At the university’s orientation day, some weeks ago, the faculty’s dean himself made a very good point. He informed us that there’s is more to Hungary than just Budapest and he encouraged us to explore the country and surrounding regions during our exchange semester. Well, I for sure only have to be told such a thing once so I've since explored different areas of Hungary, Vienna and Krakow. Eastern Europe sure offers an interesting mix of cities, experiences, landscapes and attractions. So here goes:
First, Vienna. I was the lucky girl to get on the train to Vienna with 4 guys, 2 spanish, a french and a brit. We've been good friends since day one and we had an amazing weekend together! Vienna is quite pretty, with lots of monumental buildings and a rich history. Although the size and sight of the Danube flowing through the city is rather disappointing, Vienna does have a romantic feel to it. We spent a whole afternoon at the Sisi & Franz Jozef castle, walking through 30-odd lavishly decorated rooms and playing in the castle gardens. It's great to be a royal kid sometimes! By chance, it happened to also be Night of the Museums during our weekend and although we didn't bother too much with entering any of them it did meant that all the pretty buildings were lit up so we got a drink at one of the street stalls and walked around the city at nighttime. We found some interesting party places as well and before you know the weekend comes to an end. It wasn't a very cash-flow friendly one though, especially since Hungarian Forints are my current standard!
My next destination however was: Krakow, Poland! I tell you, Zloty's are the best when spending money! It was a trip organised by ESN and we travelled to Poland by bus. On the way to Krakow we stopped at the Wieliczka salt mine for a tour and dinner 300 mtrs under the ground. We went down on never-ending winding stairs but luckily there was an elevator to take us back up. Next morning we went to visit Auschwitz. I sure hope there's not too many places on earth that take your breath away like Auschwitz and Auschwith-Birkenau do. When walking on the rocky pathways, past the barracks, hearing explanations and stories about the things around you, you cannot but feel a shiver down your spine. The data, the documents, the standing cells, mountains of human hair, glasses, suitcases with names, artificial limbs, children's toys, photo's... Auschwitz-Birkenau, especially, is of such an immense size, truly beyond your imagination or anything captured in Schindler's list. As far as I'm concerned, the sheer existence of these places is possibly the greatest human failure. After this super heavy morning activity we went on a tour through beautiful Krakow, followed by a tramparty (yes, 90 of us got on a specially kitted out partytram and railed through Krakow for 2 hrs!! I doubt that is even possible or allowed in Amsterdam!). And the weekend was not over yet... on the last day we went to Zakopane, Poland's ski-resort town, where we buzzed up and down the mountains for a few hours with chairlifts and trams. The 8-hr busride back to Budapest provided the perfect opportunity for a nice, long snooze which suited me perfectly fine!
Before my washing had a chance to dry I had a visitor! Vera, my old roomie arrived last week Monday complete with Lonely Planet, a fully charged camera and enough energy to spend a week with me. A few days in Budapest and on the weekend we went into rural Hungary. Although here in Budapest we are well into fall already and most leaves have turned either orange, red, brown or they're on the ground, Vera brought along great weather and we had an amazing week full of adventures that included the colourful Buda Hills, finding our way in the pitchblack underground castle labyrinth, a random&crazy party with a Hungarian family, an attempt to ride horses, sampling and buying 7 ltrs of wine at the wine cellars of The Valley of the Beautiful Women, Baboeshka laughter and a ride on the slowest train you can possibly think of. But there's an end to all great things; Vera has left and I'm back at uni where a stack of work awaits me!
Conclusion: I’m on a crazy rollercoaster ride through all that Eastern Europe has to offer. Unfortunately, it is getting a lot colder and it feels like winter is not far off. I have in the meantime come across some very friendly and helpful Hungarians that have, smilingly, informed me that temperatures can drop to as little as -15 degrees in winter, a frightening thought! But I’m clearly having a great time, I even starred in the upcoming Dutch movie 'De President' last week with Najib Amhali and Achmed Akkabi (ok, as an extra, but I made sure I was within reach of the camera)! It was great to have a look behind the scenes, chat to the Dutch actors and have professional hair&make-up done. Only a shame I had to axchange my own pretty black dress for a baggy dress with a design quite suitable for a curtain in the 50's... But aye, the things we do for our 5 seconds of fame, right? It will be in cinema's this time next year so you might want to reserve seats!
This semester passes by at a speedy pace, I'm already in the 6th week of classes! Midterms are coming up next week and papers will have to handed in soon so don't be mistaken in thinking it's all fun&games here! It's definitely time to get down to business though so I have a very long, intense date with my laptop this weekend!
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