bet you didn't expect a post.

Boom. This is about nothing in particular except to mark on how this blog suddenly slowed down. Life became normal and amazing. I've found a life and a family here unlike anything I could have ever imagined. I will be home in exactly one month (almost to the hour) and that really bums me out. This year has gone by so incredibly fast. I don't think I'll ever truly understand exchange time.

Want to know my reason for sticking out this crazy year? Watch this video. These people are my why. Why I never even thought of going home early, Why I was so happy, Why I have so many amazing memories. Why Hungary will always hold a special place in my heart. Why it's going to be so hard to leave. Why I am who I am today.

Szeretlek cserediakok Magyarorszagon 2010-2011



click on the link. It's not a virus. Pinky Swear.

Credit to Sofia Hameline.

Nope I'm not starting like this again

I refuse to start with anything resembling "so I haven't posted in a while so..." nope. That's not going to happen. I apologize for nothing. However, I do feel somewhat obliged to give an update.

Life is amazing. Perfect really. I have good friends, family, things to do, people to see, house keys and a bus pass. And how could I forget my amazing Rotary club? Rotary meetings are often the highlight of my week.

Though, as we all know,all good things must come to an end. The faster we burn through 2011's calender the more I come to realize that this cannot last forever. That I will one day leave my beloved Magyarország, and the friends that have become my family will go to the parts of the world they too, call home. I will have to leave the amazing city that is Budapest and go to what once was my comfort zone, home rather. I am not the same person who left San Francisco back in August.

When they prepare you for this program, they warn you about the difficulties you're going to face coming back home. Admittedly, I kind of dismissed that thinking that I wouldn't change too drastically, that I would still have the same energy, mindset, and attitude going back home.

I can be so naive at times...

Going back to "normal" high school, driving, people, no villamoses, metros, or buses to get around, no Kinder Pingui or Túro Rúdi, no parliament, no malls within walking distance. Though possibly worst part of all will be that no one back home will know exactly what it's like to ride a villamos while eating a Túro Rúdi (that you got from the mall at Nyugati) on the way to Margit Siget to watch the boats filled with tourists travel along the Duna past parliament.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's going to be the worst part.

HOWEVER....

Until then, I am enjoying life to its fullest. Making every day count.

Carpe Diem
Ragadd meg a napot.

Epiphany...

As the new outbounds find out what country they will be exchanging to for 2011-2012 as are all excited and bouncing around about how excited they are and they ask tons and tons of questions I can't help but feel like an old person er... I'm not really sure how to say that. They ask the same questions I asked, they are just as excited and curious as I was, etc etc. It is the same thing I went through a year ago.

I had an epiphany today while on the Hév. I was thinking about how there was no way I was in any way shape or form prepared for what I was currently doing. That is to say taking a train home, well, where my luggage and passport resides (I still need a week or 2 before I can call it home I think...) by myself, in a foreign country. I admit to being afraid of my own shadow at times. And yet, this seemed like a perfectly normal action... going back to my flat..er my host parents who I met 2 days ago's flat. I also realized that looking back on the hours upon hours of orientation, question asking, and books (so many books) on trying to figure out what my year abroad was going to be like. What school, people, houses, everything really was going to be like... there was no point in it. You really do just live and learn while you're on exchange. Dare I say one becomes wiser? Seasoned, sarcastic, blunt? We are filled with knowledge. But because we take it in stride, we live and we learn. We fall, we get back up. We laugh at our previous naive-ity, we pride ourselves in the knowledge of a previously foreign and terrifying language. We grow and bloom into ambassadors. We now have the ability to laugh at tourists, roll our eyes at our parents attempts to speak Hungarian over skype. I can go into a cafe or store and people speak to me in Hungarian and I can easily respond whereas a few months ago I would give a few feeble attempts at trying to tell the clerk what I wanted to which they would roll their eyes and start speaking English. I definitely take pride in the fact that that no longer happens. We become exchange students rather than foreigners if that makes sense. I look back on my blog and see how naive I was. And I'll probably look back on this in a few months and think the same thing. This exchange is all about adaptations,change,and learning to become part of a new society. I think if there is one piece of advice I can give all new exchange students is to not worry about what your new life is going to be like. Throw out all expectations, go in with a positive attitude, a fresh slate, and new mind. Because once you get here, you really do have a clean slate. sok szerencsét.

A for real actual post this time.

Okay so hopefully this will be considered worth reading and or... eh. I don't really know but anyways this should cover everything that I deem worth noting since... oh geez, since like Christmas. (has it really been that long? Bocsii) So here we go.

