On Friday, the group of exchange students met in Budapest. Jill, Raymond, the exchangers from Kecskemét, and I got there about an hour before we all had to meet, leaving us plenty of time to get Starbucks, McDonalds, and catch up with our friends. The first person we met up with was my favorite person in the world: Alex from Michigan. We embraced in an incredibly awkward hug and started chattering away about life in our cities. We met up with my other favorite person, Madison from Ohio, at McDonalds. As promised, Madi bought me Starbucks, and not as promised, bought me McDonalds. I think it's obvious why she's one of my favorites (...joking!). Once everyone got there, we got on the bus. Madi and I sat by each other, though we didn't stay in our seats for long. We talked with the others in the back, including Alex and another one of my favorites, Annika from Colorado (but she's Finnish, everyone, don't forget that). We arrived after a couple short hours to our youth hostel in Győr and were told who we were rooming with. When my name preceded Alex's, I ran to her and we embraced in another awkward hug which involved me hitting my face on her shoulder. We spent about an hour relaxing in the hostel, had dinner, and then went into the city to walk around the Christmas markets. We ended up having a REALLY good time and went to bed really late.
Saturday morning we started the day off with breakfast from McDonalds. Everyone was really tired, so the bus trip to Vienna was pretty clam. We had about 5 1/2 hours to walk around the city. I spent the day with Alex, Annika, and a girl named Lowlo from South Africa (there are currently 5 South Africans in Hungary on a short term exchange program). We were starving and looked for a place to eat before deciding on Burger King, since Lowlo had never had it before. It was super cheap and super delicious! After, we had a glorious reunion with Forever 21. I've never been happier in my life to walk into a store before. We did a little bit of shopping before deciding we should actually see some of Vienna. We walked around singing Adele songs really loudly, as well as sanasa-ing. On the bus ride home, Madi and I slept a little bit. We went to a hotel where the Győr Rotary has meetings and had dinner. After dinner, we went back to the hostel for a bit, and then to an international party being held for charity. More fun times like on Friday night. I really like Brazilians.
Sunday morning was another McDonalds morning. We said goodbye to the Győr kids and then got on the bus. Annika, Alex, and I sat together and had way too much fun. My phone background is now a picture of Alex and Annika, Annika's is one of me and Alex, and Alex's is one of me and Annika. We're really cute. We spent a few hours in Budapest before taking the train home. I was really exhausted and slept the whole way home. The next morning I was able to stay home from school (but went to my Hungarian lesson), and by the evening I was really sick. I ended up not going to school at all that week and laid in bed trying to get over a bad cold.
Last Monday I had my final exam for my Hungarian lessons. I ended up getting an 86% on it, which I'm really proud of considering I was so tired and not really all there. Because I was sick, I had to miss some pretty important events, such as saying goodbye to two of my friends from my Hungarian lessons, my Rotary Christmas party, and saying goodbye to a Hungarian friend who will spend a year in England. I'm still upset I missed these things, but I guess it was good that stayed home and tried to get better.
It snowed in Szeged for the first time this week! By the evening it was snowing a lot, so Dori and I went outside and played in it. We made a very small snowman and had a bit of a snowball fight.
Hungarians celebrate Christmas on the 24th, 25th, and 26th. The 24th is spent opening presents and decorating the tree, while the 25th and 26th are spent visiting family members and eating huge meals. So, that makes today Christmas Eve! I told my host family that back home, we always have Chinese food on Christmas Eve, and my host mom made some today so that it would feel like I was home. It was so sweet and thoughtful. Also, yesterday we decorated gingerbread cookies and today we made tiramisu.
On Sunday we will leave to visit my host parent's families in Gyula. We will stay there until Tuesday. My best friend Olga's birthday is on the 29th, and then New Year's Eve is a couple days later! I'm really excited and will hopefully be able to do something fun.
I hope everyone has a very good Christmas!!
No comments:
Post a Comment