No Silence is the Greatest Silence...

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...