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