Transfixed on Transylvania

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So going back a few weeks... I had a great birthday. Nothing too big, but a nice little celebration nonetheless. I went out to dinner with a friend, then met up with everyone else at Alex's apartment. We sipped champagne and tried Palinka for the first time. Palinka. Yikes. I don't know if you have heard of it before (I know I hadn't). It is a very strong liquor that is often fruit-flavored and very popular around these parts, though even more so in Transylvania as I'll explain in a bit. We then went to the club with the open roof and once again, danced the night away.

That weekend, I stayed in Budapest for the most part. Claire and I wandered the city aimlessly for a few hours on Friday. It reminded me how much of the city I have yet to explore. One of the best finds of the day was a fabulous fruit market, which we believe to be organic. The other award-winning part was when we wandered to St. Stephen's Basilica... as we were meandering our way through the small crowd continuously inhabiting the area, a sweet song drew out attention toward the steps. We found our way to a dreadlocked man (side note: there is a surprisingly large amount of people with dreadlocks here) sitting on the steps playing an instrument that resembled the cover of a grill with divets in it, which is formally called "The Hang." It was enchanting! And lucky for us, he even sold cds. We decided it would be a sound investment if we went in on one together. We listened to him play for a while until an asian choir group of 10 yr. olds arrived on the steps and began their songs for the crowd. While I could've listened to the man with the Hang longer, I have to admit the new group was entertaining as well.

For Saturday, a few others and I had signed up to go on a day trip to Visegrad, a town in Hungary, with a group of students from all over Europe. We met at 8:30 am at the train station and then about 30 of us hopped on a train. It took about 1 hour, then we hopped on a ferry to cross the Danube to reach our destination of Visegrad. Unfortunately, it was a rather overcast, rainy day, but it turned out okay in the end. Visegrad is located at the bend in the Danube and hold the remains of a castle from long ago. It was beautiful and a side of Hungary I hadn't really seen yet: big, rolling hills covered with trees. We spent a few hours there wandering around, then got on a boat which carried us down the Danube back to Budapest. It was nice to meet some other students from around Europe. We befriended a group of Germans whom we sat by on the 2 hour boat ride back. They were quite hilarious and ofcourse well-prepared for the ride (champagne and wine were quickly pulled from their backpacks as soon as we pushed off). Drinking is everywhere here. Just about everyone on the boat was drinking - and it was not empty by any means, nor was it mostly students. At one point I was offered to try this liquid that I thought to be milk...oh. my. It was absolutely disgusting. It tasted like sour, curdled milk. I kept my face as straight as possible and gently let my new friend know that I was not a fan, so he finished it off. It has made me even more wary of the milk here, which I have yet to even try. We arrived back in the evening, went home, and then met back up with the Germans a bit later. More friends. Yay.

Monday, October 6th, was Claire's Bday. In celebration, we headed to Oktober 6 Street. Unfortunately, Oct. 6 is not a day of celebration but rather the day I believe the Russians reconquered and it is in a more ritzy part of town so the bars weren't the most affordable of places. We ended up settling for some drinks bought from a convenience store on Oktober 6 st. and hanging out on the steps of the Basilica for a while. Good times with good company. The next night we had a pot luck with our entire program at her apartment which was very successful. We even got some beer pong going, which I quickly became the reigning champion of. Wisconsin, Represent.

Now for this past weekend... AMAZING. Our entire program, all 33 of us, signed up to go on a trip together to Transylvania. We met on Friday morning at 6 am at school where we hopped on a bus and drove 8 hours. Our first stop was a flea market that only occurs once a year. It was huge and quite the sight to see. Surprisingly I did not make any purchases, but I did wander around for a few hours perusing. One of the most odd/sad sights was one tent in which a large, live lamb was lying on the ground, unmoving, feet tied together, breathing very shallowly. Later someone explained that it was basically an advertisement for the goods they sold in the tent - implying they're fresh or something? I'm not sure. Our next stop was the small village we would be staying in for the next 3 nights. We all chose who we wanted to stay with from the group, then when we arrived, a bunch of families met us and led us to their homes. It was great. We stayed with a single, middle-aged woman. Her name was Iles. She was great, though she spoke no english. Every night she fed us extravagant, home-cooked meals and every morning there was a buffet of bread, cheese, meat, jam, etc. Another addition to every meal we had while in Transylvania...Palinka. No joke. Every meal. We had it offered to us morning, noon, and night. Shots of palinka everywhere. Kept us warm I guess...

On Saturday morning, we hopped on our bus and drove to another small town to wander around, then had an enormous lunch (with palinka) at a beautiful restaurant in another small town. Directly after the huge lunch, our guide announced we were going on a hike up to the remains of a castle. Not the best timing, but we sucked it up. And I'm glad we did. It was beautiful. The whole area was astounding and unlike any landscape I've ever seen really. The towns were quaint, with nice, feral dogs running around everywhere. We apparently had perfect timing on coming back down from the castle because just as we were arriving to the edge of town, so were the cows, coming home from their day of grazing in the hills. We indeed came home with the cows. I don't know how many of them there were, but quite a few. As we walked alongside the cows down the street, I saw one disappear into someone's yard. Uh oh! The cow isn't supposed to be in someone's yard. It is going to eat their laundry or something! That was my thought until I looked around and saw that people were emerging from all of the houses now and appeared to be waiting for their cows. And then sure enough, the cows turned into their yards one by one. It was amazing. I had one moment of slight anxiety as I was walking right next to a cow, when all of a sudden it stopped and turned to me and started mooing in not a nice way persay. I suddenly looked at this seemingly harmless creature and noticed the horns portruding, the large size in general, and the mere feet between us. There was not much I could do really so I simply picked up my pace and sped walk a bit farther up, keeping a little more distance between me and my spotty friends. After that excursion, we returned to our host families for another wonderful dinner and relaxing evening.

On Sunday, we went to another town and visited a very small, very old church. We then wandered around for a while, and then ate a home-cooked lunch at the home of a 'seamstress.' I'm not sure what to call her. She makes very special garments for people in the village for very special days. They are traditional garments and depending on their intracacy and weight, they are a sign of degree of wealth. She even dressed Jenny and Dylan up in the garments so we could get the full effect. It's amazing. The women purposefully make their hips look huge, because it is attractive to men for the women to have child-bearing hips. These skirts did a ridiculously good job of this. I wish I could see how small these women are underneath! They must be tiny! After this, we went to a city for a bit, then returned to our homes once again. On Monday, we woke up, hiked around the town where we were staying, and then got on the bus to make the journey back to Budapest.

It was just a wonderful weekend. And very informative too. I am learning so much about the Hungarians and what the situation is. So we went to Transylvania this weekend, which is in Romania. However, Transylvania is where the Hungarians of Romania live. There was a lot of talk about dual identity. They still consider themselves Hungarian, even though they are living in Romania. It is a very touchy subject actually, and still considered unresolved.

So now I am back home in Budapest. Midterms are next week and then we have a week off for fall break. I don't think I'll go anywhere this weekend, but for fall break, I think Claire and I are going to try to get to Greece to go to the island of Corfu and visit some family friends. I'm very excited. And in the meantime, I am still loving it here. My classes are interesting, the city is great, and I am very much enjoying the company. I can't believe the semester is almost half way done! Oh. and I would like to give a big Happy Birthday shout-out to mr. Elijah Joseph!!!!!! You da bomb lil man.

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Photos

Visegrad
you can see the other castle in the background which we also visited

One of the study rooms in the library
(for you dad)

Go Barack Bomba!
close enough right?