Regarding daytrips and the actual last days in Budapest

We went on two daytrips outside of Budapest over the last week.

On Tuesday, we took a 2.5 hour train and arrived in another country--Slovakia, and of course it was the one day that was actually cold and rainy. Bratislava takes about all of one hour to get one's orientation--the old town is rather small and filled with lots of cute and funny statues. In fact, our time in Bratislava between trains was basically spent trying to track down all the funky statues and trying to find good food, which is rather plentiful and the only significantly worthwhile aspect of the trip. Immediately upon arrival we sought out a 'jedalen' for lunch (note: all my blog posts will likely be missing the necessary accent marks, I apologize but time is limited), which is a no-frills cheap eatery serving standard slovakian fare. The menu was written on a white-board, in cursive, with some stuff half-erased, so I proceeded to order 3 random meals for us = cutlets, mashed potatoes and so on. Not bad, but holds no candle to the offering of the Milk Bars in Poland (stay tuned...). After a suitable sightseeing break (the castle "Hrad", and finishing our round of the old town) we went for hot chocolate at Schockocafe in the main square, upon Orla's suggestion. This place takes its hot chocolate literally and they serve basically melted chocolate in cups.

My companions: sarcasm and lack of expression. (drinking liquid chocolate)

If I were a chocolate fiend I would have been in chocolate heaven (Steve was, I think). More wandering ensued, and at this point we were definitely just killing time until it was acceptable to go for dinner and then to our train. We got garlic soup and bryndzove halusky in the Slovak Pub for an incredibly reasonable price and were beyond sated as we returned to Budapest.

Bryndzové halušky - potato dumplings with sheep's cheese and bacon bits

Our second daytrip was on Friday (May 23rd) to Eger, a small town in Hungary known for its wine, particularly Egri Bikaver (I think I already mentioned the story behind the name--hungarians fighting against the Turks drank the wine for spiritual fortification, and the Turks thought the Hungarians drank blood so they fled). Once again, it rained, but only upon our arrival. We wandered around the town and ate enormous pancakes (Courtney and I shared: one with peas, chicken liver, beef; another with peaches and cottage cheese) which made us full for the rest of the day. Then we trekked into the Szepasszonyvolgy (Valley of the Beautiful Women) which is a valley with rows of wine cellars, and had ourselves some tasty Cabernet before catching the train back.

Wine cellar entrances, one after another

This last week also included the Farewell Dinner, at Trofea Grill, and we did quite a bit of kissing and hugging that night (with Steve and Courtney nearby sampling the impressive layout of Hungarian cuisine). Erasmus was going full blast for the last few days, with another sunrise after going to Obuda, the summer island of clubs. Getting there, quite amusing with 40 of us on a nightbus, making it sway dangerously to each side when taking a turn. And getting back, at 5:30 am...a train, to a tram, to home, longest odyssey on no sleep. Ah, I am glad we won't be clubbing while traveling.

Obuda, an entire island devoted to clubs. Sheesh.

And finally, my last night, with Szimpla and a quick stop to Rio, with me actually shedding tears--what a sap I am. But these kind of goodbyes are no good, nem trendy, b/c there actually is no foreseeable dates set for when I will see my friends from Budapest again. Our lives could be entirely different when next we meet. I have definitely made some good friends though, and I will miss them. (If any of you guys read this, which I am sure you don't *crossed fingers* you know you are always welcome in LA!) And, as in the words of Big Chris from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: "It's been emotional."

And for your viewing pleasure: photos.

Regarding the arrival of my travel companions and last days in Budapest

This post will likely be written in a series of sittings. Just warning you.

I just finished my paper. Whoo. Absolutely, finally, definitely finished with Junior Year now.

Thursday 15th May: Steve arrived from Florida at 1 pm in Ferihegy Airport and I went to meet him, after first stopping by the Plus discount store I used to shop at near my old apartment where I picked up 8 bottles of the most drinkable wine that exists in Hungary for a grand total of 2000 forint (= $12.71). God I love this city. Though of course, it would help if Hungary had some concept of retailing, and this bottle of wine were sold in multiple stores throughout the center of the city and not just in that one lone outpost, fringing on the streets of communist apartment developments. Anyways, back to Steve's arrival--this signals the beginning of summer travels, while coinciding with my last days here in Budapest as a student. Kind of exciting and bittersweet at the same time.

