Days 80-83: A Week of Food-Driven Activities

Outdoor gym? 

Monday: I slept in again. Seriously, I love it. I think I just was ridiculously sleep deprived and I’m finally getting sleep, so all I do IS sleep. But it’s kind of amazing, so I’m not complaining at all. Anyhow, once I got my lazy  bum out of bed, I proceeded to get some studying and work done, then went out to grab a sandwich at a café with Jessica, before returning home and eating said sandwiches in the park. We searched for a bench with a moderate amount of sunlight streaming down on it, but unfortunately Sunday’s beauty kind of started fading into a more typical London gloom. After lunch came the inevitable studying, which I procrastinated on by hitting up the gym, and then kind of studying. Well, first I watched a movie while doing situps and then I studied and realized that I basically had the information memorized. Such an amazing revelation. So? Well, I went downstairs and socialized for a bit before coming back up to do one more run through of the info, shower, and crash out. Early bed? Win. 

Tuesday: Regardless of not setting an alarm, I actually woke up at 8:45 today. This was a big deal. Seriously. I mean, I actually made breakfast. Since when does that happen anymore? Never. Honestly. Anyhow, after enjoying a most delicious breakfast (haha… right) of cornflakes and wheat toast, I headed upstairs, got my situps out of the way, then prepared myself for a gym visit before my 2pm final. I hate afternoon finals. They are useless. But seriously. I’m much rather have the morning one, get it out of the way, and then have the rest of the afternoon to do whatever I want. Oh well. At least I got my exercise out of the way early. Post final – I felt as though I did well. I finished the thing in about an hour and now I am DONE with sophomore year… in March. What the heck? So weird. But, now I don’t have any stress. All I have to do is enjoy myself as we go to Turkey and then come back home. I can’t explain how excited I am to see Socal again. I love this place… but oh man… home. The word sounds so sweet! We finished up the night with a small group hitting up one of the local pubs, which was a nice, quiet evening out, while everyone else was being lame and staying in a writing their music papers. Psh, procrastination. 

Wednesday: So, I decided to ignore our awful gym hours today and sleep in (for some reason we only get a couple hours in the morning on Wednesdays to go to the gym… stupid). Whatever. Sleeping in was lovely, regardless of the ridiculously loud noises going on in my room, between drawers banging, backpacks zipping, and the like. My roomie doesn’t know the word “quiet”. Oh well. I fell back asleep. So, after getting up and moving slowly, I got myself ready, found some people in the house, and we headed out on a rather long tube trip to “Borough” stop for some delicious Chilean food for lunch. But seriously. We’ve been meaning to go to this place for weeks now, so I was SO excited to finally get out there. And, it didn’t fail us. It was delicious.  Seriously, look at my Chilean sandwich. Amazing. 

Anyhow, after lunch we headed back to the house, got some work done on our final music papers, relaxed, ran around London a bit- just a plethora of awesome last minute things. Later that evening, after group dinner, we got dressed up and FINALLY hit up the piano bar. Seriously, I’ve been meaning to go to this place for ages, and I got about 7 other people to join me. And it was so much fun! I’m bummed that we didn’t check it out earlier, but at least now I know how cool it is and I can try and grab some people this summer to hit it up a couple of times. It was a little pricey, but completely worth it as the pianist played a bunch of popular music and classic rock and got everyone singing along and the like. I cant wait to go back on a weekend evening and see how much more is going on… 

Thursday: I slept in today, preparing for what will be a heinous day of travel tomorrow. Seriously, I’m all messed up right now. My mind thinks that I’m going home, and I’m ridiculously excited, except we still have a week until home. It’s a very weird concept and something that my mind cannot seem to wrap itself around. I know Turkey will be amazing, but most of us in the house are just ready to pack up and see some California sun. Of course, we’ll probably be happy once we get to Istanbul, it’s just the whole “getting there” aspect. I spent most of today cleaning up a bit, packing for Istanbul, hitting up the gym, and finally went out to a quick dinner with Jessica and Andrew at our ever-loved Oriental Canteen. … that place is delicious. We probably go there far too much, but when you have wonton soup that is ridiculously incredible, it’s just inevitable- we keep returning and returning. After dinner, we met up with the rest of the house, managed to get the ping pong table off the deck, and set up a beer pong table out in the park.

Yes, we really did. And, I’m not sure if I should be ashamed or proud of this, but I might have been the instigator behind these actions. Maybe… Regardless, some more house bonding activities and it was a ton of fun. I left early, because unlike some of the people in this house, I actually wanted a little sleep before waking up at 3am to get ready for our day of travel to Turkey. But, all in all, a good week so far. And one more week until I’m standing in LAX. Woohoo! Note- one more picture to come from this evening... I'll put it up later. Or possibly in next week's update. 

