Wrap-up

I almost didn't write this blog, it's so late now, and I don't have much more to say. I've already talked to most of the people I've wanted to about the trip.

The blog was... mostly a success. It ended up being more limited in scope than I wanted, and I kept getting way behind. I probably shouldn't have been so detailed in my day to day stuff, and talked more about broader things. I learned a lot about blog writing, I think. But it was still good, and I think it will be great to look back on. If anyone has any questions, I get notifications, so I'll still answer them, even after today.

My favorite thing about the trip? Seeing all the architecture, and the age. It really reminds me how young the United States is. My favorite moment was walking across the Charles Bridge at night in Prague, and looking up and seeing these lit-up fairy-tale like castles. It was so unreal. It was amazing.

This isn't the time or the bridge (it is still in Prague), and it doesn't give any idea of the wonder I felt, but you can get an idea of the architecture in the background.

I just loved that.

Worst part was how tired I felt, and by extension how much my knees hurt. There was a *ton* of travel, and while I loved it, it kind of wiped me out. It's been nice not having to travel so much.
Worst moment was waking up in the middle of the night on the Croatia trip, and projectile vomiting, cramping, and having diarrhea. Ugh. I get nauseous just thinking about it. Food poisoning is awful.

I'm already missing the architecture, and I'll probably start missing everything else in the coming months. But man, it's good to be back with friends and family. I never really got close to anyone there. I like my people.

The drinking was frustrating. Hungary has twice the global average for alcohol consumption, so it's their culture, so it's not really a surprise that most of the Calvin students went out drinking so much, but I did feel left out. My decks of cards and board games that I brought never got used. :(

I did have some personal growth. I learned to be much more independent, and I think I'm about ready to go live on my own. That won't happen for a while yet, but at least I'm ready. It gives me a more solid foundation.

On the whole, Hungary was an amazing trip. I want to keep traveling, but if I got to choose, I would choose somewhere in a new part of the world, SE Asia, India, Africa, or South America. Nothing against Hungary, but I want to continue to expand my view of the world.

Isaac gives Calvin's semester abroad program in Hungary two thumbs up!

Events: 12/16-17: Last days in Hungary

Photos
Christmas Gifts

So, for my last day in Hungary, after my Econ exam, I went around the city, ticking off some things I had wanted to do, and buying gifts for people. I made a live blog (that ran a bit into the next day):

12/16/16
1:43pm
Last day in Hungary. Going to be doing some last minute stuff and reminiscing, so I thought I'd liveblog. The city is beautiful. If I go quickly enough, I might get to watch the sunset from Gellert Hill.

1:53pm.
I started on the other side of Gellert bridge, and have now crossed it to the Gellert monument. Time to climb.

1:58pm
It's absolutely frigid up here, 40F, but no wind. I took a bad selfie to show. The climb is warning me up, tho. All steps. Also, I took a selfie. I think I'm gonna do that on future trips, should probably start practicing now.

2:04pm
It's a bit labyrinth like, lots of paths, but I figure as long as I keep going upwards and inwards, I'll make it to the top. Too many trees in the way for city pictures now.

2:13pm
Made it to the top. Sun is blocked by a big building, tho. The downtown side is absolutely gorgeous, tho. It's hard to believe this is the last sunlight I'll see in Hungary for a long time. I'll be in the US tomorrow.

Man, you can see forever from up here.

2:26pm
There's a cool park up here. Trees everywhere, so you can't see much of the rest of the city, but still pretty.

And now I'm crying.

I'm gonna miss Budapest. This semester has been amazing. I'm here too early for the sunset, it's still over an hour away, and I have stuff I need to do. Yet another thing I didn't do perfectly this semester.

2:32pm
I appear to have gotten a little lost. I'm not worried, in this day and age. A bunch of ravens? showed up. I think they're eating nuts. Lots of banging their beaks.

2:40pm
Bunch of crazy dogs running around in the park. I can still hear them. The building on top was a citadel. Maybe I should have explored it. Won't get the opportunity now.

2:46pm Well, now I know where I am, except I think *now* I'm going to cross Gellert bridge. I don't know the name of the other bridge.

To the Christmas market!

3:12pm
Well, I stopped for guyas soup, first. One of my professors recommended it, and I'm not even sure I've had it yet, so I had to get some. I was going to get it after the Christmas market, but I'm hungry (Hungary) now.

3:26pm.
I was going to get some food to walk and eat, but it's too big. I also spent a bit more than I thought, the place was a little swindley, not making clear that the extras they pushed for weren't free.

