Prague

I know I haven’t kept this blog as up to date as I had hoped, but that hopefully is about to change soon. I’m sure future Max is going to be reading this and wishing he had posted more… but Max, just know that right now was one of the high points of your trip before it got even better!

Last week began my marathon of traveling Europe with the time I have left. I have roughly 75% of the way through my semester abroad and it feels like it has flown by. So, of course, I am going to be taking advantage of the time I have left. This past weekend I went to one of my goal destinations, Prague, Czech Republic. I went there to visit a friend of mine, Lyssa Winslow, who I went to high school with (she is in a study abroad program in the city) which was really nice. Not only was this the first time I was able to visit a friend, it was the first time I was going to be traveling alone.

I learned a lot during this trip and most was largely unrelated to the city itself. I found that traveling has become a routine for me. Getting packed, grabbing my passport, waking up and getting on the metro, loading onto the bus, waiting and waiting and waiting and finally arriving in a brand new part of the world. Two things have stuck out at me now that I’ve been traveling by bus for so long. One is that I rarely know when I’m crossing into one country from another (in the States I can always tell when I transition from State to State). The other is that I am now completely comfortable stepping off a bus in a city and country I have never been and finding my way around within minutes – and also how quickly I become acclimated and get my bearings to travel around the city itself.

Everything went pretty much according to plan this trip. But traveling solo did offer a host different things I am grateful I got to experience.  It’s true that traveling companions make or break a trip. I thought I would enjoy the freedom to go from place to place without any interference from a large groups opinions bouncing back and forth, and liked the idea that I had absolutely no itinerary. But I must say that traveling alone got, well, lonely at times. I certainly had a fantastic trip but I would have liked to shared the quieter moments with some great friends. The trip also gave me new awareness about how to conduct myself and take care of my belongings when I didn’t have a second (or third or fourth or so on) to help me.

The city itself, Prague, was really great! It’s unique with some incredible history and was very much alive when I was there. Granted the largest square in the city was dominated by tourists, but that also means local shop keepers and market stalls and foot huts and street performers. My oh my were there a lot of street performers in Prague! No matter where you turned there wasn’t a dancer, a musician, a human statue, a couple blowing bubbles, or anything else you couldn’t stop and look at as you made your way from point A to point B. There were also a lot of demonstrations when I was in Prague – when I was waiting for Lyssa there was a band spreading a Christian message and later that night 400+ young people (college students?) walked through the square chanting and waving flags and even holding up flares. I had not been able to experience something like that in the other cities I have been to.

As for what I did in Prague, Lyssa showed me around the city at night and I repeated some of the places during the days to get some pictures. There’s a lot of history in Prague as well as many unique landmarks. Perhaps what makes Prague so unique is the work of the artist David Cerny, who is responsible for sculptures such as the giant purple middle finger facing parliament and the number of enormous black babies crawling up the TV tower. That picture, and some other highlights will be down below.

It seems I also forgot to mention my research paper! My paper entitled The Role of Alternative Currencies in the Global Marketplace was followed by a presentation Nov 12 and that evening I received the award of second place in the Students’ Scientific Convention at BME. I was quite honored and had a lot of fun writing the paper (which focuses mostly on Bitcoin). 

This may seem rather short and quick but I am trying to make sure I get this out before I leave tomorrow morning for Istanbul, Turkey! I’m SO excited about this trip, I have no idea what to expect and it will be such a different experience than what I am used to!

Speaking of being excited, next weekend I am going to Pisa and Rome in Italy (two very historical places I am excited to experience) and the weekend after… the DREAM TRIP! I am going to France to SKI THE ALPS!

But those are blog posts for the future. Right now I have to pack for the weekend!

 

As promised, here are the pictures:

 

And, surprise!

A Boy with an Accordion

I had just gotten out of my class at BME and began my commute home.  I walked out the classroom, down the stairs, out the building down the one way street. Crossing the street before I got to the construction, then against the grain of all the other students trying to get to their classes I stood at the main 4 lane road and since it wasn’t too busy I made my way across in front of the cars (a tip a picked up from the locals getting to school in the morning). I stood and waited for the 4-6 tram to roll by. It was taking a bit longer than usual, however I was in no rush. I boarded the tram and found my spot where I would attempt to maintain my balance as I crossed the Danube. As always I tried to get a glimpse out the windows of the tram and try and admire the river and the city in the mid-day sun. We cross the bridge and some people get off while others get on. Everything was as routine as ever.

