REALLY Brief February Recap & Some March Plans

The last time I posted, I was feeling kinda down about everything. Regardless, February was actually a really great month!

I've started Hungarian lessons again and it's so great to be back in the classroom and learning more. We're finally starting to learn the future tense, which I know a little about already. There are a lot more people in our class this semester than there were last semester, which makes it a lot more fun.

Terry came and stayed with me last weekend. We went out with Olga and had a really good time. It was so fun having one of my best friends here around! Hopefully I can get Alex and Annika to come visit as well.

I think March is going to be a really good month. Next weekend the exchange students in Szeged and I leave for a week of skiing in the Austrian Alps. I'm a little nervous since I've never skied before, but I think it will be a great trip! The weekend after, Jill and I will go stay with Gabby in Szombathely. We'll also get to hang out with Tawny and Kristof, who was in California last year. This month will probably go by REALLY fast!

Andddd that's all for now. Just wanted to give a quick update :)!

Honestly,

Stupidly, I just tortured myself for a bit by looking at pictures of my friends from home. In albums with clever quotes about it being the last year of high school, or simply the word, "Senior!," I can't help but feel insanely left out.

Coming into this, I was well aware of the fact that I would at some point feel like this. I tried to prepare myself for the way that all my friends would keep on living. And why wouldn't they? It's not as if they're living their lives just because I'm gone or doing anything they wouldn't be doing if I was still there. It's so hard to put this into words right now and I feel like I'm sounding crazy, but just bear with me.

Even though I'm living in a foreign country this year, even though I'm living in EUROPE this year, even though I've been to four new countries so far and will go to more, even though I've met the most amazing people I've ever known, even though I am learning a new language, even though I'm immersed in a new culture, even though I'm having an amazing time... I wonder what things would've been like had I just stayed home. I look at pictures from cheer and from forensics and read this year's newspapers and it actually hurts me to know that I'm not there and I'm not participating. 

For anyone who doesn't know, my life in the US this year would've been really awesome. I would've been on varsity cheer again, I'd be debating, and I'd be the editor of the school newspaper. I'd have a job and my car and my family and my cats. I'd be surrounded by familiar faces and foods and English. 

But this is seriously the perfect example of idealizing (...is this the right word?) home. I know I would've had arguments with my friends. I know I'd complain about being too busy. I know I'd be sick of having to do so much homework. I know I'd be tired of writing articles for a newspaper that is way too under-appreciated. I'd be bored at times. I'd get frustrated with the immaturity of the people I was around. I'd miss my best friend Alissa and my other senior friends from last year. I'd have bad days where all I wanted was to get away -- which is exactly what I have here.

My life in Hungary isn't perfect. I feel stressed about the fact that I don't speak only Hungarian all day and I do spend too much time on the computer. I feel guilty about not hanging out with my host family all day. I feel worthless at school when all I do is sit in English classes and am not invited to participate by the teacher or the class, and I actually don't learn anything. I feel like I don't know what to do with my time here, and waste it by watching Gossip Girl or reading Kindle books. 

With all of this said, I don't regret coming here. I know my life here is a million times more interesting than my life in America was. Sure, it's not perfect, but at home it wasn't perfect either. It's really hard to keep that little fact in mind. When I think about home, I don't think about the bad things that I am happy to be away from... I think about the good things that I'd do anything to get back. And it's funny, because one day I'm going to feel exactly like this, but in reverse. I'll be dying to get my time in Hungary back and idealize it as well.

So, while I feel like this is entirely random and scattered and maybe a little too honest, I hope some day an exchange student who feels the same can read it and know that they aren't the only ones who've felt like this. It's so hard being here. It's a challenge almost every day. In the end, though, I know it'll be worth it. I don't think there will ever be a day in my life that I regret coming here. I'm going to try to make the rest of the time here as amazing as possible, since I only have about 19 weeks left.

Weekend in Budapest! (with pictures)

I just got home (like literally two hours ago) from spending the weekend in Budapest! I was only supposed to spend Friday night there and come home on Saturday evening, but the snow was so bad both in Budapest and Szeged that it was safer for me to wait until today.

