bye bye budapizzle.

Jordan, Sam and I just got back from taking in our last sights of Budapest before we leave in five hours. I stole these pictures from google cus I didn't have my camera, they don't do the scene justice, but at least they are something. We walked along the river to the beautifully lit up chain bridge where we you can look around you and the buda caslte, gellert hill, parliament, st. stevens basilica, all lit up, with Buda and Pest on either side. We then walked up Gellert hill a ways to a hidden playground with huge slides going down the hill. It was so wonderful standing in this silent park looking out over the whole city, watching the yellow trams go by bellow, and admiring the christmas lights that line every street. I couldn't stop smiling thinking about how much i have come to love budapest and my four months living here. The great public transportation, the endless supply of new clubs and coffee shops, amazing buildings and churches all around, markets full of fresh produce, bridges to walk across, the smell of princess croissants floating down the metro escalader, the wonderfully friendly couple who own the coffee shop down our street, the delicious hot wine in the outdoor christmas market, the city lights, our jolly old deskie, the hungarian friends we have made, the crazy hungs lingo our group has created, strong coffee, late night street side gyro places, as well as the incredible history and culture filling this city, are just a few of the many things I will miss.

I am so utterly thankful for the chance to have come on this semester, and traveled to so many unique and impressive places. I really can't believe how fast these past four months have gone and that in a matter of hours I will be back in Grand Rapids... back to reality I suppose. As sad as I am for my time here to be up though, I get so ridiculously giddy thinking about seeing all my friends and family and spending christmas back home. It will be so nice to relax for a while after being so exhausted and continually on the go these past few days. Thanks so much for reading my blog and letting me share a part of this semester with all of you who managed to read it once and a while! See you soon!

our final weeks in budapest.

These past few weeks in Budapest have been so wonderful but also quite bittersweet. In the midst of studying for exams, writting papers, and finishing up projects, we have all been running around trying to see things we haven't gotten around to yet, and enjoy all that this amazing and unpretentious city has to offer. We have been spending alot of time at the Christmas market these days in the center of the city. Budapest sure knows how to do the holidays right, with beautiful streets lit up with lights and christmas markets strewn about the city. It is so fun to walk around while filling your mug up with delicious hot wine, eating steaming treats, and shopping for your friends back home.

Corwin organized a tour of parliament for us last week. The building is almost as impressive inside as it is on the oustide. One of the members of parliament who has some connections to Calvin took us around. We also got to talk to the minister of foreign affairs for a while, before they both had to run off to a meeting with the prime minister. Here is a kinda crapy picture of the famous hungarian crown with the crooked cross on top.

When ali's family was here I took a tour of the Jewish Synagogue with them. It is the second largest Synagogue in the world, next to the one in New York. It was so cold walking around that day that I stopped at the christmas market on my way home and bought some hand knit socks and a sweater at the store next door which I put on immediatly.

Yesterday some students threw us a farewell reception (which I unfortunately had to miss for class) and our final wednesday night dinner at Corwin and Marilyn's which was delicious as always. Some of our Hungarian friends came to dinner too, as well as my art history teacher, who I have really enjoyed having this semester.

These past few days we have spent quite a bit of time walking around, revisiting our favorite coffee shops, bars, restaurants and flee markets, as well as exploring some museums we hadn't managed to visit already. Tonight we are going to see the Nutcracker at the Opera House. It is so sad to think that my life here is almost over. Although I am stooked to come home for Christmas and see all the people I love, I don't think I am quite ready to be done traveling around this area, and enjoying this city.

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.