On Friday night I decided to go shoe shopping with my friend Nancy. We found so many amazing shoes, but I didn’t buy any because I couldn’t decide which pair I liked the best. Then we went out for Hungarian food. We ate this veggie and cheese crepe that was a total dream, and I had some chicken paprikash that was so tender it just fell off the bone. The restaurant was in a touristy area, but it was a very good choice. Hanging out with Nancy was amazing. I was really tired and had had a bit of a rough week. When you’re homesick and tired of simple things like grocery shopping being hard you start to wonder why you you went abroad in the first place. (Or in the words of Hana when she found out I couldn’t find any black beans in Hungary, “I just like America”). Nancy spent her summer working in China, and it’s interesting to see how her perspective on being in Hungary now is shaped by that. Something she and I both agree on is that being abroad and traveling the world gives you an important global perspective. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to experience the world, and humble to acknowledge that it’s not always fun tourism.
Saturday was a bit more of fun tourism when I got together with some friends to go to the candy festival at Buda Castle. I ate a chocolate mousse tower, tried chocolate stout, had a bit of chocolate filled with palinka (it’s like Hungarian whiskey), and ate some yummy sheep cheese. Stuffed with treats we all wandered home to take afternoon naps and get ready to explore some of the city’s bars and clubs. I ended up with Nancy, Laura, and Kirsten at a club called Doboz (which translates to box in Hungarian). It was a circle of boxy rooms with bars, dance floors, and quieter rooms with tables around. We had a lot of fun dancing to the hilarious mix of mostly American music from the last two decades.
On Sunday I finally found some Indian food when I went out to dinner with some friends. I ate samosas, chicken vindaloo, and naan and missed familiar food a little less. One good thing about being from the “melting pot” country is that sometimes food from home is just international food and it’s not so hard to find. I hear there’s also a good Mexican restaurant near me and I’m dying for my friend Kendell to take me. 
On Monday I went to the Gellert baths to get a massage and go swimming. Other than getting yelled at for not wearing a cap over my hair in one of the pools it was a great time. I went in the morning so it was me and a bunch of old people, but it was still peaceful to just sit in an old stone hot tub for a while.
On Tuesday I went to see a contemporary dance at the Tráfo House of Contemporary art. It was based on a Hungarian poem I haven’t read, but that wasn’t necessary to enjoy the performance. The show itself is pretty difficult to accurately describe, but I’ll try. There was a man and a woman who danced both together and separately. The center of the stage had a big screen where lights, animations and changing art were projected. It was really cool because the dancers interacted with the screen and projected their shadows on it sometimes. Or they’d dance and a pattern would be projected over their bodies. It sounds weird, but it was honestly one of the coolest dance productions I’ve ever seen. It also showed me after all this time spent wishing I could just teleport back home to grab some groceries and hug my mom that this foreign place isn’t always too different from home. When you take things like dancing, art, and music you can transcend cultures and bring people together. The show was amazing.
The only real highlight from Wednesday was finally writing the first round of post cards and getting on the phone with my fav brother Jamesy. With different time zones and busy schedules it’s hard to keep in touch with my dearest friends, and family, but I’m doing my best. If you miss me, I can almost guarantee I miss you too so please feel free to email or Facebook message me any time.
A poem that explains how I’m feeling about the overwhelming mix of awe, excitement, happiness, sadness, fear, and exhaustion I feel consistently in different concentrations:
Every cup half empty
Is half full
And every half full cup
is half empty.
Emptiness remains in all moments
of optimism and pessimism.
Sometimes emptiness consumes
us and steals
Happiness out from under
our feet
Like how the strongest wind
Can knock a house over.
I’m here! I’m here.
But, sometimes I’m empty
And I could be empty
Anywhere
But I’m here
And, I’ll be full
Here too
Soon.
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