here i am.

After months of anticipation I am now sitting in my Hungarian dorm room, snacking on fresh fruit from the market down the street and listening to my friends cook dinner down the hall. After only nine days in the country I have ridden on buses, metros, trams and trains. I have also taken plenty of wrong buses, trams and metros, relying on the help of friendly Hungarian ladies who just laugh and point out the right direction to the flock of confused American students giddily wandering around. I have walked miles of beautiful sunny streets along amazing buildings and parks. I have learned some key Hungarian phrases, numbers, and foods such as "sajnos, nem beszelek magyarul" or "sorry, I don't speak Hungarian. I have purchased bags of fresh tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and onions from the market sellers who struggle with confused expressions to understand my pointing and pathetic attempts at the Hungarian language. I have consumed lots of delicious gelato and espresso along with super cheap loafs of bread the size of my torso and local Hungarian wine.

Basically, I am having a pretty fantastic time exploring the city and getting to know the rest of the people on the semester. Yesterday a group of us decided to take a train to the beautiful lake Balaton a few hours out of the city. After some stressful moments at the train station we spent the day viewing the countryside out the window and laying alongside the sparkling lake. Today we went to a little Scottish church that holds services in English and stayed for a delicious lunch afterwards. We even ended up getting suckered into making the lunch next week.

Well that is all for now, my stomach is calling me to the kitchen, and craft time is going on next door. I am not so good at keeping up with e-mails but check this blog every once and while, and hopefully I will keep it updated.





here is a picture of our
dorm which is about a
15 min tram ride from
downdown, st. steven's
basilica, and the
parliament building.