Budapest (a continué)

Where to begin.  Budapest (pronounced "Budapesht" by locals) was one of my all-time favorites.  After an extremely alarming discount airline flight, my traveling companions and I arrived in the Hungarian capital.  Our first mission: exchange currency.

Since Budapest is not part of the EuroZone, they do not use the Euro as currency which meant that we had to exchange our Euros for Hungarian forinths (I'm not even sure if that is spelled correctly but you probably don't either so ha).  The weird thing about Hungarian money is that the denominations of money are HUGE.  I can't remember exactly how many Hungarian forinths equal one Euro, but I want to say it's something like 300.  Thus, you can eat out at a restaurant and end up paying thousands of forinths for a meal.  It's both deceiving and mind-boggling.

After going through that confusing process, we headed to our hostel.  The Hungarian train system can only be described by one word.  Apocalyptic.  The cars were so old, they looked like they came out of some crazy zombie movie, complete with torn seats and cracked windows.  Seeing as Hungary has only been out of a communist system for around 20 years, it's understandable that their infrastructure is struggling.  Still.  Scary. 

As we lugged our giant traveling backpacks with us, we set out trying to find our hostel.  Budapest isn't big on street signs.  It took us 2 hours to find the hostel.  Turns out we had the wrong address.  Yay.

By the time we finally found the hostel, we were exhausted and wanted nothing more than to collapse, but we were in Eastern Europe!  And there's two distinct elements that Eastern Europe has going for it that got us off our beds:  cheap, delicious food and night life.  What else? 

We ate at a HEAVENLY restaurant called Menza.  The food was beyond amazing and so, so cheap.  We each had a four course meal for the equivalent of 8 Euros, which is unheard of in the rest of Europe.  Thank you Budapest. 

Hungarian stuffed peppers.  Um, yes.

Wow, this is taking forever so I'll speed it up.  The next few days consisted of clubs at night and communist monuments by day.  Budapest was such a beautiful city and I just couldn't get enough of its troubled history. 

A view of the GORGEOUS Parliament building from across the river.

We even made some lovely British friends on our first night there.  We arrived back at our hostel late at night on our first night and discovered that we still needed to put sheets on our bed.  As I awkwardly failed to stuff my pillow into a pillowcase, two British guys walked in.  Naturally, I introduced myself, still holding the pillow and obviously needing help.  Without any hesitation, one of the guys just grabbed the pillow from me and expertly stuffed the case.  With a charming British accent he said, "Here you go love," and I knew we were going to be best friends.

Our awesome friends from Liverpool.

The boys ended up traveling around with us the entire time we were in Budapest.  We went to this AMAZING bar called Szimpla, which is supposedly rated as one of the top 10 bars in the world (don't quote me on that).  The place looked like someone had ransacked a thrift store and then meticulously placed everything in a state of organized chaos.  If there's one thing that Budapest does well, it's grunge chic.

A view of the bar.

A hangout under the stairs?

Jonny smoking shisha and and blowing smoke rings like a boss.

Aside from a very creepy hostel worker that left flowers for my friend Merryn, the trip was mostly filled with sightseeing and going out at night.  Budapest is my second favorite city that I visited (we'll get to my first favorite later) and I would definitely go back there again.  Maybe I'll learn Hungarian...

Un Retour

It has been almost a year since I first left for France and I'm undeniably nostalgic.  I decided to read over my old Europe blog posts.  However, I was appalled to find that it seems I left off in Budapest and failed to finish anything after that!  So much happened after Budapest, so it's only right that I pick up where I left off and finish the saga.  After all, maybe I'll write a novel about it one day.  

Get ready.

Budapest

I have good news and semi-disappointing news. 

The good news is that I'm going to Budapest tomorrow!  Well, I'll be in Paris tomorrow and then I fly to Budapest on Thursday.  It will be my first Ryan Air flight, so wish me bonne chance!!!  I've heard they're a little sketchy.

The semi-disappointing news is that I haven't kept to my promise to keep updating my blog!  Of course, this is probably not news to you as I have not had a new post for a while.  I've been far too busy with schoolwork here lately since we are getting towards finals.  However, I promise that when I return from Budapest, you will get a full report.  Until then!

C'est La Vie: Part 1

After multiple admonishments from friends and family alike, I'm finally updating my blog.  I suppose I'm not much of a blogger for the same reason that I'm not much of a picture taker.  I'm too busy actually doing stuff to document what I'm doing!  Anyways,  I'll give you the condensed version of what has happened over the last month or so in several installments.

My first trip after St. Patrick's Day was Paris!  Even though I'd already been there with my family, I enjoyed making another trip to see the lovely Marie, who is studying in Italy this semester.  She and several of her friends traveled up to London and then to Paris for their spring break.  After being separated from Marie for several months, a "run and hug" was in order when we first saw each other.  We had a lovely 3 days, surrounded by the magic of Paris and friendship (this sounds cheesy but it's totally true).

