 other languages. It makes me feel spoiled to have grown up with a language that I can get by with basically anywhere in the world. It feels good to be doing volunteer work in my “host country” though, like I’m getting more involved and giving something back, as small as it is.
I’m incredibly excited for this weekend. We’re leaving at 6:45 Friday morning (eek) to go on our second group excursion, this time to Northern Hungary. Our first stop is the caves of Aggtelek, then we’re headed to Szilvasvarad, what I’m the most excited for. We get to go to the Lippizaner horse farm and museum, which should be incredible. After that it’s off to Eger, where we’re staying the night. We’re making a trip down to their wine cellars, where they have their famous wine, “Bull’s Blood.” The next morning we’re doing more sights around there, then heading to Recsk (the site communist death camp) and then climbing to the highest point in Hungary before we get back to Budapest Saturday night. Wine, horses, and sites, what more could I ask for?
<3 ali

classes!

So I figured since I AM here to study and all, I should give an update/summary of my classes. They’re all very different, but good.
History of Hungary: This class is giving us the basic history of Hungary from the 895 arrival of the early Hungarian people to the recent days and the entrance to the European Union. My teacher is a really cool guy who seems more focused on teaching us the basic ideas of what happened rather than knowing the names of every single battle and their exact dates (at least that’s what I’m hoping!) He also has a hilarious sense of humor that keeps class interesting. It’s nice to have this class to get a better understanding of what has happened here, in a country that so many people know nothing about but has such an intriguing past. It explains a lot about the people here and why they have such a foreign outlook on life. I feel like I should have known a lot more of this when I came here, but there’s no time like the present!
Introduction to Hungarian Language: Oh man, Hungarian is a bitch to learn. Hungarians like to joke that the best way to learn the language is to get a Hungarian lover, because there is no other reason to learn it (I’m still working on the Hungarian hottie part. The teeth…) The words are pretty crazy looking, and pronunciation is key. It can be frustrating trying to order something and saying a word exactly correctly in your head only to have them stare at you like you’ve grown another head. Then when, through a series of pointing and gestures, they do figure out what you’re trying to say, they say “ohhhhh” and repeat exactly what you think you told them. But I’m slowly getting better, and have even had a few interactions where I don’t make a complete fool of myself. My teacher is awesome, she does whatever she can to make sure we learn practical things to get by. Last week we learned how to order a pizza, we’ve learned how to order food in the market, stuff like that. I’m trying, but it’s not going to be an easy one.
Integration and Security: Honestly, I’m not really sure why I decided to take this class, especially after my torturous International Relations class that I took at Tulane last semester, but I’m glad I did. We’re learning a lot about the whole idea of Europe and how that has transformed throughout time (Hungary is NOT Eastern Europe I’ve learned, but actually Central). Then we’ve been discussing all of the different institutions that have been created, like the UN and NATO, and what directions they could go in. Later we’ll start with how the European national and international security has changed since the Cold War, and how Hungary has negotiated into European integration and the implications that will have. The professor makes it really easy for even the non-politically minded of us to understand and really makes us think. One of our projects in the class is to write a short paper taking a problem and writing a policy to fix it, which will be interesting for the Social Policy and Practice major in me
Social Change in the Era of Globalization: Not gonna lie, this class is basically boring as hell. It doesn’t help that it’s three hours long, but at least it’s only once a week. The teacher has the heaviest accent of all of them, so that can make things pretty challenging. It’s basically about the major sociological theories and how they relate to the development of a global society. Yeah, that’s about all I have to say about that one.
The New East European Underclass: This class is probably my favorite of the bunch. Since there are only 2 sociology majors in the class, the professor feels bad for us and goes out of his way to give us extra attention. We’re learning about how the underclass is put in situations where they have very little chances of getting wealth. We’re also taking tours of the extremely poor areas to see what kind of situations the poor are living in. We already went on one through the most concentrated gypsy, or Roma, area and saw the horrible conditions that they are living in. We went to the first gypsy radio station in the world (you can listen at radioc.com) and got to talk with the owner about the mission of the station and their programming. It’s a cool chance to see areas of the city that I wouldn’t normally see and see the way of life of people who I would never meet.