That is until I heard something. An accordion. The tram is usually a case for quiet conversation but with so many commuters at busy times words hardly get spoken. I was already listening to my podcast so I filtered the music as background. Accordion playing is not something I haven’t seen in Europe before; many cities I have been to (even Budapest) have had musicians playing for donations either on the street or even at some open air restaurants. I assumed this accordion player was doing the same and merely covering more ground on the tram. I thought someone ways playing in a seat a few cars down and I let it stay in the back of my mind.

Suddenly, the music got a bit louder. Closer even. I could also tell that the music was fairly good too. I looked up to see if the person playing was moving up along the car but I didn’t see anything. That is until one of the more surprising things happened to me on the tram. Crossing in front of me is a boy with an accordion. The child couldn’t have been more than 7 years old. And while he was playing very well for his age what struck me was the reason and manner in which he was playing. He would move past the commuters, but not after facing them for a moment to play, hoping for them to offer up some coins to a small cup he had attached to the instrument. No body did.

Recently the city of Budapest made a change that removed a lot of homeless people from the streets, some of whom I passed by regularly on my daily commute to the University as well as around the city. This moment struck me that not only are there still homeless people in Budapest, but it affects not only adults, but children as well.

Krakow, Poland

First of all, I would like to thank all those who continue to read this blog. I have received so many positive comments from family, friends, and frankly people did not expect would be reading this! Writing has always been a secret passion of mine and it is very interesting to hear people comment about my writing style. I never expect this blog to be for anyone other than myself but I am glad I am continuing to share my thoughts. Now, without further adieu…

Krakow, Poland, a city that was not on my radar when I started this trip in August. I had heard of Krakow through Lucas as he had done a trip earlier in the semester hiking in the Tatras in Poland and spent a night in Krakow. I would go to Krakow through a group of 10 classmates (with a demographic including mainly Portuguese, American, and German) and spend 4 days in the city (including travel time). I knew when I started this trip that my best adventures would be ones I wasn’t going to plan in advance and the trip to Krakow is the absolute best example of this.

Friday morning we depart early for our bus to Poland, a 7 hour journey. In reality the trip lasted nearly 8.5 hours due to a large delay at a passport check at the Polish border. This was perhaps the only negative portion of my trip as after the border official reviewed my passport he walked away and took it off the bus. As an American who rarely travels and knows how important his passport is, this was rather unsettling. I had to wait nearly an hour and a half before the official returned to the bus with my passport (along with several others taken from passengers) and passed back my passport and we were sent on our way. This was the first time my passport was checked at a border since I entered the EU.

Our group had a laundry list of things to do once we got into Krakow and we spared no time finding our hostel (an amazing place!), checking in, and then leaving for our first attraction – Schindler’s Factory. It was a really great museum that taught me a lot about this history of Krakow just before and during the second World War. It was an amazing experience to have walked through a city that had once been the capital cities of the Nazis, that had been bombed and attacked and occupied, and you wouldn’t have known it walking through the city today. It was my first taste of the rich history the city of Krakow had to offer.

The museum focused on the day to day lives of those in Krakow before and during the occupation. We learned that the Krakow army attempted to defend the city but were forced to immediately retreat and within less than a week they were wiped out. We saw the effects of war on the city and we saw what happened to the Jews of the city. It was gut wrenching the hear the accounts of those living in the Jewish district at the time as they were literally walled in as the Germans took control of the city. Horrific story after horrific story were displayed about how brothers and fathers were sent to work, some never to return and the descriptions of the awful living conditions. The worst part was after you read the paragraph of the story, it would be sourced by a name and then an age… the oldest of which I read was 14. The youngest was 2.

The moment that really stuck out to me from the museum was about halfway through, as I turned a corner and learned that the Nazis invited 300 professors and students to a lecture only to have them all arrested. The Third Reich was commanding the city fall under their new world order, something that must have been so terrifying to the citizens of Krakow. I got up to move to the next room, but as I turned the corner I was stopped dead in my tracks. There, hanging before me, were two large, clean, brightly colored, ceiling to floor length Nazi flags. I have grown up knowing about the Nazi’s, I’ve seen countless photographs of Nazi flags, Nazi officers, both in color and black and white, but I never stared one in the face. Before that moment that Nazi symbol was taboo. I knew what it stood for and knew it was a terrible thing, but to see it displayed almost proudly in the museum really struck me.