Steve is a friend from high school, from when I was quite the know-it-all 13 year old brat, and this is his first time in Europe.

We got coffee at Praga Kavehaz on Baross (one of my fave cute little cafes in this city) which now has its terrace open for use, as do most of the city cafes. The time for people-watching and caffeine-addiction has officially begun, aka. summer has started. Then we proceeded to shop for groceries at the Grand Market, before Steve passed out from jet lag and I researched some of our future transportation possibilities. We met a lot of Erasmus students at Szimpla later that night (I can't NOT show a visitor Szimpla, it's absolutely a crucial spot), but it was an early evening as Steve was still tired.

Friday, 16th May: Steve and I and my friend Emilie set out to investigate what was proclaimed to be one of the largest flea markets in Central Europe--the Esceri Pac market. This requires taking a metro far out of town and then switching to a bus and going even further. Luckily it was not a Saturday, the busiest and most crowded day, because there was already a plentitude of antiques, communist memorabilia and assorted bric-a-brac to sift through.

Commie and WWII pins and medals

Later that day we went to the Museum of Applied Arts which is housed in a gorgeous building resembling a church, with an interior modeled on the Alhambra in Spain.

Interior of Museum of Applied Arts

The collection was gorgeous, as all craftwork from olden days always is remarkable, but not particularly unique from the type of stuff found in most history museums. We got another coffee on the now bustling and lively Raday Utca, absolutely peppered with terraced restaurants and hanging flags. I finally tried the 'Melange,' a choice I had seen on menus many a time but never known the meaning of. Well folks, it's basically a latte with honey, and I am glad to know that these ingredients mix so damn well together.

That night we went with everyone to Rio yet again, but given the club's proximity to Gellert Hill, I was determined to survive until 5 am and then climb the hill to see the sunrise. Which we did, and it was worth it (my only other sunrise, as in actually witnessing the neon disc cross the horizon, was at Masada in Israel) and then we passed out.

Sunrise from Gellert

Saturday 17 May: Slept/loafed around the apartment for a good while, and then found out that the National Muzeum was having a weekend event, with live music, vendors, free entry and so on. We saw a jazz/gospel performer, the weather was grand, and these adorable kids were playing at being knights. Man, the U.S. would be so much cooler if they overthrew cowboys vs. indians and played at Knights vs. evil Knights instead. We watched a movie with a lot of Dutch friends, and although Hayden Christensen is much more attractive than his prequel-Star Wars films, the movie Jumper still sucks. I was still beat from very little sleep, so we watched another movie--La Orfanata, spanish scary movie, produced by Guillermo del Toro (of Pan's Labyrinth fame), and ooooooeeeeeeee, I had to get up midway and put on more layers to stop all the chills I got.

Sunday 18 May: Since the National Muzeum had free entry, we went there, and it was nice to go through a second time. I think I more neatly comprehended what was initially a bit of an overload of chronology and history. I left a worried Steve at the museum while I went to the airport to meet Courtney (!!!!), proceeded to get utterly drenched during a flash rain, and then escorted the recent Edinburghian to my apartment. The first half of the summer traveling crew is officially assembled. Made dinner together (I am going to cherish these free moments with a kitchen as I predict our access this summer will not allow for particularly elaborate meals), then killed a few bottles of wine and discovered yet another festival in the city--a Czech beer festival with delicious dark beer (the name escapes me).

Once I used to like light beers. I still like Corona, and I like pale ales and such, but I realize that I am finding light beer more and more like p*&s-water and dark beer more and more delicious.

At the beer fest, we met a Latvian and a South-African, both expatriates in Budapest and had what I hope was the first of many impromptu and intriguing conversations with strangers.

Monday 19th May: I took my guests around the city for sightseeing, and we went to Menza on liszt ferenc, a tree-lined and mostly pedestrian street, for lunch. Menza is often touted as one of the best restaurants in the city, but like many of the other Budapest establishments, it's lunch 2-course special is incredibly cheap and it doesn't require a reservation like it usually does at night. The asparagus soup was mighty tasty.
This monday was also my last night frequenting Morrison's pub at the opera. Good times were had there, always.

