Budapest Day 2.

 Hello hello. 

Our second day in Budapest we found better breakfast and went to the Buda side of the river to see the Fisherman's Bastion and the Matthias Church. 

The Fisherman's Bastion was beautiful and was a very nice to sit for quite a while because even with an 11am start, we were all quite sleepy. The roof of the Matthias Church is stunning, terracotta, teal, brown, and green tiles in a striking geometric pattern that truly pops out form behind the multiple spires. We were not planning on going inside, but I convinced the group and the mosaics but simply the interior architecture were very pretty. 

That's pretty much all I've got to say about Budapest... JUST KIDDING, HAHAHAHA YOU THOUGHT. 

Guess what is at the top of the Fisherman's Bastion? The Saint Stephen of Hungary statue! So of course I took a photo with our matriarch's namesake! 

Okay, now I have no more to say about Budapest. 

Budapest Day 1, Night 1....Morning 2?

Oh hi. 

RANKINGS: 

    Food: 8/10

    Nightlife: 9/10 

    City: 6/10

I must say, Budapest... not one of my favourite cities. Architecturally it was not super interesting and it felt quite disorganized. We went to a vintage market the morning of the first day that was advertised to be a great market to thrift and find clothes. Sorry, I should've used a different word, not advertisement, PROPAGANDA. It was a huge, local antique market which was interesting but it was a a short trek from the city and was just not what we were hoping to find. The best part were a box of letters from the time of the Hungarian Revolution, of course we couldn't read but it was interesting to see and think about the families and loved ones. At the same booth were boxes of framed, but not developed, film. Some were of buildings, or other sights, but my favourite were the ones taken in homes of family members. I especially liked when I picked up the next photo and it was the same person. I loved being able to see the story of these families through these photos, so that made up for the lack of clothes. 

Next on our speed tour of Budapest we went to St. Stephan's Basilica. It was stunning inside, although I think I might have been expecting too much because of St. Peter's. I would've liked to spend more time wandering through and admiring the mosaics but Dylan and Grace are not as keen on churches as I am so we did a quick sweep and then headed up to the dome and terrace. It was nice to have the city laid out in front of us but once again, I wasn't amazed or really that big of a fan of the view...? Post church we got a ginourmous dessert called a chimney cake. It is a hollow cylindrical shaped dessert, ours was covered with cinnamon sugar and filled with nutella. It was solid but too messy to be good. Then we did some vintage shopping to appease the sightseeing, but nothing caught my eye - both in the thrifting and sightseeing.

The final activity of the day was the fan favourite, the prosecco cruise! In case you don't know what a prosecco cruise is, I shall explain. I bought 3 all inclusive tickets for a all you can drink 75 minute prosecco cruise. Now, I famously do not enjoy alcohol that tastes like alcohol, and prosecco is not super delicious in my opinion, however it is the thing to do there. BUT, when we arrived on the boat (all looking super snazzy) they announced that they had a drink included called a Rossini. This wonderful creation is strawberry infused prosecco, and I had 6 glasses. The cruise, as I am sure you can imagine, was quite a lot of fun, and left us properly buzzed. From there we had dinner at a very yummy restaurant only one pier down from the boat dock. 

Now, some of you might be thinking that this seems like a wonderful end to the day and a great time to go to sleep. And those of you would be correct! It was the end of the day, and the perfect start of the night, and we did go to sleep. We went back to the hotel to take power naps before we entered the realm of Budapest nightlife. The first stop of the night was the Ruin Bar. This nighttime staple is a series of bars that is built in a ruined building in the city. It is a huge complex with two floors and lots of cool decorations. It was at this bar that I tried a screwdriver, orange juice and vodka, because they did not have my typical drink of choice, a vodka cranberry. The screwdriver was great, I recommend to anyone lacking vitamin C. The best part of this bar was a tiny room in the back left completely dedicated to HEADBANGING. Now, headbanging was not a ritual that I was versed with before this night, but it is a ritual that I will continue to participate in after. It was quite hysterical seeing all of the grown men seriously headbanging and getting so into the music that I honestly thought they were going to injure themselves. The only downside of this bar was that it was an older crowd, that was not bringing the best vibes. So we took the headbang energy to the most famous club in Hungary, Instant Fogas. This club has made themselves a Hungarian staple due to the 18 rooms, each playing a different genre of music. It was awesome. The pop-music room had a great playlist but was so crowded that we could barely move. We continued to explore the venue and went to the basement level. So our great entertainment, this turned out to house the, you guessed it, headbanging rooms. There were two, and we spent the majority of our time there, headbanging like our lives depended on it, and laughing hysterically the entire time. The rest of the club was very cool but none of it lived up to the basement. 

To end our night, or start our morning, we tried to go to our favourite taco place. Online it said that it closed at 4am, but much to my disgruntlement when we arrived at 3:50am, IT WAS CLOSED. So we made out way to a Greek Gyro place that was, admittedly, delicious, but nothing comes close to those tacos. 

