Erika, my host mom, and me.
My first night in Hungary. Eating dinner with my host family as well as my friends Dóri and Lily.
Béla, my host dad, and Norbi, my host brother who lives in Budapest.
Friday, October 26, 2007
My Hungarian Family
I realized yesterday that I haven't posted any pictures of my host family yet. Well, that has to change, so here are some photos of the Baricskas:
Erika, my host mom, and me.
My first night in Hungary. Eating dinner with my host family as well as my friends Dóri and Lily.
Béla, my host dad, and Norbi, my host brother who lives in Budapest.
Erika, my host mom, and me.
My first night in Hungary. Eating dinner with my host family as well as my friends Dóri and Lily.Béla, my host dad, and Norbi, my host brother who lives in Budapest.
Oh Canada
I realized during my trip to Venice how lucky we are as Canadians. There are two other Rotary Exchange students living in Nyíregyháza with me: Hebe is 15 and she is from Taiwan. Nico, 18, is from Ecuador. Both Hebe and Nico had to get an Italian visa in order to visit Venice. I, on the other hand, did not. Hebe's visa was not passed until 1 hour before we boarded the bus to Venice, and Nico had to make 2 trips to Budapest in order to have his visa approved. When Nico went to pay for his visa, he had to pay in American dollars. The official currency of Ecuador is the American dollar, but the american money printed in Ecuador was not accepted be the Italian embassy in Budapest, so Nico was forced to find a bank that would exchange his money for him.
Having the priveleges that go along with being Canadian not only meant that I was saved the time of having to deal with all of the paper work that goes along with getting approved for a visa, but it also saved me a lot of money.
Having the priveleges that go along with being Canadian not only meant that I was saved the time of having to deal with all of the paper work that goes along with getting approved for a visa, but it also saved me a lot of money.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Venice
I took the 3 hour train ride to Budapest on Friday morning to meet up w
ith all the exchange students who were going to Venice. At about 8am, we all boarded the bus and drove the 12 hours to Italy. On the way, we stopped at a view point that overlooked Lake Balaton, sometimes referred to as the "Hungarian Sea" or, by non hungarians, "Europe's biggest puddle". Lake Balaton is the largest lake in Central Europe, but it is very shallow with a mean depth of 3.2 m. After our brief visit to Lake Balaton, we boarded the bus again and slept, very uncomfortably, on the bus until we finally arrived in Venice around 8am.
Once in Venice we were left to our own devices. Unfortunately, I ended up with a group of girls who just wanted to shop while they were in Venice. After a while I got sick of waiting outside shop after shop that sold the same thing so I ditched my friends and explored the city on my own. I was disappointed with how tourist oriented Venice was, but once I finally escaped the line-up into Louis Vittons and the endless stores full of pointless crap, I was not suprised to find that Venice is indeed very beautiful. I spent my day walking through the winding streets taking pictures, stumbling into random museums and galleries, and people watching. There is a very interesting mix of people in Venice. The native Venetians were dressed to the nines and paid no attention to the tourists. Then there were, of course, loads of camera wielding tourists who were willing to pay way too much for things that they didn't need, and then there were the honeymooners and rich travelers who had come to Venice to shop and to indulge in luxurious things that apparently only Venice can offer. Because there is a constant supply of people willing to spend money, it was very difficult for those of us who didn't have endless amounts of money to find anything affordable to eat or buy. I was lucky enough to find a cool place that, for a reasonable price, sold bread slices with various cheeses and tapinades and I ate my lunch there. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky when I went in search of a cup of coffee. When I thought that I had finally found an affordable place to buy coffee, the waiter told me that there would be an extra 5 Euro added onto my bill to pay for the "music costs" (a.k.a. the lone violin player on the main floor of the restaurant).
Feeding the pigeons in Piazza San Marco, and gondolas on the Grande Canale.
Me and the gondaleer (and his hat).