So, I will finish this faithful recollection of sequenced events at this point, to give you a bit of a breather. Time to start packing.

Regarding ruminations and back to Kerouac

It's all sort of coming to a close here which is incredibly sad. My urges are torn between going and doing as much as possible immediately, or to burying my head beneath the covers with a movie and not admitting I won't be seeing this place or these people for a very long time.
I have a feeling this post is going to reveal way more feelings than I want it to.

Warm weather is ever-present, the island and the sun beckon, open-air clubs are springing up all over the place and all I can think is...I am not ready for that next stage. Because once this is over, I will be traveling, and with that comes a lot of uncertainty. Then back to the real world, university, and finding a job--uncertainty rains and thunders down!

And all of my worries and anxieties, from the question of "what in the heck do I want to do with this life?", to "what can i do that will enable me to be productive?", "am I even capable of productivity and doing something worthwhile?", "do I do Film? but do i want to stay in LA forever? Accounting? International work? Environmental management?", to "how can I manage to not go flat broke before the end of my journey's?", to the ever-present "does everyone find love, will I?", and all the way to the silly "i am a girl and i want a pretty pair of new shoes but I can't"...well, I mostly manage to keep these tamped down and not flooding out and making a mess of my daily functioning. But then someone important asks me..."Why did you stop seeing that guy" or "so you know you have to actually get a job, become independent, make a career for yourself--when and how are you going to go about doing this?" Of course it's all out of concern for me, but I am thinking about this ALL THE TIME and I don't have any of the answers, not for myself and sure as heck not for anyone else.

Ok, phew, just wanted to get that out. Apologies for the complaining. I know I have to and I will man up to whatever faces me and everything will work out, but that doesn't mean that I have any certainty about anything and I am just trying to muddle my way through the best way possible, leaving no casualties. And please consider that my general behavior of being flippant or sarcastic or witty about something might mean that I actually care MORE rather than less.

If I might bring things back full-circle to the quote that started all this:

"I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one
falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had
nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion."
Jack Kerouac, On the Road

I guess I needed to put all this out there because I might be getting hung up on my worries and all I can do is try to experience, learn, move forward and 'muddle through.' So yep, that's the plan, 'don't worry, be "learning" (and hopefully happy).' Actually, once when I was little, my brother asked me "what have you learned today?" And being a 'too-cool' little brat I responded "nothing," and then he said, "no, you learn something every day." Course I just beat a path out of his presence at the time, but that little exchange has stuck with me and he was very right.

On a more upbeat tone, the events of the past two weeks have been more or less uneventful in any 'exciting stories that would interest my blog readers' sort of way. I had some serious group project work put on my shoulders, but my grasp of the English language (despite my free way with grammar) seems to be my biggest asset (if only I could motivate myself to put it to use to actually write something from ME, like a screenplay or a story. oops, did I just admit another anxiety/repressed wish?). So the work passed smoothly and I am amused to note that I have the highest grades in a few of my classes--amusing as this is the only semester where my grades will not count.

There was also a great deal of partying, though I opted out rather often or early. Two more friends came in for two nights from their study abroad at HEC (outside of Paris) and it was interesting to compare experiences, plus we went to a ridiculous club that basically had a circus show going on inside. There was also an ESN party on a boat on the Danube and my god this city is fantastic, at night especially.

Rope act from Studio

Wall of g0-go dancers at Studio

View from the Europa boat (Parliament, Chain Bridge, Castle Hill)

The Chain Bridge from the boat

I also spent a lot of time with the Irish this past week. Orla's family was visiting and they kindly took us out to dinner for her 21st at Koleves Vendeglo (Stonesoup Bar) which has the most fantastic duck with orange sauce and the poppyseed mess dessert I had attempted making at home, 'makos guba.'

Makos Guba aka Poppy seed Mess

Her father and I had some interesting conversations about propaganda and political regimes, and Orla herself is 'good people,' one of the best here. Plus, the Irish accent, as Courtney puts it, is utterly charming. And on Saturday we celebrated Kevin's 21st (he is also Irish) which was utterly hilarious but also a bit sad as their absolutely crazy landlord joined the party, and seeing an old alcoholic lady like that is just unfortunate. By and large, there are just too many alcoholics in Central and Eastern Europe. That night I also showed a couchsurfer around town, and that was a cool new experience--she was an Australian, working as an au pair in Paris for 6 months, and traveling around now on her own. She was exceptionally outgoing and just contacted me to see if I could provide a bit of company so I invited her out for the festivities with us. In exchange she imparted some useful advice on our future travels from Switz to Croatia.

