Now that you all have had a chance to catch up on my blog and read all about my first two days in Budapest, I think I can give you the rest of the dirty details. Which they aren't dirty although Budapest in itself is a dirty place to live. We saw homeless people sleeping on mattresses in the middle of the day! It was very strange to see. But that was just a minor side note. I saw much more on Sunday!
Budapest is very famous for it's bath houses. While there are a ton all over Europe, we went to one the largest called The Szechenyi Spa. It was huge! There were several baths outside and smaller ones inside. I was pretty excited when we got there...and then I saw the people.
This is a bit off topic but at some point I need to make a note. Europe is very open about the human body and doesn't mind exploiting it. It should be no surprise that in bath houses people feel the same. But I saw a lot of larger, wrinkly people in less than minimum clothing that quite honestly I wish I would have never seen. I certainly hope I don't offend anyone and I am being as polite as I can. But honestly, it was nasty.
The baths were fun. You do a lot of sitting. That's it. Unless you want to make out (which many people partook in this event, but no one in my group) you can play chess or sit. So we sat. And sat. And sat. Unless we decided we wanted to go see more sights! This is my final conclusion about bath houses. While I am glad I went and experienced them, I wouldn't go again. I payed too much for the experience and think it's a one-time deal. So John and Zach, when you come to Austria, that's one activity I'm going to leave out. We can go swimming at home!
After getting ready for more adventures, the group split up and some went home. Myself and Ashely, Marco, Antonio, Ryan, Luke, Cody, Phil, Nev, Tytti, and Emilie went to see The Gellert Hill and the Citadel. Before we got there, we stopped at The Hero's Square. It's filled with statue after statue. I couldn't begin to understand what all the statues meant, but it was still so grand. The size of a person to a statue was at least 1:5. The Hero's Square is a pretty famous tourist attraction as well.
Onto The Gellert Hill and the Citadel. Gellert was a man brought to Hungary to help convert Hungarians to Christianity. The Citadel is a fort that was built to show control. There were cannons and the place was armed but never used to harm anyone. It was more for show. The Citadel overlooks both Buda and Pest. Although the Hungarians wanted to tear it down, it has been kept for over 150 years and is now a tourist spot. It was the most amazing view. We could see all of Budapest and really got an idea of how big it was. We got there before sunset but it was cloudy and we weren't able to watch the sun set over the city, but it was still amazing. I was in awe of how big Budapest was. It looked like it went on forever. Quite a sight. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera (I know what was I thinking?) so I will have to get pictures from everyone else.
That night some of us decided dinner was a great idea. We went to the large shopping center and went from restaurant to restaurant looking for a good dinner. Eventually we ended up at an Italian place and I tried some Hungarian wine. It was red, and for those of you who don't know, red wine is not my favorite. But surprisingly I liked this one! It wasn't a heavy wine (or at least that's what I was told by Valtteri who appears to be a wine expert). It was a lot of fun to go out with friends and enjoy a nice sit-down restaurant. After dinner I decided it was acceptable enough to go to bed and that's exactly what I did!
Monday:
I skipped German class. Budapest was a good enough reason to not go to class I felt but I did leave my German book at home. So I opted for the earlier train which left around noon. Marco, Ashley, Valtteri, Paula, and Ozan decided we would do a bit of shopping and then head for the train station. I found some good souvenirs to send home (which I obviously can't tell you about!)
At the train station we wanted to make sure to buy our "seat" passes before getting on the train. Well wouldn't you know it, the people at the train station told us we didn't have to. That's right readers, 34 INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS GOT SCAMMED BY HUNGARIAN TRAIN SCAMMING MASTERS! I thought "of course we did. Why wouldn't we get scammed" How dumb were we? So Hungarian train scammers, I hope you enjoy all that money we gave you!
It took three different trains for us to get back home. But we did at last and it was wonderful to be back in Graz. It may not feel like home, but after coming from Hungary, it did. Just crossing the border in Austria you could see a difference in the living conditions. But it was back to home sweet Hafnerriegel and studying for German.
I was just a great trip. We stayed the right amount of time and I got to do exactly what I wanted. For the first time since being in Europe, I felt like I found the reason I came here for in the first place. I got to see a place I would never of had the opportunity to see otherwise. I realized that while eastern Europe is not as advanced as the rest of Europe, it's still so much bigger than I thought it was. It also has preserved much of it's history which made the trip that much more great. It was a well spent four days.
Love,
Sara
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