Finally Posting...

So... I haven't posted in a while simply because I didn't feel like it. Simple as that. The past 2 weeks have been lovely I love having a routine and a relatively comfortable,simple, new life. Thanksgiving was on Thursday. There are 5 American exchange students in Budapest so, being the awesome people that we are (5Americans and Aryane our lovely Brazilian), we got permission to skip school in order to properly celebrate this important American holiday. [Which contrary to popular belief of the rest of the world, it is not an American excuse to stuff ourselves with food. Well, I take that back because it probably is for someone out there... But not for the vast majority of people I've gotten know throughout my life...] We went to SPAR and bought everything we needed thanks to Carleighs overly organized list and then carried it all (slightly over $150 and 70+ pounds) back to the apartment. Together we made mashed potatoes, apple pie, stuffing, 5 different desserts, beans and rice, mac and cheese corn pudding, gravy, cranberry fruit salad, mixed vegetables, and yeah, lots of food. That we made all more or less from scratch. I didn't know any of us could cook and everything came out amazingly (Sophia and Collin's Chicken was by far the best thing I've ever tasted) we also made hand turkey's and a skit to show Carleigh's host family what Thanksgiving is all about. It was fun to see everyones Thanksgiving traditions simply because they differ so much.

So yeah, at about 6:30 we all sat down around a table loaded with the fruits of our labor and gave thanks as a new sort of family.

That was Thursday however today.....

ITS SNOWING!!!

This morning I woke up and remembered that I had horse riding (which due to weather condition I didn't end up going to) and so I checked the time on my computer which led me to facebook which led me to look at all of the exchange students statusés which all were freaking out about snow. There is a curtain on the lower part of my window so I didn't see it when I woke up so I went into the living space in the house and YES SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW! So I threw on some warm stuff and ran outside.But snow is cold so I was out there for like 45 minutes of snow balls and snow men before going inside and curling up in Yoga pants and a robe with some hot apple pie. Which is when I figured I should probably update this blog before my mom starts asking about it again.... so here you go :)

P.S. I'm curious as to who reads my blog. So drop me a comment! I want to know who you are. :)

Whats the point of a title anyways...?

Hello all. Here's your weekly update.

I can't believe that 2 and a half months have already gone by though on the same token it seems like its beens an eternity since I left Ukiah back in August. Exchange student time simply makes no sense. So as of right now I'm going to stop counting the days (this is most likely a total lie) that I've been here and just enjoy it. Things here are fantastic, I really couldn't be happier. I have an amazing family, good friends, and an great Rotary Club. Which brings me to my next point... I will no longer be transferring to Esztergom for school. This is for multiple reasons but primarily because 1. I don't want to pay 50 dollars a month to sit in a classroom doing next to nothing (I do that already in Budapest but without tuition)2. I've finally made Hungarian friends at Csik Ferenc, 3.it's easier to attend Rotary meetings if I go to school in Budapest, and 4. last but not least I have finally gotten accustomed to Csik Ferenc and (dare I say it?) I enjoy going to school. I enjoyed going to school back home too but I think you get the idea. So yeah, thats the school update... Sam and I started going to the lunch meetings for Rotary, thats really enjoyable...

Last Friday night was the Freshman's Ball. All last week the upperclassmen created tasks for the freshman to do (PE lesson in public, etc) and then on Friday they had a ball where the 2 freshman classes had to compete against each other in similar random tasks. The winner of the night gets to host next year's Freshman ball and gets the pride of being the best and all that jazz. The other exchange students and I had to open the ball by giving a speech....in Hungarian. We each had 3-5 sentences each and I think (hope?) that went reasonably well...

Then on Saturday I made pie and dyed my hair red(ish). My host family doesn't own a pie pan so I had to make do but other than that it came out better than I expected.

So yeah... that was last week in a nutshell... I'm going to Vienna with Rotary on December 3 in case you were curious.

Okay thats all for now.

TTFN
♥

Fall Break.

So this last week was fall break. Which means that this Monday I get to go back to waking up at 5:30 am and gone are the days of sleeping in till 7:30. This week was enjoyable though. On Tuesday I went with my host dad into Budapest and walked around WestEnd by myself for a good 5 hours until meeting up with the other Budapest kids. We walked around the city, and went to SugarShop (as usual) and then Sam and I went to our Rotary meeting at the Kempinski. I can't emphasize enough how much I love the Rotary meetings here. This last Tuesday I met a man from California who has lived in Hungary for the past 4 years. He knew people from Ukiah which was crazy exciting being half a world away and all that jazz. There was also a family from Israel who were really interesting and of course getting my monthly allowance and amazing Kempinski dinner wasn't bad either :) So yeah that was Tuesday. On Wednesday I spent the night in Esztergom at my second host family/Timi's house and that was lovely... I finally watched RENT which is big because I love the musical and know the entire soundtrack but until now I had never seen the movie. So yeah, good deal. On Friday I took the train to Budapest all by myself :D :D :D and met up with Dóri, who was an inbound in Mendocino last year and we went inside of Parliament (on November 5th oh the irony...) which was cool. The stain glass was amazing not only because of its color but for its age and history as well. Most of the windows are over 100 years old and during WWII they were hidden in the parliament's basement while the Royal jewels were taken and hidden in Fort Knox, USA. After Parliament we went to Sugar Shop and then walked around some more. We went to the part of the city where I don't usually go (Hero's Square, the baths, etc) and that was fun... They were redoing the ice rink and apparently as they were redoing it they dug up 2 bombs from WWII. This freaked people out because for over 30 years people had been skating on unexploded bombs. So yeah then I got on a train back to Pilicsaba which would have been great until the sun went down and I couldn't see out the window. Luckily there was a nice lady sitting across from me who knew some English and she told me when to get off. So needless to say I made it home alive. I really like that I can finally call this place home. Right now I'm sitting in the living room and it has the same home-ish feeling as my house back in California does. This is both a good and a bad thing I suppose. It's a good thing because this place is amazing, my family is amazing, and life is pretty much all around amazing. However, it is a bad thing because in the back of my mind I have to tell myself not to get too attached to anything or anyone because in a few months I will have to leave. That's the depressing thing about being an exchange student. That is to say you meet so many amazing people in so many different places but after a few months you have to say goodbye whether you are going home or changing families, goodbyes are inevitable. I hate that. Truly.

So yeah, now my friend Sam from New York (who is staying with me for the weekend) wants to feel special and read this post first. So yeah good deal.

Mucho love and Polar Bears

♥
Katie

Weekly Update?

For some reason I feel obliged to update this at least once I a week, and as it's still Halloween in California for another 17 minutes let me just say. HAPPY HALLOWEEN there, I said it and I'm terribly jealous and we don't have Halloween over here in the rest of the world.

So yeah. This week was... uneventful. I got hit by another bad cold on Wednesday but it hasn't killed me so yay. As of December first I'm transferring to St. Erszebet (I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong) school in Esztergom. That's exciting, though I will definitely miss my friends at Csik Ferenc, in the long run it is a better situation as far as classes, and location goes.

I finally started making plans with J (She was in Ukiah on exchange last year for those of you who don't remember her living on my couch) to go visit her in Germany sometime over Easter Break for a week and then taking her back to Budapest with me for a few days. I'm hoping it will work out. Um... yeah thats about it for this last week. This coming week is fall break so I will be spending time with friends and at Rotary meetings. (Rotary meetings are the best, I actually look forward to going to them.) and I'm going bowling today. So yeah good deal. I hope everyone has had a nice Halloween.



Katie
Rabbit. Rabbit.

hopefully next week will give this blog some more interesting content. Sorry for this one. ♥