Days 73-79: That final full week in London...

Ready for a description of Hell Week? Good. Prepare yourself. Actually, it really wasn’t a hell week. I just was sick and had lots of studying and presentations to do. So, the first part was hell week. Then it got nicer. :)

Oxford and Cambridge Club- girls!

Monday: Let’s just say that there was lots of studying on Sunday night, and it moved into this day as well. I also was sick, lost my voice, and had to give 2 presentations today as well. Awesome. Turned in one of my papers, went to the gym and almost died from not being able to breathe, and continued studying for my next presentation. Followed with dinner at My Old Dutch where I got a very, very sad excuse for a salad that also made my stomach very sad and hungry, but whatever. I got back home, continued studying and wishing I was still in Ireland/the week was already over, made a powerpoint, and then took medicine and passed out.  

Fancy at our final dinner

Tuesday: Woke up early for the gym again today, once again made a mistake and wasn’t able to breathe while running on the treadmill (you’d think I would learn), and followed that up by some more studying and finally giving my humanities presentation with Diana on the “best invention of the 20^th century” – naturally, we chose sliced bread and managed to amuse the class, so we were happy that wasn’t a fail.  I took a nap after that class, then woke up in time to fill out some paperwork before going to my history class, then followed with dinner at Da Mario’s (and there delicious swordfish pasta. Yum!). Then I went home, took a study break by watching a TV show, and then decided to work on my blog as opposed to actually preparing for my history speech. Probably not smart, but I’ve got it all written out and I’ll go over it tomorrow at the gym (while I probably suffer from further lack of breathing issues from this damn cold) and then be prepared. Hopefully. We’ll see. At this point, I just want Friday to come so I can write my two essays and be done with my first final. I could do without this cold, too.

Wednesday: I had my final presentation today and it went well. Finally, 4 presentations down, no more to go! Still slightly sick, but I woke up with a hymn stuck in my head and it kind of just made everything so much nicer and pleasant. I’ve been at peace since then, even with looming finals and papers and paperwork for Visa applications… It’s kind of nice. Anyhow, spent the rest of the day hitting the gym, studying, hanging with the friends, before a slightly early evening. Nothing too exciting. 

Thursday: Slept in again today- I’m really trying to kill this cold. I only had a museum visit, which turned out to be a really interesting experience. Apparently the tube line we were supposed to take was flooding or on fire or something (really… they said something about both over the loudspeakers at the station) so we had to change up our pathway and kind of improvise our walk to this museum that is out in the middle of nowhere. Literally. And then we ended up getting ridiculously lost because British people are awful at giving directions. One of the girls and I finally grabbed a cab when we were 20 minutes late to the beginning of the visit, got to the museum, ran in, and realized that we weren’t the only ones to have gotten lost. So, I guess that’s a plus. We were the last to find it, though. Oops. Following the visit, I came home, send some post cards, went to a meeting, made a delicious dinner of leftovers, and hit up some more studying and TV show watching before eating some snacks, studying a bit more, and then crashing out before midnight. Awesome. 

Friday: Woke up early today for a final bit of studying before my 10am final. Of course, the surprises started when there was a ridiculously small amount of food for breakfast. I mean, there was a lot of cereal… just no milk. Awesome. That made for a bunch of angry, stressed people. Anyhow, after eating my boring toast, I reviewed quickly, then flew through my two-essay final in an hour, returned to my room to research for Tuesday’s final (I was feeling very productive today), then went out to lunch and enjoyed the sun with some friends, before returning home to fill out my Visa paperwork. Honestly- I got so much done today, and I am so proud of myself. It just reduces the stress levels further, even though I’m still strangely at peace since waking up Wednesday morning. It’s great. And I’ll be going to Turkey soon and home in less than two weeks! I can’t wait! Friday night we hit up a pub for dinner, then met up with some more of the group and headed over to one of the larger bars. It was so much fun going out with a huge group again- hopefully we’ll keep that up this weekend!  

Saturday: Slept in (was a lovely experience), slowly got ready (just as lovely- I like being able to move slowly in the morning), and then headed out to the gym for a little workout before moving into the afternoon. It’s not half as sunny here today, which is kind of a bummer, but that’s okay. I’ll take it as long as it isn’t raining. California- you’d better get all the rain out of your system before I come home, because I expect SUN and WARMTH. After the gym and following situps and other such exercising productivity, I wept over the fact that the sun disappeared and London rain reappeared. No thank you.  Regardless of such, Diana, Andrew, and I headed out to Putney for the Oxford-Cambridge boat race, which stupidly started early, so we missed that bit, but at least we got to hang around with the huge amount of people that tail-gated the thing. That was cool, and we saw a new place. That night saw us to The Eagle, a really awesome pub with an ever-changing menu and steak sandwiches to die for. Very, very good.

