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
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