Okay so I couldn't really think of a witty title for this post, but there's a bit of Zen for you...
Anyways, so as we're going into week 4 of my semester in Budapest I figured that I would detail at least the first part of this article to the more College oriented crowd (especially those from McDaniel's main campus that plan on doing what I am doing right now). First of all some things to note on your pre-departure planning.
-Save Money Now
It comes in handy and if you're anything like me, you're going to want to go and party it up for the first week, not to mention the costs for your transportation tickets, immigration junk, and well groceries, etc... Needless to say the more you save up the better it will be for you.
-Don't believe the crap the International Affairs Office tells you
(Gimme a sec, I have to restart my browser because I'm receiving several angry emails for saying this) However, it has become a very common joke between myself and the other people out here in Budapest. Despite what some people might say is not true Hungarians DO do the following:
-The wear jeans
-They wear hoodies
-Hungarian's DO get DRUNK
-They do have house parties
-Mostly, DO NOT exchange your money at the airport. I was smart enough not to do it, but a couple of the other members in our group had gotten SCREWED over when they followed a certain someone's advice and ended up losing about 20 cents to the dollar. The exchanges in the city are a lot better.
Those were some of the main things that had been de-bunked upon my first month here in Budapest. Keep in mind that the college may say some stuff to keep from making them look bad and to reign in any early signs of bad behavior.
Okay, I'm done bitching now.
Anyways, the weather is finally taking a turn for the better. It's starting to warm up and the sun was actually out all day today. (It had rained last night) I'm actually looking forward to doing stuff outside now.
Speaking of which, we went exploring the other day. Walked across the Szechenyi Bridge (the intense fog made for a nice ambient effect) and climbed the hills of Buda right above the massive freaking tunnel that runs through said hill. We were greeted to a very nice sight (including a mulled wine vendor), some cool monuments, and a gypsy fiddle player who coerced us out of some money, but in a gentle way.
Needless to say next time a street performer corners you like that, just say nem...
We then climbed down the hills, and back across the bridge to make our way down to the Great Market Hall. Let me tell you something, this is definitely my favorite place so far. Though it has evolved from a basic marketplace to a touristy location you can definitely get your souvenirs, groceries, and a hearty lunch at this place.
On the top floor are all the souvenir stands except for the front left corner where all the food vendors are. You can get basically anything traditionally Hungarian there for a cheap price. Amongst these things is Langos...
For those of you not Hungarian savvy, Langos is basically fried dough that is then topped with anything you can possibly think of. The most basic Langos however are topped with garlic sauce, sour cream, and cheese. But like I said, basically anything else can go on it. I now have an eternal addiction to it and it is oh so sweet...
Then we went home. That was my Friday adventure.
It's nice to do that stuff though, when I can do stuff like that I definitely feel a lot more free. If something looks interesting, I walk over and check it out. Studying abroad isn't for everyone despite what people may believe and I think one of the key traits to doing a semester outside of your home country is definitely a free-spirited nature. Don't get me wrong I make my general plans, but other than that I lack the ability to worry about the fine details until they come up.
Basically to sum it up: I just go...
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Living in a Falafel Based Economy
**First of all I want to give my roommate credit for giving me the name to this post**
So classes started up this past week and I do believe I lucked out here. I only have class Tuesday through Thursday, leaving me with four day weekends to do whatever I please. My schedule is as follows:
-European Film Art
-Intro to Statistics
-Molecular Biology
-Organizational Communication
-Salsa Dancing
To tell you the truth though, having lived here for now over two weeks, the experience is definitely surreal. I feel myself slowly acclimating to everything. For example, while I noticed that every car here is tiny (compared to US standards) they all seem normal now. I was originally thrown off by the number of smart cars on the streets. Now, I see it as a normal size to a car. (Though we did pass by a Hummer with Florida tags on it the other day. It was kind of awkward especially since Diesel converts to about $9US a gallon over here.)
As far as food goes (since it is the main part of my life) Turkish joints number more than McDonalds (which are surprisingly outnumbered by Burger Kings over here). It's nice to get a good tasting Gyro or Kebab for around 600HUF (roughly $3US), and the great thing is is that it's cheaper than fast food.