Sunday: I slept in again, and then realized it was far later than I’d expected because a time change occurred. Whoops. After this realization, I got ready and went out with Diana, Andrew, and Alex for some Chinese food for lunch, and then a lovely walk around Westminster and Saint James’ park, all the way to Buckingham palace. Why? Because the sun was out again, the park was in bloom, the lake was gorgeous and it was just a perfect day to take a stroll. And, it’s out last Sunday in London! Such a sad, sad thought. I’m trying to ignore it. The rest of the late afternoon and evening were, unfortunately, filled with gym and studying for my Tuesday final. Almost there! 

Days 66-72: I Am the Absinthe Fairy!

Monday-Wednesday: I’m not really sure what happened during these days. There was a steady progression as my bruise got darker, and then I fell into an evil void in which I never left the room except for gym, class, and food, because I was literally bogged down by 4 presentations to prepare for, and 10 essays. I’m not even kidding. Papers left and right because of this whole “no dead week thing”. Right, that goes back to our Egypt trip being cancelled. Because we ended up having school that week, and moving our group field trip to our final week (April 1-5), we don’t actually get a week to prepare for finals and papers and all that. They were just kind of thrown upon us. So, I made a nest in my bed and wrote for 3 days straight, hence my lack of updates. And it was hell. I literally wanted to throw my computer against the wall by Wednesday night, but I refrained, and instead just stopped preparing for my Humanities exam and decided that 9 essays and 4 presentations was enough, and that I could resume work on Sunday after returning from Ireland. It was the sane decision.

Thursday: St. Patrick’s Day! And seriously, what a better plan than actually going to Ireland for the day? Nothing. So that’s exactly what we did. We being Jessica, Andrew, and me. Well, we went to class first, and then booked it to the airport, where we were quite early, consumed sandwiches, bought more for the road, and then hopped onto our plane to Cork, Ireland. We checked into our bed in breakfast (after going through the airport and getting a green stamp on our passports parked “March 17”- kind of awesome), and then proceeded to get ready for the evening. Cork is a college town, and although Ireland makes drinking a nightly habit, we figured it would still be a blast. So, Jessica and I donned our green tights, I also pulled on a green tank top and scarf and was dubbed the “absinthe fairy” by Andrew (not sure if that was a compliment or not…), and then we headed out.

It was insane.

Well, a good kind of insane. We never felt worried or anything of the like, even as people ran around. We did a good deal of bar-hopping, hitting about 8 that night, and of all sorts. The first was quite traditional, with Irish music and dancing and a very, very packed, loud atmosphere, but it was probably the best one that we found. The rest of the evening wasn’t lacking, though, and we enjoyed all of it as we ran through the city (which really isn’t all that big- it was quite easy to navigate on foot), making friends, getting into clubs, dancing, slipping on beer covered stairs an obtaining further bruises (oh yeah, that would be me again…), and all such other great things. It was a fantastic night. And, it wasn’t over. We got back to the B&B, showered ,got into bed, and then I decided it would be a good night to sleep walk for the first time in years.

No. I’m not joking. I woke up in the bathroom, completely disoriented and had no idea where I was. I had somehow managed to lock myself in there, although the doors were clearly unlocked (good job, mind, getting me all confused), and had to be rescued by the owner of the B&B. Let’s just say that I was definitely the subject of everyone’s amusement the next morning. Ah, the joys of a good evening. Actually, it was clearly not from the consumption of, er, liquids, but rather simply sleep walking. What a night to do that, though. I guess I just have to make a name for myself wherever I go…

Friday: After a delicious full Irish breakfast (which his quite similar to full-English), and living through the amusement of all the people working and staying in the B&B as they talked about my night time activities, Jessica, Andrew, and I made our way to the bus station, where we caught a bus to Blarney. There, we were gifted with an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day (no rain in Ireland for us!) and we walked through the small town to the castle. There, we first ran about the grounds, as there was a kind of nature walk with all these picturesque places. Water falls, trees, places to climb into and onto (naturally, being us, we had to climb the trees and trek through the mud to the waterfalls to get good pictures), flowers… it was all so beautiful. Following this, we made our way to the actual castle.

We climbed up to the top, where we laid on our backs, had our legs held by a guy hired to do so, and then had to lean backwards and finally upside down over the edge of the castle wall in order to kiss the Blarney Stone for the “gift of eloquence.” No joke. I leaned over the wall, which was WAY high and kissed a stone that probably has massive amounts of germs. But it was awesome. After the castle, we descended to the grounds, walked through their “poison garden” (it was full of poisonous plants, although the Irish police confiscated their marijuana plant, which we found amusing), and then found the old dungeon caves. No one was brave enough to really go all the way in, but we crouched and wriggled our way to the deepest depths of them and it was totally worth it. Seriously, these were TINY caves and anyone claustrophobic would probably hate it, but it was awesome. Dropping water, echoes, dim lighting, uneven rocks… it was totally out of a movie and very castle-esque. I loved every moment of it.