Friday after school, Olga and I took the train together. On the way there, we ate "peanut confections" (Mexican candy) and played Go Fish. Once we got to Budapest, we met with her friend Carlo and I saw Alex and Terry! A few minutes later, Annika showed up as well and we all went to McDonalds (without Olga and Carlo) to meet with the others. There were about ten of us and we spent the night talking and listening to music. I spent the night at Alex's house

Saturday morning Alex and I went with her host dad to our Rotary meeting thing. A few of the other exchange students weren't there due to the snow. All of us gave our country presentations and they were really entertaining to watch. After that, the future outbounds were told which district they're going to. Unfortunately, no one is going to my district next year. However, a girl from Szeged is going to the other district in California that Rotary sends to! I'm really excited for her to find out and can't wait to tell her everything about California! After all the Rotary things, Alex and Annika and I went back to Alex's house. We ate some lunch and then laid in Alex's bed watching YouTube videos and showing each other friends from home on Facebook. Annika and I left Alex's at around 10 and went to her house.

At Annika's house, she Skyped with her family in Colorado for a bit. After, we made ourselves some sandwiches and hot chocolate and I called my dad and talked to him. When we were done eating, we went to her room and decided to watch the movie Holes. The whole time we were talking about how great of a movie it is and how much we love it. We started falling asleep so we decided to finish watching it after we slept. When we woke up, we did in fact finish watching Holes.

Our journey to the train station was quite an eventful one. It started off with us having to run uphill in the snow so we could catch the bus. After, we got on the tram and there was a giant but friendly dog on it as well. We got to the metro station with about 15 minutes until my train left. The first metro came pretty quickly, and when we got off we ran to where the next metro would come. When we got there, we saw that there was 5 minutes until the next, and 3 minutes until the train left. However, we still continued to the train station so I could get my ticket and catch a later train. Raymond was on the train and said that it still hadn't left yet, and when we got there we saw that the train was delayed 15 minutes! We couldn't believe how lucky I was, since the next train wasn't for another 4 hours. So, I took the train with Raymond and am now back in Szeged!

Settling in and normal life...

I've now been with my new host family for a couple weeks and I have to say it's going really well! They are so much different from my last family, and it's not in a good way or a bad way. They just live totally different lifestyles. I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to see how each live... it's really opened my eyes to the entire culture of Hungary and Hungarians. There were things that I thought were typical of all Hungarians, but it turns out it was only my first family that did that or my friend's families. So, as hard and heartbreaking as it was to leave my first, I'm grateful for the way I've learned more. I even went back to visit the old family, and it felt just like coming home.

Yesterday I received my flight information for my return to Fresno! I will leave Budapest on June 27th at 6:20 a.m. (this is the only part I don't like about it), then have a 2 hour layover in Amsterdam, then a 2 hour layover in Seattle, and then I'll be in Fresno at 3:30 p.m.! So besides having to leave Szeged at about 2 or 3 in the morning in order to get to Budapest on time, I'm really happy with the schedule. I am so looking forward to spending the afternoon/evening with my friends and families, driving around, eating tons of food that I've missed, and just taking it all in.

Despite this, I know it's going to be extremely hard to get back into life in America. I don't know why, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately. To be honest, I'm terrified. Just moving to another part of the city tore me in half, even with the promise of being able to go back whenever I wanted, and I can't imagine what it will be like when I'm gone for good. I'm so attached to everyone here and my life here. It will be impossible to step on that plane.

Okay, enough depressing stuff... My Hungarian lessons start up again in two weeks or so. I'm so excited to get back to learning! I watch a lot of Gossip Girl with Hungarian subtitles and that has taught me so much. My host family also speaks so much Hungarian to me. I still don't know how to say a lot of things though... like I have no idea how to talk about the past. Besides that, I'm starting to get over my fear of speaking. Not completely, but I'm not as shy as I was. I do this really stupid thing of planning exactly what I want to say before I say it, and then when I get the chance to say it, I just say it in English because I'm afraid it's wrong. Oh well.

Today my host mom took me to a kozmetika place where we got facials. It was sooo relaxing... I fell asleep about 5 times. The whole thing lasted 3 hours. On Thursday I'm getting my first hair cut in Hungary!! I'm also dying my hair. I really can't wait for that, since I haven't done anything with my hair in forever. Hopefully it turns out okay... I've heard way too many haircut on exchange horror stories.

This weekend is another Rotary meeting thing, but it's only a day long. We all have to give group country presentations. I'm going to Budapest on Friday night to stay with my favorite person, Alex, and I'm sooooo excited to see her and spend the night with her! I'll come back to Szeged on Saturday night.

