It’s almost like coming to the end of an ice-cream cone.
Bitter-sweet. You are satisfied, but still can’t help but long for more. Even
within the last few bites of pure joy, you can’t help but feel sad knowing that
the end is near, and you will once again be left empty handed. Italy obviously
holds no comparison to an ice-cream cone, but I will admit that it’s pretty
close. I have been sloppy with my blog posts and for that I apologize, so I
will try my best to make it up to you all in these few final posts. Choosing to
study abroad has truly been the best decision I have ever made. I have seen so
many places that I never knew could exist outside of a fairytale. I have met so
many amazing people, I have experienced so many different ways of life, and I
have grown in more ways than thought possible in such a short amount of time. There
is no way I can fit everything into these last few blog posts, but I can try to
catch you up on a few of my crazy adventures. Spring break was just about one
of the most amazing weeks of my life. Ten days of living out of a backpack and,
as my mom would say, “Flying by the seat of our pants.” My friend and I began
this epic adventure in Budapest, Hungary, a country in Eastern
Europe. It was incredible, although, you will find that I will
pretty much say that for every place that I go to from here on out. It was very
different from Florence
in that it was so spacious, clean, and best of all…they had Starbucks. We were
very lucky and stayed at a hostel in the middle of downtown, so we were truly
able to see the city for what it was. It just had a very simple atmosphere.
Peaceful and beautiful. Life was cheap, the people were incredibly hospitable,
and the city itself just made me want to just relax and enjoy life. I saw
greenery for the first time, as well, which was absolutely wonderful! Who knew
someone could miss trees so much? Being that it was the beginning of spring, we
also stumbled upon a festival full of stands with homemade gifts and traditional
food, which only made our experience there that much better! In two days, we
explored the country side, the city, a few churches, Parliament, Castle Hill,
and learned that every street has the word “utca” in it. Another fun fact which
we learned fairly quickly was that Hungary’s economy runs off
something called HUF. What is the equivalence? One dollar equals exactly
two-hundred and seventeen HUF. Imagine paying for Starbucks with that kind of
cash! It was definitely a mental workout. I think one of my favorite parts of
the country, beyond the fact that their main dishes contained nothing more than
potatoes and meat, was the architecture. Gothic architecture is drastically
different from the architecture of Florence
and I simply loved witnessing something so different. It was so gorgeous and so
ornate. Rather than using a two color system and simple decorations, walls and
fixtures were plastered with gold and red marble, making it look very rich in
status. The ultimate attraction, however, would definitely have to be the
baths, making Budapest
one of my favorite cities of all time. Imagine paying about fifteen dollars to
use an ancient spa full of pools, steam rooms, saunas, and hot tubs. Would you
be in heaven? Yes, that is what I thought. The best part is that this is
something so normal in their culture. You can actually watch the “regulars”
sitting on the side of the pools playing a game of chess like this is simply
part of their daily routine! It was absolutely wonderful. So relaxing, so
different, and I was so incredibly lucky to have been able to experience such a
unique culture.
