Below you will find rose-bud-thorns from my last three weeks in Budapest. A post about Amsterdam and a final post about my study abroad experience will happen later this weekend. Please pray for safe travels as I travel to Amsterdam and home this weekend.
Rose:
• Our Hungarian culture class saw Our Class, a play about Polish and Jewish classmates during the Holocaust. It was kind-of depressing and none of us had realized how depressing and violent it was going to be until we were sitting there watching it. But I'm still putting this as a rose because it was very interesting to watch (and a cultural experience).
• Olivia and I had a delicious dinner with a Hungarian who we meet through ICFB. We ate cordon bleu with plums on the inside with a side of salad and mashed potatoes. Olivia had made an Oreo cheesecake for dessert and then we finished the evening by playing a game of Pictionary together.
• I taught a lesson on division rules to an English-speaking math class at a Hungarian school for Practicum. We ran out of time to do everything we wanted because of some language barrier difficulties, but I thought the lesson went well and we think the students had fun with all the games we incorporated into the lesson.
• I made some math origami one afternoon at a workshop my program hosted.
• I saw Moana in 3D (in English) the day it came out in Hungary. I may or may not have cried it was so good. I also am in love with soundtrack and yesterday I shared on FB this really cool video of a mash-up of one of the songs in 24 different languages.
• The first Saturday of December a few of us from the program and one of the student coordinators visited a few spots in Budapest. First we saw some of the graves of the older Hungarian leaders. Then we went and saw this hidden church in the middle of the city: This church was built during the communist time, so in order for it not to be seen it was built with apartment buildings all around it. It has now turned into a gym. Our student coordinator told the guy at the desk that we were Americans looking at gym memberships and were wondering if we could look around. The guy at the desk did not care at all, so off we went to look at this gym that used to be a church. The only cool thing we saw was the courtyard from inside. We couldn't see the ceiling of the old church because their was a class in that room.
• There are so many Christmas
markets here in Budapest. Haley and I went to one two Saturday evenings
ago and enjoyed sipping some Apple Tea while looking at all the possible
Christmas gifts.
• Two Thursdays ago I took my last final
and was completely done with all classes. Since no one in my program had
class on Friday, we went out as a group Thursday evening. It was fun to be
with the group in a fun atmosphere like that. We spent a good amount of
time giving teacher superlatives to everyone since almost all of us are
going to be teachers. A few that I got include most likely to become a
principal, most likely to marry a teacher, and most organized teacher.
This last one should come as no surprise though. ;)
• Olivia and I saw the Nutcracker at the Opera House on Saturday. The performance, costume, and set pieces were all stunning and perfect for the Christmas season.
• Christmas spirit is surely in the air. On Saturday, I sang in the carol service that happened after Mass. It was fun, but very cold. I was at the church from 3 to 7 and I couldn't feel my toes as I walked home. Then on Tuesday, a group of us from ICFB had a charity Christmas concert where we sang many Christmas carols and all the money raised was donated to Preemptive Love, an organization that are helping people within war zones.
• On Sunday and Monday, Lydia & Logan, my cousin and her boyfriend, were in Budapest. On Monday, we were planning on going to Vienna for the day, but last minute decided to stay in Budapest. I had a wonderful day with them here in the Budapest. We met up a cute breakfast café and then did some sightseeing. I showed them the Central Market, Gellért Hill, Buda Castle, and Fisherman's Bastion. We ate dinner at a Christmas Market and then met up with some of my friends in the program at Szimpla and this other unnamed bar that has drinks at a low price. Lastly, we finished up the evening by eating these delicious sandwiches at Meat and Sauce. This place dips the whole sandwich in a sauce. It was so good. They headed off to Italy Tuesday morning and I'm excited to hear about the rest of their adventures at Christmas.
• On Wednesday I went to
Gellért Baths. This was the only time that I went to the baths and it was
an enjoyable experience. Later in the afternoon, my friends and I went to
the Invisible Exhibit. This exhibit places you in complete darkness and
then you are guided through my a blind person. We also learned a little
bit about braille. It was a very interesting experience and something I
will never forget.
• Thursday morning I went ice skating with my roommate Jane. It was fun, but I definitely would have enjoyed it more if I had ice skates instead of hockey skates. I can skate so much better in ice skates.
