szuletesnap!

I just finished learning a lesson on birthdays in Hungarian class... conveniently two days before my own birthday! Now if anyone wants to know I can tell them my birthday is on september twelve... "a szuletesnapom szeptember tizenkettedikey van." Besides teaching us helpful phrases and words, Kati, our fun little Hungarian teacher has taken us on scavenger hunts throughout the city, made us buy the fried Hungarian doughy, cheesy, sour creamy treats in the market, showed us the best local champagne to try, pointed out the good spice and tea shops, as well as cook us some sort of raw meat pate (which is apparently a Hungarian specialty).

With so much free time before our other classes start we have spent a lot of time relaxing and exploring this city that will be our home for the next four months. It has been nice to visit the universities we will be studying at and to meet some of the other international students studying in Budapest. Corvinus University is the one that I will be taking a class at this semester, and it is located right next to the Danube river and my favorite market! The rest of my classes are taught right in our dorm by the Calvin professor, except for the renaissance art history class that will be taught in the teacher's home. It will be nice to eventually have a regular schedule to make things feel a bit more normal and to plan our weekends around.

Speaking of weekends... Thursday morning Ali, Jenna, Jordan, Debbie, Rachelle and I will be on our way to Vienna! A birthday in Vienna... can't get too much better than that (except the obvious fact of missing my friends and family back home).

here are some photos of Kati, the group, hero square, and the view from castle hill....