Day 2...I know it's unoriginal but that's all I got for now...

Ok! So I am now here in Hungary!!  It's really strange because in some ways I can't tell I'm on another continent but in other ways I really can, it kind of throws me off because it's not what I expected.  It's kind of like a more run down North America with a lot of old architecture and monuments and fountains.  But I'm going to start from the beginning and work my way to now.  So the flight went pretty good! The food was much better than I was expecting, better than some dining hall food.  And we each had a our own screen so we could choose what to watch etc.  I saw "Alice and Wonderland" which was ok and I started watching "The Young Victoria" which was really good.  It was kind of hard to sleep, I got only 1 hr and 20 min but I survived.  The worst part was coming down...apparently my ears really don't like dropping in altitude.  They hurt the whole way down and were muffled for hours after wards. Is there anything that I can do other than chew gum, swallow, and yawn? But we landed safely in Frankfurt and Leesha and I tried to sleep for a little at the gate while waiting for the rest of the group.  I slept for most of the flight into Budapest and my ears didn't hurt at all:) We met Michael Page (our professor) at the airport and went straight to our dorms.  Most of us girls are in an apartment type place in the back of the hall.  We have three bedrooms, a bigger room with beds and a couch, two bathrooms with just a toilet, one with two showers, a kitchen, and a dinning room.  It's pretty nice, a little run down, but it works well.  The windows don't have screens so we have to watch out for bugs and the beds aren't going to do a whole lot for my back but it's nice to have our own space and not worry about strangers going through our stuff, we can lock the door to our area.  There's 11 of us in the apt. and the other two girls are in their own room at the front of the hall. They have a lot more space but they have to share the bathroom and kitchen with everyone else living in the hall.
 Once we got a little settled in we spent the rest of the night walking around the city on the Buda side.  We have two Hungarian's, Vera and Isfahan, who have been showing us around and answering all our questions.  We saw a lot of beautiful things, the Danube (big river through Budapest), a festival, and lovely building, but we all a little to tired to really take it all in.  For diner we went to this really awesome pancake place.  They sell creps with all different kinds of stuff in them.  I had two with fruit and one with Hungarian pork stew, all very good! I will definitely be going there again!
Today we were much more awake.  I started by walking to the grocery store two blocks from our dorm and getting a few things I needed.  SarahJean and I had a bit of an adventure making sure we were buying cream cheese and not sour cream or cottage cheese (we got it right:) and the security guard followed us around the whole time we were shopping.  There are a lot more security guards around here than in NA, there were two at the McDonalds we stopped at today to go to the bathroom. And you either had to be a customer to use the bathroom or you had to pay.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  We did a lot of walking around in the afternoon. We walked up to the top of a Geller hill, a long and steep walk, and at the top was the Freedom monument, with a great view of the city and a bunch of little shops.  From there we walked through the main shopping area and took the metro to Hero Corner, an area with statues of the seven men that founded Hungary and started the seven tribes (not that I know what those are). Then we went to a fast food Transylvanian place while we were heading back.
Once we got back all us girls had a meeting and started organizing living conditions and all the stuff that's been left here from previous groups (there's a lot). And now we are all doing what we want, some are out shopping, other are out doing who knows what and some of us are just hanging out, setting stuff up and relaxing.  It's pretty good so far but I'm not as excited as I thought I would be, it's very strange.  I think my personality that has become one that is very focused on the present and adapts to change so easily that it weirds me out, or maybe not, I don't really know.  I have a really great group that I'm with, it's a good size and we know how to have a good time. I'm looking forward to starting classes and getting into a routine.  Oh! And we don't have an oven! The boys do so it's not so bad and we're getting a toaster oven, but  really would have liked to have an oven. I am looking forward to cooking all the time.  It will be weird cooking for only one person most of the time but I'll get used to it.  The biggest market in the city is just one tram  ride away and I can't wait to go there and get everything I need! I already bought some kiwi's and grapefruit from the grocery store. The one kiwi was over ripe so I'm hoping the others are better. Anyways, I think that's all I got for now, if you don't have a blog and can't comment and you want to just write it on my wall, hopefully I will know what you're talking about:) So yea, that's what's going on for now and I will write again eventually!

Kendra