Speaking of class, time to head that way!

danube bend

yesterday we continued our venture to the danube bend. we took an about 2 hours train ride (that only cost $2.50!) to Esztergom, a town right across the river from Slovakia. there we saw a huge and gorgeous basilica, that is also the tallest building in Hungary. we climbed up a monnnstrous tower to see a view that was well worth it, and also probably helped burn off all of those calories from the ice cream places our director tells us to try. we were lucky enough to catch a hilarious little "tschu-tschu" train that drove us all around though.
after our climb, we caught our little train again and took it across the bridge to slovakia. it was quite the site i imagine to see a funny little "train" full of 20 american students going through border patrol. once we got our passports checked and stamped, we had a slovakian lunch of cheesy dumplings and beer. about 45 minutes after arriving in slovakia, we headed back to esztergom to catch a bus to another little town. we hung out there for a while, then took a 2 and a half hour boat ride down the danube back to budapest.
overall, an incredible weekend :-)
p.s.-pictures are updated - http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064743&l=85a29&id=2808002

oops pictures!

pictures from western hungary:
http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064737&l=f320a&id=2808002
AND
http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064743&l=85a29&id=2808002

western hungary

So sorry about the recent lack of blog posts! I have been super busy, and on the occasions where I do get internet, I’m so busy checking e-mails (and, who are we kidding, facebook), that I don’t get to blogging. Some of my good friends from Tulane who are studying in Prague for the semester were here last weekend, which was a blast, then I had another full week of class, complete with a field trip that I’ll write about later. This has been another weekend. We spent Friday and today traveling through Western Hungary, then tomorrow morning we’re headed off to the Danube Bend. I’m using the internet right now at a friends apartment, so I figured I’d give everyone a quick update on the weekend so far while it’s all fresh in my mind.
We woke up disgustingly early on Friday to meet up with our group at Hero’s square and all load up on the bus. Our first stop for the day was a Benedictine Abby at Pannonhalma. It was a gorgeous tour. We watched a quick video on the life of the monks there, then went on a tour of the grounds. It was on the top of a hill in a very peaceful location with a breathtaking view. We saw the chapel that they pray in, the boarding school that they run, and the most impressive library I have ever seen. It was stocked with books from floor to ceiling and covered with gorgeous art. If all libraries were like that, I might have a chance of actually spending more time in them.
After seeing the Abbey and stopping for a quick lunch, we headed to Veszprem, that’s called the Queen’s City. It was an adorable town with all these cute little squares. While we were there we climbed up into the fire tower, which used to be used to keep a watch of fires in the town, but now just gives a great view. Once we snapped enough pictures, we got to take a tour of the Archbishop’s Palace which was randomly open for the public to see that day. Not only did we get to put on the funniest little booties over out shoes to keep from messing up the floors, but we had the absolute most adorable little old lady as our tour guide while our program director served as a translator. She was so proud to show us all of the artifacts there, and kept saying how sweet we all were. When one of the girls wished her a long life (she was already 81) in Hungarian, she even cried. We all wanted to take her along with us for the rest of the trip.
Unfortunately, we had to leave her behind as we headed off to Nagyvázsony, where we spent the night at an adorable hotel/restaurant. The town itself was also charming, definitely a place I’d love to return to. We went to go see ruins of Paul Kiniszi’s fortress, which were astounding. It’s weird to think of all the history that took place right where we were sitting. Then we were treated by the program to an incredible dinner that we supplemented with a few bottles of wine, before a good nights sleep.
This morning we went to the Herund porcelain factory. We got a tour of a mini factory to see how all the pieces are made, and wow those people have a steady hand and lotsss of patience. Then we got our own try at it while we made some porcelain roses. Let’s just say, I don’t think I’ll be getting a job there anytime soon. We got to go to the museum, which had all of their patterns. I never thought that I’d be someone with much of an appreciation for porcelain, but this stuff was awesome.
After grabbing lunch (and a beer), we went off to a small town that is on the edge of Lake Balaton. We decided to be brave and walk down the monster hill (and unfortunately later back up it) to test out the waters for ourselves. It was freezing. Us girls stuck with just going in up to our calves, but one of the guys, Chris, was brave enough to go completely in. After recovering from the numbness, we shopped around the town a bit. Jacqui and I both got gorgeous Pashmina scarves that we have been lusting after since we got here, and at a price of about $9, I have a feeling there will be more of them in our future. Then we made it to the bus to head back to Budapest before another adventure filled day tomorrow.
This weekend has already been so incredible, it seems weird that there is more in front of us. It was nice to get a chance to get out of Budapest for a bit and be somewhere a little calmer. I didn’t realize that not only would I have to adjust to living in Hungary where there is an entirely different culture and language, but I’m also having to adjust to life in the big city. So many times this weekend we would just step back and realize that we’re traveling through small towns in Hungary seeing incredible things that so few people get the chance to see. The phrase “our lives are incredible” basically sums it up.
However, these incredible lives do get exhausting, so I better wrap this one up, since we’re meeting up at the train station early tomorrow morning. I hope to be better about updating this though, since I already have things from before stored up to blog about. Hope everyone is doing well and I’d love to hear from all of you!
<3 ali