A highlight was getting to visit Versailles.  I now understand why the French people found it necessary to revolt.  The place was disgustingly extravagant...but at the same time I absolutely loved it.  I've never seen so much gold or statues in my life.

The grounds of Versailles.  This is only one tiny garden.

Mirror pictures in the Versailles Hall of Mirrors!  Beat that awkward bathroom mirror pictures!

The Hall of Mirrors (and awkward tourists)

Paris may not be my favorite city, but Marie is one of my favorite people, so the trip was more than worthwhile.  We had breakfast on the banks of the Seine and navigated the city like true Parisians.  Call us Coco Chanel and Edith Piaf.

St. Patrick's Day

If you are part of the world at all, you know that this past Saturday was St. Patrick's Day.  The only thing better than being in France on that day would be to be in Ireland, but that's expensive, dangerous, and mostly insane.  Anyways, I'm glad I got to spend the day with some of my lovely friends here in Vichy.  It was certainly a day to remember.  Here's the basic rundown in photo form:

Here we are at the park by the river in the afternoon.  It was a glorious day!

Next, we returned to our residence to create a delicious rabbit stew (yes rabbit)!  It was quite delicious thanks to my the lovely lady shown in this picture with me.  Her name is Merryn.  She's pretty much the coolest Canadian/person I've ever met (although all the Canadians here are pretty awesome).  Please note the clover on my cheek, compliments of my friend Adriana!

Soon after, we walked a short distance to a place called La Gaulois (I'm almost positive that's not how it's spelled).  As usual, we travel in a huge pack of English-speakers, so we got some weird looks, especially because we were all wearing SO MUCH green!

Sadly, that's where the picture trail ends.  After La Gaulois, we went back to the residence to hang out in the common room (and probably wake up everyone in the building).  Noteworthy events included 15 of our people getting stuck in our building's tiny elevator for 40 minutes (it's only supposed to fit 8 people), and the unexplained disappearance of a new friend (I'm still not sure about his whereabouts...but I think he's all right). 

As you can see/read, it was probably the most eventful St. Patrick's Day I've ever experienced.  Usually, I wear green and try not to get pinched into oblivion.  As for the rest of this week, more classes await me!  Then this weekend I get to meet the lovely Marie in Paris!  She's studying abroad in Italy, so I can't wait to hear about her adventures.  You can check them out for yourself at her blog.  Just click on the "To Italy" link in the sidebar!  That's all for now.  Au revoir!

Ah Paris!!!

After a lovely weekend with my family, I am back in Vichy.  We spent Friday to Sunday in Paris, and then proceeded to Vichy for some relaxation.  Since it's a small town, there's not much to do here.  Mostly we just shopped and slept!  However, Paris was very exciting.  I'm not sure that I'd like to live there, but visiting was awesome.  I'm so glad that I get to go back in just over a week!

Sadly, my mom is not in this picture because she was taking it, but she's there in spirit!

I loved being able to see my family, even if it was just for a short time.  Being away from them for so long makes me extra grateful for the time we get to spend together.  For me, now it's back to classes and everyday life in Vichy.  I'll keep you updated!

Les Règles

Dear readers Mom and Dad,
I'd like to apologize for the radio silence recently.  It seems I'm not a very good blogger, or at lease a very faithful one.  To be fair, not much has happened since my last post.  I've been a good little student, going to classes and studying (sort of).  The classes are really laid back, so there's not much homework. 

After almost two weeks of "trial classes" I've picked the classes I will take for the semester.  They are "The European Union," "France as a Tourist Destination," and "International Marketing." OK, those might not be the exact titles, but they're pretty close. 

For the two or three of you reading who aren't my mother or father, you should know that I'll be meeting my family in Paris this weekend!  It will be a magical adventure, filled with too much patriotism from my father, and the exhausted ramblings of my sisters, who will most likely detest French food.  I'm super excited.  But really, their craziness is going to make it even more fun and unique.  After all, what's a family vacation without a few (or about ten) roadblocks?  If family vacations in America (where everyone speaks English) are interesting, a family vacation in a foreign country should give me enough material to write my own novel. 

Anyways, that's all I've got for now.  Since I don't want this post to be completely pointless, here are a few useful facts I've learned about France:

1.) You must bring your own bags to grocery shop.  They don't supply bags...ever.
2.) At restaurants, tips are never required.  They are appreciated occasionally, but not necessary.
3.) When going out at night, ladies should never have bare legs.  Apparently pantyhose are still a thing in France (yuck).
4.) There are few (if any) rules about bringing pets into stores.  Dogs are allowed and even welcomed into most places, even clothing stores!
5.) Parking rules are not enforced (if there are any).  Don't be surprised if you're walking down the sidewalk and a car decides to park right in front of you.  Sidewalks are equal opportunity parking spaces.