Miscellaneous Fun

This post is for stuff that has happened recently and hasn't been enough at once to have its own post :)

This was a scavenger hunt that had nothing to do with my mom. When I was showing Bryce (one of my best friends) my Hungarian house on google maps we started wandering around my neighborhood, virtually of course, and found this amazingly gargantuan house. A few weeks ago Bryce reminded me and the next day I went and found it. It was just as crazy huge in person and half of it was really beautiful. It must be two different houses because one half has a lovely flower garden with lots of colors and the other was bare and boring. I had fun looking for it on this gorgeous day. Thank you Bryce :)

This was my first burger in Hungary :) It was like a giant salad on a fluffy bun with a very very thin patty and a lot of delicious sauce. It was good but different. 

The moon the other night (maybe Friday) was by far the brightest moon I have ever seen. It actually had rays like the sun that shone down and provided totally visible illumination adequate for walking safely down my crazy creepy street. You can only take so good a picture of the moon with an iPod touch 4 so I am sorry I couldn't quite capture it's magnificence. I hope you saw it too and that it was as beautiful where you are.

Our wonderful mentors in Szeged had a music workshop on Thursday where everyone could choose to make a plastic plate shaker/drum, a toilet paper tube kazoo, or a beer cap tambourine. My tambourine is pretty great :) not to mention I made it have a Hungarian flag (red, white, green). It was great fun. Every time we have a group activity with the mentors and all the kids it reminds me of Pal Camp which is a wonderful thing :)

Today (October 23rd) is a Hungarian national holiday commemorating the revolution of 1956. I had the opportunity to play with the orchestra group I am in at the university at the city event today and it was really great. Most of the other band members felt about it the way my piers and I feel about the Vet's day performance at hom: repetitive and boring, but I was so happy to be able to be involved 

When I got home from my performance my sisters and I made palacsinta as part of lunch. The picture below was my first attempt at making palacsinta; it was holy and too thick but I learned fast.

This is the stack we ended up with :) They were nagyon finom!

Szeged Scavenger Hunt Movement II

Photo #2

And mom told me it was a large learning institution.

Collectively I looked for this building for over 6 hours over a week and a half. I found a lot of places that were not the Szeged Egyetem Könyvtár (Szeged University Library); these are some of the more interesting finds along the way

University Biological Institute:

Pretty building on the wrong side of town

Random big glass building in the middle of town:

Pretty building being painted in the middle of town

Cool statue on the bank of the Tisza:

The most amazing smelling roses!!! I wish I could have recorded the smell it was so amazing!

One day I was riding the wrong bus home and I saw a big glassy schooly looking building so I got off the bus at the next stop and walked back to check it out. I ran into a girl who plays flute in the orchestra I am in on the street. She worriedly asked if I was lost and I told her "not exactly." I told her about the scavenger hunt thing and that I was looking for a big glassy school building and she pointed me toward the biological institute of the university, which was very cool but not quite right.

The next day I wandered some more and ended up using these public maps we have and just trying to spot big glassy looking buildings. I noticed two:

This map literally ended one block from where the library really was:

Map that led me to Random big glass building in the middle of town:

About three days later, after searching aimlessly every day I asked my mom for more information and she told me it was a library. That did nothing for me at first with no way to get information and too many libraries in Szeged to simply ask "Hol van a könyvtár?" because I could have been pointed toward any of them.

Then at the next band rehearsal my friend asked if I had found it and I told her I hadn't but that I knew it was a library. She told me that it must be the university library and gave me directions. "Do you know the University Music Building?"

"No"

"What about the TESCO?" 

"Which TESCO?" 

"Not the express the big TESCO." 

"Okay I got it."

"Okay so you go past the TESCO and the Music Building and you go and you go and you go and you go and when you get to the bus station you turn right." 

"Alright thanks :)."

I really did try to use these directions but I could not find a TESCO in town that wasn't express or the music building. Then at the very end of the day on Tuesday I found the music building. It turns out the TESCO is an express but oh well. I was very tired and decided I would try on Wednesday instead. Turns out there are a lot of directions to go and go and go and go that involve those two buildings because they are on an intersection with a roundabout and at least six streets leading into it. I went in what I thought was the most likely direction and turned every time I saw a street with students walking out of it because I didn't see a bus station.

After two days of that I resorted to google maps. Google maps told me that I had been on the right street all along but that there is no bus station, just bus stops, and that you have to turn one more time to actually find the library.

On Monday before Hungarian lessons I followed my directions and finally found the very nice University Library.

SUCCESS!!! 

A Legjobb Csütörtök

I had the best Thursday ever (the title means "The Best Thursday") on October 10th.