After the castle, we walked back to the village, grabbed some lunch, then hopped on the bus back into Cork, where we spent the rest of the beautiful afternoon running around the town and looking at what it had to offer. We saw some cool streets, a cathedral, and finally decided to hit up the B&B for a quick nap before dinner. Dinner took place as a rugby bar, which was quite fun and definitely a locals place. After dinner, we headed back for a semi-early evening in preparation for our VERY early morning into Dublin the following day.

Saturday: After waking up at quite the ungodly hour, we trekked back to the bus stop, grabbed our 4 hour bus into Dublin, and napped/stared aimlessly for the trip. It was a long one, but totally worth it. Again, we had great weather and the city was very fun. Definitely not as cool as London, but still a great day trip and adventure. It was much smaller than we planned, so we were able to walk around to all the places we wanted- namely, Trinity College, Temple Street and Bar (where we had a great lunch of steak and Guinness stew), Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and finally a tour of the Guinness Factory. Personally, I found the beer disgusting, and so got a coke with my free drink pass. Yeah, I know, lame, but it’s okay. I indulged in the Bulmer’s cider all of Thursday night.

After the factor, we walked back along the river to the bus stop, grabbed our bus, and traveled the long journey back home. By the time we arrived in Cork, we were all exhausted and barely made it through our showers before crashing into bed. But, it had been a fantastic day, a brilliant and well-planned weekend, and we had no regrets about the exhaustion. We’d managed to see everything we had wanted to see, and the only time it rained was while we were on the actual bus. Pretty good luck, especially considering Ireland in March.

Sunday: We woke up early, got our breakfast, and then traveled back home. We arrived at a decent hour, and so grabbed lunch at my favorite Asian food place, and then had the rest of the afternoon for get back into workout and studying routines. Ugh… talk about walking right back into a stressful pool of work for finals. But… only a bit more time and then I’ll be in Istanbul and without any work at all! 

Days 59-65: And We Party On...

Sorry for the delay in updates. Here is Germany, which will be followed by my Ireland updates in the next few days. I've got a bit of catching up to do, what with finals taking over my life right now.

Monday: that whole waking up for class thing? Yeah, I had to do it again on Monday, and it was no fun, especially after staying up way too late writing. But, I just got the writing bug on Sunday night and it could not be stopped! So, I made it through all three of my classes, hit the gym, and then we had an in-house pizza night in which we are all obligated to eat far too much. But, it’s so delicious! After pizza, we socialized for a bit and then I headed upstairs and grey so fully immersed in writing my novel that I had no concept of time passing. It was 4.5 hours later when I finally checked the clock and realized that I had not moved in FAR too long. So, I got up, stretched, and then resumed the position for another fifteen minutes before, waiting for it – I finished my current novel! It was a very fulfilling feeling. I mean, I still have a ton of editing to do, but it gave me a great feeling of satisfaction so type in that final sentence and look at my completed work. All in all? A productive day.

Tuesday: I slept in today, especially after the ridiculous amount of hours I spent writing on Monday. It’s not a physical task, but it actually took it out of me. I hit up my daily 1000 situps before convo, then ate lunch before heading to the gym. This was followed by my typical class and then dinner at Wagamamas, under the realization that we have less than a month here in London for this semester. So weird, and not exactly the happiest of thoughts. And, I’ll be traveling for the next two weekends, then finals, then Turkey, so time is going to FLY by. I spent the evening doing a bit of socializing and finally writing my blog for last week. I kind of put it off for a bit too long. My apologies.

Wednesday: Today I… well, I slept in again. And it was lovely. Actually, both my roomie and I slept in until about 10 am today before going about our chosen modes of exercise. I got in my situps and then headed to the gym and she went on her run. Upon arriving back at the house, I decided to take a nap while she was in class, and then we both left for our museum visit at the Tate Modern, where we looked at some American artists for our US History class, and then the recently 66 million pound Picasso that was just purchased at auction- the buyer decided to generously display it at the Tate for a bit. It just got there about 2 days ago, so we were among some of the first Americans to see it in its new display. Pretty awesome, right, especially considering it’s one of the most expensive (Britain’s saying the mot expensive) paintings purchased. After this, we battled the awful Circle tube line to get to dinner at Byrons, and then headed home for some research and presentation work, since finals and presentations are all coming up in two weeks. Amazing how time flies, isn’t it? Amazing, and somewhat terrifying. But, I’ve got Germany tomorrow, so I can’t worry too much right now. I’ll figure all that rest of that scholarly stuff out when I get back on Sunday. Such a good academic mentality, right?