Hungarians celebrate Christmas on 24 December so on that lovely day, (it really was a lovely day, all the snow had melted and the fields surrounding Máriahalom were sprouting new grass, not exactly winterishly Christmas but lovely nevertheless) on another note, nevertheless is one of my favorite words simply because it's really 3 words but some English major decided that this phrase should just be it's own word. How cool is that? Sorry, tangent. Moving on.

In the evening of the 24th we drove to Budapest to Mama's flat where we had a delicious meal with traditional Hungarian Christmas foods such as fish soup, apples in cream and mayonaise, rice, more fish, mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables and for dessert a chocolate mousse cake. [not exactly Hungarian but really delicious] after dinner and many anxious pleas for Ajandék (presents) we went into the living room and opened gifts. We went in age order from youngest to oldest. My host grandmother gave me a warm winter coast and a matching hat and scarf set and my host aunt gave me chocolate. It was a lovely evening. After opening presents we drove home and opened presents that "Jesus and his Angels" had left. I recieved some books on Budapest/Hungary, a nice colored shoe box from Kata and a homemade diarama from Betti. I gave my host family some MendoMate, books of California Redwoods, a reuseable bag from Real Goods, a tye dye kit and squished pennies for my host siblings. Ooh I almost forgot to mention, I got my first white Christmas er... December 25...

The next day we went to my host dad's mother's house to eat and open gifts. Both of my host grandmothers are very good cooks. Here we had more traditional Hungarian food including fried chicken, apples with mayonaise, fish soup, poppy seed cake, etc etc. After dinner and a few pleas for ajandék we went to open presents. I received a scarf, a sweater, more chocolate, and a kid's magazine in Hungarian with childrens poems which I am trying to learn to read.Ooh I almost forgot to mention, I got my first white Christmas er... December 25... When we got home from Rostás Mama's house I skyped with my family back home as they were opening presents from Santa. It was fun, though a little sad making to be "there" on Christmas morning. Knowing what the atmosphere was like, what the air smelled like and what CD's were playing on the stereo was bittersweet. A few hours later I skyped with my cousins, aunts and Uncles in the Bay Area. Once again the moment was bittersweet but I really enjoyed seeing their faces. Especially when I told them I wouldn't be back until July as apparently most of them thought it was a single semester program.

For New Years Eve (Szilvestér) the Budapest City Exchangers went to another exchange student's New Year's party in Debrecen. Debrecen is the second largest city in Hungary with a population of about 200,000. It was a lovely night we sang the national anthem [er... I moved my lips but well yeah I still have yet to learn the Hungarian national anthem...] we stayed up until the crack of dawn when the BPcitykids took a train back to Budapest. Did I mention Debrecen was freezing? Because it is. Really really cold. I guess I've been taking all the people and buildings in Budapest for granted. Needless to say I'm thankful to live in a big warm city.

Speaking of living in a big warm city... I actually do now. I moved yesterday to the suburbs of Budapest. It was very hard to leave the Rostás Csalad. They mean a lot to me in a way that words cannot quite accurately explain. The noise, the laughter, the warmth that can only come with a happy family. I really hope I keep in touch with them for years to come because I would hate to lose contact with them. Like I said, they mean a lot to me and Máriahalom is a place I will always call home. My new host family is very nice as well. I live 20 minutes from school in a very nice flat. I have one host brother who is twelve so things are much quieter here. Also, my host mother speaks to me in Spanish as opposed to Hungarian. I haven't really spoken much spanish lately because of my emphasis in Hungarian so I was relatively shocked when she started speaking spanish. I could understand everything she was saying but I could only think to respond in Hungarian which was cool I guess but really difficult to switch back and forth between languages. It's getting easier though which is nice. I speak an odd mixture of English spanish and Hungarian but it's all fluently. (if I don't know a word in Hungarian I go to Spanish, if I don't know it in Spanish I go to English) so I figure 30% Hungarian 50% Spanish and 20% English. It's crazy, but it works. So yeah, that's my current life as of late. I'll try to update more often as opposed to giant posts such as this one. However, I just thought of a really interesting point that I was playing around with during class. But because of it's length and the emphasis I want to put on it I'm going to put it in an extra post.

So goodnight for now. I hope this post has been relatively satisfying.

Quick Update.

Sorry about the lack of postage... I'm packing/moving and I've been sick so yeah... as soon as I'm settled in I'll be sure to give you something worth reading. Pinky promise.

Here have a picture. :)

(of us being lovely at Hero's Square)