The next morning we awoke, had breakfast in the hostel, and departed for our next stop and perhaps the most important reason for visiting Krakow – Auschwitz. It was truly remarkable experience. We were guided through the camp learning about the history of the complex and saw many things that I have heard about or seen pictures of in textbooks growing up. There are so many specifics that it’s hard to even keep track of them all, so I will reflect on my two biggest take-aways from my visit. The first being how difficult it was for me to comprehend what had transpired at the place I was. Even though I was standing where these events occurred, knowing the scale in which this was actually accomplished made it difficult for me to place all that had transpired into one specific place in the camp. One moment that solidified this was part of the exhibit where we walked down a hallway with pictures of prisoners on the wall, each with their name, nationality, date of arrival and date of death. Women on the left, men on the right, stacked 3 high and the hallway must have been over 100ft long. Most of the dates fell withing 4-6 months of each other… and after seeing the horrific conditions and death totals and knowing all that transpired, it was surprisingly difficult to look at the individual and isolate them from the rest of the hundreds of pictures on the wall. The second, was how I walked away being thankful we no longer live in a world where Auschwitz/Birkenau were possible. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of things in this world are terrible, and there are plenty of human rights violations and genocides occurring all over the world, but I do not think we live in a world where people could sit idely by, even unknowing, about the atrocities that the Nazis performed. The first quote I read at Auschwitz has always stuck with me but perhaps is most important with the Holocaust:

After Auchwitz and Birkenau we returned to our hostel and attempted to find restaurant that could offer us a “traditional polish dinner”, and boy did we succeed! Stuffed, we made our way through the city’s Market Square and took in a bit of the night life. We started our night at the House of Beer (a recommendation by Lucas), and just had a great time taking in the night life of Krakow. The market square at night is just as lively as during the day and the weather was just perfect to walk around at night.

The next morning we all got up and made our way back to the market square for a tour of the Old Town. Again, there is so much history that we learned in the 3 hour tour that it is hard to include in a single posting. I was delighted to learn about the history of Krakow as well as some of the legends. My favorite part of the tour was learning that the city of Krakow was established in 800 AD. Compared to that the United States is merely an infant. I took some great pictures that each have a story of their own – perhaps if you want to know those we’ll have to go through the album together!

Later that day we went to another iconic landmark near Krakow, the Salt Mines. These mines are hundreds of kilometers long and up to 300m below the surface. To walk through the mines was a very cool experience as some of the rooms were enormous! There are 3 chapels in the mines, one near the entrance, one near the exit, and one in the mine. The one in the mind is by far one of the most impressive engineering feats I have ever seen, the room was enormous and each portion of the chapel was intricately carved out of pure rock salt. What made the place even more fascinating was that the entire chapel was created by 3 men in their off time and it took them 68 years! All in all, a really great place to visit. The interesting thing is that since the mines are so touristy and used for so many things, where are 2 gift shops over 100m under the surface!

That night was probably one of my favorite nights in Europe, outside of Budapest. We spent the evening wandering around the market square, grabbing food where we can, and trying to find a nice place to relax and have a drink before we left the next morning. Luckily, I had seen that there was a jazz bar in the square and we happened to pass it while they were having a special on wine. We went in and sat down to hear the band play – and that was by far the best decision we made on the trip. The band had a piano, bass, electric vibes, percussion player, drums, and a singer. Each and every member had real talent, and let me tell you, I have never so thoroughly enjoyed a live music performance quite like this. Only thing better would be if they had a sax!

Monday was our final day in Krakow, so we checked out of our hotel and caught part of the Jewish District tour. Again, another great chance to learn a lot of history of the city. Jews had a long history in Krakow, especially during the Second World War when the Nazis invaded and created the Jewish Ghetto… but was surprising to me was to know the number of Jews living in Krakow before the war, and to find out the number of Jews living in Krakow today – only 200. That’s right, only 200 in the massive city of Krakow. More surprising still was there is still an active Jewish community in Krakow, including an annual festival (which our tour guide had participated, but not being Jewish itself). We were sad we had to cut the tour short and sadder still to leave Krakow.

All in all, Krakow has made it on my list of favorite cities in Europe. I even hope I can go back there one day to learn even more about the cities history! However, Bratislava will still be the first city I fell in love with, and honestly nothing can top Budapest!

As a final side note, Lucas informed me the other day that him and I are known among the exchange students at BME as “The Frisbee Guys.” Not bad!

Below, as promised, is a small gallery of some of my best photos from the trip.

Pub Evening, Hungarian Evening, Paintballing and Caving

First things first, out with the old format! It’s no longer necessary to keep a blog post about every single day I’m in Budapest. At this point I’ve gotten into a routine that has been broken up by really awesome adventures so I’m going to post about said adventures from now on.