When I was leaving for school in the morning my apa said he would drive me to the bus stop because he was going to work at the same time, but when we got to the bus stop the bus was not yet there; he said "no bus" and kept driving. He did this at every bus stop until the bridge where he decided to drop me off because I could catch any tram bus or trolley from there and it would take me into town. I know that was a very normal dad thing to do but it meant a lot to me and it was really amazing to have some time with him. Great start to my day :) I really like him; he is a lot like my dad in his dad-dom, not necessarily in the rest of his life but definitely as a dad.

Then after a pretty chill school day I was walking to the bus stop when I remembered that I was supposed to have coffee with my wonderful mentor. I remembered just in time to meet with her on time. We had some tasty cappuccinos and a fantastic conversation that lasted for almost two hours :)

I walked to a bus stop a little further away than the one I usually wait at because I had time and the weather was decent. The fog over the water was really cool. I had never seen it like that before and it was almost reminiscent of home.

Once I got on the bus (headphones in as usual) I did not notice when Octavio came and sat across from me. Once I figured it out we had a really nice conversation all the way home.

When I got home I found that my boots I had ordered for winter had arrived :) They are perfect!

That evening I had my first jazz band rehearsal. I didn't play because I don't have a saxophone yet but it was so nice to hear it and know I would be playing my favorite music, and instrument, again soon. Also I met some new people. My host mom always says that you get along best with people you have common interests with. I realize how true that is every time I go to a rehearsal. That are all so nice :)

That night during insomnia hour(s) I watched some wonderful political news because ... being 6700 miles away and out of touch ... I had just found out about our wonderful government shutdown. 

So I had a wonderful Thursday :) I hope you did too, even though it is a little late for that :)

Transylvania

About three weeks ago my rotary club was nice enough to take the four Szeged exchange students on a four day trip to Transylvania with them. It was a blast!

So on Thursday (Transylvania adventure day 1) we spent 14 hours on a bus.

Along the way we stopped at a very interesting and inspiring school. It provides education, housing, a family setting, and many other types of learning for severely underprivileged children. Their grounds had fruit and vegetable gardens for the children to learn a little agriculture and were absolutely beautiful.

We also saw some incredible landscapes on the drive. I have never seen so many different colored leaves in my life!

On the road to our hotel I saw this and thought all you animated movie fans would appreciate it:

I doubt many people can actually say they have been to the real Hotel Transilvania ;)

Then, upon arriving at our hotel, the four of us (Mexican, Brazilian, Taiwanese, and Eurekan), who are none too familiar with snow, had a blast catching snowflakes and watching it fall.

The next morning there was actually snow stuck to the ground. It was amazing! We got really distracted by it on the way to breakfast and took a lot of photos.

It was a little chilly but the snow was beautiful. 

I saw one of the coolest things I have ever seen after breakfast that morning. I walked outside after breakfast and snowflakes were landing on my jacket. 

I looked at one a little closer and found that snowflakes are actually shaped like those pretty geometric things they are depicted as. I could not believe it!! I totally thought that was a lie. If it hadn't melted I could have stared at that beautiful little snowflake for the rest of my life (good thing it melted).

Then we were off to go tour what seemed like every museum in Transylvania. Some were interesting:

And some not so much:

... He was sleeping but woke up right as I took the picture.

We also visited a very old church that was built in the 13th century. The first of many wall drawings depicting the deeds of a hero names Laszlo, who died in 1095, were added in the 14th century. Later drawings were added depicting the life of Jesus (or Jezus in Hungarian). The ceiling, which is made out of what look like wine barrels and was my favorite part, was added in 1628. The alters and adornments were added in the 1700's sometime and the paintings on the organ were added in 1766. 

This was all told to me by a lovely, and very stereotypical looking Romanian woman who complemented my Hungarian. She was very sweet and fit exactly what I would have pictured an old Romanian woman looking like. You can't really see her very well but think Babushka.

Somewhere along the way one of the Rotarians gave us some treats :)

 Biggest chocolate bar ever!

We also stopped by an agriculture fair with some very tasty goulyas.

On the way to the next stop we walked out to see a very old (not sure exactly how old is very old but older that the US) oak tree.

And I saw some mushrooms and had to take a picture for Mrs. Baugh even if she will never see it :)

Then we went to a rotary banquet and bonfire with some more yummy goulyas.

On Saturday we spent most of the day on the bus

but we did stop at an interesting memorial to the revolution of 1848;

we also stopped at another church

Then we went back to the hotel to get ready for the tenth anniversary of the Transylvania rotary club that my Szeged rotary club is the mentor of, which was why we were there to begin with. They had very fancy food, traditional Hungarian dance, and a lot of nice rotarians.

And finally, on Sunday, it was back to the bus for our return trip. No stops (except pit stops) and we were home in just eleven hours.

Goodbye Transylvania! It was fun!