Thursday: My flight to Germany wasn’t until later in the day, so I was able to get in my exercise, museum visit, packing, and register for classes before actually moving out of the house for Andrew to begin our epic nighttime journey to Heidelberg, Germany. We flew Ryenair, the absolute dregs of cheap flights, and had a bit of time to kill while in the airport waiting for the inevitably late plane. So, we bought a bottle of wine, some starbucks, and hoarded the cold pizza we’d packed into our backpacks. Now, don’t get judgmental- We were going to need it. Although the flight itself was only 50 minutes, the buses that run in Germany out of Frankfurt-Hahn kind of suck. But seriously. They only go every few hours, so although we landed at 10:30 at night, the next bust wasn’t until 11:50. So, we waited at the airport, got kicked out of the café after not ordering anything, and finally hopped onto our bus, which would turn into a 2 hour ride into to the city. Aka, our destination time was around 2 am in the morning. Talk about a ridiculously long day. Now you understand the wine and pizza. We’re classy people, I swear. Well, other than the whole screw-top booze on a bus followed by cold pizza thing.

Anyhow, we arrived at the bus stop, were met by a Heidelberg’er, who then got us a cab and we drove up the mountain to the house, which was absolutely beautiful. We got a quick tour before I was reunited with my lovely roommate Jillian, and then we crashed out. Because honestly… we were exhausted. Who wouldn’t be?

Friday: We woke up early, not because we wanted to, but because Jillian’s roommate was leaving early for her own weekend travels. So, Jillian and I got up (myself rather grudgingly, considering the night before), said goodbye to everyone that was leaving, and then Andrew and I busied ourselves with breakfast and laziness while Jillian was caught up in an RA meeting. Following that, some of our friends form the Lausanne program arrived and then we all took a trip to explore the castle. After this, we returned to the house, hung out with a bunch of the kids that lived there, and finally went down into the city to explore before a delicious dinner at a brewery that consisted to amazing German food. Example? Sausages, potatoes, sauerkraut, the like. Ah, so heavy, but so delicious. And I definitely got made fun of for ordering wine at a brewery. Sorry, I can’t help it if I don’t like beer.

That dinner was followed by an evening out in the city, where the Heidelberg kids toured us around to their favorite bars and clubs. It was an evening full of silliness, dancing, running around, and finally getting back to the house (after hiking up the massive hill) at yet another ungodly hour. Ah, college. It really doesn’t do much for sleep patterns, does it? Oh well. It was Germany. I kind of expected to go hard and keep moving all weekend. I definitely wasn’t let down in that department.

Saturday: We all got up at a decent hour again (seriously… this weekend was severely lacking in sleep), and then decided to hike up Philosopher’s Road after breakfast. I’m not exactly sure why we decided to do this, because the Heidelberg house was on top of a mountain, and the Road led to the top of a mountain on the other side of the town. So, we hiked down into town, and then literally up to the top of a mountain. It was kind of awesome though- amazing view, we saw a little citadel castle thing, and finally made it up to the amphitheater. So, regardless of the hike and exhaustion and severe sleep deprivation, the view, and the sleeping in the sun (the weather was great- did I mention that?), it was totally worth it.

After resting a bit up there, we decided to hike back down and hit up this kebap place. Seriously, Europe loves those places. They’re absolutely horrendous for you, but strangely delicious. And this place took the cake. I’m not exactly sure what I ate, only that it was delicious and addictive and made me a very full, very happy, tourist. We once more hiked back up to the house, rested in a kind of food coma with everyone in the house, and then made dinner reservations for one of the most popular places in the area- Schnitzel house. Well, it has a German name, but that’s what it translates to. A group of six of us went into the city, ran around for a bit again, and then finally made it to the dinner place.

It was amazing. Well, first we all got a little grouchy, because our orders somehow got lost, so, in typical German fashion, we were given free shots (the name of which alludes me, however it sounded something like “killthisbitch” and was therefore called that for the rest of the night. Excuse my language. Us college kids and our humor). Anyhow, it’s amazing how quickly we went from grouchy and hungry to absolutely fine waiting for our food once a free shot was offered. Hilarious how easily we are appeased. Anyhow, once we got our schnitzel (Jillian and I shared one with sautéed mushrooms on top- so good!) and our fries and salads, we happy gorged ourselves and then joined the Heidelberg group for another evening outing of shenanigans.

