Just give me a rock and call me Sisyphus

Existential Crisis. Stagnation. 
Down-Spiral Down-Spiral Down-Spiral down-spiral.

-Now that the honeymoon period of study abroad has subsided and I am settling into Budapest as my current home, trying desperately to make it feel as much as home instead of just a vacation, I find my self floundering, flailing in the empty space of my own free time.
(HENCE, the largely emphasized words up top.)

I literally did nothing all day today. I have so much time to do anything. But I do nothing. So instead of cataloging all the meaningless activities of my weekend, I am going to lie ( with illustrations):

  I woke up at 6 am. I didn't set my alarm, for today, nature was my alarm. The bright rays of an autumn sunrise waking me from my slumber, I got up, got dressed, and did my daily run....up a mountain....in Budapest?..YES IN BUDAPEST.

I reached the summit in about a half hour and proceeded to meditate atop the mountain when I sensed a disturbance approaching. Two rather scruffy looking Hugarian men were approaching behind me. What is anyone but me doing atop this mountain at 6:45 am? I knew trouble was a foot. Immediately they started taunting me in Hungarian
(which I of course understood because I am bilingual you know). I tried to leave but instead a scuffle broke out.  Afraid that one had a weapon and seeing no safeway out I decided to make a run for it....off the edge of the mountain. . .

And where did I go? Well there is only one place I could have gone ....onto the back of an Albatross of course! (They're pretty common in Hungary, the national bird actually)

The crisp Hungarian air blowing through my hair, the albatross and I flew far above Budapest, far above Hungary, far above the WORLD. Nothing could bring us down.

Having suddenly (and most literally) dropped in on this large bird I thought it only polite to make friends, and so I started some conversation.

   Incidentally Albatrosses LOVE good conversation.

We talked about so many things: Politics, music, religion, movies, even Love ( he was a very talkative albatross you see). Hours passed and we continued flying when eventually I asked:

- So when are we going to land? Don't get me wrong, I have very much enjoyed our time, but we must have to hit solid ground at somepoint?

To which he responed:
-Why?

-Well, because we blong on the solid ground.
Don't we?

-I don't.

-What do you mean?

Explaining in a very matter-of-fact manner:
-You see my dear, I am an albatross. I  can spend my whole life without setting foot on solid ground; I just fly from sea to sea, floating to where ever the current takes me, and when I tire of simply floating, I spread my wings and choose my own course for a while, and I fly. Do you understand?

- Yes. I think I know what you mean.


While I am certainly no bird, I truly did understand what my feathered friend said, for it had been a long time since I had felt on solid ground as well, so it was nice to know that I wasn't the only one floating on currents for a living. -Now if only I could fly, I thought. Oh well, there has to be something to distinguish me from a bird I suppose.

And so we continued to fly. We flew over the Puszta, the Carpathian Mountains, over all of Central Europe. But as the sun began to set, we began our way back to Budapest, for I was not an Albatross and it was time for me to go home.

As the albatross began to descend into Budapest, we rapped up our conversation about the changing political climate of Hungary ( He is very  interested to see what the new majority will do this upcoming year) and we finally said our goodbyes. I hopped from his back onto the paved, leaf covered ground of Gellert Hill, and he flew away.

and so I sat on the solid ground and watched the sunset, wondering of whether to float or fly.