after a much needed sleep in morning, i ventured off to explore budapest on our free (and last) day in budapest. after hitting up a very yummy pizza hut lunch, turner, derek, dan, joe and i took the bus over to buda. we saw the matthias church. it was so pretty. it was cool because it was so different from the saint stephens basicalla that we saw the day before. after that, we met aubrey, janine, natalie and her dad at the hungarian house of wines for wine tasting. OH MAN. that was an adventure. there were over 50 different types of wine to try! we each got a little glass to keep and these yummy crackers and a little book. i skipped ALL the red wines and some of the white. lets just say everyone was having a good time. this woman came over to us at one point and said "i dont know how long youve been here, but you are being really loud." ew. but then it turned out she was some ESPN reporter and all the boys were excited about that.
somehow we took the bus back to our hotel. i took a bit of a nap but then had to get up to go to dinner and folk dancing! it was so much fun! probably one of the best nights so far. the bus ride was verrryyy entertaining. gabby kept talking to us about who knows what. then we started wandering around in these crazy woods. im shocked we made it out alive. as soon as we walked in the gates they gave us these little green porecelen men things with polinka or whatever its called. so we all had to take a shot of that. except that its impossible to take a shot out of it because its crazy shaped and doesnt pour out. i seriously almost spit the whole thing up.
then we walked in and had an awesome dinner! they served the food family style. we had goulash soup- and i actually reallzy liked it. they just put these huge like cauldron on our table and we all scooped it out. then for the main course we had all these different kinds of meat and amazing mashed potatoes. YUM. they also served us a red and white wine. the guy poured it out of these really cool glass things. it was like this big glass thing with a tube coming out and he would shoot it out and then stop it with his finger, really cool. i didnt drink any of the wine so everyone at my table was excited to take it. dessert was awesome too- chocolate sponge cake stuff with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. yummmmm.
after dinner there was this cool folk dancing show! really funny. they pulled turner and joe up on stage and made them dance and it was freaking hilarious. they blindfolded both of them, had them drink a glass of wine and like dance in between bottles. eventually the dancers all went into the crowd and made peolpe dance. it turned into a big dance party, including mr and mrs fields doing the chicken dance. overall it was a hysterical evening. after we got back to the hotel, we changed and went back to morrisons 2.
another long day and tomorrow we are moving on to vienna! budapest went by so fast...
Showing posts with label budapest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budapest. Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
"look left, look left!"
this morning we went to electrolux. first we had a lecture by this HR guy. i didn't really like the lecture- he basically just talked about boring details about electrolux which i don't feel like i learn anything from, oh well. then we had a tour. we saw vaccuum cleaners and refridgerators. i think we were all just burned out at this point because it was really hard to pay attention. it was kinda cool seeign tons of appliances going through the line but it got old pretty fast.
finally it was time for lunch! we were all starving and bored so it was awesome to have lunch! we had a buffet at electrolux- chicken paprika and gnochi of course, rice and chicken, etc. it was pretty good. they also had the same dessert they have everywhere in budapest too- sponge cake stuff with chocolate and whipped cream, pretty good. turner almost took my eye out when he pried the lid off his diet coke with a knife and the lid smacked the side of my face, it was really funny. we also looked at pictures of jen and michelle and mrs. fields was pretty amused.
after lunch we took the bus back to budapest. we had the rest of the day free so everyone went their separate ways to do different things. aubrey, turner, dan, joe, derek and i went to st. stephen's cathedral to look around and see the mummified hand. the cathedral was SO pretty, it just felt like a real church and what i would expect a catholic church to be like. the hand thing was pretty creepy, but i guess its cool. after that, aubrey and dan went back and then rest of went to see the art museum. we took a whole bunch of random subways (2 of them totally unecessary apparently) and finally ended up at the museum. we walked up to the front and saw a tiny sign saying the museum would be closed on wednesday the 16th, which of course was today. we were pretty sad but decided to just roam around the city and explore. we walked over to this little pond and saw some ducks that were pretty cute. we almost went ice skating but got too overwhelmed with not understanding the language and shoes and etc so we gave up and kept walking. after walking aimlessly for about 2 hours, we headed back towards the hotel. all of our friends were gone at wine tasting, so the rest of us split up for dinner. turner and i walked down to this little strip where there were tons of restaurants and went to a little random place for dinner. i ordered pasta and was dissapointed but oh well. we also got milkshakes! mine had chunks of ice in it, kinda weird.
tonight, natalie's cousin who lives in budapest is going to take us out so that should be fun!
finally it was time for lunch! we were all starving and bored so it was awesome to have lunch! we had a buffet at electrolux- chicken paprika and gnochi of course, rice and chicken, etc. it was pretty good. they also had the same dessert they have everywhere in budapest too- sponge cake stuff with chocolate and whipped cream, pretty good. turner almost took my eye out when he pried the lid off his diet coke with a knife and the lid smacked the side of my face, it was really funny. we also looked at pictures of jen and michelle and mrs. fields was pretty amused.
after lunch we took the bus back to budapest. we had the rest of the day free so everyone went their separate ways to do different things. aubrey, turner, dan, joe, derek and i went to st. stephen's cathedral to look around and see the mummified hand. the cathedral was SO pretty, it just felt like a real church and what i would expect a catholic church to be like. the hand thing was pretty creepy, but i guess its cool. after that, aubrey and dan went back and then rest of went to see the art museum. we took a whole bunch of random subways (2 of them totally unecessary apparently) and finally ended up at the museum. we walked up to the front and saw a tiny sign saying the museum would be closed on wednesday the 16th, which of course was today. we were pretty sad but decided to just roam around the city and explore. we walked over to this little pond and saw some ducks that were pretty cute. we almost went ice skating but got too overwhelmed with not understanding the language and shoes and etc so we gave up and kept walking. after walking aimlessly for about 2 hours, we headed back towards the hotel. all of our friends were gone at wine tasting, so the rest of us split up for dinner. turner and i walked down to this little strip where there were tons of restaurants and went to a little random place for dinner. i ordered pasta and was dissapointed but oh well. we also got milkshakes! mine had chunks of ice in it, kinda weird.
tonight, natalie's cousin who lives in budapest is going to take us out so that should be fun!
Monday, January 14, 2008
budapest yo.
so on saturday, we got up crazy early and left prague :( we took our bus to the train station and rode the train for 8 HOURS to budapest. the train wasn't too terrible- it was a little stressful getting all of the bags onto the train really fast but we could spread out and relax. i tried to sleep but couldn't find a comfortable way to sit so that didn't really happen.
as soon as we got off the train we had to rush to get on the bus and check into our hotel. i swear my luggage is getting heavier by the day. carrying all of my crap to the bus seemed like an eternity. but we got on the bus and drove to the hotel. i wasn't too impressed with the city at first. it seemed like our hotel was in the ghetto. no one was on the streets or anything.
as soon as we got to the hotel we had to change crazy fast for dinner at the hotel. it was a set menu, we had salad (with gross "americky" dressing), this crazy turkey stuffed with weird things and then nasty apple and cranberry strudel. oh well, the mashed potatoes were good :) we checked into our rooms and got situated. the rooms in this hotel are wayyyyy bigger than the ones we had in prague so its nice to be able to spread out again. the only thing that sucks about this hotel is that we have the typical cards for keys. i was getting used to prague and being able to just leave the door open and turn in the key every time we left. now you have to knock and have peolpe let you in their rooms. plus i liked the openness of the other hotel- i could hear all of the floors and what was going on. oh well though, at least now i have room to walk in my room!
yesterday we were up for our tour! it didn't rain so that was exciting! i was beginning to think that all of our tours were goign to be nasty and rainy but this one was nice. we took a bus up to the top of the city and saw these really cool statues. we also saw the matthias church and the parliament building. budapest is actually divided into two sides- buda and pest, separated by hte danube river. our hotel is in pest and buda is more residential. we got out and took some fun pictures on these statues. it was a little scary to get down but thats okay.
after our tour we had free time for the rest of the day. i took a shower (the bathrooms have surround sound so it was the best shower i've ever taken) and then met up with some peolpe to eat lunch at subway (yum, meatball subs!). then a lot of us went to the terror musuem. it was all about communism and hitler and the history of hungary. i had no idea about how rough hungary has had it for pretty much their entire history. i feel like we learn a lot about hitler and what he did in germany, but i didn't know all this about stalin and the awful stuff here. it was really sad. we saw torture chambers and it was just awful. the only thing that sucked about the museum was that most of it wasn't in english, so we had to read these papers in each room. it was educational, but by the end we were burned out.
we all came back to the hotel and then went out to dinner. we went to this pizza place and had VERY cheesy pizza. some people were upset with the lack of tomato sauce but i thought it was yummy. then people requested extra sauce to find out that the sauce was rotten. so they were glad that they didn't have sauce :) it was a good time.
last night i just relaxed, checked my email, hung out for a bit with different people. it was nice to just relax.
today we had a big class day. we had a lecture at the ___________. this professor who had immigrated to the US from hungary when he was younger spoke to us about their history. it was interesting. it was cool because it really built on what i learned at the museum. he talked a lot about the culture here- people are so negative and have such a bad outlook on life because for hundreds of years they have been controlled by other people. i'm beginning to really appreciate the opportunities we have in america. the idea that we control our own destiny is actualy good, i can't imagine feeling so sad about the future.
after the lecture we had lunch at this really yummy grill. food is so important to me :)
then we got back on the bus and went to the coca-cola factory. we went on a tour and saw the bottling. it was so crazy, just thousands of bottles getting filled, sealed, labeled and packaged. we also had a really good lecture by the president of marketing. i feel like i learned more in that lecture than i did in many entire semesters put together. they have these really cool coca cola festivals and stuff here, just so cool. they have a beach resort where people come to hang out and its a huge deal.
right now everyone is at the baths but i didn't feel well so i stayed in. its nice to be by myself for a little bit. tomorrow is another long business day so i need some energy!
as soon as we got off the train we had to rush to get on the bus and check into our hotel. i swear my luggage is getting heavier by the day. carrying all of my crap to the bus seemed like an eternity. but we got on the bus and drove to the hotel. i wasn't too impressed with the city at first. it seemed like our hotel was in the ghetto. no one was on the streets or anything.
as soon as we got to the hotel we had to change crazy fast for dinner at the hotel. it was a set menu, we had salad (with gross "americky" dressing), this crazy turkey stuffed with weird things and then nasty apple and cranberry strudel. oh well, the mashed potatoes were good :) we checked into our rooms and got situated. the rooms in this hotel are wayyyyy bigger than the ones we had in prague so its nice to be able to spread out again. the only thing that sucks about this hotel is that we have the typical cards for keys. i was getting used to prague and being able to just leave the door open and turn in the key every time we left. now you have to knock and have peolpe let you in their rooms. plus i liked the openness of the other hotel- i could hear all of the floors and what was going on. oh well though, at least now i have room to walk in my room!
yesterday we were up for our tour! it didn't rain so that was exciting! i was beginning to think that all of our tours were goign to be nasty and rainy but this one was nice. we took a bus up to the top of the city and saw these really cool statues. we also saw the matthias church and the parliament building. budapest is actually divided into two sides- buda and pest, separated by hte danube river. our hotel is in pest and buda is more residential. we got out and took some fun pictures on these statues. it was a little scary to get down but thats okay.
after our tour we had free time for the rest of the day. i took a shower (the bathrooms have surround sound so it was the best shower i've ever taken) and then met up with some peolpe to eat lunch at subway (yum, meatball subs!). then a lot of us went to the terror musuem. it was all about communism and hitler and the history of hungary. i had no idea about how rough hungary has had it for pretty much their entire history. i feel like we learn a lot about hitler and what he did in germany, but i didn't know all this about stalin and the awful stuff here. it was really sad. we saw torture chambers and it was just awful. the only thing that sucked about the museum was that most of it wasn't in english, so we had to read these papers in each room. it was educational, but by the end we were burned out.
we all came back to the hotel and then went out to dinner. we went to this pizza place and had VERY cheesy pizza. some people were upset with the lack of tomato sauce but i thought it was yummy. then people requested extra sauce to find out that the sauce was rotten. so they were glad that they didn't have sauce :) it was a good time.
last night i just relaxed, checked my email, hung out for a bit with different people. it was nice to just relax.
today we had a big class day. we had a lecture at the ___________. this professor who had immigrated to the US from hungary when he was younger spoke to us about their history. it was interesting. it was cool because it really built on what i learned at the museum. he talked a lot about the culture here- people are so negative and have such a bad outlook on life because for hundreds of years they have been controlled by other people. i'm beginning to really appreciate the opportunities we have in america. the idea that we control our own destiny is actualy good, i can't imagine feeling so sad about the future.
after the lecture we had lunch at this really yummy grill. food is so important to me :)
then we got back on the bus and went to the coca-cola factory. we went on a tour and saw the bottling. it was so crazy, just thousands of bottles getting filled, sealed, labeled and packaged. we also had a really good lecture by the president of marketing. i feel like i learned more in that lecture than i did in many entire semesters put together. they have these really cool coca cola festivals and stuff here, just so cool. they have a beach resort where people come to hang out and its a huge deal.
right now everyone is at the baths but i didn't feel well so i stayed in. its nice to be by myself for a little bit. tomorrow is another long business day so i need some energy!
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