Seriously… they party hard in Germany. And their house is awesome. I mean, of course I love London, but we’re not half as close as the Germany kids, so it was kind of cool seeing that dynamic. I’ve heard from my program director that the London summer group should be more like that, so fingers crossed. I could do with a group that’s a little closer than our current one. There are far too many groups and cliques, and Germany made me realize that. But, past that point, the evening was fun, full of more bar-hopping and table-dancing at one of the Germany-program’s favorite club/bars (the club literally got super strong tables for that purpose… love it).  I definitely got a massive bruise on my leg from being shoved off the table at one point, but all in all? A fantastic night. And a great final night for my Germany experience. Definitely the BEST trip I’ve taken all year, and I was so happy that I got to share it with some amazing friends and that I got to meet a bunch more friends as well.

Sunday: Once again, early rising. We packed up, grabbed breakfast, and then dropped into town for a little last minute lunch, some shopping for Gummy Bears (cause they were invented in Germany and are absolutely delicious!), and then it was back on the long bus for Andrew and me, and then lots and lots more travel home. I won’t bore you with the details, just that we got home safely and had an absolutely amazing trip.

Other little details of this week? I did a ridiculous amount of writing before this trip and actually finished another one of my novels. It’s a single one, as opposed to a series, so that was kind of fun, actually completing something so… well, completely.  It’s called “Actions & Motives” and I’m going through the editing process right now. We’ll see what happens. Maybe my London internship will help it get a little bit of public viewing. You never know…

Days 52-58: Budapest, You da Best

So, I figured I could make some sort of blog title/joke about being "hungry" in "Hungary", but you know, that's just a bit overused. And, I mean, so is the ridiculous rhyming, but I had to choice one cheesy thing over the other. So, forgive me, and read on if you can handle me.

Monday: Woke up early for my British music class and managed to play a few Sudoku games in order to keep myself awake. I swear, that class had so much potential, but the professor just kind of… fails at the whole teaching thing. It’s really quite the bummer. Even at this point, if he were to figure it all out and become some excellent teacher, he's already lost all of us. Everyone does homework or sudoku in that class. I feel bad, but you can only do so much in a 3 hour class that starts at 8am on a Monday morning. It's his own fault that he chose such heinous hours as well. Just saying. Anyhow, this class was followed by classes all day, some gym time, and finally Chinese food with Diana for dinner. It was delicious and made me quite the happy person, especially considering an intense desire to talk to someone about all the drama that decide to rear its ugly head around this time, not that I'm at all innocent in the matters. But, regardless, it's nice being able to talk to someone about it over good food. I ended the night with some writing and then much-needed sleep.

Tuesday: I slept in a bit more today before heading off to the gym, then convo, a little relaxation and writing time, before my final class of the day and then Bodeans (delicious American BBQ) for dinner! Woohoo! I’d been craving that for a while as well, and it didn’t disappoint. Afterwards, I spent some time planning Budapest activities with Diana, got all my packing done (so weird after not traveling for a month), cleaned up, and prepared for an early bed time, considering my very early morning. I didn't really end up getting much sleep, a mix of loud people, excitement, and it's just never that easy to sleep right before a big trip, especially when you know that you have to get up super early the next morning. Like, 4am early. Ugh.

Wednesday: Travel proved to be fairly easy, with Diana and me catching the tube to King's Cross, we then grabbed a train at the rail station, too that to Luton airport, made it to our plane, got good seats, and then flew to Hungary! We landed, got through the airport with no difficulties, purchased a bus and metro ticket, found our bus (after a little confusion... I mean, no one was speaking English after all). We got off the bus, hit up the metro, and then got our first little bout of drama for the trip. First and only, thankfully, but it was still kind of a buzzkill for the start of our trip. Apparently metro workers search out those people walking around wit backpacks- you know, people like Diana and me. College kids, tourists, people that might be dumb enough not to figure out the metro and try and sneak on without paying for a cheap little ticket. Luckily, the two of us had purchased our tickets and were able to flash them at the guards when they demanded we show them the tickets. No problem, right? Wrong.

Rent-a-Cop #1 called over 2 and 3 and then they all started talking about this nonsense "6000!" "6000!". Excuse me? No. They kept pointing at the tickets and then Diana and I realized they were trying to fine us. Um, no? We pointed at our tickets. The conversation when something like this.

Rent-a-Cop: "6000."
Diana and me: "No. We paid for them."

Rent-a-Cop: "6000!"

Diana and me: "No. Sorry, we're not trying to make a scene. But we paid for these tickets and we used them like we were supposed to."

Rent-a-Cop: Some pointing at a ticket and then- "6000!"

Diana and me: "No. We just bought the tickets." We provide evidence of the receipt. "I guess they didn't get marked correctly. But we just bought them."

Rent-a-Cop: "No. In english. You don't pay. 6000." Some really obnoxious expressions on their part.

Diana and me: "No. We understand the English. We paid for the tickets. Do you understand us?" We pull our our airplane tickets. "See, we just landed. We're not trying to screw over the system."

