Budapest

10/11/12-10/14/12

Who would have thought that I would make it all the way to Hungary in just a weekend? Getting there was quite the journey. We took a train to Zurich and then from Zurich we had a 14 hour train ride to Budapest. On Thursday night, we left from Zurich around 10 in the evening. While in Zurich, Tiffany and I went to Starbucks and got pumpkin spice lattes, but they were 7, 60 Francs! Zurich is outrageously expensive. For the train ride, the boys and Stefanie all had beds which looked very crammed and uncomfortable. In reality, they all got a good night sleep and I was extremely jealous. I was in a cabin with Ali, Kacey, and Caroline, but we only had chairs. Ali and I shared the chairs on one side, Kacey slept on the floor in her cocoon, and Caroline laid across the three chairs on the other side. All throughout the night I kept waking up shivering because I was so cold. At one point, I saw people taking pictures of us, because we were all in such bizarre sleeping positions. Luckily the door to our cabin locked so we would not get anything stolen, but there was a glass window and everyone could see us. 

Sleeping situation on the way to Budapest

 

Around 8:30 in the morning, we all started to wake up because it was just too difficult to sleep anymore. I decided that changing and getting ready for the day would be one of the only ways to make me feel a bit better. The train arrived in Budapest around 9 or 10 in the morning and we walked straight to our hostel. I stopped by an ATM on the way and got out 32,000 Forints! The exchange rate was about 220 Forints per 1 US Dollar. It took us a while to find the Maverick hostel, but once we did we just dropped off our things and went to eat. The hostel looked like an old mansion and I felt as though we were just in a house. After lunch we headed over towards the Great Hall Market, but got sidetracked by many other shops along the way. The Great Hall Market had all food items on the bottom floor and clothing along with wooden and glass trinkets on the second. After settling into the hostel late that afternoon, we signed up for a pub crawl and had plans to meet up with Virginia Tech students that are in a different program. They were also in Budapest that weekend and we were friends with some of them. One of my best friends, Lizzie, flew in from Spain that night and met up with us. It was so nice to see her, because it gave me a little sense of home.  The pub crawl was interesting, because it took us to bars that were very alternative, including a ruins bar. 

Entrance to The Maverick hostel

Staircase in the hostel

Our hostel

The Great Hall Market

Inside the market

 

In the morning, we went on a free walking tour, but it was not the best one that I have been on. We learned a lot about the history behind Hungary and visited places in both Buda and Pest. The only problem was that our tour guide did not let us go into or close to any of the cool sights. We walked across the Chain Bridge to the Buda side and hiked up to a palace. There was a gorgeous view of Pest from the top! One of the most interesting facts I learned while on the trip was that Hungarian is used a lot in alien movies, because it sounds so bizarre. The tour ended in the early afternoon and we all made out way back to the hostel. After a short break, most of us headed over to the thermal baths. We went to Gellert, which is supposed to be the most beautiful one in Budapest. Ali, Clare, and I forgot bathing suits so we had to rent them once we got there. Needless to say it was extremely weird. The baths are filled with 70 million liters of 21-28 degrees Celsius spring water. The whole experience was very unique. There was even an outdoor bath which was awesome, because it was very cold outside but warm in the baths. When we left the baths it was dark outside, so we met up with everyone else and decided to go to the A38 boat bar. It was voted the best bar in Europe on Lonely Planet. We were lucky too, because that night DJ ASkillz was playing there. Our train was at 6 in the morning on Sunday, so most of us just stayed at the club until really late and then took an hour nap at the hostel. The train ride home was better, because I could lay across my own two seats and nap. Most of us had a lot of International BIT work to do as well, so it kept us occupied.  

Buda!

Chain Bridge

View from the top of the Palace

Parliment

Gellert Baths

The city at night. The Liberty Statue is lit up.

A38 boat bar

 

Although the train ride was extremely long, Budapest was definitely worth going to. I had no idea before getting there that there were two parts of the city (Buda and Pest). I learned a lot that weekend, because Hungary is definitely a country that I never used to pay attention to.