Eastern Europe

After leaving Prague, we drove through Slovakia to get to Budapest. Slovakia has pretty much no forms of life. See picture left. We spent the entire time looking for any form of life. We once saw a bag blowing in the wind and got excited because we thought it was a bird. Slovakia was also really windy because I believe there aren't any animals to block that wind. The roads started to get nicer and smoother. The grass turned green and the sky became bluer. Turns out we were in Hungary. While in the border control, we noticed all the slovakian truck drivers squatted outside their trucks. From there the slav squat was born.



Budapest


Budapest is a city I would go back too. Budapest was actually two cities(Buda and Pest) divided by the Danube River. When we first arrived we went to a look out point with a fort and freedom statue, that ironically looked like it was made from the soviets. We had some goulash and then did a night river walk. We went to this famous bridge for a photo op, and ended up taking a picture with random people sitting in the park. Pretty nice for a first night, I think.

On the morning of the second day we say the Hungarian Parliament, which is based from the West Minster in London. On the way there we saw a homeless lady picking trash out of the trash can and from there the gypsies were born. After the parliament, we went to the St. Mathais church and climbed up for a great view of the city. Went to a dive bar for lunch and got this great typically stew dish and drinks for a total of six euros. When we finished lunch, we met back with Rotex, and we climbed to the highest point in Buda. From there, we drove 45 minutes into Pest to this famous spa complex, Szechenyi Furdo. It was a relaxing day in the sun with a few saunas thrown in.

On the morning of the third day, we went to our last stop, A Budapest market. Things in Budapest are surprisingly cheap, really cheap. I found that I liked Pest better than Buda. Buda is on the left and Pest is on the right side of the river.

Vienna


Going to Vienna was one of the best feelings because we can finely speak german again and understand the locals, a little. We got into Vienna and went first to the 100 water house. That night we got to our hostel and then went to a sports bar, which was also a great first night.

We only had one day in Vienna. We started at the Schoenbunn Palace. It was interesting. After that we went into the city to a market. Then saw some of the city. Esther, our Rotex tour guide for the day, took us to the city center and we received free time there. After free time we went to dinner and had schnitzel because it is originated in Vienna. There were also spicy peppers at dinner, and I was able to eat more than a mexican. No one else would try. One of the proudest moments of my life.

On our way back to the hostel the group of exchange students lost Rotex in the subway station. As they were walking to the wrong exit, I noticed it wasn't right, so that James, Jack, and I turned around and headed to the other exit. We found Rotex hiding in a platform entrance. Then as the group of exchange students started to come back we ran up the stairs to the platform to hide from the others. It was crazy night, running threw the station hiding for the giant group and then meeting them out front because they didn't remember how to get back to the hostel.

I wish I had more time in Vienna because it was a pretty chill city, that I would have liked to see more of. It was also a beautiful city. Here are all the exchange students in front of the Schoenbrunn Palace.

Hollanders are OK!

It is week eleven or so, and I already know what I am doing when I get home. Monday night I had a dream about Grande Jakes. I don't know why because I like the tacos at Tacos El Norte so much better. But anyway, in this dream I ate a chorizo egg burrito, 15 steak tacos, and 3 chicken gortidas. It was the best dream ever.

Tuesday night, I went with the Rotary club to a Deutschland vs. Holland soccer game. One thing that cracked me up was that we went with our sister rotary club in Enschede, Holland. I was surprised there weren't any fights after Germany killed Holland, 3-0. Germans don't speak Dutch, and Hollanders speak german like there tongue is swollen. It was a night of english speaking. I don't know if I can say this, so I will just type it instead, The Hollanders were more fun than the Germans, oops. That is not completely true, but the Dutch club is just a younger crowd.

Petra is awesome, nuff said. For the four hour bus ride to Hamburg, Petra bought me candy to eat on the way. It was an awesome, unexpected surprise. Then the next morning whatever was leftover was eaten by Albert. The Hollanders also gave us boxes of food. These boxes had schnitzel, two sandwiches, meat balls, and a couple sausage links. There were also an Apple and Orange, but who cares about that. They also passed around boxes of the great doughnut ever, and some kind of almond coffee cake thing.

Speaking of soccer, I might have finally of chosen a German soccer club. Petra's friend gave Petra a Bayern Muenchen jersey that was too small for her kid, so that was passed to me. They are in the first place spot so it wouldn't be a bad bandwagon to jump on; Daniel would be proud, but I am not going to say anything. My Rotarian is Shalke so that might not go over well.

This week in English we finally got to talk about the downfalls in America. Guess who was the best? I don't think it was my first hand knowledge or anything. I felt so good to say those things too. My english book only talked about everything good in America and like it was written by a Uncle Sam himself. It is as if the crazy train crashed itself into the bullshit factory causing an explosion that spewed douchbagery everywhere. It makes me want to puke, but then it nice that we can celebrate our country. In the words of a german,"We can't be patriotic because if we do, then we are called nazis." That is sad, every country should be able to celebrate there heritage, but some need to know how to tone it down. I know I will sport a german flag and not think twice about it.

I had Liederkäse this week. Can I still get Extra Credit for that? It's not like lieberkaese was that exotic. I like liverwurst so it wasn't a surprise that I would like lieberkaese. If I had to describe the taste I would say Oscar Mayor Wiener Hotdog. Which made me wonder, is there liver in Oscar Mayor Hotdogs? It wouldn't shock me if there is, it's cheap meat.

Now that I have come pretty close to mastering German, I have taken on a new task, learning Spanish. I don't know why I am trying so hard to master Spanish. I think it is because I am in a spanish class too advanced for me, and I feel bad I don't completely understand everything. Yeli makes sure to tell five times a day that I am a gringo, but yo soy el gringo de favorito de Yeli.