I saved a marriage on Castle Hill (November 1, 2007)

I was walking by the Palace on Castle Hill when I overheard this couple arguing about who was going to be in the picture this time, each telling the other to be in it, so I stopped and offered to take one of both of them. They got excited, accepted, and told me that I'd saved them from having a fight! I told them it wasn't a problem and would hate for a picture to ruin their vacation, at which point they told me they were on their honeymoon! How cute!!

Hungarians take their national holidays too seriously (November 1, 2007)

I didn’t quite make it out of the apartment in Halloween, so today was to be Caitlin’s first day really seeing Budapest. Unfortunayely, it was also All Saints Day, which I don’t celebrate, nor does anyone really in the US, and pretty much everything was close.
We got the see the Grand Market, Jewish Synagogue, and Royal Palace from the outside and then it took us forever to find a restaurant that was open. Pretty much the only things we were able to do was to visit St. Stephen’s Basilica, Fisherman’s Bastion, and Castle Hill.

People think my life is way more fabulous and interesting than it is (October 31, 2007)

While still laying in bed, my roommate got a call from Kata out assistant director about how our neighbors had been calling complaining about how loud our party was. I totally understand their anger, however I don’t feel too bad as Ali and I haven’t had any previous parties and rarely have company either. Our neighbors, however, seem to think other wise as they reported that we were always drunk and bring home boys. Poor Kata explained that she knew us and was pretty certain that wasn’t true. However, it works out for me because now we have a legitimate excuse for not hosting anymore parties, because frankly, the random people and the huge mess just didn’t make it worthwhile, even though we did gain a bottle of wine, a small amount of vodka, and five beers out of it.

Some days it’s just better to stay in bed (October 31, 2007)

I had the hangover of all hangovers on Halloween thanks to my Halloween party and decided not to go to my internship or my class. But once I found the perfect position laying down where my head didn’t hurt, things were glorious.
Eventually Caitlin convinced me to walk to McDonalds for fries and a diet coke, which was a remarkable hangover cure. Not really a big McDonalds fan, but it did the trick...or treat (couldn't resist the cheesy halloween pun. sorry)!

Halloween Party (October 30, 2007)

Will add later.

Tesco! It’s like walmart (October 30, 2007)

After my economics exam Garrett mentioned that he was going by Tesco to get some things for his Halloween costume. I felt like a complete failure at this point because 1) I’ve been here 2 months and haven’t been to tesco once, and 2) I was hosting a Halloween party and didn’t have a costume! In my defense, I didn’t know I was hosting the party until a few hours before my final—so clearly I didn’t have time to plan for it.
We boarded the other half of the two tram and took it to the end of the line, so basically, the opposite of how I get home.
Tesco was quite fascinating too! When you go in you get a grocery cart and then they have this escalator ramp that you roll up to the second floor on. Once you get to that floor there are numerous small stores in Tesco, including a food court, but then at the end you get to the store itself, which is like a small walmart. I guess by itself it wasn’t that exciting, but I’ve really been missing my walmart runs as of late.
I purchased a bottle of palinka and some construction mouth masks because I decided the easiest costume ever would be to be a doctor. It was an exciting outing.

Congratulations and Best Wishes (October 29, 2007)

After completing my super intense Political Problems of Transition exam, I decided to treat myself to a chocolate cigsa. I then sat outside my Econ classroom, where I had a few extra minutes, and checked my email. I got one from my mom who responded to an earlier rant I’d sent her but then closed with a post scrip of: “OH and PS I forgot to tell you the announcement at yesterdays dinner was Chris and Dana got engaged (ring and all) Friday at the Biltmore House. YEA!!!”
I cannot describe how stunned I was at reading that except by saying that my jaw literally dropped. A moment later, Chris here walked by and asked how I was and I stupidly, still confused, blurted out my cousin got engaged. He said, “Oh, congratulations!” And I answered, “Yeah.” As I hadn’t mentally processed to that point yet.
I’m not surprised that it happened. They’ve been dating seriously for quite a while, and Dana is perfectly lovely, they work very well together. I was just so stunned to receive the news right then.
After my last class I proceeded to the Spar to get champagne!
And just a reminder, Congratulations are for the groom; best wishes are for the bride. (Thanks to Emily Post, and Emily Gilmore)