It’s been quite awhile since I posted. Laziness and business both contributed to my dearth of content. On the other hand, there’s still a lot of stuff I want to get off my chest at times, so here’s one of them.

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So how intercountry (intra?) trains work in Europe is that you can reserve a seat, and you have the right to eject the person who’s sitting on your seat by the time you get on. At Prague, I got on the train and went to my compartment. Turns out some lady was sitting in my seat (you probably know where this is going…). I didn’t want to be a dick and so I sat in a non-reserved seat of the compartment.

As the train went on, she started to pull out random books, read a while, then proceeded to write in a Moleskin notebook. Around an hour plus before I reached Budapest, I asked whether she was a writer. This led to us conversing for the rest of the way about stuff from politics, math, League of Legends, education, sociology, Kant, feminism and so much more. Turns out she’s a German, senior in college, going to Budapest for 2 weeks to volunteer at a conference….

But guess what. The one thing I didn’t ask for was her name nor email.

I wasn’t even interested in romance, I just felt a potential great friend is gone. A lot of the people I meet while travelling are quite interesting, and I would love to be friends with all of them. But the thing is, neither Christine from Philly or Bridget from Portland elicited a better conversation than this mystery woman.

Well, if you’re reading this and know a German brunette who goes to uni in Luneburg majoring in cultural studies, and is doing work in Budapest, email me.

Flight

I left Tallahassee at 11am on Friday.

I got to Budapest at 12am on Sunday.

Somehow, I managed to spend $60 in London within a span of 4 hours.

Virgin Mobile worked well enough for me to Skype Alex in Miami.

Okay, so here’s what happened. My flight in Miami had a 8 hours layover, and a overnighter to Heathrow followed. As soon as that happened, I wanted to spend some of the 10 hours layover in London. When I finally landed in Budapest, it was 11:30PM local time. I didn’t get to my apartment till 2AM on Sunday. Still, nothing terrible happened and quite successful.

First Impressions

Budapest comes from a distinctively communist root. The street which my apartment is on just seems so… bland and dangerous at the same time. If one was to plop it down in Soviet Russia 40 years ago, it’ll fit right in.

The insides is great though, with a fantastic, guitar-playing landlord. Did I mention that everything is so cheap here? The prices are just ridiculously in favor of United States citizens.

Water and restrooms are not as popular as in the States. Water fountains are a foreign concept and bottled water is the way to go. Furthermore, public restrooms are almost invisible or guarded by an attendedant who expects a tip.

Classes

They’re going fine. I’m just really rusty with pure math though…

Let me tell you a story of a woman in Washington DC.

This woman is a well-respected citizen within the community, volunteering at many PTO events during the weekdays. She probably also has a few kids and grandkids, but I never did ask. On weekends, she goes and plays tennis to keep up her ever-aging body in shape.

On this particular day, her husband surprised her with tickets to the last day of the Citi Open! Excited as she was, the thought of spending some 4 hours in the sun bothered her so she brought her favorite wide-rimmed hat; a wise idea by all standards.

What she should’ve bought was a helmet though. Because this lady got nailed in the face by a ball thrown by a spectator which bounced in all the correct manners into her face.

The audience got a good laugh.

 

I went to the Screen on the Green with Sean Monday, and it turned out to be a great time. An old 1961 romantic-comedy called Lover Come Back was being screened.

It was a refreshing relief from the modern flamboyant films with either intricate plots that dances around drama or seemingly mindless violence accented by a few touching moments. Hell, even the language was naively fresh; the lack of any swear words seemed so different now.

Albeit very generic, the film contained some genuinely funny moments. Either that, or the rambunctious group sitting by us altered my perception of the jokes which didn’t rely on sheer stupidity to work. Dare I say that it’s even a relatively “smart” comedy?

The plot in the end was anything but smart though. As one should suspect, the story has a happy ending. This wouldn’t be a movie I would show anyone in my house, but for an outdoor screening with a crowd.

Quick note: check the weather and bring a jacket, and bottle to drink from! Open container laws suck.