Budapest and a sick start to the semester (and not "sick" as in "cool")

Oh, Budapest. One of the coolest and nastiest and scariest places I've ever been. We arrived in the evening on Thursday to our Best Western hotel. SUCH an upgrade from the hostel in Krakow in terms of space and peace and quiet. We headed right from the hotel to this buffet restaurant (we would soon learn that the Hungarians LOVE them some buffet). This place was huge and totally decked out and we had our own private room. Americans think of buffets as being disgusting and greasy and cheap. The only thing this buffet had in common with its American counterparts was the fact that it was cheap. In Budapest, when you go to a buffet, even the alcohol is unlimited. Needless to say, people got real shitty, reallll fast. They had a salad bar, a fried food bar, hors d'oeuvres, hot meals, AND a whole row of marinated RAW meat and fish that you would take up to the grill to have prepared right in front of you. It was ridiculous and definitely unlike anything I'd ever experienced in the states.


The next morning we met up with our tour guide and went on a kind of mish-moshed tour of the city. Some of the sights were seen from the bus, while others we got out to look at. We saw some famous monuments and statues, as well as a beautiful view overlooking Buda and Pest. We got a quick tour of one of the museums which was really cool because our tour guide is a retired art restorer so he was full of knowledge and insight.


After the tour is when things got really disorganized. We were supposed to be dropped off downtown at 1pm to have a "free" afternoon. Instead, we were brought back to the hotel at 2pm and given no further instructions. We knew absolutely nothing about the city and had to set off on our own to find lunch (which we were starving for) and figure out what to do with ourselves! Thankfully, Emily, Shelby, and I ate right by our hotel and after a few meltdowns by Shelby and I, we were a-ok. We also discovered that redbull in Budapest is a lot more radioactive looking than anywhere we've been so far.


Once we were sufficiently nourished, we walked downtown to do some shopping and look around. We actually had a really great time! We went into this underground Hungarian market and found tons of cool gifts and nicknacks and made friends with the guy working there (who is now my facebook friend, nbd.)


We shopped for a few hours and then went to find Shelby some gelato because she HAS to have an ice cream break no matter where we go. She's lactose-free but can eat cream and I think that's her saving grace.
We walked back to the hotel and grabbed some Kebap along the way. HALF as good as Pasha, but they brought us free tea which was super cute and we actually ran into some IES kids that we're on the 3-city trip! They'd come to Budapest to meet up with all of us which was pretty cool.
After dinner we power napped so we could PARTAYYYY. We ended up going to this like three level club with tons of different rooms. We found a room downstairs that played awesome music and danced for like an hour and a half straight. The guys in Budapest are NOT okay though. They literally grab you. Zero exaggeration. I was walking to the bathroom and one of them reached out and just grabbed around my stomach. Not okay. So we ended up dancing with Tobi and Michi (a few of our young IES supervisors) the whole night so that they could keep an eye on us. Tobi is like eight feet tall so we felt super safe.


The next morning it was EXTREMELY hard to get up, although not as hard as it was for some people who stayed out until AFTER 5am, (with Tobi and Michi, I might add), so that they could take the Metro back when it started running again at 5. WHAT. Anyways, in the morning our first stop was a Roman Amphitheater. It was gorgeous and ridiculously well-preserved. After that we went to a museum with a lot of ancient Roman artifacts from Budapest. I loves me some museums and I loves me some Romans so obviously I loved me that museum. Next to the museum was a ruin of an ENTIRE Roman bath. It was INSANE! There were charts of the layout where we could see which rooms were for hot, cold, changing, lukewarm, etc. One went through the rooms from coldest to hottest and then had to turn around to go back out, thus cooling down. The day before, some of our friends visited the Turkish baths instead of going shopping and I was a little jealous that I couldn't compare the two. Although, some of the rooms in the Turkish baths were over 200 degrees sooooooo, thanks, but no thanks.


We went to lunch on a boat on the Danube and then set out on a visit to the castle. I felt a little (a lot) sick to my stomach after lunch, so the castle was cool, but I was not really "there". I was pretty sure I was gonna throw up on the Roman artifacts, but I figure they're so old that it wouldn't be like I was the first!
They cut our castle tour short so that we could go back to the hotel and sleep because everyone had been running themselves ragged the past couple of days. I HARDCORE napped, which was beyond wonderful, and then we set off for our farewell dinner at a Oktoberfest themed restaurant. The meal was actually really fun and I felt a lot better.

(Me offering Shelby a pretzel with cheese on it)

(Kent being a boss)

For our final night of the 3-city tour, we went out to Karaoke. It was a much smaller club than the night before and I wore much more sensible shoes. We got there and I figured I'd just sit and hang out. Then I figured I'd just stand on the dance floor by my friends. Eventually I was dancing as hard as ever and having a blast. I even did Karaoke to Britney Spear's "Stronger". It was hilarious and fun, but THAT SONG IS SO FUCKING LOW. Ilana and I screamed on a vocal fry the whole time. Oy.
The only problem was that once I stopped moving I felt like SHIT. And the club was a half hour walk away from the hotel so by the time I got back to my room I felt beyond horrible. I woke up the next morning and could barely move. I took my temperature on the bus and it was 100.7 and then within a few hours it was 101.8. Tobi gave me some weird German pill that he swore would work, but no. No it didn't. I slept most of the way back and only got up to get lunch at this roadside restaurant with everyone where I managed to get soup and poweraide at the grocery store next to it. Hells yes. I was a sweaty, sweaty mess. I got home around 4pm, unpacked, and was asleep by 5. Sarah made me peppermint tea and it took everything we had not to hug the shit out of each other! It's horrible to miss someone that much and then not be allowed to hug them for fear of giving them the flu.
I slept from 5pm until 11am this, (Monday), morning. It was one of those disgusting and sweaty sleeps, and I continued to sweat balls even after I showered. My first class wasn't until 1:15pm, and at about 12:30 I stopped sweating, so I made some soup and headed to IES. I only had Art and Architecture until 2:45 and then Music History from 3 to 3:45 because it was just syllabus stuff. I didn't really HAVE to go in I don't think, but I'm glad I did and was able to get all the materials I need and get into some kind of routine. I'm really excited for this semester! I know I'll have a lot of work, but I'm also really ready to apply myself and see just what I'm capable of doing.
IT IS COLD AS SHIT OUT TODAY AND I HAVE NO CLEAN PANTS. This was a bitch and a half. All my clothes were dirty from the trip so I was completely underdressed for the weather. Not smart for someone who's already sick as a dog. I POWERED back home after class and am currently trying to get my multiple loads of laundry done so that I can go to bed. Tomorrow I only have class from 9-10:15, so I can see loads more sleep in my future.