• Our Hungarian culture class saw Our Class, a play about Polish and Jewish classmates during the Holocaust. It was kind-of depressing and none of us had realized how depressing and violent it was going to be until we were sitting there watching it. But I'm still putting this as a rose because it was very interesting to watch (and a cultural experience).
• Olivia and I had a delicious dinner with a Hungarian who we meet through ICFB. We ate cordon bleu with plums on the inside with a side of salad and mashed potatoes. Olivia had made an Oreo cheesecake for dessert and then we finished the evening by playing a game of Pictionary together.
• I taught a lesson on division rules to an English-speaking math class at a Hungarian school for Practicum. We ran out of time to do everything we wanted because of some language barrier difficulties, but I thought the lesson went well and we think the students had fun with all the games we incorporated into the lesson.
• I made some math origami one afternoon at a workshop my program hosted.
• I saw Moana in 3D (in English) the day it came out in Hungary. I may or may not have cried it was so good. I also am in love with soundtrack and yesterday I shared on FB this really cool video of a mash-up of one of the songs in 24 different languages.
• The first Saturday of December a few of us from the program and one of the student coordinators visited a few spots in Budapest. First we saw some of the graves of the older Hungarian leaders. Then we went and saw this hidden church in the middle of the city: This church was built during the communist time, so in order for it not to be seen it was built with apartment buildings all around it. It has now turned into a gym. Our student coordinator told the guy at the desk that we were Americans looking at gym memberships and were wondering if we could look around. The guy at the desk did not care at all, so off we went to look at this gym that used to be a church. The only cool thing we saw was the courtyard from inside. We couldn't see the ceiling of the old church because their was a class in that room.
• There are so many Christmas
markets here in Budapest. Haley and I went to one two Saturday evenings
ago and enjoyed sipping some Apple Tea while looking at all the possible
Christmas gifts.
• Two Thursdays ago I took my last final
and was completely done with all classes. Since no one in my program had
class on Friday, we went out as a group Thursday evening. It was fun to be
with the group in a fun atmosphere like that. We spent a good amount of
time giving teacher superlatives to everyone since almost all of us are
going to be teachers. A few that I got include most likely to become a
principal, most likely to marry a teacher, and most organized teacher.
This last one should come as no surprise though. ;)• Olivia and I saw the Nutcracker at the Opera House on Saturday. The performance, costume, and set pieces were all stunning and perfect for the Christmas season.
• Christmas spirit is surely in the air. On Saturday, I sang in the carol service that happened after Mass. It was fun, but very cold. I was at the church from 3 to 7 and I couldn't feel my toes as I walked home. Then on Tuesday, a group of us from ICFB had a charity Christmas concert where we sang many Christmas carols and all the money raised was donated to Preemptive Love, an organization that are helping people within war zones.
• On Sunday and Monday, Lydia & Logan, my cousin and her boyfriend, were in Budapest. On Monday, we were planning on going to Vienna for the day, but last minute decided to stay in Budapest. I had a wonderful day with them here in the Budapest. We met up a cute breakfast café and then did some sightseeing. I showed them the Central Market, Gellért Hill, Buda Castle, and Fisherman's Bastion. We ate dinner at a Christmas Market and then met up with some of my friends in the program at Szimpla and this other unnamed bar that has drinks at a low price. Lastly, we finished up the evening by eating these delicious sandwiches at Meat and Sauce. This place dips the whole sandwich in a sauce. It was so good. They headed off to Italy Tuesday morning and I'm excited to hear about the rest of their adventures at Christmas.
 |
| Shoes by the Danube as memorial of those died in the Holocaust |
• Thursday morning I went ice skating with my roommate Jane. It was fun, but I definitely would have enjoyed it more if I had ice skates instead of hockey skates. I can skate so much better in ice skates.
Bud:
• Being Home - Thanks to my parents moving to a new house in May/June, I was told I have a nice to-do list for when I get back. Exactly what I will need. :)
• I'm greatly looking forward to the Anne Frank house tomorrow!
• Being Home - Thanks to my parents moving to a new house in May/June, I was told I have a nice to-do list for when I get back. Exactly what I will need. :)
• I'm greatly looking forward to the Anne Frank house tomorrow!
Thorn:
• Goodbyes are hard. More on that later this weekend though.
No comments:
Post a Comment