Italy!

So last Thursday I was preparing to go to ITALY! Of course I was thrilled because Italy I’ve heard is simply amazing, and I love Italian food (or the American version of it haha). So I was supposed to be at the Westend City Center (Largest mall in Hungary- located in Budapest) at 11:30 and after a lot of discussion it was decided I would go to Budapest via bus and my second host mom would pick me up and take me to the mall (my second family lives in Budapest). So I boarded the bus with a duffle bag, purse, and backpack full of food. I arrived and my host mom drove me to the mall. I was supposed to meet one of my friends, Terry, but I found another and it all worked out because we eventually met up with a bunch of exchange students in the McDonalds. When Terry arrived at McDonalds we left to exchange Forints to Euros and that was all good. We had to get money out of the ATM and we also had to find the exchange store. After we found the place (we had to ask several people where the exchange store was) it turned out the ATM was right there and then we changed money with a very sassy exchange worker. Hahaha. Then we went to get Starbucks. The workers didn’t like us much because Terry kept changing her order. We took some pictures and then we went back to McDonalds. My best friend, who I’m going to the Rihanna concert with, Annika, was there so we went to exchange her money and then we left the mall and started to board the bus. Annika and I sat in the back and we began what would turn out to be 19 hours on and off in a bus.

Annika and I it seemed like discussed everything under the sun. From people at my school at home, to our daily lives here, to shows we like to watch. I was telling her about how many shows I watch online and we got on the topic of Modern Family. I happened to notice this Mexican kid, Juan Carlos (Now called Halloween), was listening but he seemed hesitant to join in. Finally he did and the three of us discussed various episodes and had long conversations. Then I started talking about Criminal Minds and I got Annika very interested. She told me she can’t watch it alone so I have to visit her in Budapest so we can watch it. Our conversation eventually turned to Halloween’s life in Mexico. He mentioned he has a ski home in Colorado and a vacation home in Cancun. So we were asking what is parents do. Lots of Cartel jokes followed. I asked him about Cartels and his opinion and he said they aren’t close to him so he isn’t really affected. We discussed scary movies and he said something about Halloween and the way he pronounced it was very “throaty” (that’s the best way I can describe it). So he was dubbed Halloween. Eventually we arrived at Lake Balaton area. We walked up and saw over the lake. Then we got back on the bus and an hour later it seemed stopped at a gas station. (We had been promised we would see a castle- the only castle I saw was the castle across the road on a mountain across from said gas station- hahaha). Then we drove to a nice building to eat dinner. It was one girl’s birthday, so we sang her happy birthday. Then as she is cutting the cake the President calls the only other girl from Michigan and announces she is going home. Then he tells her to talk. I’m not going to lie- Annika and I shed a tear at this. It was just so out of the blue and unexpected. We had no idea she was so unhappy. Then of course the girl can’t talk and is getting emotional. She sat down and we went over to her and asked her a bunch of questions and she just said she missed home and didn’t click with this culture and simply was miserable and had been since she had arrived.  This was sad. I felt like when I get sad I always think about the other exchange students and if they can do it I can, and that is part of what keeps me going. It felt like a loss because she couldn’t do it. But I completely understand and I won’t judge her because it is what is good for her.

Anyways after hours on the bus at 3am we crossed into Italy. Of course I checked to see if there were any attractive Italians and guess what? There were. The police officer at the border was really good looking. While we are watching him I casually said “Welcome to Italy, Ladies. Welcome to Italy.” It was a nice entrance.  At around 9am we arrived in Venice. We got off the bus and then took the fairy to the part of Venice we were going to. On the fairy we took lots of pictures. My camera battery died but luckily my friend Nicole gave me some replacement batteries. We got to Venice and then started exploring.  The first thing I noticed besides the venders were the pigeons. They are not afraid of anything and they won’t fly away unless you are literally about to step on them. Also, all the Venders sell the same things for the same prices. I went with Nicole, Annika, Maggie, Maddy, and Jill. From California, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida.  We started exploring the alleys and sometime during this we lost Maggie and Maddy. So the rest of us went to find a place to eat lunch after some exploring. We asked a bunch of people including a Gondola driver which pizza place was best.  (We didn’t go on a Gondola- they cost about 100 Euros for 5 people. 100 Euros= $173!). We got lots of different answers so we just chose one. It was a cute little place hidden away in some alley. We each got a 3 cheese pizza and then we got tiramisu. As expected, authentic Italian is amazing. On the restaurant loud speakers were Eminem, Justin Bieber, Bon Jovi and other popular singers. After we left and explored then went back to the town center to check in and saw some nice looking boys. For the record, I didn’t think they were super cute but Annika  was into them. She claims she was taking a picture of a building but literally pointed her camera lens right at them. They noticed and of course got all smiley. Then Annika started to defend herself that she wasn’t taking a picture of them. So Nicole and I ask a joke took out our cameras pointed them right at the boys and took pictures and the boys were smiling this whole time. After an awkward 5 minutes of pacing Nicole paid me 2 Euros to go talk to them. I casually asked them to have Gelato. They were from Denmark and they said they had to get a fairy. Too bad. Then we walked away and they got on their fairy. We went back to exploring. In the morning I had bought batteries and postcards. After the check in I bought a Venice hat and was able to bargain the price down from a very pushy salesman. We went to a deeper section and we bought sweatshirts. They are very soft J. Before dinner we bought Gelato. Mine was half Nutella flavored half mint chocolate chip. Delicious! For Dinner and we had some nice spaghetti.  On our way back we got pastries. We also saw various guys on every corner trying to sell these rubber toys. Basically they look like small balloon shaped animals and when you throw them on the ground they turn to goo and then they slowly become their shape again. After the first guy the second who was selling them looked at us and said “Yes?!” I causally said “No…” By the fifth guy trying to sell them Nicole said something like “Still not cool…” Hahaha. We went back to the town center after awhile because we had to leave at 6:30. We sat around with some other exchange students and talked while watching the people in town. There was a really  cute little boy in a kangaroo outfit and there were guys walking around giving out roses and then after you took one they demanded money. Nicole was the only one that bought one and I think Maggie was given one and he forgot to ask her to pay. We saw a man like him being chased by police later. We had randomly seen a girl in heels and a dress earlier getting photographers to take her picture and we saw another girl in what looked like a wedding dress doing the same thing. There was a crowd but when the photo shoot ended she walked by our table. Halloween gave her Maggie’s rose and got his picture taken with her. She was very pretty and looked no older than 17.  Eventually we saw her again and she was still carrying around Halloween’s rose. (I think he was happy to see that.)  We took lots of pictures and went back to the fairy and then got back on the bus. It was sad to leave such a beautiful place. We drove throughout the night. This night was different from the previous because I stayed up super late the first night but the second I slept the whole way. We had been told we would get to Budapest at around 9am. We got in at 5am. None of us had planned this so we went to a super classy Mcdonalds, got some wifi and I was able to call my host mom to come pick me up. (By the way- every Mcdonalds in this country seems to have wifi- I will miss that.) I got home around 9ish and was very tired. I loved Italy but if I was going back I would go to a different city then Venice simply because I’ve already been there.