Oh also, I found out I was accepted to the school of education at University of Portland! So, if I decide to go there, I will be learning to be a teacher :D. I'm so happy about it, but still waiting to hear back from NYU, which is my first choice.

Alright that's it for now!

New family

Last night I left my first family and am now in my second family's house. I'm just going to paste what I said in my monthly update, since I don't feel like typing the story out again.


Last night I moved into my new family's house. Yesterday was a very very sad day. While I was finishing packing up, my youngest host sister, Dori came in and helped. We were both crying a little bit but tried to just keep the conversation light. When I had about an hour left at their house, I gave them all small American flags and thank you cards. Everyone was in my room and we all started crying (excluding my host dad, who was working downstairs on a big presentation he has today). When my host dad came up, he said that it's not goodbye, just see you soon. We moved all my things downstairs (I have acquired SO many things in the past 5 months, it's crazy!!) and then sat around and talked. When I noticed the table was only set for four, I really started crying again. My host mom told my sister to quickly put a placemat where I usually sit and said it will always be my spot! My new host parents were an hour late picking me up, so we were able to spend a little bit more time together, which was nice. They ended up staying for an hour talking to my other sister, Anna, about what high school she will go to next year, since my new host mom is a teacher at the school she wants to go to. I sat with Dori in the kitchen because she couldn't go out with everyone else without crying, and to be honest neither could I. We talked and tried to distract ourselves, but anytime there was a pause we lost any progress we had made. Leaving the house was the hardest thing I've ever done, much harder than leaving my American family. I cried in the car on the way to the new families house, cried when I met my host sisters, cried when I was alone to unpack, cried during dinner, and cried all night. My new host mom really understands how hard it must be, and has comforted me every time. It will take some time adjusting to this new house and family and right now it's really hard. The new family is really sweet, though, so it will help a lot.


Nothing else to say :/.

Christmas and some other stuff.

Happy New Year's Eve!!!

With my host family, we celebrated Christmas on the evening of the 24th. During the day we didn't do much, but before dinner we all got dressed up in fancy clothes. After dinner, we all gathered around the Christmas tree and opened presents. I got some really nice gifts from my family, including a wonderful picture album with pictures both me and my host family have taken of my year. When I opened it and saw what it was, I instantly started crying. It's the sweetest gift I've ever received and I really appreciate it. I've already looked through it about a hundred times!

On Christmas Day, we started our journey to Gyula, where my host parent's parents live. We visited my host mom's parents first, and then my host dad's parents. We ate a lot of really good food and it was nice getting to visit with them. My host parents came back to Szeged on Tuesday, and my sisters and I stayed in Gyula with my host dad's parents. I was really sick most of the week, so we didn't do much. Basically the highlights of my week were walking to Tesco and Spar, hanging out with cats, playing a really cool Hungarian online game, and feeding ducks. It was a really nice week, but it's also good to be home.

When I got home, I had a package waiting for me from my friend Loveneet! Inside were more Oreos, Ranch, my Scrabble Day shirt, three copies of this year's school newspaper, and really nice letters from her and my other friend Rebeca. I love it all, and am so glad she thought of me :)!

I also am officially finished with college applications, and only need my school back home to send my transcripts to two more schools. It's such a relief to have that stress out of the way, but I still have to look into scholarship information. Tomorrow will probably be spent working on the FAFSA... exciting stuff, folks.

Tonight we're going over to my counselor's house and spending the evening with his family. They're hosting Raymond, so we'll get to spend some time together! It should be a fun night.

I'm really excited for 2012. I get to spend 6 more amazing months here, I finally turn 18, I will be reunited with my friends and family, and I will start university somewhere in the fall. So far in 2011, I've had the wonderful opportunity to live in another country, visit 3 others, and meet my favorite people in the world. I'm really happy with what this past year has brought me, but I'm looking forward to a new one as well.

I hope everyone has a great (AND SAFE!!!) night!

Vienna trip, snow, and Christmas!

Two weeks ago was our exchange student trip to Győr and Vienna... (I really can't believe that was two weeks ago.. it feels like it literally just happened). We spent the night in Győr on Friday night, went to Vienna on Saturday, and then went back to Győr on Sunday night.

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.

It snowed again a couple days ago, but not very much. It should be snowing tomorrow and Sunday for Christmas!!

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!!