Rent-a-Cop: Annoying shrugs. "Come." They show us a sign with the same english commentary about the fine. "6000."

Diana and me: "Yes, we get the whole 6000 thing. But we're not paying. We didn't do anything wrong. Can we speak to your superior?"

Rent-a-Cop: Really annoying lack of commentary. Just pointing at the sign talking about the fine. 

Diana and me: "Seriously right now?"

Some nice Hungarian woman her husband came up at this point and offered to help. We explained our situation to them and they tried to argue it out with the cops. They still wouldn't break. The woman left after apologizing for not being able to do anything. Diana and I figured it was pointless to fight back at this point, because they WERE NOT going to listen to us. They just wanted their money and it didn't matter if we were in the right or wrong. So, while insulting them blatantly in English, we paid our 6000 fine (the equivalent of about $35, but we had only taken out $100, so it was a good chunk), I refused to sign my name on their sheet and just marked an X, and then we returned their annoyingly haughty looks with disgusted ones of our own and left the metro after demanding out tickets back. If they hadn't worked then we were sure as hell using them again instead of paying for more. Luckily, the metro workers obliged. I'd reached the point where I would not have been polite any longer. 

After that ordeal, we finally found our hotel, checked in and paid, dropped out stuff of, and decided to get in some exploring of the city instead of being lazy. I mean, a nap would be lovely and all, but sleeping at that point would have just resulted in us passing out and getting all out of whack. So, we found a place where we were able to grab quick sandwiches for cheap, used the map our very helpful hotel guy had given us, and proceeded to just wander around the city. We found a bridge, crossed it, and then found ourselves on the "Buda" side of the cite. It's split by the Danube river- our hotel was on the flat, city "Pesh" side, so we figured it might be fun to check out the other half. Immediately, we were drawn in by this epic hill with statues and whatnot lining it, and found that it led up to the Citadel. So, why not? We decided to hike up the mountain (very Lord of the Rings-ish), and made it to the top, where we got an absolutely AMAZING view of the whole city. Seriously... it was awesome.

We wandered around there for a bit before taking some silly pictures with the statues, and then hiked back down a different way. Upon leaving that area, we crossed the freeway again (everyone stops for you there, as opposed to trying to run you over in London), and came upon a street that led towards the Buda Castle. Like I said, we were kind of just exploring, but managed to chance upon everything we wanted to see. So, we walked up to the castle, or at least one side of it (it's immense and very long, hosting like 3 or 4 hotels and a bunch of museums and stuff), took some pictures, and then it was getting dark. So, we headed back to our side, looked around the city for a bit before we found a pharmacy and a convenience store, bought the necessary champagne and OJ and some dinner, and headed back to our hotel for a lazy night. We were exhausted at this point, but very proud of ourselves for going out and having a full day. Our night was pretty early, but not before we enjoyed some girly time with the mimosas. Love it.

Thursday: Luckily, the rest of our trip was free of obnoxious, money-stealing Rent-a-Cops (you can tell how much I love those people at this point). Thursday we decided to sleep in a bit, just because we could.  It was amazing catching up on some sleep, and after we got going, we decided that we were going to hit the baths, considering Hungary is nick-named the "city of baths." It kind of means we have to check out one of the thermal spa areas. So, with our chosen spa in mind (the most popular one, but also the one recommended by our hotel owner), we headed out into the city, this time staying on our side. We were immediately side-tracked as we chanced upon further sites that we had listed as places to visit. The first was the Basilica. And oh my goodness.. it was absolutely beautiful!  

We headed in (gotta love free stuff), walked around the place, and just admired the beauty and splendor in silence. Once leaving that, we continued our journey across the city, voting to opt out of the metro use and instead walk everywhere. It was probably the best choice we made, because we saw SO much of the city that we never would have discovered had we been lazy and used public transportation. Besides, both of us probably would have punched-a-cop had we used the metro again so soon. Okay, so that's a bit over the top, but seriously, we were nursing some unresolved bitterness towards authority at that point. Anyhow, on our walk, we ended up going right by the Opera house (another photo time), then kept walking down a pretty fun street. We finally came upon the end of this VERY long road, found some museums flanking a giant roundabout (the architecture was pretty awesome). Then, on our way to the baths, we came upon another castle-like structure that looked to be a museum.

We wandered in, took some pictures, and then finally made it to the baths, where we bought our tickets for fairly cheap, and then proceeded to get lost in the myriad of halls and corridors and such. Finally, we reached our changing rooms, got our lockers, and then meandered through more twisting halls until we came upon the indoor baths. It almost felt as though we were interrupting some of the locals, so we moved towards the side rooms and checked out all of those. However, we had a mission! We wanted the outdoor thermal baths, because that was what was so well-advertised! After further confusion and getting lost, we finally found them, ran through the cold air and hopped into the deliciously warm water. It was so much fun. Kind of weird, because at normal pools they're filled with kids and the parents are all chilling on the side, but there were few kids, and it was mainly all adults and young adults, like some huge communal bathing time. But, once you got over that weird sensation, it was relaxing and warm and so much fun. Diana and I met some other college kids touring around, and finally ended our stay when we were overly "pruney".

