The beautiful Croatia.

This past weekend we piled into our now beloved vans for our third and final trip with Janos and Robbie. It was only half the group this time since the other half went to croatia the previous week. I was blown away by the beauty, history and sorrow of Southern Hungary and Croatia during this trip and learned a trillion times more than I had previouly known about the conflicts surrounding the former Yugoslavia. I also took a whole ton of pictures which I am about to post, as well as some more pictures that a guy who that came along with us took. The first day we spent most of our time in a tiny town in Southern Hungary where the Ars Longa Foundation house is. This is the foundation that Janos and Robbie volunteer basically their lives to and that organize our group trips. As it says on their website, "the Ars Longa Foundation was established to identify issues, opportunities, and needs in the Christian churches and communities of East Central Europe and to address these concersn from the perspective of a Reformed Christian world view." In the yard behind this house (where many volunteers stay during the summer when they run children's camps throughout the area) we eventually planted 60 walnut trees. It was really fun digging holes and snacking on biscuits from the neighbor lady. Later that afternoon a couple other people and I took a unbelievably beautiful bike ride through through the sun setting in the surrounding fields.

The next day we drove into Croatia and stopped at this monument up on a hill. You could see across the Danube to Serbia and the only bridge that was left unbombed during the Yugoslav Wars in the late 90's. It was also the site where the Russians choose to fight the Germans in the 1940's killing 50,000 people.

We then drove to another town and went into an abandoned and rotting ethnographic museum once full of Hungarian artifacts that was owned by the church and never restored after the wars. Since communism it has been left to looters and not given back to the church.

Behind this musem we walked up a hill to beautiful vineyards where we could look over and hear a bit more about this church and community which Ars Longa is working with. This is one of the few reformed chuches which has actually been (at least from the outside) restored. The Reformed church recieves very little support from the Croatian state unlike the many surrounding catholic churches in perfect condition.

You could see the cellars from the back yard of the church that led under the vineyards.

For lunch we stopped for some local fish and paprika soup. It was not delicious although Janos and Robbie devoured it. Whole fish just cut up floating around in red broth sadly isn't my favorite. We then went to another Reformed Church where we helped out with church school, played games, and made crafts with the local kids.

On Sunday we spent most of the day at one of the larger Hungarian Reformed churches in Croatia where Robbie used to be the pastor. Although most of the outside has been restored, the inside still lies in ruins. This whole village was completely destroyed by the Serbians during the most recent war and literally bulldozed into the back yard of the church where we once again were recruited to help with the planting of trees.

Diggin holes in dirt full of rubble gets a little tricky. The hospitality of this congregation was unbelievable. The ladies brought out the best homemade pastries I have ever had as the men kept bringing out new bottles of their homemade Palinka to drink with them. It was pretty unreal taking numerous shots of Palinka with these fantastic old church men before 11 am on sunday morning in the back yard of this church waiting for the venicin soup to cook over the fire and the church service to start at 2.
Everyone there had once fled the city only to return years later with loved ones, as well as houses lost... and yet they were some of the most kind and jolly people I have ever met.



Still waiting for the service to start we walked to the train tracks where Serbian buildings were still left in ruins next to the new homes the government built for the people.

I had no idea coming into this semester that this is what the group trips would be like but I so happy they were. It was incredible to travel with Janos and Robbie (two of the most jolly, knowledgable, selfless and hilarious people I have ever known) and see these communities in such an intimate way.

oh boy it's a snowin' out there.

I just went out to renew my tram pass and stop at the grocery store... and in that short amount of time the ground has been covered with a layer of white snow. My first snow fall of the year! Goodbye bright blue skies and autumn leaves... hello mittens and fluffy flakes.

Praha to meet my Mamma.

Two weeks ago I jumped on a train headed to the magical city of Prague. With the help of many kind strangers I found my way to the hotel where my mom and her friend were passed out on their beds waiting for my arrival. The three of us then spent the next few days exploring all the charm that Prague has to offer. We got a great tour of the old town and jewish district from a rather eccentric old actor, saw an amazing modern ballet, ate at some fantastic restaurants, drank plenty of decilious hot wine, and wandered across the Charles Bridge and up to the castle and breathtaking St. Vitus Cathedral. This city was so captivating with its intimate, charming, and clean streets.