and nowww for the apartment!

http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064507&l=354bb&id=2808002

i promise a real update soon, buttttt:
http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064453&l=407b1&id=2808002
pictures!

So I’m sitting in my apartment watching our version of VH1, one of the two channels that we get in English (and when I saw English, I mean sometimesss they’ll play a music video in English, but not necessarily), so I figured it’s a good time to prepare a post for when I get to use the internet tomorrow updating everyone on what’s been going on.
I’m still loving Budapest. It’s gorgeous. I feel like I’m starting to get my bearings on how to get around, but at the same time there’s still so much to discover. Last weekend one of the other girls and I decided to just get lost on purpose. We saw some really cool things, like finding the local amusement park, which was basically all red with rust.
2007/09/10
Okay, I got distracted by a movie night with my roommates. Now I’m at school in the office for my program. I just got done with my first day of classes (and it’s only 2:30!) I started off with a Hungarian History class, which was really interesting. The teacher seemed less concerned with dates and names than trying to teach us the concepts and what has led to making the country what it is today. Then I took a class on European Integration and Security, dealing with the transitions that joining the EU is causing and the ways of dealing with the problems that are arising as a result. I was a little scared of that one after my torturous International Relations class last semester, but I think that this one will be cool. It deals a lot more with policy making, which is good for my Social Policy & Practice major. Then I had Hungarian class with a new teacher, but she’s really nice and young and helpful. Hungarian classes seem less about perfection in the language and more about helping us get by around the city.
So about my apartment. I love it, it’s probably the nicest place of my own that I’ll live in for the next 5 to 10 years. First off, the location is awesome. It’s like a 25 minute commute from school, but it’s a nice one. I only have to walk about two blocks to a tram stop, then the tram takes me straight to school. The ride is gorgeous too, it’s right along the river. I live right next to Margaret Island, which is an island in the middle of the river that has running trails, cafes, baths, and just a really peaceful park. I’m on the Pest side, which is more metropolitan. I’m about two blocks away from the river on a really main street, with tons of restaurants (24 hour gyros!), shops, groceries, and cafes. It’s right by the train station and the mall, and an easy location to get almost anywhere. Also I’m right next door to a crrrrazy underground bar with a karaoke room, a retro dance room, a hard rock room, among others, plus their own beer for only 150 forint (about 186 forint=$1) during happy hour. Niiice. I live with two other girls (at the moment). The apartment building is really nice, we have a big courtyard when you walk in. Our actual apartment has huge high ceilings and big rooms. There’s a big common room, a big bedroom with two double beds that I’m sharing with another girls, a really nice kitchen, a dining room, and a small single bedroom. However, one of the girls I’m living with has been superrrr homesick and as of now is going home on Thursday L
The past week we’ve been having orientation stuff and 3 hours of intensive Hungarian class a day. My favorite day was probably yesterday (Sunday). I went with my roommates and one other girl to the baths. They have beautiful Turkish public baths here. You pay about $12 to get in and once you get in you can go to a whole bunch of different baths with mineral waters all at different temperatures. Then there are saunas. It’s incredibly relaxing and quite the experience. It was a gorgeous day outside too, so we spent some time in the park.
Okay, I’m going to go explore and find somewhere that I can post this. Lots of love from Hungary!
<3 ali