Pub Evening – As is tradition here in Budapest Wednesday night everyone from Erasmus at BME gathers together at a different pub for the evening. I usually have class the next morning so I try to not stay out too late (which rarely happens I might add) but this week my classes on Thursday and Friday were cancelled due to a faculty specific holiday. We went to a ruin pub which was largely an outdoor establishment that held all 100+ of us pretty well. A lot of people didn’t enjoy the place too much because the drinks were rather expensive (I avoided that problem by declining the high drink prices). Overall it was a great evening that ended with me getting back at my apartment at 2:30am. I’m still trying to recover sleep from that.

Hungarian Evening – This was something I was really looking forward to as I have spent nearly 2 months in Budapest and have not learned a large amount of Hungarian culture (a bit ironic huh?). Surprisingly this event wasn’t very popular compared to the other ESN events (as in registration was open for a full week when nearly every other event that had preregistration was sold out within the first couple of hours. The evening consisted of two Hungarian dishes and three different types of Palinka to taste! They also had trivia about Hungarian culture and tried to teach us the Hungarian alphabet, counting numbers, as well as some key phrases – my favorite being the greatest pickup line I’ve ever heard, “I heard that you don’t sleep with unknown people, let me introduce myself…”. The evening ended with a group of local folk dancers putting on a performance for us as well as attempting to teach all of us some dance moves. We even did some partner dancing which was really fun – and a bit of a workout!

After the Hungarian evening I was feeling pretty tired (and had a busy weekend ahead of me) so I was just about to opt out of going to the after party at a club, especially since I’d much rather hang out in a chill bar or pub than wait in line for over an hour to get in a club. But then a couple of friends and I found this:

Needless to say it was awesome! We only caught the last song but it was well worth it and I can’t wait to find some more jazz performances before I leave. After the performance my friends and I moved to a bar a bit down the road where we shared a round of Polish vodka (two of my friends in the group were Polish) and had a great night talking and just hanging out. We talked about American stereotypes which was pretty funny because the top 3 were:

1. We don’t know European geography
2. We all drive pick up trucks
3. We all eat cheeseburgers

I couldn’t really disagree with any of those. The best part was that the result of this night was that our group all decided to book a trip to Istanbul, Turkey for the end of November!

Paintballing – I have never been paintballing before and what better place to go my first time than in Budapest! It used to be a fad in my hometown for a while when I was younger but it was always way too expensive in the States for me to be interested. We went to a place called Soviet Paintball which for the group of 20 or so of us was only 1500 HUF (about $7) for equipment and was 1000 HUF (about $4.50) for 100 rounds. Overall we spent 4 hours playing and I only spent $35. I learned I’m not that great at paintball and it doesn’t hurt as much as some people described. I also found out that being shot at, even with paint pellets, is a very unsettling feeling and playing is very tiring with only the weight of the gun. It was hard to imagine what it is like for soldiers who are carrying anywhere between 40 and 60 lbs of gear, plus their rifle and ammo, all while in 100+ degree heat where the consequences of being shot aren’t just a momentary sting and a little paint. Respect for those men and women, all around the world.

Caving – This was probably the coolest thing I have done in Budapest thus far. Budapest is the only capital in the world with caves, and there are thought to be over 300 caves at extend over 100km. I understand there are even caves underneath the city center but we started our caving adventure about an hour outside the city. Now we were told it would be adventurous and we dawned heavy overalls and hard helmets but the trip turned out to be much more intense than I had expected – which made the day even better! We spent nearly 3 hours in the caves stepping, crouching, crawling, sliding, climbing, throughout the caves. Our guide, who calls himself Frodo, was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and helped all of us get a full experience out of the caves. I was impressed to know he could do the entire journey in 30 minutes – even more impressed to hear that he can do it in 1 hour without a light. For those of you who think it would be a little easier once your eyes adjust I can assure you that there is literally no light inside these caves so there is nothing for your eyes to adjust to. We did an experiment where we sat in the dark for about 10-15 minutes and were then told to wave our hand in front of our face. I thought I could see a blurry silhouette of my hand as I moved it but that was actually a hallucination. Our brains need light coming in our eyes in order to see so in complete darkness the brain tricks itself into seeing our hand because it is supposed to see the hand. It was a cool thing to try and I found it somewhat soothing to sit in the complete darkness and silence. We learned that these caves were formed millions of years ago out of limestone deposited by an ocean that used to be where Hungary now is. Tectonic movements drained the ocean and then once again raised the Buda side above the Pest side (the border being the Danube) and thus rose the would-be caves above sea level. The caves were formed by carbonated hot springs which means they were formed from the inside out and thus have no natural entrances. This means that someone a hundred years ago was digging and stumbled upon these caves for the first time. Imagine what it would be like to explore a cave for the first time!

