Another Week Filled with Culture, Alternative Thanksgiving, and a Trip to Bratislava

This past week has been full of adventure. Last Monday I went to a dance show about living in and traveling around Budapest. It was in Hungarian, but it was still really fun to watch and see how much I could understand.

On Tuesday my week started getting a little sad when I went to see the Hungarian Holocaust film Son of Saul. This time there were English subtitles which meant I could understand all of the horror the film portrayed. It was an excellent movie that they saw will be nominated for Oscars next year, but it's not very easy to watch.

On Wednesday a bunch of people at school got together to play in a Super Smash Brothers tournament so I stayed late and tried not to get last place.

On Thursday I woke up early to make a pie for school's Thanksgiving dinner. I first had to go to this international store to find pecans and then I had to make some pie crust, but it turned out okay! It's amazing to me how much harder it is to bake here than at home, but more rewarding I guess when you succeed.

Thanksgiving abroad is a really sad experience, but having dinner at school with everyone made it a lot more fun. Everyone brought some food and we all had a potluck. I joked that it was probably the most realistic Thanksgiving we would ever have since we were all foreign strangers looking for community like the Pilgrims who came to America.

On Friday night I went out with a friend to try Hungarian Fisherman's soup. It was really yummy and I've started to realize I'm probably gonna miss Hungarian food when I'm home.

On Saturday I woke up early to catch a bus to Bratislava to spend the weekend with my friend Albert who worked at Google with me this summer. Once I got to town we explored the city, ate lunch, went to the castle that overlooks the city, then saw the Russian monument, had a beer, checked out the (super insanely crowded) Christmas markets, had some tea, and then went to dinner before we were so exhausted that we had to sleep.

On Sunday we woke up early and went to Devín's castle. After seeing the castle we ate some pizza and made our way back into the city. We then went to take pictures of the radio station's building since it's a reverse pyramid and then Albert dropped me at the bus station to head back to Budapest.

This weekend in Bratislava was fun and I'm glad I got to see so many places this semester. Now I'm happy to settle back in to Budapest for my last few weeks abroad. The Christmas markets and outdoor skating rinks are open so I have no lack of places to be when I'm not studying for my upcoming finals.

Fisherman's Soup 

Some Slavic Candy Albert said I should try.
It tasted like those wafer cookies we have in the states.

This was just pizza which is universal, but I do have to
say how surprised Albert was when I insisted it was ok
that I didn't order pizza with meat on it.

This is Kofola which is like a Czech soda of some sort.
To me it tasted like what you'd get after mixing coke, pepsi,
orange soda, and Dr. pepper all together. But, I liked it!

Devín Castle

Memorial commemorating lives lost fighting
for freedom from communism.

A bad picture of the US Embassy in Bratislava.

Cabbage Soup (apparently traditional Slavic food)

This is some famous Slavic food I don't remember
the name of, but it kind of tastes like mac & cheese
with overcooked noodles and bacon bits. It was ok,
but very heavy.

This is some sort of potato pancake that reminded me
of a cross between scallion pancakes and lángos. I somehow 
liked it even better than both of them.

Wien Weekend

This weekend Megan and I went to explore Vienna! We got in late Friday night and left Sunday evening. We went to the Kunsthistorisches Art Museum in Museums Quartier, the Sigmund Freud Museum, the Schoenbrunn Palace, the Rathaus Christmas market, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and the Mozart Museum. On Saturday we went out for lunch with our Airbnb host and her friend spending the weekend with her. We ate really really delicious falafel wraps and then started walking around to explore the city. We walked by the beautiful opera house, and then found the Kunsthistorisches museum. The museum reminded me a lot of the Prado in Madrid and even had some of the same artists. All of the art was really beautiful, but I was most impressed with the immaculate building. You never get tired of all the marble and impressive statues. Megan and I both agreed that America hasn’t ever put enough effort into creating buildings like those across Europe, but I guess they’re pretty expensive. After the art museum we explored the famous Christmas markets. The markets were full of crafts, sweets, mulled wine stands, and tons of people. It felt like Christmas and I was jealous I didn’t grow up with a Christmas market in my town. 

I wasn’t sure if it’d be all that great to go to the Freud museum since Freud was certainly a crazy misogynist, but it was actually really interesting. The focus was much more on his home in Vienna and his practice there. What I didn’t know was that Freud was Jewish and had to leave Vienna during the second world war. His family, along with some donors, created the museum in Vienna to commemorate his practice there. The museum also talked a lot about Freud’s daughter Anna who did a lot of work with child psychology. 

After the Freud Museum we met up with our friends Haley, Dharani, and Dharani’s mother for dinner. Haley and Dharani play frisbee with Megan and me at Wellesley, so it was fun to catch up with them in Vienna. We ate dinner at this old cafe called Café Sperl. According to wikipedia it was featured in Before Sunset which we thought was kind of cool. I ate this really delicious risotto and had a great time with my friends. 

On Sunday we woke up early to explore before we caught our bus home. First we went to eat breakfast at a random cafe, and then we made our way to the Schoenbrunn Palace. The palace was beautiful and really fun to walk through. There was yet another Christmas market in front of it where we got hot cocoa. Then we left the palace to go find the Mozart museum. On our way there we found St. Stephan’s Cathedral (with another Christmas market in front!). The Mozart museum was like the Freud museum in that it was in one of Mozart’s former flats. I really liked how they did that so that you were learning about the people where they lived. I found out Mozart had a gambling problem and may have been murdered which was kind of sad, but I also learned more about some of his most famous works and listened to some of his music in the meantime. 

After the museum we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and then went to the bus station to head back to Budapest. The whole weekend was a great time, and I’m so happy I was able to explore Vienna. Next weekend I’m off to Bratislava and then I’m settling back down to spend the rest of my time in good old Budapest before I head back to Oklahome for Christmas!!!

Last week I finally visited Budapest’s ruin pub Instant. I went with this Hungarian guy I’ve gone on a few dates with and drank way too much tequila. It was a fun night, but Friday’s hangover was rough. Even with Friday’s hangover I went out super late on Friday night in Vienna. I went to a club with Megan and the two German girls from my Airbnb. We danced to really weird electronic dance mixes until 2AM; it was a great time. 

 The funniest story of Friday night was right before we left while we were in the line for the bathroom. This random French guy started talking to me and my airbnb host Anna. He asked if she was British and she said, “No, I’m German.” Then she asked if he was American, and he said, “No, I’m French.” Then, (drunkenly) I said, “I’m American!” And, he said, “Where are you from?” I said, “Oklahoma”, and he said, “I used to live in Boston.” I then told him I went to Wellesley and he said, “I went to Wellesley once!” and I was like, “Uh, what? Why?” And then he said some girls invited him there. THEN, he started hitting on me so I just kept saying, “Uh sorry, I’m gay…” He didn’t believe me so I said, “Yeah, I’m gay! I was wearing a beanie earlier…” Then I escaped into the bathroom with Anna. And then Anna was like, “Are you really gay?” And I said, “Yeah, kind of.” And, then I said, “Are you?” And she said, “Yeah, a bit.” So, I kissed her. If you didn’t already think I was a hilarious ridiculous mess here’s further proof.