they lived happily ever after..... until they died.

i finally got my blog to work! thanks to the fact that it was all in hungarian and i entered my e-mail wrong, things got pretty confusing there. hungary is great, i love it. it's an interesting culture (fairy tales end with "the lived happily ever after, until they died"), but i guess that's understandable in a country that hasn't been on the winning side of a war in over 500 years and is getting over 50 years of communist rule. i promise a better update soon, but here is one that never got posted from last week:

Thursday at 4-

I’m writing this now on a break back at my dorm since I don’t know when I’ll be able to use the internet next, and I don’t want to forget about anything.
So I’m in BUDAPEST! Travels went pretty well. The international flight was actually way better than expected. There was no one next to me, so I had some extra room. Watched a few movies, read a whole book. I stopped in Frankfurt on the way, and that was pretty intimidating. German is basically a scary language. There were these little metal stand things where people were smoking all over the place. Then to get on my plane, first I wasn’t allowed into the gate until thirty minutes before departure. Then once I did, I went through this big revolving door that led to a mini bus outside. We took the mini bus from there to the plane and then we got on the plane by walking up the stairs onto it, it was weird.
Once I got to Budapest and got my baggage and everything, I was met by our assistant director, who is incredibly nice. She helped me by a shuttle ticket and I took that back to the dorms, where we’re staying for orientation. Once I got here, I met up with a girl on my program and we went over to see the school and meet the director, who is also really nice. Our school is this huge old building that’s right on the river, it’s really cool. It’s next to this big market, with all these stand selling fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, bread, prepared foods, and about everything you can imagine. It’ll be nice to have that so close.
The first night we took the tram (and got incredibly lost) to this crazy little pizza and beer place that has a communist theme. Also, pizza here doesn’t come with sauce? You just get a container of it to pour on. Beer here is pretty cheap, as is most food.
We’ve been having a lot of orientation stuff the past couple days. It’s tons of information, but I feel like I’m starting to get more of a feel for the city and how everything works. The language barrier is fairly challenging at times, but its possible to get by. A lot of people speak some English, especially the younger people. The city is absolutely gorgeous. There are so many dimensions of it – some parts have an extremely historical feel, some are extremely cosmopolitan, some are really trendy.
The other people are really fun. Last night we went to this crazy outdoor club. The people there ranged from our age to maybe like mid 40’s, and it was basically just a big dance party. They play so much random American music, including a Grease megamix, but that will be followed up by some Hungarian techno sounding song. Pretty wild.

anticipation

So tomorrow is finally the big day I've been thinking about for so long - I'm leaving for Budapest! The bags are packed (well mostly.....) and goodbyes have been made. I can't believe i'm actually leaving though. I feel like it's seemed so far away for so long and all the sudden it's here. I still remember going to the study abroad fair and going through all the programs with Sara, my roommate, and laughing at who would want to go to Budapest. But somehow among all of that I had the wacky idea that I really should go there. Luckily it looks like a gorgeous place with tons of incredible experiences to offer.
It is fairly nerve racking that I will be traveling overseas to a place where I know no one and I only know how to speak one word - the word for beer (have to make my dad proud). If all goes well though, I should be having the time of my life for the next 4 months and meeting incredible people to share it with.
I better get some sleep before the big day of travels tomorrow, but I'm going to do my best to update this as much as possible to keep everyone updated on my adventures. So for now..... adios kansas city! I'll miss ya!