After rafting, paintballing, and caving I have become quite envious of “guides” and people who run day activities for groups on a daily basis. These guides do what they love every single day and get paid to do so. Of course they do not make the most money in the world but if you get to do what you love and support yourself I think you have your life figured out quite well. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be paid to ski every day of the season – that just might be a new career goal of mine; the whole desk job thing is starting to become less and less appealing to me.

Days 39-42: Rafting Trip in Slovenia!

Better late then never, but this is the blog post about one of my favorite trips so far while I was abroad: a 3-day trip to Slovenia! This was organized by the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) who are a group of student volunteers that host events for international students. I love this group because I get to meet so many cool people from all over the world and we all just get to have a great time.

The trip began early Friday morning and Lucas and I got up at 4:30am to prepare ourselves breakfast and lunch for the day as we had a 5-6 hour bus ride ahead of us. Our first stop was Ljubljana (pronounced “lu-bee-ah-nah”) which is the capital of Slovenia. We checked into our hostel, had some free time, then they took us on a city tour. I really liked Ljubljana and I wasn’t sure why until I noticed that in the center part of the city there was no street traffic – it was just all walking streets. We walked around, crossed the river, climbed up the castle (cities split by rivers with a castle on a hill is a very prevalent theme in Eastern Europe), and stopped for a drink outside for an hour or so.

That night they took us to a restaurant which was pretty nice, but my favorite part of the evening was getting to meet people I hadn’t had the chance to meet before. I made really good friends with the people at my table, including Lorenzo, Guilia, Andrii, and Pierre that night. Most of the conversation consisted of comparing cultures which is my absolute favorite part about being in Budapest – at one point I went around the table and pointed saying “Italy, France, Ukraine, US …” (all of our respective home countries) “… that’s pretty awesome!” We all got to sit and enjoy a meal and each other’s company but all have had vastly different lives because of our cultures. That night we enjoyed the evening but had to remain “responsible” as we had a long day ahead of us.

Saturday morning we awoke to the mentors (student volunteers) trying to feed all 50 of us in the small kitchen in the hostel. It eventually worked out and we made our way to the bus to head to Bled where we would be rafting for the afternoon. Some of you reading this know I have done a fair amount of rafting in my day with my Boy Scout troop in Kennebunk, Maine. I usually went in July when the water was ~55 degrees (Fahrenheit) and the water level is quite high so the rapids can be anywhere from Class III to V (V being the highest) and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the rivers in Slovenia. I was just thrilled to go rafting in such an awesome place!

Well, when we first get there it’s already a pretty cold day and we have to dawn our wetsuits… pants? check! Jacket? check! Boots… nope. This would prove problematic. The water in the river was 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit) which was about 5 degrees (Celsius) colder than it normally was. I really liked our guide, all the guides in fact, they had a lot of fun crashing us into rocks and having us run around the edge of the raft. We all ended up splashing each other along the entire river which was hilarious to me because it was so cold! We even stopped at a bridge 7 meters (~20 feet) above the water for people to jump in – I declined because I didn’t want to become paralyzed plus I knew if I got soaked I would be miserable for the rest of the day. I really love the Slovenian hill/mountain sides we floated past so I’d say rafting was the highlight of the trip.

After rafting we got back on the bus and made our trek to our final destination, Maribor! This was a small city but had a very rich history. We ended up staying in a dormitory of the University of Maribor (there are only 3 universities in all of Slovenia) which reminded me of an American dorm room. I bunked with my newly met friend Patrick who is from Germany and he asked if dorms like the one we were staying in were common in America. I told him yes, even slightly larger and with more people. He responded that it would not be the case in Germany; every student has their own room with a small kitchen and bath. Yet another slight cultural difference!

The plan that evening was to meet up with Slovenian ESN students and go out to a bar and then a club but only one mentor came to guide us around so we didn’t get to meet any students which was disappointing. She was a fantastic guide however and took us to a really nice Cuban Bar that evening (go figure, we’re in Slovenia and we go to a bar owned by a Cuban) which was really nice to enjoy the company of the Budapest ESN group. Most people were out until 4 or 5am (don’t worry Mom, I wasn’t out that late!) so we got to sleep in until about 10am.