We decided to walk back home, and it was so much fun seeing the city at night. We were there at an off-peak time, so it wasn't too crazy, but we battled the cold (it snowed over night!) and made it back to the city, where we explored a bit more, then decided to make another girly night of it. So, more champagne, more OJ, and back to the hotel after grabbing dinner at this Asian place. Hungarian food- kind of hard to find for a quick bite. And we were so sure that the asian place was Hungarian. We totally missed the red signs with asian symbols on them. Oh well. It was good. After dinner, we got back to our hotel, and proceeded to stay up a bit later and just enjoy a relaxing evening of chatting, laughing, stories, and the bubbly. I love vacation. 

Friday: We got to sleep in once again on Friday, and, once again, it was just a fantastic experience. Once ready, we headed out into the city and walked down one of the more touristy streets, passing by a bunch of restaurants that we kept in mind for later when we wanted to try actual Hungarian food. We chanced upon the huge marketplace, and so entered and explored. It was very cool- not as awesome as the Barcelona one, but still very neat. I got my customary shot glass, we found some Hungarian snack food, and then exited to continue our day. We decided to cross a bridge (our eventual destination was parliament, but we saw some cool ruins on the other side and neither of us had much of a plan- we improvised). After crossing the bridge, we walked up a hill, bought some hot wine, and then came upon a church built into the side of the mountain. 

We paid a small amount, explored around, exited, and then headed further up the hill. The was the other side of the mountain that boasted the Citadel, so it was a whole new view, just as awesome, and the likes. We climbed up a decent amount, got a fantastic panoramic view of the city, then headed back down and continued our journey, following the Danube river. We crossed the freeway again at the same place as the day before, but walked along the river this time, following the length of the castle. We made it to Chain Bridge, and found a little tram that could take us up to the main bart of Buda Castle. We bought some tickets, then kept walking down the river to get some pictures of parliament (which is AWESOME looking), then returned, took the tram up, and explored the top of Buda Castle. Lots of museums, little carts, cool statues, more amazing views, etc.  

After this, once again we happened upon a cool church, took more pictures (so many pictures!), and then found the Labyrinth. It was kind of silly, because they basically remade it all since it had been destroyed years earlier, but it was a fun tourist trap. We did the nighttime exploration. It was all about finding yourself or something, but it was cheap and had oil lanterns and they turned all the lights off, so it was totally worth it as we ran around, giggling, taking pictures, getting lost, making everyone else around us either glare or crack up. What can I say? We regressed a bit and it was totally fun. After escaping the labyrinth, we found a nice restaurant and got dinner. I got some veal stew dish, Diana got goulash, and it was also warm and delicious, especially considering how COLD it was outside. And we were on top of a mountain. And we still had to hike back down, across the river, and back to our hotel.  After dinner, we stuck some bread in my purse, and then journeyed back to our side. Again, the city at night- beautiful. 

We wandered around a bit, checked out some bars, but the nightlife was sorely lacking. Which, honestly, was fine by us. London offers so much night life that it was kind of nice just relaxing. So, we found an even cheaper convenience store, got some more champagne and OJ for our final celebratory night, and headed back to the hotel for our final hurrah. And honestly? It was awesome. The bread came in handy around midnight and then we crashed out, having had a great last full day in Budapest. 

Saturday: We checked out of our hotel at 11 and hit up the market again to kill time before we had to get to the airport. We'd basically seen everything we wanted to see, so we got lunch at the market- I got some beef goulash, Diana got a stew with potatoes that looks absolutely delicious as well. After the market we explored more of the city that we hadn't yet walked around, came upon the Jewish district and checked out the synagogue, and then retired to a coffee shop for an hour of reading. After such, we made our way back to the dreaded metro (they had different people working that day), took that to the bus stop, grabbed the bus and took that to the airport, got through security without any problems, relaxed there until our flight, dealt with the surrounding babies that cried the entire flight, and then found some sandwiches for dinner as we trained back into London. All in all? an amazing trip. And so necessary. 

Sunday: I slept in. And it was glorious. When I finally dragged myself out of bed, I decided to hit the gym, got some work done, and then wrote. And wrote. I wrote a lot on Sunday- I was very proud of myself. Jessica got back a little later and we talked about our trips before I further immersed myself in writing, and finally crashed out in preparation for the school week ahead!