Hello Interweb world! I am pathetic for not posting on this blog in the past month, although I really, really saw myself posting frequently during this Spring semester abroad. I apologize. I honestly have no excuses. I could have just designated time to sit down and really think about what to write, and write, but alas – I didn’t.
(I usually get really self-conscious about the organization of my written thoughts, but I’m just going to dump everything on this page – dump all my cider/wine infused thoughts after my first weekend spent outside of Budapest // I know no one is reading this, so who really cares?)
I’ve been in Budapest for (almost) 2 months!! You know how I know? (Apart from opening calendar.google.com and checking the date) It’s cause I have to look at that date on my monthly public transportation card and I’m forced to be aware of it’s expiration date, which is March 18, 2016 in case you were wondering. It’s coming up, which means in 3 days, I have to fumble with the touchscreen on one of those purple public transportation ticket machines to get another ticket that’ll expire on April 18. And then May 18. …..
Time is going by too quickly. I really don’t want to leave Budapest at the end of May. And if I really reflect on this resistance, it’s because of the people I’ve met here. Which people, you may inquire? Well, I do love people so I suppose I’ll elaborate.
(Some of) The people at AIT: I’m extremely lucky to have awesome companions on this program. It’s funny, because I’m enrolled in this computer science program as a math major, and still somehow avoided taking any coding classes this semester. If you want to know my schedule:
Ah, sorry I got distracted. I’ve met awesome people on this program!!! Wow, even right now, in front of me is Ruth, the awesome girl from Grinnell who I met too late, Nhu who’s cooking us fried rice, and Dalia (who I met through Safae, my awesome roommate)). In addition, there’s Annie, Marina, Zoe, Anh, Clara (of course),… but the point is, it’s so amazing to me that we can all hang out with each other, go to each others’ apartments, cook with each other, be open with each other, and not be super in your face about entrepreneurship/start-up-y things. I’ve made awesome memories with these people and I never would have met them if it hadn’t been for this program in Hungary.
(Pisti!!!!! & Bende, lol) My time in Hungary has been super precious because of Pisti. I’m not going to go into too much detail, because it would be too distracting. But we went to Gyor, Prague, and Vienna this past weekend and it was awesome.
The biggest triggers of my reflection have been having visitors. So Melis came over a couple of weeks ago, and I had to really think about what I wanted to show her in Budapest. And I had been in Budapest < 1 month, so I frantically flipped through my short stack of Budapest memories and realized I hadn’t been doing all the “touristy” things in Budapest / iconic / glamorous things. And following this panic, I came to the conclusion that what matters to me the most are people. I really don’t give a shit about fancy restaurants, beautiful pictures (yeah I actually don’t really take pictures anymore because I’m vlogging most of the time), landscapes…. well, landscapes are awesome and our Earth is beautiful, but I do get some sort of “high” from being around people.
And then Emma and Kristen came. And then that began my categorization of travellers: there’s:
- The Touristy/Insta Traveller.
- The “I want to know how a REAL (insert location here) lives”
- The Foodie.
- The Person Who Researches the Area and Finds a Legit Reason For Visiting The Place (apart from the usual)
- The Cafe / Chill Traveller. (Me)
- Other (because I haven’t solidified by categories yet)
And I realized that I HATE being that person who just goes to a city for a day with a checklist, but on the other hand, it’s impossible to truly get to know a city and it’s people unless you’re there for a couple of weeks. So I think I have to resort to the touristy shit (with the awareness that I am doing this touristy shit), or not travel at all.
I’m in traveller purgatory.
Sigh. I’ve lost my train of thought. I just want to say – I love Budapest, the people I’ve met here, the food (lol I’ve never loved Pisti – I mean pizza – this much), and PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. The 4-6 is my lifeline. I live off of Jászai mari ter. Hit me up.
Okay, peace. Also watch my vlogs. https://youtu.be/DCyqfJl-fLY
I’ve been drinking some alcoholz