Blogs from Buda, Budapest, Central Hungary, Hungary, Europe - page 2

I’m loving Budapest. So far it’s up there with Paris and Barcelona. The wine and food are amazing, but the stars of the show are the architecture and views of the city. Today I took a bus tour of the city…one of the hop on, hop off type. I know it sounds a little cheesy, but you can learn quite a lot from it and then get a feel for where things are. I went all the way around, then decided to start on the Buda side of the river. The Danube River divides the city in two. Buda is on the hilly side and the city of Pest is on the other. The Buda side contains the Buda Castle, the largest in Europe, I think. It also has St Mathias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion. ... read more

You may notice that my Facebook status says I'm going to Serbia. You may also notice that I'm blogging from Budapest. Here's what happened... I came home from school all excited for my 11:00 bus that was going to take Darcy and me to Belgrade tonight. We were going to arrive at 5 am tomorrow morning, nap in the hostel, and then explore Belgrade all weekend. Nope. I packed, I showered, I did laundry, I cleaned my dishes, etc. I went out and exchanged Forints for Euros so that we would be able to pay the bus driver. Darcy made the bus reservation earlier today. Darcy came over, we got a beer, and we left for the bus station. We knew where to be and when. Darcy got the reservation through a company called OrangeLines. We ... read more

Nukuin pitkään ja söin aamupalan rauhassa. Kävin läheisessä nettilässä kopioimassa kuvat tikulle ja päivittämässä blogini. Yritin vielä hoitaa Ahjolan bridgekurssin asioita samalla julkaisemalla idean, jolla kurssille olisi saatu houkuteltua kerhopelaajia mukaan. Lähdin kävelemään parlamentille, koska olin lukenut, että sinne pääsisi EU-kansalaiset ilmaiseksi. Ohitin USA:n suurlähetystön, jonka valokuvaaminen oli kyltein kielletty. Parlamentin ympärillä oli iso työmaa. Tapasin sattumalta kaksi ruotsalaista kaveria, jotka olivat olleet eilen samassa junavaunussa. Parlamenttiin olisi pitänyt käydä ostamassa liput läheisestä museosta. Ei menty sinne. Muutin suunnitelmiani ja kävelin kaverien kanssa Tonavan saareen, jossa on iso puisto. Otin siellä päivän ensimmäisen oluen, toinen heistä jäätelön. Jossain välissä aloin puhua sitten heidän kanssaan ruotsia. Heistä kumpikin osasi erinomaist... read more

As we head into the third week of school, I'm becoming much more comfortable with the routine of things, and I just love my job. I really do. I always feel a disconnect in the summer because I stop working with kids (I spend my summers waitressing), so I always doubt my teaching abilities. However, when I enter school again, it all falls back into place. My days are spent playing games with kids. Simple as that. The smallest accomplishments are what make my days amazing. When the kid that speaks no English comes up to me and says a new word he's learned, I can't help but feel ecstatic. I walked out of our teachers room today to get four kids for a tutorial group (tutorials are when we take small groups out to work ... read more

It's really great having a fully furnished apartment for two reasons. 1. There's a lot of stuff that I need. 2. There's a lot of stuff that I don't need. My flat is known by my friends as "the old lady apartment." I've come to embrace that because it's much easier than describing the exact area in which I live. I love my flat. It's huge. I have two balconies, a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom (kind of), and a dining room. Not bad. Today I went to Ikea to get new towels and a trash can and stuff because the stuff provided wasn't up to my standards. As much as I want to dry myself off with crazy scratchy towels for a year...no. Anyway...when I was putting away my new things, I decided to ... read more