Now I have exams, which will be done on Wednesday, plus a paper to finish. Probably the minute I finish with all my work I will feel a little 'freer' and less down than this post may suggest. And Steve and Courtney arrive soon after and the great adventures will begin!

I'll add a photolink to this post later.

Regarding a Life & Death Situation, another Visitor and a Trip to the Country

Upon my return from Transylvania, I was faced with a threat to my very life: computer trouble.

This might seem a bit extreme but really…think about being without reliable access to the internet, without Microsoft office, Skype (now that I am abroad this is an essential tool), and so on.

My usc labtop has always had ‘slowness’ issues, due to “Vijay and his sons”—the IT department at USC. However, it usually worked ok anyway, until now when I was apparently riddled with viruses, Symantec was absolutely worthless, and my free download of AVG and anti-adware couldn’t work fast enough to stop the infiltration.

Anyways, point is, this is the reason I have been MIA and late on blogging about past events. I got a copy of Windows and reinstalled, then a very kind Dutch guy helped me reinstall all the necessary drivers and now the labtop is working like a newborn piece of shiny, sleek and exciting machinery. Can’t believe I didn’t reinstall earlier.

Oh the things I keep learning about with computers. It seems like anyone who is a computer expert expects everyone else to have the same knowledge that they do and they omit useful information. I am not an idiot, I will understand if you explain to me, but if you never tell me that reinstalling XP removes all the drivers then how am I supposed to know until I am left with a new XP and no drivers so no access to the internet to even research anything. Anyways, thank you Karst, my life saver! And now I know.

During this mild crisis, Celine came to visit. This was exceedingly cool for me, but I feel bad that I had to deal with all the computer stuff while she was here. She did an astonishing amount of sightseeing in one day while I was in class, and then together we went on yet another fruitless search for the Budavari caves and then to the ritzy Gellert Baths. These baths are very beautiful and the entrance hall looks like it’s modeled off of a Parliament building or a cathedral. However, the layout is rather confusing and we wasted some time just to find the changing rooms. All the other patrons were French—and as Celine put it, she spent more time with French people with me in Budapest than she does while studying in Paris. So Gellert was nice, but Szecheniy and Rudas are still my favorites.

Inside Gellert

In Friday Celine was leaving for Cairo to visit her roommate from USC who is studying there, and I left for Balaton. Budapest this weekend was deserted of Erasmus students—half went to Krakow and the other half went to Balaton. While being the largest lake in Europe and a favorite summer vacation destination, I can’t see much to separate it from small town America. I even saw a town rally and cheerleading show. Still, it was nice to spend time with my French friends, get to know some others, bask in the sun, eat lots of Hungarian food and drink lots of wine (wine-tasting/dinner/party in a restaurant built into a hill, completely Hobbit style!).

Balaton photos

Regarding my first visitor

Last week Elizabeth came to visit me from Scotland so it was my first opportunity to be a host in this wonderful city. We started her introduction to Budapest on a properly off-putting note: the nightbus from the airport. It can only testify to Elizabeth's open-mindedness and the prevailing charm of Budapest itself, that she was willing to overlook the endless rows of grimy, worse-for-wear, identical communist buildings in the outskirts of the city, plus the...shall we say 'intriguing' companions we had with us on the bus. All in the middle of the night.