ith all the exchange students who were going to Venice. At about 8am, we all boarded the bus and drove the 12 hours to Italy. On the way, we stopped at a view point that overlooked Lake Balaton, sometimes referred to as the "Hungarian Sea" or, by non hungarians, "Europe's biggest puddle". Lake Balaton is the largest lake in Central Europe, but it is very shallow with a mean depth of 3.2 m. After our brief visit to Lake Balaton, we boarded the bus again and slept, very uncomfortably, on the bus until we finally arrived in Venice around 8am.Once in Venice we were left to our own devices. Unfortunately, I ended up with a group of girls who just wanted to shop while they were in Venice. After a while I got sick of waiting outside shop after shop that sold the same thing so I ditched my friends and explored the city on my own. I was disappointed with how tourist oriented Venice was, but once I finally escaped the line-up into Louis Vittons and the endless stores full of pointless crap, I was not suprised to find that Venice is indeed very beautiful. I spent my day walking through the winding streets taking pictures, stumbling into random museums and galleries, and people watching. There is a very interesting mix of people in Venice. The native Venetians were dressed to the nines and paid no attention to the tourists. Then there were, of course, loads of camera wielding tourists who were willing to pay way too much for things that they didn't need, and then there were the honeymooners and rich travelers who had come to Venice to shop and to indulge in luxurious things that apparently only Venice can offer. Because there is a constant supply of people willing to spend money, it was very difficult for those of us who didn't have endless amounts of money to find anything affordable to eat or buy. I was lucky enough to find a cool place that, for a reasonable price, sold bread slices with various cheeses and tapinades and I ate my lunch there. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky when I went in search of a cup of coffee. When I thought that I had finally found an affordable place to buy coffee, the waiter told me that there would be an extra 5 Euro added onto my bill to pay for the "music costs" (a.k.a. the lone violin player on the main floor of the restaurant).
While I thoroughly enjoyed taking in the sights of Venice, I cannot imagine spending more than one day there. Venice is insanely gorgeous, but I found the city to be somewhat unwelcoming and claustrophobic.
Some of my trip highlights include a visit to the Gallery of Modern Art, stumbling into an uknown museum and looking at some really cool "pushing the boundaries" kind of art, riding in a gondola with a bunch of my friends and hearing all about the city's history from the gondaleer, feeding the pigeons in Piazza San Marco, and getting lost and trying, unsuccessfully, to find where I was on a map.
Here are a few pictures from my trip:
Feeding the pigeons in Piazza San Marco, and gondolas on the Grande Canale.
Me and the gondaleer (and his hat).
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Chocloate!
There is a chocolate bar called Túró Rudi which is made and sold in Hungary exclusively. Túró means cottage cheese, and rudi can be roughly translated into bar, so, as you have probably guess, a Túró Rudi is sweet cottage cheese covered in chocolate. I'm completely addicted to these little chocolate bars. They are sooooo good and I am desperately trying to figure out a way to smuggle some home in a cooler.Tuesday, October 16, 2007
October Update
Well, I have a lot to tell you all! So far, October has been very busy for me. The month started off with a hiking trip to Slovakia with my Rotary Club. While Hungary is fairly flat, Slovakia has a few small mountains (small compared to the Rockies!) and, for whatever reason, people sometimes like to climb these moutains. Not wanting to be a party-pooper, I decided that I would go hiking with my Rotary Club. I figured that, since I am the youngest member of my Rotary Club I would be able to handle anything they decided to climb. As you can imagine, I was highly shocked and somewhat grumpy when I found out that we were going to be climbing for 12 hours straight and that we would be starting our hike at 5:30 in the morning. The hike that we went on was nothing like anything I have ever experienced. We basically followed the path of a stream all the way up the mountian--I spent half of my time on my hands and knees because the incline was so steep. While there were certainly moments that I wanted to throw myself over the side of the mountain because my legs were so tired, the higher we climbed the more beautiful the landscape became. Our 9 hours of climbing effort certainly paid off when we were rewarded with a beautiful 360 degree panorama from the peak.
On Sunday the 14th I celebrated my 18th birthday. My host mom Erika suprised me with a birthday lunch and then my friend Dóri and I, as well as my host mom and dad drove to a near-by city called Tokaj. Tokaj is an old and very beautiful city famous for the wine it produces. I explored the city, took lots of pictures, drank some wine, and then travelled home. I then spent the evening with my friends playing pool and drinking beer just like an 18 year old should. The next day I went to a Rotary meeting and was once again suprised with a birthday cake. I was worried that I might be homesick on my birthday because I wouldn't be able to celebrate with my friends and family, but the people here made me feel very special and I was really grateful that they made my birthday so much fun.
On Friday I am travelling to Venice with my all of the other exchange students in Hungary and I am VERY excited! I will give you all the details of my trip when I get back.
Lots of love!
Emily
On Sunday the 14th I celebrated my 18th birthday. My host mom Erika suprised me with a birthday lunch and then my friend Dóri and I, as well as my host mom and dad drove to a near-by city called Tokaj. Tokaj is an old and very beautiful city famous for the wine it produces. I explored the city, took lots of pictures, drank some wine, and then travelled home. I then spent the evening with my friends playing pool and drinking beer just like an 18 year old should. The next day I went to a Rotary meeting and was once again suprised with a birthday cake. I was worried that I might be homesick on my birthday because I wouldn't be able to celebrate with my friends and family, but the people here made me feel very special and I was really grateful that they made my birthday so much fun.
On Friday I am travelling to Venice with my all of the other exchange students in Hungary and I am VERY excited! I will give you all the details of my trip when I get back.
Lots of love!
Emily
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