While in the Czech Republic we took a little side trip and spent a day and night in the tiny town of Chesky Krumlov. Walking around the cobblestone streets and beautiful caslte of this picturesque village I felt like I had entered a fairytale. It was such a treat to stay in lovely hotels and charming pensions with breakfast and coffee waiting for you in the morning... oh the pleasures of traveling with your mom.

bumpin' around Ukraine.

Everytime we go on a new trip I never quite know what to expect. The Ukraine was full of beautiful sunny fall days, rolling hillsides, Hungarian church services, unbelievable gypsy slums, heartbreaking children, cemeteries laden with candles and quilts of flowers celebrating All Saints Day, ancient wine cellars, handwoven quilts, and goulash cooked over an open fire. Our kickin tour guides continue to impress me with their knowledge, dedication and selfless service to their organization that assists in redeveloping Hungarian communities throughout East Central Europe. I don't know how they manage to drive our vans all around these remote villages with no maps, pulling off the road to pick up the keys to a church, cracking a joke, and telling us anything we could ever wish to know.

A fall day in Budapest.

I have really come to treasure the days I have here in Budapest between our many travels. The weeks seem to be getting shorter and shorter and i hate to think my time here is more than half over.

Here is a glimpse of my fall afternoon yesterday, starting with what is left of the leaves on the trees outside our dorm.

After leaving the gate of our dorm I walk down Temesvar Utca, my lovely street, under a tunnel of trees and past a little coffee shop run by a smiley couple that we all frequent quite often.
At the end of my street I catch the tram and ride it about 15 minuets to the Danube. From here you can see colorful trees on Gellert Hill and the Citadell looking over the city from the top of the hill.

After getting of the tram I walk across this bridge (which is not as pleasant as it sounds due to massive construction). On the other side of the river you can see the huge historic building of Corvinus University, where I take a marketing class on Wednesday nights.

Conveniently located next to Corvinus is the Great Market constantly bustling with tourists and locals, where I bought ot alma and fel kilo paradicom...

...before meeting up with these lovely ladies to study for our Hungarian Politics midterm that night in a cute little cafe. I definintely treasure these relaxing afternoons in this city which now feels like home.

Italia.

After finding out that our professor was cancelling classes for the week, Ali, Jordan, Jenna, Sarah and I jumped on the idea of going to Italy for the week, booked some hostles, and suddenly found ourselves on a 12 hour train ride. I still can't really believe it when I tell people I just spent a week in Italy. Everything went surprisingly smooth and we even managed to avoid the many strikes going on.




We arrived in Venice as the sun was coming up over the canals. Everything was so serene and peaceful as we hauled our bags through the empty streets in search of our hotel... which was perfect, and located on a quite side street. Over the next three days we spent our time trying to navigate our way around the maze of streets and canals getting distracted by delicious treats and shops on every corner. The first time we came upon St. Mark's square my breath was literally taken away by the incredible beauty and architecture that surrounded me. It was amazing to see so many of the cathedrals, buildings and works of art that I am learning about in the Italian Art Renaissance class I am taking here this semester.


During one of our days in Venice we decided to take a short train ride to the small town of Padua, known for the Scrovegni Chapel that Giotto painted in 1305 telling the life of Mary and Jesus in two point perspective, something revolutionary at the time. It was nice to wander around this bustling university town peeking into Cathedrals lined with frescos, and dodge the hundreds of bikers that rule the streets.



After three nights in Venice we left for three more nights in Florence. The crowded, dirty streets of Florence full of traffic were quite a change from the pedestrian streets and quite canals of Venice, but equaly full of incredible art and architecture. Our days here were filled with more churches, cathedrals, art museums and shopping at the many markets. We climbed the 465 stairs up to the top of the Duomo and marvled at the enormity of Florence's Cathedral, saw the incredible precision and accuracy of Michelangelo's David, stood in front of the guilded bronze doors of
the Baptistry, and ate gelato twice a day. By the end of the week our feet were sore, our maps were shredded, our bank accounts were significantly less, and the tourist traps were getting us good... but we still couldn't stop grinning about the incredible things we had seen and done.