At around 11:30 we departed for a city tour of Maribor. We got a little bit of free time to wander around the city and quickly realized we were able to see most of what the city had to offer. See the city of Maribor is very small with a population of only 100,000 people. In fact, the entire country of Slovenia has a population of 2 million – I never knew it was such a small country. We toured some really nice churches with a lot of significance to the people of Maribor, saw the University, walked by the river, and our final stop was The Old Vine winery in Maribor, home to the worlds oldest grape vine. That’s right, this vine is roughly 450 years old and still produces grapes every year.

Before we left Maribor to head back to Hungary we stopped at a local pub famous for their Green Beer which, you guessed it, is green! I didn’t get to try it (darn gluten allergy) but it was definitely a novelty. At that bar I got to talk with some new friends of mine from Mexico and we ended up having a conversation about language. They asked how good their English was to which I replied “very” because I am amazed/humbled when asked that question when nearly everyone I have encountered here speaks nearly fluent and easy to understand English. I mentioned the opinion I had formed while over here that I feel almost feel bad I only speak English and do not speak a second language when I am surrounded by people who speak 2 or even 3. Then one of my friends commented “Yeah, but you already know English so you can go anywhere and be understood. You don’t have to work at it.”

That was a perspective I had not thought of before. I always try and explain my feelings and state that unfortunately it is the close-minded opinion of many Americans that they (and everyone else) should speak English. I never shared that opinion and have found that I really want to try and speak a person’s native language because I feel like I am a burden when I am not understood. However (and this is why I love this trip and gaining new perspectives) I guess I should feel fortunate that I CAN communicate with a large majority of the world through English. In Europe at least, English is what brings all the countries together. I really find it fascinating that in the span of the width of the United States across Europe you can encounter so many different languages, cultures, and experiences but they all come together to speak English and have such a great time.

I was recently asked what I think of Europe, perhaps compared to the United States. I have a hard time putting it to words at the moment, but I will just say that my experience so far has already been more eye opening and satisfying than I had imagined. I am having the time of my life!

Days 35-38: Fall in Budapest!

Yet another week in Budapest.

Monday was a day to catch up on sleep and also to register for something that I have been looking forward to – a rafting trip in Slovenia! I can’t wait! We are going to be spending 3 whole days in Slovenia visiting several cities, rafting, and of course partying! I get to add another country to my listen and I am just so grateful I am able to study in Europe and experience everything!

Not much happened for me this week – I mainly just went to class and ended up doing a lot of studying (which includes just copying down lecture slide after lecture slide) before the weekend. I also started looking in to my research paper on BitCoin which should be a lot of fun to write. I am genuinely interested in the topic and will be able to discuss it with my Hungarian environmental economics professor so I can tied in the concept of alternative currencies to the global market and sustainability.

The big news of the week was, of course, the US government shutdown Monday evening (Tuesday morning). It’s been a couple of days so I won’t go on a rant about that (you can find a mini-rant on my Facebook page with a video from Jimmy Fallon that focuses on the issue at hand) but all I can say is that I felt pretty embarrassed. Receiving this news while abroad and watching the international reaction to the US has been fascinating – mainly everyone is in agreement that this is extremely embarrassing and could have easily been avoided but it wasn’t.  It’s funny because Europeans are just as perplexed as some Americans because they (the Europeans) don’t understand why the US is struggling to implement socialized healthcare, something most European countries have had for a very, very long time. BUT, I also found out that politics is an issue that I wish could be talked about more freely in the States. Most people aggressively try to avoid talking about it and others are just incredibly uneducated (see that video I mentioned) and will just side with whatever radicalized party they think they belong to. Okay, rant over.

The weather has finally turned to much colder and I am starting to get anxious for the fall/winter. Granted I will miss out on the New England weather for some time now but it will be there when I get back. There is just something about that chilly nip in the air in the spring and the harsh cold of winter. I will attempt to stay sane while in Budapest thinking of NE and trying not to miss all the things that make where I’m from so great – but for now, I can just admire Budapest on this gorgeous day.

Days 33-34: Weekend and Color Run!

Another weekend in Budapest. Saturday mainly focused on catching up on sleep (which I unfortunately did not completely succeed at doing) and getting a lot of work done. The amount of lecture slides I need to go to is building up and I want to make sure I’m on top of everything while I actually don’t have plans. There was another bath party Saturday night, but I was still tired and working on things well into the night so I passed in preparation for Sunday… which was…

BUDAPEST COLOR RUN!