As Elizabeth was the first, there is a fair amount I myself had yet to do so part of her trip was exploration for the both of us. On Friday we took a morning trip with some friends to Szentendre, a quaint Hungarian town half an hour outside of the city. The highlights included an unsupervised ramble through an endless wine cellar, which provided a great temptation to spirit away some of the various wines but we were good and moral girls and didn't do any such thing. Then we finally tried the Hungarian street food (street food is a must wherever you travel!)--Langos: deep fried dough with various toppings, the possibilities which include: "sonka": ham/"sajt" -cheese/bacon/curdled ewe's cheese/etc. The other street food option was palacsinta (essentially crepes) with various fillings. Back in Budapest, after lots of walking around essential spots, we decided to brave the Nagysarnok (Great Market) and actually order produce and such there, despite our woeful lack of Hungarian. Suffice to say, it was a success, despite the enormous amount of gesturing and 'Nem'/'Igen' (no/yes) required. It was fabulous to actually cook things like leeks, potatoes, and pork instead of the general pasta fare i've been doing lately. Saturday was more sightseeing, we visited the National Museum, which broke down Budapest's history into convenient rooms for each group of people's that settled or ruled here. We strolled down Andrassy Ut which I never fully appreciated, but god it's a beautiful street---such lovely, yet old, buildings, with such great balconies and paintings on the facades. Then again, that's all over Budapest, but they really put some extra effort into Andrassy (together with Hosok Tere aka Heroes Square, it's a World Heritage Site). We did some people watching at Szecheniy baths (the Italian tourists are arriving by the hordes...you can spot them either with the huge wraparound sunglasses or the lime-green speedo shorts.) That night we continued our multi-national socializing experiences at a Polish dinner party, though the food that could serve about 10 people meant there were not enough pierogi's to go around for 30 people. Sunday, a bit worse from wear from the previous night, we hiked up to Gellert Hill, from which we got some nice views over the city.

It was nice to spend some time to purposely appreciate the city because as weeks pass one can get mired in the daily life routines. It was also great to have Elizabeth visit, as we always have amusing adventures, for better or worse, and she is excellent company. Shout out to the two ZBT boys who effected our introduction, many thanks, haha.

In other HUGE NEWS: I have a new apartment! I moved in with a sweet Belgian girl, whose roommate had to return to Mexico for some months due to visa issues. It's directly above a McDonald's (oh, franchises and globalization...), on the main street that the tram runs on and buses and metro are mere minutes away. I went from living in a cubicle to living in palatial quarters, skipping normal entirely. It's also one of the proper Budapest buildings, with an imposing front door, numerous doors/locks, dark stone stairwells, and inner courtyards. Also, the kitchen is much larger with room to maneuver, and no special implements are necessary to light the stove.

My couch area (in my bedroom).

At the opposite corner, my bed.

View from my balcony.Building courtyard.My balcony and apartment as viewed from the tram stop. Note the McD's.

And so, I've been in this apartment almost the week now and it's great. I've even tested out the kitchen multiple times, and invited friends over (something that was not possible due to NO space in the other flat). It's grand :-D
The recipes I tried: Potato Leek Soup which was spectacular and super simple, Pork Adobo, a Filipino dish which had a very distinct and good flavor but pork is not my favorite meat for long cooking, and I put together a pasta with poppy seeds cuz I heard that they could go well together (butter, poppy seeds, salt/pepper, lemon juice, cranberries) and it was super quick, yummy and different from the standard red sauce deal.

This week has been gloriously warm, despite the weather promising rain every day, so I did another hike up to Gellert, and we've been going to Margit Sziget to throw frisbees around a lot. That island gets packed! But at least it is pretty darn large.

On Saturday, a few of us went to Godollo, a town 40 minutes outside of Budapest which has the largest baroque mansion in Hungary. It was commissioned by Antal Grassalkovich, a confidante of Empress Maria Theresa, and later it was a favorite residence of Elizabeth the favorite Hungarian queen and Hapsburg empress known as Sissi. Not all of the building has been renovated, but there were some really beautiful rooms. It was nice to do a daytrip and feel like I was seeing more of Hungary than just the capital, but at the same time, I've seen more magnificent or imposing royal apartments elsewhere.

Sissi and Franz Joseph

And saturday night was...THE CRAZIEST PARTY I HAVE EVER SEEN. There was a Sparty ("spa-party") at the Rudas baths. 800-some people in bikinis and bathing suits, laser show, belly dancing show, techno, crazy lights...never seen anything like it. Just to give you an idea: Sparty.

Photos from Elizabeth's Visit.
Photos of the new flat and Godollo.

If you haven't noticed, Kate's blog has inspired me to add lots of photos. I apologize for the length of the post. Hope all is well :-)
The date on this should actually be Sunday, April 13 11:40 pm.