My apartment is located in the Oktogon, I guess it would be the equivalent of Times Square in Budapest, but it's definitely not as big. For being a city, Budapest's population is kind of small (around 2 million people), but it's still pretty booming. The night life is excellent, there are plenty of bars and clubs to go to and getting around is pretty simple with the public transportation. That is to say that you aren't going to bet lost at some point. Trust me, if you want to explore at all during the beginning you'll get lost several times. That's what it's all about though.
Hasta luego!
-David Van Tassell
So classes started up this past week and I do believe I lucked out here. I only have class Tuesday through Thursday, leaving me with four day weekends to do whatever I please. My schedule is as follows:
-European Film Art
-Intro to Statistics
-Molecular Biology
-Organizational Communication
-Salsa Dancing
To tell you the truth though, having lived here for now over two weeks, the experience is definitely surreal. I feel myself slowly acclimating to everything. For example, while I noticed that every car here is tiny (compared to US standards) they all seem normal now. I was originally thrown off by the number of smart cars on the streets. Now, I see it as a normal size to a car. (Though we did pass by a Hummer with Florida tags on it the other day. It was kind of awkward especially since Diesel converts to about $9US a gallon over here.)
As far as food goes (since it is the main part of my life) Turkish joints number more than McDonalds (which are surprisingly outnumbered by Burger Kings over here). It's nice to get a good tasting Gyro or Kebab for around 600HUF (roughly $3US), and the great thing is is that it's cheaper than fast food.
My apartment is located in the Oktogon, I guess it would be the equivalent of Times Square in Budapest, but it's definitely not as big. For being a city, Budapest's population is kind of small (around 2 million people), but it's still pretty booming. The night life is excellent, there are plenty of bars and clubs to go to and getting around is pretty simple with the public transportation. That is to say that you aren't going to bet lost at some point. Trust me, if you want to explore at all during the beginning you'll get lost several times. That's what it's all about though.
Hasta luego!
-David Van Tassell
Orientation and Slippery Slopes
So Orientation week was definitely interesting. With it being the first week I guess the campus had to see that we were completely snared in by the city so along with a couple of free meals, we took a tour to see some of the monuments around Budapest.
First of all you know that saying that Europe is "where the history is"? Well it really couldn't be anymore far from the truth. The history of Hungary spans back to when the original Magyar Tribesmen conquered the Carpathian basin around I believe it was 976AD (please someone correct me if I'm wrong). Heroe's Square was definitely a sight. I could start giving you the history about it, but I think it best to find out for yourself.
In one interesting bit, there's a statue of George Washington and at his feet is an eagle carrying a scimitar. It's dedicated to the United States contributions to Hungary.
After this, we explored a couple of monuments on the hills of Buda. Just so you know, Budapest is actually two cities separated by the Danube River. Buda is where there's a majority of the old castles and Pest is the more modernized side with stores, shops, residences, and the campus as well. With there being so much snow about footing wasn't too good and maybe one of the people in our group fell. Of course I'm not going to give out names. (Pictures will be made available though.)
Though not usually a fan of guided tours, this one was definitely enjoyable and it definitely made me more excited to explore around the city despite the fact that it's cold.
First of all you know that saying that Europe is "where the history is"? Well it really couldn't be anymore far from the truth. The history of Hungary spans back to when the original Magyar Tribesmen conquered the Carpathian basin around I believe it was 976AD (please someone correct me if I'm wrong). Heroe's Square was definitely a sight. I could start giving you the history about it, but I think it best to find out for yourself.
In one interesting bit, there's a statue of George Washington and at his feet is an eagle carrying a scimitar. It's dedicated to the United States contributions to Hungary.
After this, we explored a couple of monuments on the hills of Buda. Just so you know, Budapest is actually two cities separated by the Danube River. Buda is where there's a majority of the old castles and Pest is the more modernized side with stores, shops, residences, and the campus as well. With there being so much snow about footing wasn't too good and maybe one of the people in our group fell. Of course I'm not going to give out names. (Pictures will be made available though.)
Though not usually a fan of guided tours, this one was definitely enjoyable and it definitely made me more excited to explore around the city despite the fact that it's cold.
