Soon after I wrote my last, Ian (one of my roommates here) and I headed off to Budapest, Hungary for a weekend trip. It was quite the adventure from start to finish. We used a great airline called "Wizz Air" which flies at all the times most people wouldn't want to fly (5am, 10pm), students are able to get incredibly priced tickets and if we get a cheap ticket, Lord (and the airlines industry, apparently) knows that we could care less about how little sleep we get. While in the line to get our tickets at FCO we started talking with the two girls behind us in line (A and D) who happened to also be studying in Roma and taking a weekend trip to Budapest. A and D both live in Jersey, where Ian goes to school, all about an hour and a half from where I am in Delaware. Small world, huh? Anyway, our first... adventure was when something shiny caught my eye and noticed a metal clip on Ian's pocket. "Uh... Ian, you can't take that on the plane!" "Take what?" "...the knife on your pocket" (one of the small pocket ones, but still- a knife). So we look for either a trash can to toss it (expensive loss), or somewhere to stash it to grab when we get back, but at that point we were too far in line to do anything about it, so he put it in his bag's pocket to give to the security when we got there (next line). We check-in to our flight, walk with the girls to the security gates, A, D and I all go through and turn to wait for Ian, looking for security around him. We hear a voice from behind us (farther past security), "You guys ready?" It's Ian. Security had no idea there was a folding knife in his bag, even though it went through security screening x-rays and everything. I can not explain how much confidence I know had in the safety of my flight to Budapest. *rolls eyes* The flight was a short one, about an hour and twenty minutes with no major turbulence or problems at all. However, much to all of our surprise, the flight attendants were young and stunningly beautiful. Not what we expected for a cheap and mainly Eastern European airline. No complaints from us.
We arrived at the airport exchanged numbers with the girls and took Taxi rides to our hostels. This was after withdrawing money from the first ATM we found, which was an absolute riot. Withdraw 25,000 Hungarian Forint? Sure. (Rough equivalent to 90 euro.) We arrived to our hostel just after midnight, were able to be checked in late with only a 5 euro extra fee which we paid gladly. If anyone ever plans to travel, or knows anyone is is planning to travel, to Budapest- check out Bell Hostel first. It was only 20 euro/night for a private room with private full bathroom (even had hot water!). Everything was brand new (opened last May), full size kitchen next to us, stocked with free tea and snack foods, the tea we took full advantage of, trying a new type each time. The next two days we spent walking all over Buda and Pest. The city is divided in half by the Danube River. The east side, where we stayed is Pest, the west side is Buda. Each night we met with A and D for dinner and drinks, and were able to experience real Hungarian food which was a lot of fun. Previously, I had no idea that Hungarians used so much Paprika. On Saturday, Ian and I walked all over Buda and found some of the old Hot Baths that have been preserved and are still used. We figured we couldn't go to Budapest in the freezing cold and not take advantage of giant hot tubs, right? Of course not. So we spent the evening in three baths, kept around 34 Celsius, that were each about half the size of an Olympic sized swimming pool, 4 feet deep. Wonderful way to relax after walking for the past two days. I would highly recommend anyone in Europe to visit Budapest for a few days, Eastern Europe is much different from the Europe most people think of, in Italy, Spain, and France. However, as nice as a place it is to visit and as much as I enjoyed getting to see a different part of the world first hand- there's no chance I'd ever consider living there. To make a bad comparison, it was as if you were walking around completely colorblind. Everything around seemed to be just other shades of gray. Of course there were green leaves and red rooftops here and there, but from the 100% cloud cover to the buildings and the streets and monuments, it almost felt as if the city had been in a depressed mood for the past 1000 or so years.
We headed out late Sunday night, got to the airport no problem, through the check-in line, turn to head to our gate when we see... security talking with Ian. We had completely forgotten at this point about the knife he put in there. Apparently the x-ray security guy in Budapest is more alert than in Roma. They pull him aside and talk to him for about 10 minutes, the language barrier was tough, but Ian made it clear he wanted to give the guy his knife and be done with it. They understood after a game of airport security charades and gladly accepted pocketing an $80 knife. One plane ride and one train ride later we were back home in Roma and very much ready for bed after a great weekend.
Other than that, nothing too big has been happening around here... It's getting close to finals time, so people are studying more and more, library is getting full and trips are getting scarce. Although I just planned my last trip to Paris for the weekend of December 4th, a huge thanks to those who helped make that one possible; ranging from professors giving me a great exam schedule, friends on suggestions on how to get there cheaply and where to stay, and family for being wonderfully encouraging and supporting of me travelling, as always. This past weekend, my roommate Will had a few of his friends from back home visit us (they are currently studying in northern Denmark), great to meet them- we all had a fantastic time. To keep everyone's wallets somewhat happy, we would make dinner here, then go out together after. One of the nights we were leaving Campo di Fiori (a large piazza with bars/restaurants/hotels surrounding it), and one of the girls asked "So... how does Rome look at night?" "Well, it's 2am, why don't we show you?" So we proceeded to walk by the Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi and the Coliseum, all beautifully lit up. It was also a great way for me to practice being a tour guide for a weekend, since Sunday morning I'll be taking the train to FCO to meet my family!
It should be a great week having them in town, no idea what we'll all end up doing besides all of the regular tourist spots, but I know it'll be a blast. And it'll be great to see them. Thanksgiving is a day of family as well as a day of thanks, so fortunately, even though I'm in Roma- I'll have both. I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to tell after next week- but with finals coming up, I can't promise I'll be writing anytime too soon. Hope everyone's doing well and has a great thanksgiving!
Ciao,
Scott
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