Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Technically its my third day here today- it's 5 in the morning! I have to leave at 7 for school anyway, so I guess it's alright to spend some time online before I do- since orientation will likely be a whole day affair (
3 whole days actually).
Yesterday I trained my homing instinct by walking around and around the neighbourhood of our place. It seems pretty safe, but then I always walk around in a state of blissful unawareness. Buapest (Europe in general, I think) is very pretty. Lots of old buildings and magnificent architecture. In a way, that's what makes it difficult sometimes to navigate; to the Singaporean eye- accustomed as we are to Lego block HDB flats- everything here seems to be some special building when its not. You'll see what I mean when I find time to upload some photos (maybe tonight).
Speaking of which, I got my luggage back already! The BME exchange office assistant helped me call the airport lost and found enough times to make them pickup (they generally don't: I know, I've been callling and calling to no avail), and it helps too that she could communicate in Hungarian. The only downside was they sent the luggage to school, so I had to go to school with Thomas and drag the 24kg plus baggage back home (we still took the bus, no cabbing here...).
I went for a Hungarian dinner at this pub last night. It was nice and cosy, and the walls were bristling with post-it notes. I went with 2 other girls, Siripen (she's Thai, and actually from Chulalongkorn uni! heh) and Mimi (Laotian). Both of them are realy well travelled- Siripen's been all over Europe on this Erasmus Mundus program doing her masters (she's flying to Nice soon, and ending up with an internship at Denmark), and Mimi went to high school in the States, and went to university in Japan. Because there were 3 of us, and the food came in HUGE portions, we shared what we had- Asian family sitting-round-the-table style. It was only soup, but we couldn't finish. Meat features heavily in Hungarian cuisine- beef and veal (which I tried, though its the same, since veal is just baby cow), and the usual chicken. Not so much seafood though, because Hungary is landlocked. We had Hungarian beer to go along with it too (the alcohol here is so cheap! My beer was about SGD$2). Then we walked along Raday Utca (posh street littered with cafes) for a late night hot chocolate (it was cold outside, and Mimi decided the bartender was cute).
So my 2nd day here has been really fun, and things seem to be looking up=) Today on the cards: Orientation, and if time permits, a trip to Westend, the largest mall in Eastern Europe. Then a hotpot dinner with the flatmates and Mimi when I get back.
Hope everything's fine with all you people back in SG!
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
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