I had an absolute blast! I had never done a color run before but I have heard about it through Sam (she had done one a couple of years ago). I was excited to participate. We got a small group of Erasmus students to do it and we had a great time in the crowd. The only really strange part was the run itself. We started to run and were sent in all sorts of directions, back to where we came, and arriving at forks in the road with no signage or staff directing us. At the end we were sure we made a wrong turn somewhere because we had barely gone over a mile and it was already over. Luckily there were enough color stations to do the job – but we wanted more! We went through again and had an even better time and I was absolutely CAKED in color powder. I stuck around for a bit of an after event at the stage which was pretty cool. All in all a really great day in Budapest!

Day 29-32: One Month in Budapest!

What a week… so I’m going to try my best to keep this a “daily” blog, but it might just turn into postings about things that happen when I feel they’re appropriate to write here.

This week I was still battling coming off of my cold or whatever I had. I started to feel better and got caught up with most of my schoolwork. I’m really having to adjust – over here there is just one big test at the end of the term and I started to realize I needed to keep on top of my workload or else I’m not going to be able to remember it all to do well on the test. Luckily, however, these grades don’t count for my GPA (score) so I just have to avoid failing. I really am starting to enjoy some of my classes though, but we’ll come back to that later.

Tuesday I had the unique opportunity to speak with the Dean and Associate Dean from the University of Alabama. They want to start a study abroad program at BME similar to UNH and other universities. The meeting was small with only 2 other students from the US, both from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. It was great to be able to share our experiences applying to the program, arriving in Budapest, figuring things out once we got here. A few weeks in and I already have a good perspective on the Do’s and Don’ts and how the advice I was given worked out. The great thing is there may be another opportunity to speak to the students of the University of Alabama, which I would love. And, now I have a connection with the Dean of the University of Alabama, who jokingly suggested we consider their school when thinking about graduate work.

Wednesday was my busiest day in Budapest since I got here. I was up early to prepare for my 6 hours of classes and then had to run all over town to register for events and try and get enough money for my rent which was due the following day. Only the ATM I tried to use (the only ATM in Budapest that dispenses Euros) was giving me troubles which resulted in me spending an hour on the phone with my bank. Luckily, everything worked out but running back and forth all day was exhausting.

That night, however, was really great! Lucas and I had a few people over and cooked up one of the best dishes we have made since we’ve been here: Chicken and vegetable stir fry with an orange glaze, roasted potatoes with spices, and bruschetta (a new found love of mine!). We made a similar thing the next night (just substituted the chicken with beef). We ate like kings.

Now the next bit of news is exciting and will either be a really great experience or a mistake. I have decided to participate in a research opportunity, of my own topic, at BME where I will write a paper in 4 weeks time.  My research will focus on the crypto-currency (virtual currency) BitCoin, both from a technological and economical view. I was introduced to this opportunity by my Environmental Economics teacher so my topic will focus on the economy and sustainability. I know it will be a lot of work but I’m fairly familiar with this topic so I should be able to be genuinely interested in researching it and writing the paper should be fun (this blog is evidence to me that I miss writing).

Thursday, and Friday (today) have been days of getting errands done, cooking, and basically lounging around. I’ve tried to focus on some schoolwork but found that I needed to just relax a bit to save my sanity. The burden of doing everything all the time over here has been a lot lately, and I kind of forgot how to just enjoy myself.  I’ve found the best way to enjoy myself is to do what I want to do and that just has the added benefit of doing it in Europe!

Wednesday marked the end of my first full month in Budapest. It has been a crazy ride. I miss everyone from back home. But I am loving my experience here more than I thought I would once I got here. When I got here, it was hard, and I’ve come a long way since then. I’m so fortunate to be able to have this opportunity. My favorite thing has been experiencing other cultures and the interactions between those cultures. Wednesday night for example was one of my favorite moments over here – that is being able to talk to a bunch of other students from all across Europe and the world! It’s a fascinating thing to think that you all are sitting around, enjoying a drink, enjoying yourselves and your company like anyone yet you all have a history that is vastly different from anyone else across the table. For example, I spent several ours with some Germans, some French girls, and I myself being the only American. Now, close to 70 years ago three people from America, France, and German would not even consider being at the same table let alone the same pub or country. That is what is fascinating to me. To broaden my perspective on my own culture and the culture of others. And that’s what this trip was all about!

Days 27 and 28: Love Lock and Residency Permit

First things first… it was a good idea not to go out to the Bath Party. I heard it was a TON of fun but I got much needed sleep and I did not feel well Sunday morning. I took it easy and was able to rest up to be able to do something really, really special for my 7 month anniversary with Sam, which happened to Sunday.