4:46pm
I walked to the Christmas market, and tried to finish the food (a hotdog type thing), bit couldn't, so threw the rest away. At first, it was a bit daunting, but I'm moving through my list of stuff to get, well. Chess set remains elusive. Running out of time.

5:30pm
Finally got everything. On the tram back to the dorm. Hands are super stiff from being so cold. They were completely numb at one point. Chess board was hardest to find, practically bought the first one I found. I'll take pictures of everything I got, at some point tonight.

5:46pm
Almost back to the dorm. When I get back, it'll be cleaning and working on final papers, so no posts for a while, probably until after midnight.

12/17/16
12:20am
So first paper submitted, the one I was more worried about. Now I need to pack and clean. Just started the process of getting my data turned back on for my phone. Next to clean up, then take pictures of my gifts, then to pack up.

Live blog ended above.
The trip back was fine, although we had to rush a bit in Paris; coming from Hungary, and then leaving the Schengen Area *and* heading to the US, with only an hour and half between flights. Switching flights in Minnesota was much more chill, although still long, due to the 3 hour layover. ~3 hours Budapest to Paris, ~9 hour Paris to Minneapolis, ~1 hour Minneapolis to Grand Rapids. Back in the US.

Events: 12/11-12/15: Last Week

So, the last week. I watched the Lions Sunday night, they beat the Bears. Monday and on was furiously working on grad school applications. It was crazy. I got most of them done on time. I went to Holocaust Literature on Wednesday, which was a mistake. The professor was busy, so we just filled out course evaluations and left. Round-trip, it took me about an hour and a half, to spend fifteen minutes writing an evaluation. I skipped most of the end of Hungary parties and meetings. Thursday I had my econ exam; I think I did well, but even now, in January, I don't have the grade. The class hasn't transferred back to Calvin yet. After the exam, I took a final trip around Budapest, to wrap up some stuff I wanted to do.

Events 12/9-12/11: Trip to Serbia

Photos

This liveblog was a bit shakier, but still good.

Serbia live blog:
12/9/16
8:19 pm:
Whoops, forgot about the blog until now. Bus ride was about 6 hours long, I slept and worked on my final paper during it. Then we went to the hostel, got settled in, then headed to dinner. Dinner was a little ways away, so it took a bit of walking to get there.

Our guide is from Belgrade, so we went to one of her favorite places to eat. It was delicious. A few french fries, and various meats. It was delicious. I couldn't even eat it all. They were playing classic rock the whole time, which was interesting. We're now walking back to the hostel.

12/10/16
~9am We decided to split up [last night], so I went back to the hostel alone, which required some detective work, but I made it back. This morning, we walked to breakfast. It hasn't come yet, and I'm hungry. My phone didn't charge fully during the night; it's at 37% charge now. I hope I can find a place to charge it.

3:25 pm
Breakfast was great. I got French toast. No place to charge. I have a few pictures, but not many. We went in a tour of Belgrade, to a cobblestone street, to a farmer's market, to a Serbian Orthodox Church, to a fortress, with a Roman ruin exhibit. After having trouble figuring out where to go, we found our lunch place. I got some chicken breaded with cornflakes with fries, an oreo shake, some tortillas, and a scoop of ice cream for dessert, it was *amazing*. We're now wrapping up.

4:21 pm:
We got on the bus and are heading to Tito's grave, and then museum. After, we're going to his Orthodox Church. Tito was the big dictator of communist Yugoslavia.

5:40 pm:
Tito's grave was very interesting. There was a museum, and a section just for gifts to him. He is extremely revered, even today.

5:59 pm:
The church is under renovation. It's quite beautiful from the outside. The inside is a bit more sparse. It will be amazing when it is done, tho. The church bells are amazing, too. We're heading back to the hostel now.

12/11/16
9:46am
I napped and rested for the hour break got. Then we went to dinner. It was fine, but I was full going into it, so I didn't eat some of it. The mashed potatoes were delicious. I could barely even eat the dessert. It was milkcake. To me, it tasted like cake soaked in milk, which isn't awful, but I couldn't eat it when already full. Then we went back fit the evening. In the morning, we got up, and went to the same breakfast place as last time. I got scrambled eggs with bacon. It is delicious.

12:37 pm:
We got on the road, I took a two hour nap, and then we stopped at a gas station, where I spent the last of my dinar. Lots of snacks. We'll be stopping in Szeged, Hungary, soon.

The liveblog ended above. We ended up having to wait a very long time to cross back into Hungary; there were some Serbian large vehicles crossing the border in front of us, and I believe all of those are required to get a full search. We waited at least an hour. So we skipped Szeged, and just went straight back to Hungary.

Quick update: Still going to finish

Sorry about not finishing the blog; going to try to resolve this soon, hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning.