One day left

Today takes the cake. It really does. I graduated from my course at Sammelweis this morning, and for dinner, our Hungarian friends took us to dinner at a fun Pub in Budapest. It really was the most fun I've had here. It was nice to relax and talk with our friends over dinner and drinks. We covered every topic under the sun, from movies filmed in Budapest to American poses for photos. If you had told me a few weeks ago that I would have such wonderful friends here in Budapest, I would have told you that you were crazy. It amazes me that, in such a short time, I have met such incredible people from all different studies and walks if life. I met a dressage rider who is a physiotherapy student, a paramedic, a tourism major, and two midwives. They have all been so friendly and hospitable that I felt unbelievably sad when I had to say goodbye. There were hugs all around and many promises to keep in touch, which I hope we will do. I gave Kristina strict instructions to keep me apprised on her dressage riding and I will keep her posted on my wrist's progress. It's little things like that which make me smile and make me feel confident in the relationships I've built here. Even though we have so many differences, we also have many similarities that connect us.

One interesting thing that happened was when Erno cut his finger. Once it circulated around the bar that he was hurt, Erno was surrounding by Zoli, the paramedic, and all of us nursing students trying to stop the bleeding and bandage his hand. I guess it goes to show that we're always thinking medically no matter where we are or what we are doing.

I don't have much else to say about today, because I spent a good bit of it asleep in bed due to the 'Bilal-fluenza' that is going around our little group. It's just a minor cold, but it's annoying and knocked me flat on my back for a few hours today.
Tomorrow is my last full day in Budapest and I may or may not post on my blog tomorrow. It's a rather full day and we're leaving the hostel at 4 am on Sunday. Wish me luck!!

Jess

"Is that a mosquito? What is that cocktail called?"
-Zoli

Do I have to care for the plant?
-Dr. Hollòs


Maybe the physician was a crazy man- you never know.
-Dr. Hollòs

Cannot be greener the garden in the neighborhood.
-Dr. Hollòs

My god. I think I need the more oxygen, you know. To my brain. You know the billobillo?  "The biloba?" Yes the biloba!
-Dr. Hollòs

The food grow up!
-Dr. Hollòs


It is a critical life dangerous situation
-Dr. Hollòs




"When I'm a grandma, I wanna be called Mimi, cuz I'm Michaela."

A smile is worth a thousand words

Today was my last day of clinicals here in Budapest. I'll be honest, I kinda just glazed through the day. I didn't even really realize that I'm not going back to the military hospital again until just now. I said goodbye to the wonderful doctors and nurses, and acquired the email addresses of some of my favorites. It didnt even hit me when I turned in my keys and badge or cleared out my locker. I wish I could have more time here, but I'm glad that I have pictures, journals, and notes to look back on.

Ready for my brief account of my day? Here goes.

Mornings never get easier. They just don't. They're especially hard when a fire alarm wakes you up thirty minutes before your alarm. Lest you think that we let this rouse us out of bed, I assure you that, had it been a real fire, we would all be nurse-kebabs right now. I remembering asking Laura if we should get up, and she grunted a response that I took to mean no. Accordingly, I rolled over and covered my head with a blanket so that I could sleep for a few more minutes.
Oh the good life choices I make when sleep deprived.
In my defense, I would like to think that if we were truly about to get cooked, the staff would have started yelling or something. That's what I've been telling myself anyway.

When I finally did drag myself out bed, I was regaled with Michaela's dream in which I apparently dumped a syringe of something on her. Thank goodness for my entertaining roommates because we then spent the next 30 minutes debated possible meanings. We never actually settled on one, but it was fun to speculate about.

Upon arriving to the hospital, our presenter opened with, "I am a cardiac surgeon here at the hospital. I will give you a brief presentation over the history of cardiac surgery and then you may come with me to the OR because I am doing a mitral valve reconstruction and my patient is right now on the table." I think all of our jaws hit the floor. His patient was ON THE TABLE and he was casually explaining the history of bypass machines AND ignoring his phone which was ringing incessantly. He was obviously a very intelligent man (and very arrogant) but I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when another surgeon came in and said that he was going to begin the procedure so that the patient wouldn't have to wait. I wasn't in the group chosen to go to OR because I've already seen several open heart surgeries (I can't believe I just said that so casually), but David was, and he said that there were actually 4 cardiac surgeons in the room during the surgery and that the patient was doing very well upon PACU admission. The surgeon is one I've met before and he genuinely seems to enjoy teaching, so he is very helpful from that angle.

Dr. Hollòs let us pick which unit we got to work on today, so my group unanimously requested the CICVU, which is where Dori, our favorite nurse works. She was thrilled to see us, and we were grateful to get the chance to learn from her again. While we were all standing next to the nurse's station catching up with her, the patient in bed six was cheerfully waving at us and smiling from under his mask. When we walked over there, Dora asked him, in Hungarian, if he would like anything from us, but he told her that he simply likes people and wished to welcome us. It doesn't take much to make us smile, but that sweet man had us grinning from ear to ear. It's nerve racking to be on a unit  where we're unable to communicate with the patients, but when a patient is that sweet, it's impossible not to try. We did communicate with him through a translator and he continued to be so kind and uplifting. Happy patients really are the best.
One of Dora's other patients, the man in bed 3, was spiking a fever during the shift, going from 36 to 38.6 during a very short period of time. Dora went to go draw his blood foe a culture, and he got a pinched, uncomfortable look on his face when she told him what she was going to do. I know just enough Hungarian that I walked over to the other side of the bed and introduced myself, placing my hand on his so that he could hold it if he wanted to for comfort. He looked quite surprised that I knew any Hungarian at all, and responded with a smile. Dora translated it as the equivalent, "Im sending you my kisses," which is how most of the locals seem to express gratitude. He grabbed my hand and held it until I was called to leave the floor. Even though we didnt speak for most of that time, he seemed to calm down when I was there, and it definitely made me glad that I was there. The nurses are so overworked that they not always have time to simply sit with their patients, and so it was nice to be able to help them out by watching out for him for even a little while. We placed ice packs on his neck and shoulder to bring his fever down and administered more IV nitroglycerin to decrease his blood pressure. Over the next little while, his temperature started to decrease slowly, which helped me breathe a little easier.

One of the head cardiac nurses took us to tour the cardic floor, which us nothing new to us, but I was, as seems to be the theme for the day, truly touched by one of the patients I met. When we entered one of the larger rooms, which contained 4 patients and the nurse was explaining the specifics of he care provided, a patient waved me over. I walked over to him and the first thing I noticed was the smile with which this man greeted me. He said something in Hungarian, and when I shook my head and replied, "Im sorry, I speak English!", he laughed and nodded to communicate the he understood. He then grinned a little wider and said "Good luck!" In this sweetest voice possible followed by a string of Hungarian sentences. By now, the nurse had finished introducing the equipment so I waved our translator over to help interpret. She said the man was a miner previously and he wanted to wish us luck with our studies. All that from a man that we had not even spoken to! I thanked him for his kind words, and, when I left the room, I noticed that I too was grinning uncontrollably now. Patient enthusiasm is contagious.

I can't begin to explain how grateful I am for the kind patients we had today. It makes me wish that I spoke more Hungarian so that I could talk to them more.

Overall, my day was, once again, incredible. I hope that tomorrow, despite the final exam, is just as interesting.

Goodnight from Room 2,
Forever changed

More cardio

Every day that I spend in the hospital, I find new things to be amazed over. Sometimes it's heart surgery, but today it was the simple way the nurses prevent pressure ulcers on patients' heels by setting them on water filled gloves. They were ashamed of us seeing this because they saw it as primitive, but we thought it was so creative! In the states we 'float' heels by placing a pillow under the patient's calves, but here, they don't always have extra pillows for every bed bound patient so they come up with these nifty ways to reach the same goal for their patients. I need to sit down and make a list of things to take back to my unit for our patients. It's refreshing to see a different take on patient care than the one I've been raised with for the past few decades.

Speaking of interesting things, we had a patient on Friday that was admitted to the CICU who was actively having a heart attack when we were on the floor. He was intubated, sedated, and had an incredibly unstable heart rhythm. We thought he was going to make it through through the transfer to the floor, let alone through the next few hours. So when we entered the unit today and his bed was empty, my stomach dropped. Thanks to the hard work of those nurses and doctors, he not only made it through that shift, but he was walking around and talking today! It's patients like that who inspire me to be a nurse and to work in the hospital. I'm so glad that he's doing o much better, and I hope he continues to improve.

The doctors and nurses at the military hospital have been such wonderful hosts to us. They have truly taken the time to explain details for every patient, situation, or diagnosis, and have been more than willing to take the time to answer every question we ask. They have definitely made our experiences in the hospital so memorable and I can't thank them as much as they deserve. Today, for example, the doctor and head nurse in the CICU took the time out of their days to go through every patient with us and explain the intricacies of cardiac patients and EKG monitoring.  The doctor quizzed us to assess our knowledge levels and help us learn. I learned never to give nitrates to patients with a posterior inferior MI or aortic stenosis and I learned the specifics definitions of sustained and unsustained ventricular tachycardia. The doctor in the pacemaker OR showed us a variety of different pacemakers and ICDs and their evolution though the years, letting us handle and examine their extras. In addition, he also showed us the different types of guide wires used when implanting devices into he heart, which was riveting. It was neat to be able to handle the different wires and devices for us hands on learners. There are so many things I've gotten to do here that I never would have gotten the chance to do back in the states!

Other than the intensive cardiac lesson today, it's been a pretty chill day. I went to Cafe Torino for a few hours to do homework before dinner, and as soon as I finish the, I have to work on my presentation for Friday and start packing. It's crazy how time flies! I keep wishing I had just a few more days here in this city. I don't want this to stop! I still love the sunset and the people. So, to maximize my time for the next few days, I'm going to try and do most of my work tonight so that I can go to the Cafe Torino party tomorrow,  cruise the Danube Friday, and enjoy the farewell party on Saturday. That being said, it's time for me to start packing! Goodnight everyone!
See you soon!
Jess

Kùssi

Traveling to another country, I expected to learn words in the native language. I knew that I would be trying new foods and seeing the world through a different lens. I knew that I would build stronger relationships with my classmates and meet new people.
I didn't expect breathtaking views to stun me into silence. I wasn't expecting the locals to make me feel at home. I didn't know that I was going to make friends with the Sammelweis students. I didn't know I was going to dread leaving them. I didn't truly know how much this whole experience would mean to me until today.

We've slipped into such a routine that I forget that this isn't normal. Chicago feels like a lifetime ago, and Georgia seems to be even more distant. I've grown accustomed to staying up late with my roommates comparing clinical days and food choices. I look forward to walking around this beautiful city every day and talking to my 'local' friends. Somehow, I know that I will just as easily slip back into my routine back home, but I don't think this experience will soon be forgotten. I hope to never forget the sunset on the Danube, the view from the top of the Basilica in Ezstergom, or the architecture. I want to always be inspired by Annita and Dora's passion for their patients despite the lack of supplies and support. I want to remember the stories of the Holocaust victims and the incredible doctors and nurses who worked in the underground hospital during the wars. I have too many memories from this trip that I keep grasping at in the desperate hopes that they won't fade. For some things, I know that pictures will be the only link I have to that moment in time. Other memories have dug themselves into the core of my brain, never to be willingly lost in the battle against time. My brief homesickness that I struggled with over the weekend has been replaced by a strong desire to soak up every second. This week is flying by and I'm struggling to cram everything I had planned to do into the few remaining days.

I know that Sunday morning will come far too quickly and that, unless I get the opportunity to return to this amazing city, these next few days will be the last time I see some of my new friends. I know that I will miss the cobblestone streets and beautiful hills. I know that I will always carry this experience near and dear to my heart. I know that, though I will be happy to see my family and friends again, I will miss it here and I hope that someday I will be lucky enough to return to the banks of the Danube and the sunny parks. I hope that I can find some way to express my intense gratitude to everyone who has made this experience so incredible, but I know that I will never be able to find words that even come close to adequately relating my thoughts.

I am relieved to be able to say that I do not yet have to say farewell. I still have a few days to soak up the Hungarian sun and gain new experiences. Even with projects and final exams, we still find time for fun. And, to end this week on a good note, the Hostel is throwing us a party on Saturday night to which all of our friends have been invited. We are ending this trip just the way it began, with one heck of a bang.

Killer Views

Ready for the daily update? It's gonna be another brief post and will probably just cover the highlights but its already 11 and I have to be up again in a few hours for clinicals. Ready? Set. Go.

Today was the day trip to Esztergom, which is on the Hungarian/Slovakian border, and happens to be Zoli's hometown, so our tour was given by a true local. It's a quiet little Hungarian town with STUNNING scenery. There were rolling hills that stretched into distant mountains and had been splashed with trees. This is exactly how I pictured Hungary before I got here.
Our arrival was via bus, which provided over an hour of these beautiful hills and spacious  pastures. The town itself blended into its surroundings perfectly with quaint cafes and historic buildings. As we were ambling through the town square, Zoli let us know that Esztergom is over 1,000 years old, so we were scouring every building for the telltale stone work that identified its date of construction. The cobblestone roads just added to the town's charm and won our hearts over. The true beauty, however, was apparent when we ventured to the top of the Basilica, which is the tallest building in Hungary.
To get to that incredible view, we had to climb hundreds of stairs which were constructed as steep spiral staircases with a serious lack of any rails. To make matters worse, Megan is deathly afraid of heights, so it took a lot of teamwork and coaxing to get her up those stairs. Fear of heights or no, all of us were pretty dizzy by the time we made it to the top from the stairs alone, and looking down several hundred feet over the town made our heads spin for a minute, but once we adjusted, it was well worth the walk. I tried to find other life events to compare the view to, but Stone Mountain can't hold a candle to this breathtaking view of Ezstergom, rolling hills, the Danube River, and Slovakia. It was stunning and terrifying at the same time. To be up so high doesn't feel quite right, but the view was priceless.
I wasn't exaggerating when I said that Megan is deathly afraid of heights. I am in complete awe that she had the strength and the will to make it to the top. It was heartwarming to see our group form a cohesive support system to help her reach that goal. Bilal and I stood with her when she struggled with the decision to leave the stairs for the Cupola and walked with her around the Cupola as she gripped the wall. On the way down, Laura made sure to walk in front of her down the stairs, giving her a 'wall', and Morgan and I stayed close behind so that she would feel secure on both sides. Once she was finally back on the ground, she definitely did a happy dance and I think that whole experience definitely brought our group closer together. She's one of us and we definitely worked to support her while helping her step out of her comfort zone. What  else are friends for?
We celebrated this accomplishment by booking it across the bridge to Slovakia for some traditional Slovakian food and sunshine. It was a wonderful meal, but I didn't find Slovakia to be as nice as Ezstergom. It had a slightly more suburban feel, which contrasted deeply with Ezstergom's countryside charm. Instead, I felt boxed in by touristy shops and loud music, most if which was American in origin.
Overall, it was a very peaceful day. I spent most of my time ogling at the view and trying to burn the image into my memory. I took boatloads of pictures, but they don't even come close to replicating what I saw.
As per usual, I'm completely worn out so I have to go to sleep. I promise I'll write more eventually!
Exhausted and amazed,
Jess

Climbing mountains

I have less than 7 days in this country. 7 days. It's now crunch time for planning things to do. We have to fit so much into these next few days that I don't know how we're gonna do it. Day trip to Slovakia tomorrow, Clinicals and Buda Castle on Tuesday, then, from Wednesday to Friday I have to fit in a research project, final exam, clinicals, and my book review. Friday night is a boat ride on the Danube at sunset and Saturday I have to run around doing last minute stuff!

Study abroad is a marathon, not a sprint.

Today's portion of the marathon, however, started with one heckuva nap. Some of the group went on a day trip to a neighboring town, but Morgan and I had other plans, so we got to go downstairs in our PAJAMAS. It was the most fabulous feeling ever. And while half of our little group left breakfast to go trudge around in buildings, Morgan and I got to go back upstairs and curl up in bed. Morgan was productive with her time, but I was so tired that, after I found two sources for my paper, I rolled over and fell asleep for another two hours.

Can I start every day that way?

Morgan's face popped up next to mine on the top bunk. Mo was ready to go out and about, so after dragging my lazy butt out of bed, we set off to get lunch at our favorite spot, Anna Cafe. We spent our lunch watching the creepy cutlery saleswomen swarm people in an attempt to pawn off their goods. They were so intense about it that they would follow people across the street. I thought that the 'victims' displayed a grand amount of patience by not decking those people in the face.

Following lunch, we walked across the Liberty Bridge and hiked up to the top of that mountain with the Liberty Statue at the top. I'd like to say that the view was amazing the entire way up, but dang there were a lot of steps. A. Lot. Think Stone Mountain, but all steps. We stopped to take pictures ever couple hundred steps because that view was so amazing. It's right across the Danube, so, at the top, you can see all of Buda and Pest including at least three of the bridges. It was completely breathtaking. I sat down on a stone wall and relaxed in the shade while taking it all in. Technically, the top is actually the 'Citadel' but my limited grasp on Hungarian means that I was unable to read the signs so I can't tell you what the significance is.
Halfway up the mountain, there was a really neat Roman Catholic Church that's called the Cave Church. It's carved IN the side of the mountain. Going inside actually required twisting through a couple of hallways where the walls hadn't ever been smoothed out. It was totally worth it to follow the beautiful harp music and angelic voices. It was incredible and I was once again humbled by the beauty of the service that we watched. I got a souvenir smushed coin in the hopes that I won't forget that experience.

I'm so sorry to cut this off short, but the storms are getting pretty loud and I'm afraid the Internet is about to cut out again. I'm sorry for the choppy post, but I'll cross my fingers that I have more time and Internet access tomorrow.
Ciao!
Jess

Metro trails and puppy dog tails

It's my third week here? What? When did that happen? All the days are blending together, so I'm a little confused when people remind me that in just over a week I'm heading back to the states. It's close enough that Im already making plans for my first few days back. Family, friends, vet, dogs, horse. It's gonna be busy but I'm excited. In case you haven't noticed, I always hit the ground running. I'll sleep when Im dead, right?
Just to prove that there's no rest for the weary, I woke up early today to attend the World Dog Show, here in Budapest. One of our Sammelweis professors is a judge, so he gave us all tickets. It was NOT what I expected. When I've seen them on the tv, dog shows are always quiet and pristine. This was like chaos. There were 6 buildings with different classes going on in each one and a ton of vendors selling everything a canine could ever want. The classes themselves reminded me of a horse show. The handlers were rushing to groom their pets and rushing to pin their hair back before running up to the class gate at the last second. All the dogs pranced around while the judge examined every minuet detail of their movement and appearance, and them he picked his favorites. Also surprising was the sheer volume of dogs. In addition to the hundreds of perfectly preened show dogs, it seems like almost everyone brought their family pet along. I promise I tried to restrain myself but I just had to pet some of them. I asked their owners, of course, but they were so fluffy! I just couldn't resist.
Melissa and I wandered around for hours in search of a collar for Parker and a toy or collar for Ava. Neither of us had planned to get souvenirs for our pets, but I can't even explain how infectious that atmosphere was. The choice was either to get a toy or to leave there with a puppy, so I picked the choice that wouldn't cause my mother to want to murder me. So, we circled around all the vendors and ended up with a nice leather collar for her dog and a chewy giraffe for mine.
After that we watched a few exhibitions that were kind of reminiscent of a dog talent show. It would have been nice to know what the announcer was saying, but the dogs and their owners were incredible regardless. They were jumping around and doing all sorts of fancy tricks, but those dogs looked so happy! They were grinning from ear to ear and were obviously incredibly devoted to their owners. It was the most exciting event to watch!
I will comment that there were little to no golden retrievers or Labradors. It struck me as rather odd given how common those breeds are in the US, but I'm not a dog expert, so I have no idea if those breeds are popular here. There were spaniels galore and plenty of chihuahuas but a serious lack of goldens. I have at least 100 pictures of all the random breeds, especially the little fluffy ones and the massive several hundred pound dogs.
Alright, what happened next is supposed to be a secret between Melissa and myself, but regrettably, I feel like its a story that needs to be told. Ready for the this? You won't be surprised at all, but a few of you may face palm.

We got lost. Really lost. Sorry, was that too anticlimactic? Let me clarify. We got lost in 'downtown', where there's no English anywhere, both of us are directionally challenged and neither can read a map with any accuracy. Lets ignore the fact that my boyfriend is a GIS major and has spent the past 4 years trying to give me crash courses in reading maps. Here's the story. We thought we were smart and would get off the train at a stop that we recognized instead of trying to transfer to the other metro line. Well this is  big city, so when we got off at Astoria, all the buildings looked familiar, so we couldn't tell which direction to go in. Smart decision? Get back on the metro and take the red line to Deak fer tere to transfer to the blue lune. Our decision? Pick a direction and take the bus a stop up. Well, as it turns out, we picked the wrong direction and, upon getting off the bus, turned into those stereotypical tourist who opened up a map, frantically trying to find the street we were on, and, bad decision number two, instead of standing in one place until we figured out the map thing, WE STARTED WALKING. And we weren't even smart enough to stay on the gigantic main road. We started walking down side streets. We spent over an hour walking without any sense of direction until we ended up next to the Elizabeth Bridge and less than half a mile from our staring point. At that point, we booked it to the metro station and hopped on the red line and transferred to the blue line. The guy at Cafe Torino made us the most incredible penne and we were ravenous by the time we finally made it home, so I think we would have scarfed down anything and everything he put in front of us. (I also had my second round of coffee for the day).
So following that adventure, I'm sure no one would be surprised to here that I went back to my bed and promptly fell asleep for over two hours. Now, normally I'm a light sleeper, but I fell asleep with the lights on, music blasting, and various classmates wandering in and out of my room. It was a great nap to say the least.
My amazing sleep was interrupted around 445 by my roommates asking if I wanted to go back to city park with them. The desire to explore and get some fresh air overpowered my need for sleep (and I did not want to get lost navigating myself to dinner), so I joined the excursion. As it turns out, today wasn't just any day in the park, there was a festival of some sort going on, so there was plenty of stuff to look at and enjoy. And, go figure, I managed to find a horse in the park. He was a beautiful bay that a local brought with her pony for people to ride around the grassy area. Now, don't worry, my roommates threatened me within an inch of my life if I actually got in the saddle, but I got to hug him and get my horsey fix for the day.

Now, despite the aforementioned nap, I'm dead tired and would very much like to curl up and go to sleep, so this post will end here, but tomorrow is a chill day so I'll try to fill in the details then.
Love,
Bedtime in Budapest

Gotta get down on Friday!

This a beautiful city. To say that is a major understatement, but I don't know how else to phrase it. Everything is landscaped here. All the parks and gardens look perfect and even the concrete has precious statues and monuments that add to the asthetics. I wanted to reinforce that detail because I noticed today that it still surprises me every day. I walk the same route to the metro at least four times a day and I still find myself gazing around in complete awe. I wish the pictures captured my surroundings even half as well as my eyes do.

Today was our day in the Cardiac cath lab. The patient was an emergency admit who was actively having a heart attack and needed a few stints. Now, in the US, this procedure usually involves threading a catheter through the femoral artery. In this hospital, the doctors preferred the radial artery. (Femoral = thigh, radial = wrist). The preference stems from a lower risk of bleeding ad other complications, BUT it's a smaller artery, so it can be a bit tricky. The doctor started to thread the catheter when we realized that this particular patient has an abnormality that only a small percentage of the population shares. The way I understand it, her radial artery actually branches off into two segments. One is straight, but narrows significantly and does not lead directly to the heart. The other spins in a corkscrew around itself, making it exceedingly difficult to work with. He ended up switching to one femoral artery, and upon figuring out that the right was stenosed, tried the left femoral. Success! Arterial sticks are always weird anyway because there's blood everywhere publishing out, but when he punctured the femoral artery, there was a TON of blood. The procedure itself went very well, and the doctor resolved her extensive heart block through the placement of three or four stints. (We got pulled out for lunch before the procedure was finished).

After clinicals, we made our way to our favorite coffee shop for some coffee and tiramisu to snack on while we did homework. The barista is so sweet that he invited us to his birthday party where he's giving us FREE tiramisu. I love this place a little more every day. No, I love it a ton more. It was so relaxing to hang out in the upstairs and drink coffee for a few hours outside of the hostel.

After the cafe, upon Laura's request, we went to a craft/homemade goods market. Bye bye Hungarian money. It was nice to have you for that short time. I'm pretty sure I bought enough Hungarian made gifts to last a lifetime (and break the bank). But I still believe it's justifiable because when am I ever gonna come back here? Exactly. So, by that logic, I need to buy it all now.
Walking around with the group was just so refreshing. It's nice that our little quintet has become so close in such a short time. We can goof off and joke around with each other without wanting to tear each others throats out (most of the time). I think that once we're in the US, it'll be nice to have some personal space again, but for now, I like that we haven't fractured. We're a tiny little family and we watch each others backs. Michaela saved me from getting hit by a tram yesterday and Morgan kept Laura for getting hit by a biker. Even though we're together 24/7, we're still somewhat glued at the hip. I like it.
Sidenote: the drivers here are INSANE. Picture the Jersey turnpike on drugs. I have learned to tune out the sound of squealing tires or ambulances racing down the road with the sirens blasting. Those are two fairly constant sounds here in Pest. Sunday, Mo and I are wandering over to Buda, so it should be a bit more peaceful.
Now, however,it is time to SLEEP. It's been a long week, so I'm going to unwind and curl up in my bed until I'm no longer falling asleep standing up.
Goodnight!
Dreadfully weary








"This thing is gonna be like step brothers." "I'd be pissed if I died in a bunk bed!"
- Michaela

"In the first few minutes (of class) I thought I was going to sleep again!"
Dr. Hollòs

"I am a cow and I'm hungry. IN HUNGARY!"
Laura

"I don't understand! If the biker hits you, they're going to the hospital too! It's an inconvenience for everyone!"
Michaela

Cultural Differences

Day one of my declaration was a success! I had the MOST amazing French toast with a hazelnut spread at breakfast, followed by an incredible stir fry at dinner. I don't think what they fed us at lunch could even pass as edible, but I'm not quite sure I should expect from a hospital cafeteria. Oh! After dinner we went to the little get together at Cafe Torino, and I'm pretty sure none of us have felt that full and happy since getting here. The coffee and tiramisu is to DIE FOR, but in addition to our usual orders, the fed us a platter of homemade pizza and quiches along with little cakes and treats. It. Was. Delicious. Can I bring that little cafe home with me? I swear his tiramisu alone would make him a millionaire. Who's that Good Eats guy? Yeah. Lets call him.
I don't really have much to say about clinicals because we didnt do much but want around the hospital on yet another tour. I will bring this little fact though. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but I'm too lazy to got back and check so here goes. Instead of having individual rooms for most of their patients. They have them either in longs wards, separated but curtains, or multiple beds to a room. They're huge rooms, so whatever you're picturing is probably a million times worse than how it actually looks. And while we were walking around I was chatting with a Hungarian student and we were discussing generalized differences between healthcare and culture in Hungary and the USA. (Please note that I'm doing my best to keep my political opinions out of this, so if you're looking for politics, this is not the place to be). First of all, the Euoropeans themselves are a LOT more chill about privacy. As in, by American standards, there is none. Co-Ed changing rooms are surprisingly common and no one seems concerned about changing clothes in front of each other. PDA is rampant everywhere, and the women don't seem to mind... Err... Being slightly less conservative than what I'm used to. So in a culture that open, I'm not particularly surprised that they're totally down with sharing hospital rooms with others. Now, throw in the fact that their nurse/patient ratio is off the charts (13-26 patients per nurse minimum), and that their nurses barely get to spend time with their patients. Also, the Hungarian medical staff also mentioned that they don't have the same issues with patient loneliness and depression that we do in the USA. I'm not saying that its a perfect solution or anything, but it does make me wonder if patients that have roommates also have decreased rates of hospital associated depression, especially if they don't have family that is able to be with them. For all it's faults, the Hungarian medical culture very much seems to believe that patients heal better either at home or with their family, which I'm sure does wonders for patient moral. That being said, I know that there are some people reading this that are flabbergasted that I would even propose such a concept, but it's also worth noting that the Hungarians have grown up with this method of thinking. If you were to put a Hungarian patient in their own room, they would think that they are dying. Isolation for them is a way of telling them that they are way too sick.
Just a little food for thought as I sit here on my bunk bed in a room of four. Tomorrow's agenda is as follows: clinicals, free time, coffee, dinner, dessert at the crepes place, the famous thermal baths, and maybe a massage. Maybe I'll have a few more adventures to report tomorrow.
Wish me luck!
A comfortable Budapest student

Cheese and Trauma

NO MORE CHEESE. I'm declaring this now. I'm boycotting cheese once I'm home. How do the vegetarians here not have serious health issues from all this cheese!? Don't get me wrong, they make GOOD food, and it's the best cheese I've ever had, but cheese for three meals a day over the past 12 days is kinda dragging. I'm wishing our meals weren't preordered, but given that the Uni here pays for the food, I'm not sure that I should be disgruntled. Luckily, it's almost the weekend, and that means that I get to order my own food!!!  Morgan and I have found several precious cafes that we want to try, so I'll keep you posted on our food adventures.
As for today, it was a bit of a roller coaster. I started off my clinical day getting attacked by the elevator at the hospital. Confused? The elevator doors in Europe don't mess around. There's no sticking your hand in front of the closing doors to make them start to open again. These suckers slam shut like a guillotine and yeah, they'll bounce open again, but not before you acquire significant bruising. Now, don't go scolding me and thinking that I was sticking my bad arm out in front of those doors. No, when the elevator doors opened in front of the ICU, I stepped out and got slammed into with, I'm sure, a couple hundred pounds of metal on my minimally protected, broken arm. That sucked. I'll be honest and let you know that I did not pay attention at all during class following that. I propped my arm up on a bag and put my head down while my arm throbbed. I spent the rest of the day bolting through doors if I had no other option than to use the elevators. Those things are scary.
However, lest you be concerned that I let my traumatizing experience ruin my day (and yes I know that I'm a tad dramatic), I cheered myself up by getting in on an emergency trauma surgery. Only in the medical field would that be considered fun. Ha. Well my patient was a 19 year old male who was in the passenger seat of the car that was hit. His seatbelt, though it kept him alive, lacerated his spleen and liver and completely cut his intestines in half. Now that he's in stable condition and his prognosis looks good, I can honestly say that it was an AWESOME surgery. They managed to repair the liver and spleen and perform a reanastomosis to piece his intestines back together. He's gonna be in a world of hurt when he gets all the anesthesia out of his system, but I'll be keeping an eye on him in the ICU tomorrow. The driver of the car was getting an exploratory laparotomy right after his buddy was stabilized but other than some wicked nasty scrapes and bruising on both sides of his hip, he looked to be in a lot better shape. I didn't get to watch the rest of the laparotomy, because Annita pulled us out for lunch, but I was still thrilled with what I got to see.
We did see Norbi again today! He was still wearing his makeshift name badge today and seemed genuinely thrilled that we're gonna be back in the ICU again tomorrow. It's nice to have friends on staff there, like Norbi, Annita, and Dora. They're all such wonderful people to work with that I wish I didn't have to leave them in a few weeks. I've got a few emails so I can keep in touch, but I'll still miss seeing them in action.
We seem to have settled into a pretty sweet routine over the past few days. Following clinicals, we head back to the hostel to drop our bags and change, then we go for a cup of coffee and some tiramisu at the local cafe which is owned by an awesome Italian guy who speaks English and seems to have welcomed us completely. Hey- it's guaranteed business for him til the end of May, and we get great coffee. (Forget Starbucks, this is real coffee). We watched his baker making some sort of dessert, which was awesome. I love little homey coffee shops where you can see your food being prepared in front of you. He's a very skilled baker and it was fascinating to watch him bake without measuring cups. He set the bowl on scale and poured ingredients in until he was satisfied and then he started on a new bowl. It was all very methodical, and I could tell that he was 'in the zone'. I would assume that I'm the same way with my nursing skills, or equestrian, but I've never watched myself, so I don't know.
After our coffee we took the tram to the Central Market in Liberty Square, where I added 3 new scarves to my collection. (I'm up to 11 now. My roommates are about to stage an intervention.) We did some casual shopping for a few hours and I successfully haggled for the first time ever! I saved a few hundred fts on a few things, which I thought was pretty good for my first time. Baby steps, right?
That pretty much it for exciting happenings today. We got new sheets and towels, so shout out to LB for helping me make my bed, but right now we're all just chilling out in our room (plus David) while we reorganize and finish homework. Tomorrow we're going to a party at Cage Torino (the Italian cafe) after dinner and Friday we're galavanting the city in search of hazelnut Nutella crepes.
This week has flown by, and I would definitely like for it to slow down just a bit, so that I have a little more time here before I get on a plane to Frankfurt, New Jersey, and, finally, Atlanta. That being said, I'm starting to get excited to be home too. I'm not homesick yet, but I do miss my shower and my bedroom. Ok, and maybe I miss my family and my dog. ;)
Goodnight America! I'll see you soon!
Sincerely,
No more cheese please


"Professor Dever just made a music video of me! It's on her iPhone!"
-David

"But you should understand that I am not crazy."
-Dr. Hollòs

Heart Surgery

"Nurses are the most important part of the hospital-not doctors. Doctors are at home, playing golf, not with patients. Well trained nurses are the most important part."
 - Dr. Kiss



I saw two open heart surgeries today. I SAW BEATING HEARTS. That pretty much tops anything else that happened, and I have no idea how to explain it, but I will try.
Once we got to the hospital this morning and finished our lecture in door to OR times for Intra aortic balloon pumps (yes, that is as fascinating as it sounds), Annita, one of the head nurses, brought us paper SURGICAL SCRUBS to change into! Of course, the smallest they had were mediums, so Morgan and I were swimming in them, but we were getting the opportunity to set foot in the OR, so I was not about to voice any complaints. After suiting up in scrubs, hair nets, shoe covers, and masks, we trekked to the third floor and were buzzed into the surgical suites. Now, let me start off by saying that I have no intentions of ever being a scrub nurse. I never have, and, despite the amazing stuff I saw today, my life goals remain unchanged. I added a possible CRNA certification/degree to my list, but no scrub nursing for me, thank you. That being said, today freaking rocked. Crippled arm or no, when they asked which student wanted to see an open heart surgery, my hand shot straight up. Thanks to our quick reaction times, Melissa and I were chosen to observe an ascending aorta repair. It was AWESOME. By the time we got in there, the surgeon was sewing the tissues replacement into the aorta, and preparing to take the patient off bypass. Even so, it was so cool to watch, and the surgeon was wonderful at answering any questions that we had. When the surgery was completed, he thanked us for being there and explained which cardio thoracic procedures were going on in each room. We were then excused to pick which surgery we wanted to watch. We then stood by the door for several minutes trying to figure out which button opened the door. The surgical team found our confusion hilarious and watched us struggle for a few moments before the anesthesiologist walked over to let us out.
Then began the real fun. Please remember that we are in a country in which the predominant language is HUNGARIAN and very few people speak any English, let alone fluent English.  So we didn't want to walk into a random OR and be unable to explain who we are or why we were there, which is why we began to walk up and down the hall , looking for someone, anyone, that we recognized or anyone that spoke English and could help us. I've never felt so awkward in my life, but I was very grateful that I was not alone, and instead, had Melissa to walk with me.
After about 15 minutes of complete confusion, we saw Dr. Hollòs walking down the hall. We literally started yelling for him fanatically.
I love how his face lights up when he sees us. Michaela calls him Abuelo because he acts so sweet (and he's the spitting image of her grandfather). He rushed over and took us to see a CABG and aortic valve replacement, where we met up with Morgan! This is when we got to see the patient's heart resume beating. It's a good thing I had a mask on, because my jaw just about hit the floor. That is by far, the coolest day I've had in a long time.
I want to throw in a sidenote here about something before I scamper off to bed. The cardiologist who taught class today mentioned the people in Hungary see, to be just as resistant to lifestyle changes following heart attacks and open heart surgery as they are in the US. This blows my mind for many reasons, but rather then contemplating why people make such choices, I wanted to mention how thrilled I am that my father has been such a wonderful role model when it comes to that. For those of you who don't know, and I hope he's ok with me bringing it up, he had some pretty serious heart complications when he was in his early 30's. I was still pretty young, so I had no idea how serious it was at the time, but I distinctly remember that after he came home from the hospital, we made some serious lifestyle changes. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it was for him to give up his favorite foods in favor of vegetables and healthier habits. We starting taking the dogs on long walks around the neighborhood, and he worked hard to make sure that I understood why I didn't get to eat pop tarts or bagel bites anymore. (In my defense, I was a kid, so it was a complete tragedy from my point of view). Now, around a decade later, I am finally able understand what this process involved for him, and I'm so proud of him, and I'm definitely glad he's still around today.
Rather than being resistant to change, he recognized what he needed to fix and did it. Now, I'm sure it's been a rough road for him at times, but the fact that he did it is incredibly impressive. So here's a shout out to you dad. Thank you for being an inspiration to me and helping drive my passion for nursing and patient education. :)

Peace out world, I've gotta get some sleep so that I don't fall at the operating table tomorrow!
Love,
Your overly introspective munchkin nurse



Also, you know you're destined for the medical field when you're staring at a patients open thoracic cavity, and all you can think about is how good lunch is going to taste.


"Jessica! For the next week I don't want to deal with ascites, so you're not gonna take more Tylenol!" -David

"I mean, you're halfway to being iron man, or WOLVERINE!'
-Laura on my metal arm

Week number two

Hey everyone!
This is gonna be a short one because I'm having arm related problems. (Nothing to worry about- I've just been overusing it so my arm is letting me know that I need to slow down.... Via stabbing pain).
My day today actually started around 0430 this morning. I woke up due to allergies/crazy dreams, and apparently a bunch of others did too. Morgan, Megan, and David fessed up at breakfast that they'd woken up at the same time, and had also found themselves unable to sleep. We have no idea, and have so far just brushed it off as a coincidence. Tonight I'm taking no chances, and am downing some benedryl to head off any allergies that may decide to surface again tonight.
I will admit that I have had zero appetite today. I think it was a combination of arm and food that wasnt particularly appetizing. Dinner was just a salad, so I didn't really have the usual wonderful smells enticing me to dig in.
Most of my day was spent working in the hospital and in class, so I guess I'll fill you in there. Unfortunately, I didn't get to be in the CICU again today, but it was still a pretty interesting day in the Multidisciplinary ICU. My patient was actually a stab victim and had a large laceration to the abdomen with a wound vac and multiple surgeries to repair the damage. He was intubated (had a tube in his throat to help him breathe) but was awake and oriented. I'm positive that he had no idea what I was saying, but we still managed to communicate through gestures. He had a pretty high fever and wanted to flip the washcloth on his head over to the cooler side constantly, and after I'd done this for him a few times, he grabbed my hand and brought it to his mouth a few times. I was racking my brain to figure out what he was asking as he repeated the motion when Laura walked over and said "Jessica! He's trying to kiss your hand to thank you!" It was one of the sweetest things I've ever experienced. These patients have been so kind and patient as we attempt to communicate with them and help them in any way they can. I could see the gratitude in his face, and it warmed my heart to be able to make him feel even the slightest bit better.
Needless to say, I loved my patient, but I had a few other patients that were pretty interesting.
Patient B was a man who had been enjoying a picnic and was slightly drunk when he backed into a pot of boiling goulash and received extensive burns all over his back and legs. I'm bringing him up because he renewed my interest in doing my senior practicum at the Grady Burn ICU. Burn patients are some of the most fragile both physically and emotionally. They are susceptible to so many infections during the emergent and acute phase that they require so much special care. After the acute phase, burn patients need help adjusting to their new self identities and any physical limitations. I don't know if I would be a good burn ICU nurse, but I want to try my hand at it and see if it fits.
My third patient was a patient who has been in the ICU for almost a year. Last summer, he dove into shallow water and fractured his C4 and C5 vertebrae, leaving him entirely paralyzed from the neck down, meaning that he cannot be without mechanical ventilation for more than 2 hours at a time. This man has a 5 month old son that he cannot even hold but he is reported to be one of the most cheerful and delightful patients to work with. What strikes me as incredible, is how hard the nursing staff has worked to include the patient and his family in the unit. They secured him a private room (which is usually reserved for infectious patients), bring him his favorite foods, and make sure to take him outside for an hour or two every day no matter what. They have pictures of his wife and son all over the room, and they treat him with the utmost respect. To see how much they care about this patient and how far they have gone out of their way to make him comfortable when they are constantly short of staff and supplies was a truly humbling experience. Working in America, I am lucky enough to have constant access to gloves and linens. We always have enough staff, and though we may complain about having two or three ICU patients per shift, they may have more than 8 critically ill patients. These nurses are absolutely incredible. To see what they work through every day makes me even more excited to learn from them over the next few weeks. Language barrier or not, my experiences here have only just begun and I cannot wait.

It's time to start resting so that I will be ready to hit the ground running tomorrow in the OR.

Wish me luck!
Jess


"It's more important to know what sort of person this disease has than what sort of disease this person has. "

"Where is presenter?" "... We lost him..." Dr. Hòllos and the tech guy

"Flexibility, I not." Dr. Hòllos

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! It's weird that I'm multiple time zones and an ocean away from my family today, as I would usually spend today having lunch with my wonderful mother and calling my relatives. Instead, I had a chill day in Budapest so I had a lot of time to reflect on how important this day is to me. If you're reading this solely for tales of my adventures, skip down to the last paragraph. Otherwise, please continue on.
Let me just start by saying how wonderfully blessedI feel today. I have a WONDERFUL mother whom I am extremely close to, and I wouldn't trade that for the world. I have no way to repay her for the YEARS of care, advice, and unconditional love that she has given me. There are some days when I was a complete terror, and I'm sure she was ready to tear her hair out, but she never did. She blames me for a couple 'grey hairs' that have supposedly appeared throughout my lifetime, but I remain skeptical. In all seriousness, my mother is an incredibly strong women who patiently answered millions of my questions about how things worked or why they were a certain way. She carted me around to church, school, and afterschool activities for years without so much as a single complaint to me. When I broke my arm a few weeks ago, I called her in the middle of a workday and she met me in the ER, AND proceeded to take care of me during the post-op fun, all while preparing me to leave the country. See? My mom rocks. That doesn't even begin to scratch the surface on how much she means to me and all of the things she's seen me through. ((Super shout out to mom for giving me my best friend for 12 years, Sandy, who I can't imagine my childhood without)).
However, my mom has also been wonderful enough to ensure that I am close to my fantastic stepmother and my two grandmothers, so I'm going to brag about them for a little while too. I'm not sure how many people get the chance to be so close to their stepmothers, but Evelyn has, ever since she married my dad, made sure to include me in EVERYTHING and making me really feel like a part of the family. She and mom have always made sure that I get the chance to be very involved in my sisters' lives as they grow up, and I love my sisters more than anything else. Evelyn has been there to teach me German, fix me macaroni and cheese countless times, and just sit and chat whenever I needed it. I have grown up with both a wonderful mother and stepmother to lean on whenever I need it. I feel so lucky and blessed, not to mention grateful! These two women have helped shape who I am today, and I can't thank them enough.
In addition, I have two caring, supportive, and overall wonderful grandmothers that have been so involved in my life from day one. Granny and Nana have always given wonderful advice and never fail to be there when I need a shoulder to lean on. I have spent many summer vacations at their respective houses going to church or watching fireworks with Granny, or learning the details of gardening and exploring colonial Williamsburg with Nana. I have so many memories of both of them that I treasure and hold close. I won the lottery of awesome Grandparents, and I am grateful for them every day.
Moral of the story? The Sutton and McPherson clans are the BEST. End of discussion. You won't find any better women than these.

Can you tell I miss my family? I feel like I could live in Budapest forever, but only if I could have my family here with me. I would seriously love to show mom around this city, but alas, I will have to bring her back here another time.

So this is the part where I tell you about my day. It's still weird that I'm eating lunch while everyone back home is still fast asleep. On days like today where I'm not in the hospital until 4, I seriously spent a good while trying to figure out why I hadn't heard from anyone back home until I realized that it was still 6 am EST. Whoops. Anyway, as I may or may not have mentioned in earlier posts, this weekend is FREE TIME. We got to pick what we wanted to do for TWO WHOLE DAYS. I can't stress how amazing that was. We got to decide when and where to eat, when to wake up, and where to go for 48 hours. AH! Today was rather cold, so other than going to the craft fair and leaving to eat lunch and dinner, we actually stayed in the hostel for the most part, reading books, and doing laundry.
Lest you be concerned that I did not have a cultural experience today, I shall assure you that I definitely did. If it hadn't been so cold and gloomy today, we were supposed to wander back to the city park today, but we used the weather as an excuse to relax. However, even relaxed people get hungry eventually, so we did emerge from the hostel for lunch around 1400. The first thing I noticed was that most stores, except the touristy ones, are closed on Sundays. Back home, everything is open pretty much 24/7, so this was a little bit of a change for me, but I really liked it. Sundays here are more of a family day where you go to the park or church instead of scattering to the four winds to run errands. Also worth noting is the fact that the language barrier has gotten a bit easier, because I know enough basic words to feel comfortable navigating and communicating in a basic manner with the locals. "Please, thank you, and hello", go a lot farther than you might think they would. But even if we don't share a common language, gestures and smiles seem to be a common ground. I have communicated with a good many people this way lately.
We did eat lunch at the Anna Cafe, next to Liberty Bridge today, overlooking the Danube River. I am LOVING this little square. It's always so pretty, and now I found  a vegetarian friendly cafe that tastes SUPERB. And, of course, I mean that their sandwiches were delicious, not the building itself. I had a goat cheese, roccula (arugla), and tomato sandwich that was to die for! Great food with and even better view! I don't think I could have asked for anything more wonderful today.
In conclusion, happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there, and I promise to keep you posted on my adventures in the military hospital tomorrow!
Love always,
Jessica

PS (Do I get any bonus points for posting this early for once instead of an hour late? ;) )

Also, one last shout out to Mom, our song!

                                   http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd9zYKLepCw                                                                    

Free Day!

Why is it that I always end up typing this at the last second? I suppose that's a good sign that I'm super busy and thoroughly enjoying my days here, but it's kind of a bummer that I never feel like I have enough time to say everything I want to. I'm trying to keep every posted, but you are barely getting the tip of the iceberg. However, once again, I am dying to get some sleep, so I'll give you the highlights and then roll over and shut my eyes. So let me start by telling you what was SUPPOSED to happen today. 1000 breakfast 1015-1240 central market with LB, Mo, David, and Michaela 1245 michaela and I wander back to the hostel instead of going to parliament 1300-1500 laundry time and downtime 1500- exploration and random stuff with the group Instead, we first decided to go to the craft fair/festival before they went on the Parliament trip. I can't even begin to describe how perfect of an idea that turned out to be. It was SO much fun! I have a ton of pictures, of course. I was mildly reminiscent of the Duluth Fall Festival with aLOT more homemade wares and vendors. It was on the steps of the National Museum and in the surrounding park, and the vendors completely encircled the outside of the building. There were traditional dances and artifacts. It was almost entirely Hungarian, so I definitely felt like a little bit of an outsider when watching the children putting on plays and the people milling around to different areas, but everything was so beautiful! I got my fabric finally! That's been a major goal of mine since this whole trip since I'm enlisting the help of the talented Megan Trussell to make me a Budapest quilt! I'm not describing the other fantastic things I found so that I don't spoil surprises for everyone back home,but I'll be posting pictures when I get back home. But back to the story! So we went back to the hostel to drop off our goodies and relax for a little while before Mo, LB, Bilal, and David went to Parliament. I felt like I hadn't spent enough time at the craft fair, so I wanted to go peruse some stalls with the professors and pick up a few knick nacks before starting my laundry. We made it halfway down the main road to the museum and Ildi came rushing down the street to tell us that the Parliament trip had been canceled, so that entire plan for the day got thrown upside down at the last second. I took off to get to the hostel before the musketeers started towards the building. I didn't want them to find out after they traveled all the way there, and I caught them literally right as they exited the hostel. New plan was to go pick up a few more goodies from the craft fair and then head to the House of Terror, which is a holocaust museum in Pest. The House of Terrors was a little rough for me. I have a hard time watching those videos from the concentration camps and hearing the survivors tell their stories. It breaks my heart that the holocaust ever even happened, and I hate that it's still happening in some countries around the world. The first couple rooms were hard to deal with, and I almost had to leave because I felt so sick in the pit of my stomach, but the museum started to focus on an aspect of the Second World War that I had never heard about. Hungary was positioned between the German and Russian regimes, so Hungary was thrown between the two for decades, and the Hungarian citizens were punished for the1940's, 50's, and 60's, They were technically still a communist state until 1991, I believe. So, as the history geek that I am, I actually loved learning those facts about the country whose perspective I had never heard. If you've never gotten to focus on the history of Budapest from 1943-1976, it's worth a read. After that we headed to Hero Square and the city park. It was so beautiful and so expansive that we didn't even come close to exploring even the front of the park. We did, however, find a woman who HAND EMBROIDERED these stunning tablecloths and sold them for only 6,000 fts (about $30, so super cheap for the quality)! She spoke such little english, but she tried so hard to communicate with us and tell us all about these cloths. We nearly bought her out because they were so beautiful. Right inside the castle gates, (Is this real life? Did I really just say that so casually?), there was a man spray painting on paper. The finished paintings he had off to the side, and it was so obvious that he was incredibly talented! With only spray paint and newspaper, he created oceans, planets, and ships with intricate details. I watched him with my jaw on the ground, and, as soon as he finished his painting, requested to purchase it. I took pictures of the whole process, but I can't even describe how wonderful it was to watch hime paint those mindblowing scenes. He has such amazing talent, and I would like to go back and see if he is there again tomorrow. That's the current plan, anyway. I'll keep you posted on what happens tomorrow, but it may actually turn into a rainy day where I end up working on homework.
 Ciya! Jes

 "Well I don't want to go to the latin service because I wouldnt know what they were saying!" "... If it's not in latin, it would be in Hungarian.." "Oh... they wouldnt be in english?"' - Laura and Bilal Nicknames: Laura- LB, loop loop, peanut butter Morgan- Mo, Momo, Twin David- Dave, Dah-veed Bilal- Buster, Joey (friends reference)

Too Tired to Process

David has requested that I begin this post by telling you all about a paramedic that I worked with on the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit today. And I will, but I first have to reference my post from yesterday. If you haven't read it yet, please take the time to do so or you may be confused. Quick recap: paramedics are RNs first and need masters degrees to be paramedics. Get it? Got it? Good. Moving on.
So my clinical group was in the CICU today for our clinical experience, and it was the first time in my nursing experience that I felt at home in the hospital itself. The pumps and equipment are vastly different, but the vitals and basics are the same. The systolic/diastolic bp ranges are the same, the arterial wave forms are the same, and the ventilator settings are the same. Without even having to catch up too much with the nurses, I knew what was going on and I definitely realized how much I missed my unit at home. The Grady MICU truly is a family and I wish I could tell them about all of this as it goes. It breaks my heart to think about the idea that I may have to wait a few months until my arm heals before I will be allowed to go back to my unit. But  even though I cannot be with my Grady Family, I am thrilled to have the chance to be in this unit in Budapest. A ton of the equipment is incredibly outdated and it consistently amazes me that we, in the USA, are as blessed as we are with medical supplies and personnel. These nurses unofficially have twice the responsibility and 5 times the patients. I mean that quite literally. One ICU nurse may have as many as 15 critical care patients in their care at any given time. On top of that, they also may no doctors on the floor for hours on end. I can't begin to explain how horrifying that thought is, and how much I applaud the nurses for choosing this profession and following through despite the poor wages, severe burn out, and constant lack of disrespect from the doctors.
So back to the paramedic. The paramedics seem to work as physician's assistants in the hospitals here. They are technically ranked above nurses on the units and can call the shots during codes and such when doctors aren't around. I promise I have a point here... So on  the CICU, there were 2 nurses for 6 patients, and 1 or 2 paramedic students who were there doing clinicals. One of the students who spoke moderate english, was Norbert, aka Norbi. When he saw that we had identification in the form of name tags, he took a piece of medical tape, wrote his name on it, and stuck it on his chest, introducing himself as Norbert, "Like from Harry Potter!". I spent most of my clinicals talking to him, to explore the various differences in our cultures within the hospital and in the country in general. For example, he has never heard of a mosquito hawk, and that was a full 45 minutes of conversation about bugs and such in the USA vs Hungary. He tried really hard to communicate with us in English, which presented some difficulties, but overall went very well. He has a wonderful grasp of the english language and the vocabulary. I genuinely hope we get the chance to talk to him on Monday during our next clinical day.
As for my patients today, as much as I loved them, I hope that they are safely at home by Monday. One, was Patrick Stewart's doppleganger and he was the coolest patient I've met so far. I'm not 100% sure that he realized we didn't speak Hungarian, because he gave us his whole life story... in Hungarian. He seemed thrilled to have the interaction though, and was more than comfortable letting us listen to his heart and lungs. Our second patient was a Holocaust survivor. Yeah, I did just type that. She survived the holocaust. We found out because she had 1942 tattooed on her knuckles, which is apparently where they tattooed babies and children when they were taken (if they were not killed in the concentration camps).
I won't even delve further into my thoughts on that patient because I'm still trying to sort them out for myself, so I'll keep you posted on that.

I hope my bestie, Morgan Foster, enjoyed her birthday today and loved our birthday celebration at the New York Cafe (one of the most beautiful coffee shops in the world). Tomorrow is my free day, so this is the time when I must go to sleep so that I don't actually turn into the hulk.
Goodnight my loves!
Love always,
Constantly in awe

"Swag Bomb."- from David

Culture Infusion

How am I already almost done with my first week here? The days are definitely starting to blend together in a crazy whirlwind blur. In some ways, I feel like I've been here forever. I'm comfortable walking around the city and using the buses and metro. The only thing that still gets to me is the realization of how little Hungarian I know. We've tried to learn at least one word every day, but this an incredibly difficult language, and we usually have our guide or professors who at least partially, speak English, so we haven't truly been forced to learn it. I will say that learning Kùssenum (thank you) was probably the best choice we could have made. It makes me feel slightly better to know that I can at least show some appreciation to the locals, whether they speak English or not. Also, please note that I'm going to be spelling all Hungarian words the way I think they sound, not how they necessarily are spelled. So here's my list so far:
Sunday- Kùssenum or kùssi (thank you/thanks)
Monday- chipka (clothespin or table covering)
Tuesday- Egészégedre (cheers) (that one is spelled correctly!)
Wednesday- Vegetarian (vegetarian) and borzasz (sorry)
Thursday- ciya (see ya!)
Honestly, given how hard this language is, I'm pretty pleased so far. I know just enough to not feel 100% out of place. In actuality, this place feels quite a but like home. I don't mean that it's at all like Atlanta, or the states, but that I feel quite comfortable here. Every day I grow to love this place just a little bit more. There are some things that I miss about the states, but it's nice to be typing this next to the Liberty Bridge in one of the many park areas. It's near a bunch of pubs, so there is music and people, but it's relatively quiet. I am definitely enjoying the ability to SIT and relax. Here is my usual day:
0630/0645 wakeup
0700/0715 breakfast
0730-0800 or 0830 commute via walking, metro, or bus
0830-1230 class or clinicals/hospital
1230-1330 lunch
1330 to 1430/1530- class
1430/1530- 1600/1630 commute
1630-1800 touring or other mandatory scheduled program
1800- dinner
1800-2000/2100- shopping/free time/get out of the hostel
2100-2130- shower
2200- 2300/0000 journal/blog/homework/laundry
0030- Collapse from exhaustion
Rinse.  Repeat.
Don't get me wrong, I'm loving this! However, the days are killing me. We wake up early, run all day, and go to bed late, so I'm stumbling through my days. I'm so excited to have some down time this weekend to relax and hang out in the local parks and coffee shops. (It's Morgan's birthday tomorrow so we'll be hitting New York Cafe,which is the supposedly the most beautiful cafe in the WORLD).

Class today was in the simulation lab of Sammelweis University. It was actually a pretty nice lab! The sim people are just as creepy here as they are back home with stretched out faces and and weird breathing. The lab professors today were very nice and were very supportive. They started a postpartum ob/gyn simulation (which I have never done before), with all 12 of us working together with the same patient. That was definitely a little chaotic, but thank goodness we had other students to lean on. I have NEVER had an OB/GYN patient, and I never intend to. That's just not my cup of tea. I feel like Morgan had a blast though, and I'm glad she got a chance to shine though. Our second patient was a stroke patient, so that was pretty familiar for me. Overall though, I enjoyed the experience, and I wish we got to be there another day.
On the way back from class, our small group found a cute little coffee shop, and, to our surprise the owner is an english speaking italian! We had a good chat with him, and got some wonderful coffee (!!!!!!!). I have now found my Hungarian Bella Coffee, the local coffee shop that I will visit EVERY day to study in, and to do my homework. Luckily, it is right down the street from our hostel, and they serve coffee to go, which is rare for Europe.
After a brief (15 minute) respite, Dalna and Zoli, two hungarian students, took us to the Budapest version of Dialogue in the Dark. It was kinda similar to the one that was at Atlantic Station for a while, but in some ways it was completely different. The darkness itself is the same, you can't see anything at all, and I always felt as though I was about to faceplant. However, since I was with a group of people I know, I didn't mind running into them as much. And when I say that I ran into people, I mean that I was full on plowing into my classmates. It was the most terrifying and hilarious experience. "Who is this?!?!" "It's David/ Laura/ Bilal/Melissa/Tina!" I started just hugging people when I ran into them. In the second room or so, Morgan and I found each other and we spent the rest of the time clinging to each other for dear life. You should have heard the confusion in Ester (our blind guide)'s voice when she tried to steer us towards a door and realized that we were literally connected. For those of you that haven't been to one of these exhibitions, I highly recommend it. I was amazed at the amount to which I struggled through the various rooms (an apartment, busy street, log cabin, museum, and forest), without my eyesight. However, even though I didn't have visual capabilities, my mind tried to compensate, and I felt like I could see at times, even though I most definitely could not. My mind created wonderful images and pictures of what I presumed my surroundings to look like. The guide, Ester, was so comforting during the many times I found myself stuck in corners of the room. After the bridge, I managed to tangle myself up in a campfire bucket and a tree to the point where I had no idea of how to free myself. She was very patient and always called us forward to the correct area. I don't want to say much more so that I don't ruin the experience for anyone, but if you are not claustrophobic, I highly recommend going to such an exhibition.It is an incredible experience for sure.
One of the details I wanted to hit briefly before I finally get some much needed sleep is that I love the Hungarian system of RN to paramedic. Let me explain for you non-medicals out there. In the USA, you train to be an EMT and then Paramedic, as in, the track is completely different from that of nursing. I Hungary, you study to become an RN first, and then you get your master's to be a paramedic. Sign me up! As most of you know, I'm a critical care/trauma nurse through and through, so I would LOVE to be on the 'front lines' of the medical field. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, and I'm not leaving it anytime soon, but I love that, here, I could stay in my career path and go another step towards the trauma section of the field.

As promised, I went back to the banks of the Danube to do homeowrk/write this tonight. I love sitting in an area and soaking up the culture of the locals. It's such a wonderful way to end the day. As for now, I will leave you with a few quotes from Miss Laura Bolt to enjoy. I swear that these were hilariously meant and I still get a crack out of it.

"I really enjoyed watching you struggle for independence. I'm not even going to say it was you struggling against your shirt, it was watching your pride suffer."
- on watching me wrestle with the act of changing my shirt and not asking for help

 "Eww. Yall my arm looks weird" "....I mean... don't you think you your arm is always gonna look a little messed up?! It's metal!"



Last but not least, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN! (In Hungarian time). I love you bestie and I can't wait to spend the day with you tomorrow!

Goodnight!
-Missing the red,white, and blue


"Nursing is not simply a job, it is a way of life."

The sunset wins this round

Ok so this post may not be online by 6 pm EST on the dot... I would apologize, but trust, me it was worth it.
I shall start at the beginning and continue until I fall asleep, which could be anywhere from an hour to 5 minutes. (I'm about to break down and buy a Hungarian coffee maker and coffee so that life will be just a little bit more bearable in the mornings.)
Breakfast this morning was bread with butter, cucumbers, cheese, and very sweet homemade jam that tasted heavenly and paired with waffles. I was honestly too afraid to ask if they made a special veggie plate because I don't like to put them out any even though the mozzarella is to die for. Maybe I'll start asking in a week or two. Either way, the breakfast was delicious, and I am truly looking forward to it again tomorrow. Will I ever get tired of this food? I hope not.
Our 'program' today was orientation to the military hospital where we will be doing clinicals for a few weeks. the walk there was absolutely dreadful. Atlanta rain has nothing on Budapest storms. The weather here is so bipolar that I have experienced uncomfortably cold downpours and stunningly beautiful shorts weather (complete with sunburn and all) within 8 hours of each other. I walked to the hospital in the rain and in my giant white lab coat. Can you say conspicuous? I've gotten kinda used to people staring when we're in a group of 14, but usually they avert their eyes after a few seconds. When we were traveling in our large group AND were in lab coats, people were staring at us with their jaws on the floor. I hate standing out, so that was definitely a rough commute. Thank goodness David has a giant umbrella that I could sneak under to stay dry. It's hard to hold that and maneuver my stuff with one good hand.
The entrance to the hospital itself looked like a mall or train station. There were little stores on the inside just like in the DC and NYC metros. I would not have know it was a hospital if the nurse manager in white scrubs with LT rank hadn't walked up to us. She seemed very nice but she knew very little English, so communication was all through Dr. Hollòs, who spoke broken English himself. Language barriers aside, we were ushered up to a conference room on the second or third floor to begin our first of many lectures and presentations. The man who first began to tell us about the hospital was the chief of medicine and he very much resembled Colonel Potter from MASH with slightly more snow white hair. His English was pretty decent, so understanding him wasn't as difficult as it could have been. The hospital itself is derived from the merging of 4 different hospitals into a centralized hospital with close to 2,000 beds. I guess, for Budapest this is a big hospital, and no matter the size, it was genuinely beautiful complete with and accurate waiting room computer screen that reflected the wait times and diagnostic tests for the various patients. That was a pretty sweet idea, and hope it gets to be popular in America.
Another presenter was a LTC  surgeon with the Hungarian defense force that has a ton of front line experience to share with us. His stories were great, but I feel the need to remind all my army friends that wearing your helmet at all times while overseas is crucial. Do it, or suffer my wrath. His presentation could have gone on for another hour and I would have been just as fascinated.
Following the lectures, and a lunch consisting of cheese and rice. We toured the entire hospital from the helicopter pad that had a stellar view of the city, to the triage rooms. It was also close to 85  degrees and sunny at this point and I was in jeans, a shirt, a cardigan, and the lab coat. That, combined with the lack of air conditioning meant that I was literally cooking in my clothes! Lesson learned, for sure. Weather reports are not only a lie, but they are also used as methods of torture here in Hungary. The day this thing finally warns me about rain when it is actually going to happen is the day that I will stop walking miles in soaking wet toms. Ick. Lemme tell you how neat this hospitals technology was. Everyone from back home seemed to be thinking that I would be taking a massive step back in time when I went on this trip. I can dispel most of those beliefs with one simple sentence. They use robots to deliver food carts and other supplies throughout the hospital. Robots. I'm talking Wall-E clones that navigated themselves through the hospitals, used their own special elevators to get to destinations, asked people to move out of the way, and, oh yeah, moved hundreds of pounds of food and supplies to wherever they were needed. ROBOTS. R2D2 of the medical world. You catching my drift? They were, hands down, the coolest things I've seen so far on this trip. I have pictures that I will actually post at some point. The tour itself was pretty cool and there were definitely some major differences between Hungarian and American hospitals that I will go into detail at a later point in time, presumably when I have more than a few hours of sleep under my belt.
David and I trekked across the city to Sammelweis University's main campus in search of a stethoscope. (He left his at home and wanted one from a country other than the USA). While there I also managed to snag a Sammelweis hoodie that I will treasure for a long time. For those of you that don't know, I wear hoodies like I don't own actual shirts. They're perfect for lounging around the apartment or if I feel like slumming it to class.
A small group of us, Laura, Morgan, David, Michaela, and myself, went in search of an antique bookstore/the central market after dinner. We went out to the Main Street and started wandering in and out of shops looking at clothes and handbags. By the time we reached the area near the New York Cafe (for you map oriented people), David had figured that we were actually a ten or fifteen minute walk from the Market and were going in the exact wrong direction. Que us booking it towards the Danube river, which was supposed to be near the central market. When were only a few blocks away according to David's map, I got completely sidetracked by the beginning of a sunset and what looked like a good vantage point over the Danube. Our little group detoured in that direction and it was magnificent. Every day I am surprised by the beauty of this city, but watching the sun set behind Buda Castle stole my breath and a little of my heart. The pictures don't even come close to how incredible it was, but they are not too shabby and I have no words that could even come close to describing what I saw.
Morgan came running across the bridge at me and it finally hit us that we're actually here in Budapest for a whole month! I could watch that sunset every day and, for the next few weeks, I probably will. We may walk across the river tomorrow and watch the sunset from the top of Buda, to get a different view and a different skyline.
If we do, I will attempt to take as many pictures as I can, so that I may attempt to show you the beauty of this bustling Eastern European city.
For now, I have to try and sleep so that class isn't impossible to sleep .... Err... Stay awake through tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Sweet dreams,
An amazed tourist

Cheese and Hungary

Apparently, it is time to change the name of this blog to "The Girl Who Eats Cheese with Every Meal". No worries, I shall elaborate. I've caught on to your methods Hungary!  The way they deal with vegetarians is to feed them vegetables/rice with cheese. Don't get me wrong, it's freaking delicious, but it is their method nonetheless. Example one: breakfast was mozzerella with basil and bread (YUM). Lunch was more cheese and a salad with a mind blowing dressing und apfel strudel! I'll keep you posted on dinner shortly. Another thing I love is that we have soup with every meal. Every. Meal. And they aren't chicken broth with a couple noodles, they are the most delicious concoctions. With lunch today, I had 'Onion of Bear' soup which was FABULOUS. It was creamy with spinach flecks and everyone downed it.
Most of today was spent touring Budapest with Ildi, our Hungarian guide. She's very well informed and obviously loves showing off her city. I can't say enough about the architecture here! The details in the stone are incredible and I continuously stop to stare at little carvings in the stone that probably don't even phase the locals. As soon as I get back, I'll upload pictures of it all. The little horses and figurines, are so intricately designs that they could just as easily hop out of the buildings and run off into the street.
Our first exploration of the day was a perfect example of that. We made a visit to St. Stevens Roman Catholic Church. This was my first visit to a European Church and I just about fell to my knees in sheer awe. The statues and models were breathtaking. Interestingly enough, instead of a statue of Jesus Christ in the center of the main chapel, there was a marble statue of Saint Steven. He apparently saved the city from the floods in the late 1800's and so they secured special permission from the Pope to construct the statue. All the details were so well done that I actually lost the ability to articulate my thoughts for a short while. Also in the church, was the mummified hand of Saint Steven. I don't remember why the church sought to acquire this particular item, but it was interesting, for sure.
After the church and lunch, we went to the Buda side of Budapest, which is the more wealthy and spaced out portion of the city that is across the Danube River from Pest, where my hostel is located. Pest is very much a city which houses mostly young inhabitants and has many bars/things to do at all hours. Buda, on the other hand, is full of mansions and rolling hills. It was definitely beautiful, but in a completely different way from Pest. It's full of quiet green space and seems to host a leisurely style and way of life's. Pest is constantly moving and changing due to the urban lifestyle, almost similar to Manhattan, but it still carries the relaxed undertones of Europe. If you want to go to bars or cages then Pest is your best friend, but if you want to sleep at night, Buda is the place to be.
Under Buda Castle was the 'Hospital in the Rock', which is an intricate tunnel system built into limestone caves. At differing points in time, it has served as underground storage for valuables, a hospital during two different wars, a nuclear bunker, and, most recently, a museum. As a nursing student, I was both riveted and horrified to hear about its hospital functions during WWII and the Hungarian/Soviet revolution in the 1950's. The sheer amount of people they crammed into those rooms was terrifying to hear about. The facility, designed to hold 150 patients, ended up with well over 600 patients during WWII. Conditions were so bad and supplies were so spare that nurses reportedly had to remove bandages from deceased patients and use them again on new patients. I  have never been in such a dire situation that I even had to consider that as an option, and I can't imagine having to make that choice. It was quite a labyrinth down there, and I was amazed that the guides were all some comfortable ducking down to avoid short ceilings and squeezing through painfully narrow passages.
Up next to the Castle, at the Fisherman's Bastion (which sports a fantastic view of Pest and the Parliament Building from across the Danube), we met a native Alaskan who is staying here for 43 days. It's pretty interesting that after only two weeks, she already seemed bored. Somehow, I doubt I'll get like that, but we shall see.
Dinner was at the same restaurant as last night, but, surprisingly, instead of more cheese, I was served the most incredible Vegetable Kebob. This place always has something new in store as far as food and drinks go. Once I'm stateside, I'll post all my food pictures so that you can see how beautiful these dinners are. Also, I'm assuming that those of you who are chefs will now attempt to make these for me when I'm back home. ;)
We did end up making a short trip to the mall where I picked up 6 or 7 super cute scarves for super cheap. These will probably show up in future pictures over the course of my excursion, because they're too cute to not show off.
As per usual, I am thoroughly exhausted and can barely hold my head up as I'm typing this. Maybe by Saturday, when I've had a chance to sleep in, I'll have a witty/coherent post.
Fingers crossed!
Sincerely,
What is the Hungarian word for miserably exhausted.

Schocolade und Aussies

Good morning Atlanta! Wait... I mean Chicago... errr.. Budapest! Third time's the charm, right? Needless to say, it's been a crazy couple of days, but we're finally settling in to the hostel and to the city itself.
I LOVE it here. The food is fabulous, the city is comfortable (and stunning), and the professors are great. I seriously could not ask for a better experience so far.
For your sanity, I'll start at the end of last night/beginning of the day. Michaela, Morgan, and I fell asleep with the lights still on- that's how tired we were. Morgan and I managed to sleep through our morning alarm, so we didn't get out of bed til 15 minutes before go time. Luckily enough, we had set out our clothes the night before and getting dressed in a room with three other girls in a tiny room wasn't as big of an ordeal as I thought it was going to be. The jet lag made everything slightly more difficult, but it was still bearable for me to be awake. Breakfast made my entire morning so much better. You can ask anyone who was sitting at the table, I was grinning from ear to ear. I got a plate of tomato slices and cucumbers with mozzarella and basil on top. I have never had anyone treat me this nicely as a vegetarian before! Usually I get an awkward sideways glance and a confused look. Instead, the Hungarians that I've met so far seem more than happy to whip up a vegetable plate for me. Yum! Apparently I need to make some Hungarian friends back home, because the locals here certainly know their way around a vegetarian dish!
In other news, we are directly across the street from Sammelweis University, so the walk to class won't ever take long (until we go to clinicals and have to take the blue line metro from the square). The building, as usual, is gorgeous, and, as an added bonus, has a courtyard in the centre, which seems to be the local style around here. I'm a huge fan of this style, because it's so cozy! We ended up eating lunch in the courtyard next to the fountain- but more on that later, I haven't covered class yet!
The professors all spoke varying  degrees of English, and one even spoke German (hey! I actually know that one!)!!! The lectures ranged from everything from data analysis of Hungarian health issues to ethics (with a sidenote about biblical history).
There's not too much interesting to report about our lectures other than the fact that they eventually ended. Oh! Ethics guy was pretty cool. He was actually an anthropology or philosophy professor, but he focused on morality enough that I paid attention pretty intently and he recommended Josef und sein Brüder as reading material, so I'll check that out when I get back to the states.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

After school let out for the day, we were taken around the city by our lovely guide. You wanna see some nice architecture? Come. Here. Also awesome? The dogs don't walk on leashes. They wander around freely and are extremely obedient. Can I have that please? I don't think Ava would last two seconds...
On another note, dinner was in the beautiful Secret Garden like place. I'm in awe of how stunning it was. There was ivy everywhere and, as per usual, the food was well worth the walking.
After dinner, we wandered (sprinted?) to the chocolate shop around the corner from the hotel. I could have keeled over from sheer bliss. Goodbye florints, hello schocolade. I bought my German favorites and tried a Hungarian chocolate called Timi. I'll be bring back an entire suitcase of coffee too by the way... Yum
So when we were downstairs at the bar/open eating area, an Israeli guy and an Aussie came and sat down next to us and we all started chatting. Ready for some funny answers?
Kangaroos do not wander around downtown Sydney. They're actually terrified of people for the most part but they have a bad habit of running in front of cars and sinking their sick nasty claws into the 'windscreen' of the car.
Australians only say 'shrimp on the Barbie' to makes fun of Americans.
Yes- he was sad when Steve Irwin died.
All Aussie kids wear uniforms to schools and they aren't allowed to go to malls in them or the cops will be called.
There is a specific type of lethal spider that only lives in Sydney.
He seemed relatively unconcerned about lethal spiders and snakes, but American black widows made him nervous.
He has convinced many tourists that Australia employs people as 'shooers': people who go onto the highway in the morning and shoo kangaroos off the road.
Talk about cultural differences. It was nice to have a decent convo with someone about their homeland in non-broken English.
As per usual, I'm exhausted and tomorrow is another early wake up. One of these days I'll be able to actually write a coherent post, but for now, peace out kids!
I love you!
Jess

I'm in BUDAPEST. That's right folks, after over 72 hours of travel chaos, I am finally in Budapest, Hungary. I have settled into the hostel, and eaten my first Hungarian meal. I'm finally beginning to feel like this is coming together.
First things first, if you ever fly to/from/around Germany, take Luftansa Air. They are amazing. The food is good, the aircrafts are nice, and the crew are wonderful. I love them.
Second thing to cover is the hostel. I don't know quite how to describe this place. It's definitely nice, but it feels like camp. We're bunking in groups of four (except for the boys), and share a communal shower/bathroom. This is an entirely new experience for me. Luckily, Michaela, Laura, Morgan, and I seem to gel well as roommates. The hardest thing for me is figuring out how to work the shower (which is a wand) with only one hand. Every day is a new adventure, and this trip seems to full of these new experiences.
For example, my dinner alone wants to make me live here forever. I had a tomato soup that was absolutely incredible, and this is coming from a girl who hates tomato soup. Lemme tell you, Campbell's ain't got nothin on Hungarian tomato soup. I think we all had two or more bowls. I don't know how to describe the main course any other way then saying it was a mozzarella triangle sent from above served over the most delectable white rice. I literally stuffed myself to the brim. Maybe I'm not the best judge because I haven't eaten well in weeks, but that was the most amazing meal I believe I've eaten in quite a while. I could have keeled over from how satisfying that food was on my tired and jetlaggy stomach.
I can't believe I'm in this beautiful city with all of these amazing people. It truly is an amazing opportunity and I am looking forward to soaking it all up.
I know this is a short post, but I've been awake for over 24 hours and orientation is bright and early tomorrow, so it's time for me to rack out. I promise that I'll have better stories and more coherent thoughts tomorrow. Goodnight!
Love always,
Jess