Friday, 12 February 2010
My First Impressions
To whom it may concern;
The situation here in Budapest is worst then I expected. Hundreds of buildings are still in flames and the death toll sky rockets in the hundreds of thousands. Children are left without parents and wild packs of mongrel dogs run unchecked throughout the city. These dogs in turn breed with the local breed of avians, creating running packs of mongrel dogs that can also fly through the air. I do not know how long my team or I can hold out, but we have managed to make a shaky alliance at best with the Hungarians. Though we are separated by language, our bond exceeds these barriers to accomplish the language that we all speak. The language of continuing human life. If you read this, you are part of this alliance. Congratulations, you are the resistance...
Just kidding...
Just to give you a little bit about myself. I'm a junior at McDaniel College's Westminster campus studying for a semester at McDaniel College's Budapest campus. Along with this, this will be my first time outside of the United States (I've been to Canada, but that doesn't really count).
Despite what might be expected from someone in my situation, my days leading up to my departure were filled with excitement and not anxiety. I wasn't afraid of being homesick. I made the mistake of reading On the Road during Sophomore year and have since been fighting back the urge to drop out and just Kerouacin' it. It may also be because my own mom travels a lot due to her job. I grew up listening to her stories of visiting other countries. She actually challenged me to beat the number of countries visited. I'm more than willing to do so.
So in essence I'm here because I know I've been bred to travel.
The flight over was pretty good. I had trouble going to sleep, I only got about a good 40 minutes, but I've never slept well on flights anyway. Video games and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (en espanol) served the rest of the way to kill time. The layover was pretty relaxed, got through security quickly (around 7am) enough for me and my friends to sit down at Huxley's pub for breakfast. One large traditional British breakfast (bacon, sausage, fried eggs, toast, fried tomatoes, and of course baked beans) and a tall glass of Stella Artois later and we were on our way to the terminal. Of course there was another terrible meal on the flight to Budapest, but this flight was only two hours so whatever. I arrived at noon Budapest time (6am your time).
Dr. Adamson greeted us and eventually a few more students trickled in. Our group totals at about 10 people. Mostly everyone else showed up later and by that time I had already had a bowl of goulash and a beer. At that moment I was suddenly reminded of Professor Granlund telling me that all I was going to eat would be meat, potatoes, and beer.
Of course, that's always been alright with me...
The situation here in Budapest is worst then I expected. Hundreds of buildings are still in flames and the death toll sky rockets in the hundreds of thousands. Children are left without parents and wild packs of mongrel dogs run unchecked throughout the city. These dogs in turn breed with the local breed of avians, creating running packs of mongrel dogs that can also fly through the air. I do not know how long my team or I can hold out, but we have managed to make a shaky alliance at best with the Hungarians. Though we are separated by language, our bond exceeds these barriers to accomplish the language that we all speak. The language of continuing human life. If you read this, you are part of this alliance. Congratulations, you are the resistance...
Just kidding...
Just to give you a little bit about myself. I'm a junior at McDaniel College's Westminster campus studying for a semester at McDaniel College's Budapest campus. Along with this, this will be my first time outside of the United States (I've been to Canada, but that doesn't really count).
Despite what might be expected from someone in my situation, my days leading up to my departure were filled with excitement and not anxiety. I wasn't afraid of being homesick. I made the mistake of reading On the Road during Sophomore year and have since been fighting back the urge to drop out and just Kerouacin' it. It may also be because my own mom travels a lot due to her job. I grew up listening to her stories of visiting other countries. She actually challenged me to beat the number of countries visited. I'm more than willing to do so.
So in essence I'm here because I know I've been bred to travel.
The flight over was pretty good. I had trouble going to sleep, I only got about a good 40 minutes, but I've never slept well on flights anyway. Video games and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (en espanol) served the rest of the way to kill time. The layover was pretty relaxed, got through security quickly (around 7am) enough for me and my friends to sit down at Huxley's pub for breakfast. One large traditional British breakfast (bacon, sausage, fried eggs, toast, fried tomatoes, and of course baked beans) and a tall glass of Stella Artois later and we were on our way to the terminal. Of course there was another terrible meal on the flight to Budapest, but this flight was only two hours so whatever. I arrived at noon Budapest time (6am your time).
Dr. Adamson greeted us and eventually a few more students trickled in. Our group totals at about 10 people. Mostly everyone else showed up later and by that time I had already had a bowl of goulash and a beer. At that moment I was suddenly reminded of Professor Granlund telling me that all I was going to eat would be meat, potatoes, and beer.
Of course, that's always been alright with me...
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