Sorry this was sooooooo long. 

For your information

So, I know this is overdue- but blogging tends to be a hassle. I just have to remind myself I will want to remember everything that happens and therefore need to keep this going.

First I’ll start with saying that even though I have bad days sometimes and miss home a lot I still am SO SO SO glad to be here. I can’t even imagine being in Midland this year. I’ve met amazing people and I will just say if you are on the fence about doing exchange do it! I think it will be very hard to go home simply because I will realize what I’m missing. I find myself just wanting to mix two lives. I want to bring my family and friends here and want the USA to be in the middle of Europe. On the other hand I think about how much I’ve come to appreciate home. I feel like no matter how far or where I go home will always be home and nothing will ever take its place. I don’t think I realized how much different cultures are. Once you change cultures you realize how adapted you are to your culture. So I will list some subtle differences in our two Cultures.

·         I don’t know if I mentioned this in an earlier blog but the girls tend to not wear shorts. They wear skirts or jeans- sometimes they wear shorts but it isn’t as common (in my experience).

·         Censorship is almost nonexistent here.  They don’t bleep out swear words on the radio whatsoever- that could be because they don’t think people will understand. Also, on magazine/newspaper advertisements you will see topless women- I’m talking full frontal.

·         The door hinges are on the other side (in some cases). When I first tried to shut Barbi’s bedroom door I didn’t think it had one because there was a door but it looked like it was coming from another room. The door hinges were on the right part of the door frame and the handle on the left.

·         Hungarian bread is fantastic. American bread- I may not ever eat it again.

·         Hungarian prices are cheaper in almost every aspect. For example a 1.5L of water will cost me about 53 cents. New shoes are about $12-15. A new coat is about $30. A sub that is longer than a foot will cost me about $1.25 at the school store. Take that subway!

·         Village life is much more common. When I say village I mean village. It takes at least a 10 minute ride to get into town and all you see are homes and fields.

·         Pets are less common- somewhat common but not like in the USA. In the village usually pets live outside if the family does have them, in the flats people tend to have small animals; cats or small dogs.

·         Teenagers stay home a lot more, or that is my impression. At home most students go to the football games every Friday and then see each other on Saturday or Sunday. Usually we see our friends at least once a weekend. But Hungarians usually don’t see each other as much. They go out occasionally but it is much different than at home. (Maybe it is just where I live, but that seems to be the case).

Okay this blog is long enough. I will be posting a follow up blog about my trip to Italy shortly. 

End of September

I don’t really have much to report this time. I think I’ve finally started to sink into my routine. I go to school and depending on the day go to tutoring, to workout, or home. Then I just chill. My dear friend Pauline told me about this website called sidreel where you can watch new episodes of all tv shows- its been a godsend because I haven’t been able to watch criminal minds or the office. Without criminal minds there is no Shemar. (Shemar is my favorite actor, and he is beautiful, and I love him).

http://www.danielatamayo.com/img/shemar-moore-1.jpg

I was going through Shemar withdrawal- but luckily I can now watch all my shows J I have been planning a bit and thinking about the future. (I’ve got ample time on my hands). Usually I find new songs, or just browse the endless set of files that are Wikipedia. I also started looking at colleges. Not really looking, more browsing. I know I want to go to college in a big city. So I’ve been doing lots and lots of Googling.

I’ve actually decided my favorite class in school is German because I have my friends, we don’t do anything (or at least in my opinion) and I usually just past notes with the kid next to me. The worst are the classes that the teachers don’t write anything down in (history, biology, geography, literature, grammar) and the rest are okay. Usually in class I draw stars, come up with vocab I want to learn, or doodle aimlessly. When I have to do schoolwork next year it will be a rough adjustment.

Lastly, I will be going to Italy in two weeks J J.The rotary is just going to Venice for the weekend- but I’m so excited!!! Also, I’m going to a Rihanna concert in December with my second host family sisters, and brother-in-law and my friend Annika, who is an exchange student from Colorado. As you can see my life as mellowed out. I’m definitely in the adjustment stage!  Finally a quote my friend Emma posted on Facebook- 

"You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself." -Alan Alda