Excuse my lack of posts

I think it's been about 10 days since my last post and I apologize greatly for that. I got struck down with bronchitis and a horrific cold - all in the run up to my 21st birthday. I spent about 2 weeks in bed most of the time, coughing, and feeling very sorry for myself! Luckily I perked up just in time for my birthday and enjoyed celebrating with all my new friends in Budapest. 

view of Buda from the palace

I was visited by my friend Marta from London for my birthday and she stayed 3 days with me here in Budapest. We had a sight-seeing overload during those days and I gave her a whirlwind tour of Budapest. The weather was reasonably ok, cold but sunny and bright. Just meant we walked a little more to keep warm, my bangs were ruined and our faces were flushed pink. Oh being an English Rose!

view from the Citidel of Parliament

I'm looking forward to welcoming my parents to Budapest this Thursday and hopefully they're ready for my "guide to Budapest". It involves a lot of walking! 

Danger, danger. It's snowing.

Today I got to go to school in the middle of a snow blizzard. I was running late to meet my friend and didn't fully prepare myself for the weather, nor did I blow-dry my hair properly. A snow blizzard really turns everyone into the most unattractive people. Luckily I have wonderful snow boots and was trudging along the street with superiority at my Californian comrades who have barely any experience with snow. Though, wind & snow are not a good combination for my bangs, safe to say that my hair has been ruined for today. 

View from Buda side to Pest, my university is the building on the right by the river. Pretty huh?

The plus side about it snowing means that the temperature has increased, albeit marginally, but it's better than suffering with -15c! The bitter cold means that I spend the majority of time out shivering, despite wearing multiple layers, gloves, hat, scarf, boots and a cashmere coat. It's the Arctic/Siberian wind which does it. My only other issue with the cold is that a rapid change from cold to hot, like going into a building for example, makes my glasses fog up and then I can't see anything! I am utterly blind and so stumbling around without my glasses with snow all over me and a dripping nose is not the best situation. 

Old Wives Tale.

In Eastern Europe, though I should say Central-Eastern as the Hungarians are tetchy about being classed purely as Eastern Europe, and Russia it is an old wives tale that if women get cold feet, it will then make them infertile. 
I have had many experiences, during my time in Russia & Hungary of older women staring at me, pestering me, shouting at me or just pointing at me because of my shoes. In my dormitory in Russia my бабушка would tell me off for only wearing socks. I tried to explain to her that this was because in civilized countries, aka the US & UK, people have carpet in their houses so you don't get cold feet & I was fine! She wouldn't take no for an answer, often she would accompany me to my room just to watch me put on my shoes. 
Here in Hungary I have had the same thing. Most of the time I do wear my UGGs or winter boots, but if I'm going out for a drink I wear my brogues. The women here just point, stare and whisper at them. My feet aren't cold and if they were, it's my problem not theirs. I just find it hilarious and I also quite enjoy irking them by looking like I have cold feet! They stare at me in my UGGs boots anyway, well at my Western or different looking clothing. 
It's just a fact of life here in Eastern (CENTRAL EASTERN) Europe that if you're not from here, you're going to get stared at. They don't have the same social stigma when it comes to staring that we do. It's totally fine to stare a girl down on the tram. Interesting. 

2nd week of class

February 13th saw the beginning of my second week of classes. It started with an 8am class called Business & Society. My teacher for this class is a hilarious Swiss guy who always manages to relate the conversation of the class to sex. He does put us girls (me & my 2 American friends Mary & Nicole) on the spot, especially with the sexual questions. He is very blunt when it comes to mocking nationalities. We spent a class talking about the efficiency and effectiveness of corporations & stockholders, which then got related to eroticism and how the Germans are obviously defunct at this. It makes the 8am - 11am class much easier to deal with and I always leave the class with a few new and amusing quotes in my Moleskine. 
Yesterday's was "Efficient men cannot be erotic". Followed by a discussion of this. 

That's a view of the Hungarian Parliament, taken in tram. I was riding over with my friend from the Buda side of the river to the Pest side. The bridge and his apartment have gorgeous views of the city & its beautiful landmarks. The city looks even more serene in the ice & snow - especially as a lot of the river is iced over. The cold temperatures are less amusing though! 

Good decision.

I made a really great choice picking Budapest. Not only is the city breathtaking and offering up so many delicacies, but the education here is also wonderful. I cannot believe that UCL maintains its world standing or that the UK education system carries on the way it does. I really think that within 10 years the UK will begin to decline and will be overtaken by these hardworking Central & Eastern European countries. The lazy attitude, "I want to be a WAG or a celebrity" and lack of care about the future culture in the UK is ridiculous. But it's our own fault. We have never experienced any hardship in England like they have in Central & Eastern Europe. We all have the attitude that we deserve everything and we should be given everything immediately. The "want, want, want" and "give me, give me, give me" culture. 

Whereas here in Eastern Europe the attitude is that you have to work hard to get what you want and hard work will always give you more. Working hard will help lift you out of poverty. They've known true hardship here and never want to return to it. Ultimately this is why Central & Eastern Europe will outgrow and outshine the UK. It's only a matter of time. 

Main building of my University - Corvinus University - "Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem"

The education systems in Russia and Hungary that I have sampled have seemed vastly superior to that in the UK. Pupils actual want to work, the staff are supportive, you have to attend every class, you're given a good amount of work to do, there is an interesting and varied social scene and the university has beautiful & well equipped campuses. It almost makes me want to stay here in Hungary for my final year and switch universities. Given that I only have a maximum of 3 essays PER TERM in the UK and here in Budapest I have many papers, and reviews to do, a midterm exam & final exam, I am so much happier and more academically challenged - just like I was at school. 

In terms of classes, the variety here in Budapest is so much better than at UCL. I'm taking some very interesting classes with what seem like interesting professors, including one Prof who is working for the Hungarian Ministry of Defense. 

The classes I'm taking are:

-->Hungarian 101

--> Political Problems of Transition in Central Europe

--> Economics of Transnational Corporations

--> American Government

--> Business and Society

Being away from UCL for a year gives me the opportunity to choose classes that I wouldn't normally take. Whilst I chose to take Politics as my degree, I do have a lot of interest in History and Economics. It's a shame that I can't take classes in the areas that I'm interested in whilst at UCL. But that's what my year abroad is for! 

I'm really looking forward to this semester and I'm so happy that sorting out classes has proved so simple and easy. This is going to be a good 4 months. 

Russia's Second Hand Store

Something interesting to note about Budapest. It seems that Hungary is like the little sister or brother of Russia. Once Russia gets bored with something or out grows it (i.e. it's too old or unsafe), it just gets handed onto Hungary & other Eastern European countries. The subway trains, buses and other infrastructure are all Russian hand-me-downs. 
The majority of the subways trains all have cyrillic on them, but are all rusting away and falling apart, same with the buses. It's only the trams here in Budapest - well on certain lines - which are modern & new - but the older trams are also Russian hand-me-downs. Thus it appears the legacy of the USSR is still prevalent here in the ex-Soviet Union. 


Another interesting point to note. Russia & Hungary signed legislation back in the day which declared that there had to be at least one memorial to the Soviet Union in Hungary. There are actually 2. One is a memorial to the "glorious Soviet Union" and is currently guarded by police & surrounded by metal barriers - the Hungarians are pretty opposed to it and have tried to destroy it a number of times. The memorial is written in Hungarian & Russian, I did enjoy chuckling reading it. The other memorial is up on the hill on the Buda side of the river, it's a very high statue which I think is a memorial to WWII also. 

That's the Soviet Memorial, without its metal barriers. 

Strange that the Hungarians are so accepting of the dominance of the Soviet Union, aka Russia. 

First day of class!

Today I felt like a new school kid again. I bought a backpack over the weekend & a selection of super cool Eastern European school books - adorned with glittery kittens & puppies. I packed my bag the night before & looked up the classroom. Unfortunately someone decided to host the Super Bowl last night so we stayed up till 3am watching that, and it didn't end the way I wanted it to. Then a quick sleep before being up at 7am to get ready for class. I have two 8am starts as part of my timetable. I can handle 9am but 8am is pushing it a little. A generous amount of coffee was needed this morning. 


We made it to our building with minutes to spare - there are only 2 buildings that our classes can be in and all mine are luckily in the nice new building. Our Professor didn't show up for 20mins, but that's standard practice here. He's a jolly German chap who spent the majority of the class chatting to us about random stuff and putting people on the spot & asking them questions about their country's history or economy. Safe to say I wowed him with my knowledge of both the UK and the US, and some other countries too. He was suitably impressed with me to commend me at the end of the class. He didn't take a roll call and find out our names so called me "Miss Russia", as I said I studying in Russia and my friend who supports the Giants (booo) "Miss New York". Amusing really. We did spend a large amount of time in the class talking about sex....in a class called "Business & Society". It was a hilarious class and I really enjoyed it. It's good to have such a fun Professor because it makes the early wake-up that much easier to deal with. 
I have 2 classes tomorrow afternoon, Economics of Transnational Corporations and Hungarian 101. Full marks for Hungary so far - especially as I managed to start classes so promptly! :)

Settling into Buda

I've been in Budapest now for a week. So far I'm loving it here. I miss Russia a lot, especially all the wonderful people I met there. It's been hard having to leave them behind. But, I'm moving onto greener plains here in Budapest and I've already made great friends here! Once more into the breach dear friends, the breach being those awkward few weeks when you meet new people, can't remember their names and all ask the same questions - "where are you from?", "what do you study?" and others. It's all amusing. 

First night in the hostel with biscuits & yogurt for dinner! 

My hostel experience was perfectly fine and unlike all the movies I've watched about European hostels.  Though I set about finding a flat immediately. Luckily there's a group on Facebook for all of the Exchange students and there are a bunch of people advertising for new flatmates or people to share with. I messaged a bunch of people and the first flat that I went to view I took. It is such a nice place and perfect for me. I'm living with 3 other people, 2 boys & 1 girl. It's basically like the G8/Nato/EU in terms of nationalities though - France, Holland, Belgium & the UK/US - but I'm skeptical about whether Belgium are in the G8....!

St Stephen's Cathedral located in Pest right near the river.

We live in District VII, on the Pest side of the Danube, which is the Jewish Quarter of the city too, hence the 3 or 4 synagogues dotted around me! Apparently my District is the coolest district of the whole Budapest! Kudos to me for picking it. We have 4 bedrooms, a large kitchen/lounge with a balcony and a bathroom. All the flats here have super high ceilings & doors for giants. They're usually all built around a courtyard and so the middle of the building is hollow in that sense. This means that once you're inside the building, you're technically still outside so it's just as cold! We have a big gate on our door & then our front door - it's special security because all the doors here are easy to open. The only slight faux pas is that we live in the 3rd floor....with no elevator. However, I have decided that this will be good for me in the end! 

I've spent the past week partaking in various meetings & social activities organized by our University & the Erasmus network. Safe to say that the level of pastoral care here in Budapest far out weighs that of Russia, but they do get funding from the EU so there is a certain level of motivation. I've been given so many pamphlets, magazines, maps and other information about Hungary, Budapest - I haven't even had a chance to read them all! We've had tours of the Parliament, of Buda and of Pest, orientation sessions with name games & other such fun, a Welcome Party, a pub crawl. Safe to say my kidneys & liver are very unhappy with me at the moment. 

Hungarian Parliament & their House of Lords (but they have a uni-cameral system so it's just for show)

The one most memorable moment of the week has to be ordering Pizza at 4.30am and not speaking a word of Hungarian, bar PIZZA? Then not being able to open the bolts on the door to actually receive our pizza, whilst the quiet Hungarian delivery man waited outside for us. His face was a picture, but he said "very good safeties" and handed over the pizza. Once you master how to order takeout in a foreign country you can pretty much master anything you set your heart to! Hungarian is still like Vulcan to me at the moment, but I know how to say thank you, and certain subway & tram stops. I'm picking it up, but it's difficult given my brain wants to speak Russian. 


So far. I LOVE Budapest and I definitely won't be living in London once I've finished university.