Budapest Day 1

Hellloooo,

It is currently 9:19am and completely unironically, I am hungry. We are leaving in a few to go to a supposedly very yummy breakfast spot before heading to the Ecseri Flea Market. I had a slightly more cultural itinerary, but that was before Dylan and Grace requested some shopping, and now I get to indulge in my hoarder habits without it coming from me...not unlike Auntie Con and her chips! Then we have 12:30 tickets to St. Stephan's Basilica, don't worry everyone I got the tickets to the Dome too, scenic vista incoming. From there we lunch at the Central Market, goulash anyone? And then play it by ear until our prosecco cruise at 5, and that is where our night will commence. 

I shall update later with pictures! 

PEACE OUT.

Shoynosh, nem baselek madjarul.  

Essential Update.

 Booked an unlimited prosecco cruise for Budapest on Saturday. 

Unlocking the history with that one! 

SORRY SORRY

 *Sheepish tone*

Hi my family. So sorry that I have been a no-show, pretty lame of me tbh (that's 'to be honest' for those of you not in the know). I have no excuse for my sorry actions, just my plea that you find it within your heart to forgive me and continue to keep up with my travels.

Lets start from the beginning shall we?

Orientation was just a tad longer that it needed to be but I met my two besties so I guess I have no choice but to appreciate it! Dylan I met on the second morning during a 'masterpieces' tour. I have to say that the masterpieces were not as masterful and I was hoping, but Dylan and I were chatting pretty much the whole time and have been joined at the hip ever since! He is from L.A. and is majoring in Psych - it is really nice to meet another person who is a STEM major or anything but a lame business major. The next day was BEACH DAY, which sounds nice in theory. In practice, they held us hostage on that stupid beach for 8 HOURS. Far too long. But there we met Grace! She is from Yonkers, New York and is awesome! Very funny and down to earth. We met a bunch of other nice girls that day too but Dylan and Grace are quite honestly the only ones worth naming. 

And they were ROOMMATES. (Famous Meme.)

My roommates names are Lila and Serena. Lila is from Lower Manhattan and Serena is from somewhere upstate (I don't particularly care to figure out where). They are each other's roommates and I have a glorious single. Lila is super sweet and fun and although we don't share the same friends but we are always inviting each other places and get along great. I am contemplating rooming with her next semester but my first choice would be to room with Grace. Serena is... well she is just an odd cookie. She a) does NOT know how to wash dishes (although I have to admit that this is also a place where Lila struggles), b) does not understand how to do laundry and when she hangs it to dry she makes the living room unlivable with how bad it smells. Honestly she is just kind of rude, and it is not just her laundry that smells... it's her too which is just pretty uncomfortable because although we could bring up her laundry smelling, there is really no way to bring up her stench. 

Classes are pretty tricky, lots and lots of reading and LOTS AND LOTS of notes. This is why I am a stem major, less reading more fun diseases! We are in the brain anatomy week of Psych which I am a big fan of and that class is very interesting. The professor is extremely engaging but it is also a topic where she is truly teaching so I think that it is easier for me to focus and receive the information. Renaissance Art is very interesting but my professor's style of teaching is more just explaining at the speed of light. I am not entirely sure what we are supposed to be learning... which is a little but concerning if I am being totally honest. Mythology is very cool and we just started the beginning of creation, prior to that we were doing the history of Greece and the three main Greek civilizations. We have a test on that tomorrow but it is at home, so I think we get to use our notes...? Italian is difficult. Although this is mainly due to our Professor's, Queen Ada, style of teaching. She likes to give us homework that is about 5 steps ahead of where we got to in class and then expects us to translate the homework and google the answers to teach ourselves. I am not a fan of this at all but it is better than when I thought that homework was 5 steps ahead and we weren't allowed to google to help us figure out what the heck we were supposed to do. The History of Rome, Ostia, and Pompeii is my least favourite, which is unfortunate because I thought that it would be my fave. Each class is onsite and we are supposed to take notes as we walk but she wants us to do it on a piece of paper, which makes NO SENSE because there is no way to do that. So I need to find a journalist notebook. It is just really boring. Although I need to give it more of a chance because it is only once a week so I have not had it a lot. 

The food is very good, but I would really love some vegetables. It truly surprises me that so many Italians are so fit because genuinely all they eat is carbs and coffee. All I want in life is some broccoli, and zucchini, and peppers, OH AND A SALAD WITH MAMA'S DRESSING. 

I went to Denver last weekend for a very special event, ANNA'S WEDDING!!! It was quite honestly the greatest night of my life, although the other guests might now have been able to tell because I was, in fact, sobbing the entire time. And not pretty crying, big ugly tears that turned into choking sobs when she looked at me. We finally got to meet Matty who is just as cool and awesome as I expected him to be - I mean I knew that I was going to like him if Anna loves him! She looked stunning in a sequined gown ending in fringe, and then a full second look at the reception complete with EPIC platform hot pink heels. The reception was held at the bar where they met - the first bar I have ever been in (wink wink) - and some cutie photos of them are featured on the wall, which I am proud to say that I found within the first five minutes of entering the bar. The cake and cupcakes were perfection, but that is no surprise considering that Anna made them herself! I was a big fan of the photobooth because it gave me some more decor for my dorm room! It was also great to see my family and to no surprise I made Padre cry when he dropped me off at my gate. Although I have to say he was doing very well until I mentioned that the next time he sees me I will be 19! 

I have about 30 minutes until Italian and I am writing this post from the courtyard of one of the campus'. 

Anyways, I will attempt to be more consistent. Ciao for now!

Love, 

KB