 Inside the Hungarian Parliament building We just finished up our last week in Budapest, I truly can’t believe our time here has come to an end. It’s been amazing, but I guess we’re onto the next adventure! Here’s an update on the last week:
I ended my last post on Friday morning after having been to get my ticket, but I’ll start at the beginning of the day. I woke up early (yes that’s right people, I woke up before 8am by choice. Don’t let it get to your head, it probably won’t happen again) to go to the Hungarian parliament building to get a ticket for a tour. The English tours sell out very quickly so if you’re getting one on the day you have to make sure you go early to secure that there will be a spot available. I got my ticket for the 1:45pm tour and went back to the apartment, where I ended the last blog post and promptly fell asleep.
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Just about another week gone, and I can’t believe we only have one more week left in Budapest! Time is moving so quickly, it’s crazy. Not too much to talk about this week, but I’ll try my best.
Okay, so, I’ve discovered I’m just as inflexible with yoga now as I was when I was taking the class at Macalester. But it’s been awesome getting back into it and I’m enjoying it a lot; I’ve been three times with Judit so far. I am so thankful that she keeps inviting me to go with her! Also, our yoga instructor is really cool; he speaks perfect English because he studied in both New York and London. Also, he used to be a singer when he was younger and was the singer of the hit pop song entitled Egyedül, which means “alone” (according to google translate). The song was released in 2000 (I think, I’m having to translate wikipedia and I’m not 100% positive) and I’ve included a link to the youtube video here. Obviously it’s in Hungarian, but the main male singer in the video is my yoga instructor, which I think is pretty neat! Anyway, he’s awesome and I’m going to miss doing yoga with him and Judit when I’m gone. After yoga in the morning, I went to kayak practice with Sam on Friday night and went running around the club. I was going to do the sprints that I talked about in the last post, but it was pretty cold and very, very wet because it had rained all day/was still raining and I didn’t want to tear up the field I was going to fun on. Because obviously I can run hard enough and fast enough and long enough to tear up a whole field. Don’t worry, I still went running and did a body weight workout, so it wasn’t all for naught. Then we waited around to help get all the kayaks attached to the trailer, since the club was going to compete at a kayak regatta the next day. Here’s my past week in Budapest! Photos are at the bottom of the post, and in the Photo Gallery page!
On Friday, Sam and I went over to the Urban’s house for a barbeque. They are the family that have graciously loaned us their apartment on the Pest side of Budapest and they are amazing people. After dinner, I was told to go sit down outside. When I asked why, I was told “it is not a cake”. Then there were bowls and spoons brought to the table “for the not cake” (these are direct quotes; you’re real funny, Marci). Are you suspicious? Because I was. I mean, who could really think otherwise! Of course, it was a cake, although it was an ice cream cake so perhaps the aforementioned quotes weren’t total lies. The cake said “Happy Birthday Anya!” on it and they had also bought me a few things to take home with me to remember Budapest. I cannot even begin to describe to you how lucky I felt. I wasn’t expecting it at all, especially given that it had been a whole week since my birthday. I am so very humbled by their generosity and thoughtfulness when I am someone that they hadn’t known until a few weeks ago. It makes my time here feel that much more special; I know I’m building relationships with people who truly care and that I am so thankful for that. Also, we basically ate the whole cake. Our excuse is that it was melting. Which it was, by the way. So we’ve been back in Budapest from Gyor for a week. It’s been nice to have a week to relax and start to get into a rhythm. Sammie has kayaking practice every day, so we’re starting to figure out how to fit in some of the sightseeing of Budapest. We’ve done a little this week, but we’re going to start hitting up a lot more this weekend.
I am really enjoying Budapest! It’s an awesome city and it’s very easy to get around. The people are all very friendly too, but it can be a little hard sometimes as quite a few people don’t speak english. And currently my Hungarian vocabulary consists of “yes” (igen), “no” (nem) and “thank you” (köszönöm), which is helpful in maybe two contexts, and absolutely unhelpful in all others, considering I have no idea when someone asks me a question. Ah, well, guess it’s all in the adventure! Part One: Update
After a weekend in Budapest, Sam and I are now in Gyor, which is in the northern part of Hungary near Slovakia. We’re here because this is where Canoe/Kayak Marathon World Championships are being held and Sammie is competing as one of the five members of team USA. I am here as a “coach” (I put it in quotes because even though I have an official pass, let’s be real…) but actually I do feel semi useful. I don’t know a lot about kayaking, but I do know a thing or two about physics and since physics is in almost anything, I feel like I’m being more of a help than a hinderance. We had to talk about turn tactics given how narrow the Danube is here and how strong the current will pull on the boat. Plus, I’ve been supplied with buzzwords, so I think I can fake it til I make it. We’ve been in Gyor since Monday night, which is great because Sammie has been able to train on the race course since then, and her race was today! But I’ll get to that part later. It’s been fun exploring another Hungarian city and I’ve loved running along the Danube here. Luckily we’ve had a great interpreter too, another member of the team (Balazs, you’re the bomb), who we came with from Budapest. The rest of the team got here on Tuesday night, so on Wednesday our little crew was complete. I think everyone is having a laugh that I’m a coach, but it’s all good, because so am I! It’s been a ton of fun so far. |
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I’m Anya Phillips, a data analyst and travel enthusiast who is always on the lookout for the next adventure! Categories
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