 

There is a tradition called a “Love Lock” where sweethearts write their names or initials on a lock to a public fence, gate, or bridge to symbolize their love. In the Erzsebet ter (Elisabeth Square) in Budapest there is a young tree protected by a fence onto which these locks are attached. These locks represent “eternal love” and the promise that the two will be together forever as the lock is attached and the key thrown into the Danube river. I had Sam send me her initials (unknowing of my plan) and I took a lock to the square and threw away the key.

You can see a gallery of photos here.

She LOVED it. Which is great, because I love her. For the first time since I’ve been over here the miles didn’t matter and I was just really, really happy we are together. She has been so supportive of everything I have done and frankly I’m just glad I get to share my life with her. (And if you’re reading this Sam, I love you, and yes I talk about you on my blog! :p).

This morning (Monday) I got up at around 7am to go to the Immigration Office to get my Residency Permit. The permit, which has been touted as the biggest pain in the ass of the trip, is something I had to apply within 30 days of arriving in Budapest to declare that I am a resident of Hungary for my time abroad. Ultimately, it means that when I return into Budapest if I travel towards the end of my trip that I will not be fined a large sum of money.

The amount of documents and signatures required was second only to my Eagle Scout application (not even including the project write-up). Luckily we were given a contact over here to help us get all the documents together and to go with us to the Immigration Office. Though, I feel bad, because she has to sit through the 2 hours with us just for us to pass in paperwork. I’m hoping to get the group of us (16 total) to pitch in and get her a gift to say thank you, as well as a signed thank you card.

I type this as I sit in my apartment preparing myself to go over all of the schoolwork I am already responsible for. And I get to watch everyone from back home wake up – a strange experience every day!

Day 25-26: Classes, Gellért Hill, and a Party

Classes have become much more of a burden than I thought they would. Over here, we are given all the material in lectures and at the very end of the year we have ONE test to determine our mark. Some courses have midterms but it is only a combination of those that give us our grade at the end. I am not used to having no quizzes, no labs, no assignments, no homework… I don’t even study that well. It forced me to realize that I need to spend a lot of time outside of class going over the material and assessing myself to make sure I accomplish the most important goal while I am over her – passing all of my courses.

Another thing I have come to realize is that I need to take care of my body. Since the beginning of last week I have not been feeling well. I was able to push through it all the way until the weekend. Thursday I thought I was feeling well but then suddenly lost so much energy that I couldn’t even go to my friend’s place for dinner. Friday I thought I felt better so we went up to Gellért Hill to get a view of the city

 

…at night!

and it turned out that everyone wanted to go out afterword, so I obliged. I actually had a really fantastic time and a friend of mine’s birthday party in the city. The shock was when for the first time I looked at my watch during the night and it was 1am. I hadn’t planned on being out past 1. By the time I got home it was 3:30am.

I slept in today (Saturday) and thought I felt better but was still tired. Around dinnertime people were making plans to go out again – and honestly I don’t get how some people can do it. I can’t go out every night during the weekend and survive off of 5-6 hours sleep. I certainly can’t consume a large amount of alcohol to compound the issue.

As I write this, I am debating on whether or not I need to miss out on going to a Bath Party (a big party at a thermal baths place, kind of like a spa) that I had been looking forward to. Luckily, there is another one next week that I might try and go to. But the reality tonight is that it’s 7pm and I’m exhausted with a headache. I have been feeling rather low all week because I have been feeling like I’m missing out/wasting my time in Budapest. And in a sense that is true – I didn’t take care of myself when I needed to so I had no energy to do the things I wanted to do. The sun is setting now and I would love to just walk around and explore the city (that was my goal before the weekend started) but I can’t. I’m stuck inside with this headache and exhaustion and the worst part was I haven’t gotten anything accomplished that I needed to. All my schoolwork, cleaning up my apartment, getting my residency permit together – none of it got done. I started to feel sorry for myself but then I realized that I need to take this as yet another learning experience and realize that I have plenty of time in Europe to have a great time, but in between I need to know my limits and adhere to them.

So tonight, I sit back and get the things I need to do done. I go to bed real early and sleep in to a reasonable hour because I know staying up late and sleeping in just isn’t my style and it will not let me be able to do the things I want to while I am abroad.

I thought I had to go do something special every night while I was in Budapest. My goal before I came to Europe was to “never be bored.” Well, I realized I’m not bored – just unable to do the things I want to do. I’m learning a lot while I’m over here and a lot of my time the last few weeks has been pushing my limits. Now I need to settle in and just being okay with BEING in Europe and do what I need to do to be happy and successful while I am here.

As always, thanks for reading this far and following along!