Krokodil Klub

                    Blogging is HARD.               And yet, blog I must.

It has almost been three weeks since leaving the shores of the Puget Sound for the fields and Pastries of Hungary, and so much has already happened. Since studying abroad is apparently all about self discovery and profound thinking here are my main revelations from the past weeks:

                                
                                      SCHOOL:

            I am taking two political science classes, literature, history, and Hungarian.

Epiphany 1: Two years of honors has consumed my brain. Now this isn’t to mean just the program curriculum but really just the conversations and people that were in honors. For one, I keep seeing the misogyny in everything, I get a weird rush when pointing out the paternalism of democracy, and the weirdest sort of pride when my professor told us to look up feudalism and I wanted to respond  "oh, well, let me tell you about Feudalism.."                                              (which I didn’t do because, well, I’m not an asshole)

 Epiphany 2: The Cold War was a BIG FUCKING DEAL. It is easy to simply talk about communism and soviet Russia in a very removed sort of way when living in the U.S. But then you ride a metro in Budapest  and you have this crazy realization that everyone around you who is older than 20-something actually experienced communism and a complete regime change in their lifetime. Imagine a complete upheaval of the way your life is run and perceived. . . oh yeah and imagine that this happened ONLY TWENTY YEARS  AGO.

Epiphany 3: The Treaty of Trianon (post WWI) IS STILL A BIG FUCKING DEAL. I mean, really, just take a stroll into Slovakia speaking Hungarian and you will see what I mean.

                          
                           HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE:

Epiphany: I miss prepositions and word order. You never know what you have until it is gone.

ESZTERGOM, HUNGARY – historically religious HQ, borders Slovakia

Epiphany 1: Visiting the town that I wrote and presented a paper about canon law on is extremely awesome, especially when hanging out at the basilica.

Epiphany 2:  Rape law and domestic violence of medieval Hungary is still kind of a conversation killer.

EGER, HUNGARY – Northern Hungary, Wine country

Epiphany: Why drink water when you can just have more wine?

  -side epiphany: Ottoman Empire = Beezy

PÉCS, HUNGARY- South, Cultural capital of Europe 2010 (apparently)

Epiphany: 200 days of sunshine, adorable stray puppies, gelato every twenty feet, dancing and music around every corner –  cultural capital of Europe? Try cultural capital of the UNIVERSE.

- side epiphany : The crip walk was actually derived from Hungarian folk dancing.

Alright, that’s enough profundity for one evening

Jó estét

Good Bye 'Merica; Szia Hungary

Well it is official, I have returned to the homeland.

And thank god for it too because in the 48 hours it took me to get here, I thought I would never see anything but the soul crushing stained walls of airport after airport.  The actual story is extremey lengthy and full of very many swear words so:

                       Mariska's Flight to Hungary via Flow Chart

5:30 am go to Seatac -> Fly to Houston ->  hour layover -> Delay -> wait-> go to service desk -> entire flight follows -> flight canceled -> wait wait -> "Go to London!...but get your bags" -> baggage claim -> wait wait -> missing bag -> wait wait wait -> "oh, it's already been transferred" -> run across airport -> no one at British airways -> annoyed lady prints my ticket -> run through security -> "have you started loading"..." no the plane is delayed"-> wait wait -> load -> zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz -> time change -> grab bags -> take bus to a different airport -> wait wait wait -> Zone D -> wait wait wait for gate to open- .....delay- wait wait wait wait -> load! -> no more English -> land! -> take shuttle to dorm -> pass out-> THE END.

So needless to say I have been extremely jetlagged for a long time now but have still been at a constant go, touring the city, taking Hungarian Language class, and other general orientation things.However I can already tell that it is going to be a wonderful experience. 

Hungary,the beginning:

- Everyone has my nose

- There are pasteries....EVERYWHERE.

- I am actually the one who says my name wrong.

- Knowing random things about Medieval history is actually pretty awesome.

Chilling in the Suburbs

(Arcade Fire once again manifesting my inner thoughts and psyche)

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains):

They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days my life, I feel it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface

'Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the World's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights

We rode our bikes to the nearest park
Sat under the swings and kissed in the dark
We shield our eyes from the police lights
We run away, but we don't know why


On the black river, the city lights shine
They're screaming at us, we don't need your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights

They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
Can we ever get away from the sprawl?
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights

  - Arcade Fire, The Suburbs (2010)  http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-suburbs/id382340814 

Tik tok on the clock...

So seeing as I officially only have approximately 28 days, 8 hours and 4 minutes until I leave (but hey whose counting) I suppose it is due time for a post to document my full realization that in 28 days, 8 hours, and 3 minutes, I will be flying to another country which I will call home for an entire year.

It seems to me that this whole process is very much like flying on an airplane for the first time*:

Buying the plane ticket: Totally stoked
Driving to the airport at 5 am: Totally tired
Going through the gate: Oh wait, what? This is actually happening..?
Waiting in your seat: Totally freakin out
The plane starts to move: oh shit , oh shit
Fast : mental back peddling- faster- holy shit, I take it back, I don't wanna  go- faster- Regret! 
  

Take off                                        -                       HOLY FUCK

"We have now reached our cruising altitude"
        - oh hey, this isn't that bad at all. Neato.

                                                                                    

                                               *Incidentally, this is both a metaphor for my Summer and  literally what I expect my reaction on the plane will be like

Right now I guess I am in the 'totally tired' phase, where I foresee the mountain of stress looming in the distance shrouded in a fog of anxiety. I would rather not have to deal with packing and tying up the remaining loose ends before I leave, but alas.. .

 I also already foresee me mentally back peddling, digging my heels in the ground as my rationality grabs me by the wrists and drags me to the airport and the new home that awaits.

             (This has very much already started- I have three weekends left in Seattle,  I have to be all packed before I leave for Montana on the 27th, and now friends are returning to Seattle- these are ingredients for a big ol' piece of reality that is extremely hard to fully digest)

BUT, I do also realize that once I am on that plane at cruising altitude - gnoshing on free snacks while perusing the Skymall catalog for their newest line of lifesize Anubis statues  - I will breathe, calm down, and eventually fall into a Tylenol PM induced slumber with dreams of my adventures yet to come*. . . 

                                                   * Incidentally these adventures will probably include something about robots, t.v. show characters, and/or the apocalypse*

                                                  *Source: Every other dream I have

Slow down you are out of control. . .

Well, I knew this day would come....the day I started a blog.

You see, I have generally understood blogs as outlets for whining, narcissism, or actually doing something rad, hence why it has taken me running off to a foreign country for a year to justify actually starting one ( I mean...my family has to know what's going on? right? yeahhh, that's it.)

At any rate, as I now stand on the very brink of my first blogging experience I am coming to realize the awesome creative potential that blogging allows, both graphically and in writing.

( Unfortunately I don't know shit about html and my writing is debatable (though boy, if you want a paper on Medieval Hungary, I got that shit down) )

So, I guess with that I'm going to preface a few things about this blog for anyone who is going to care to follow:

1. This is ostensibly meant to be a travel blog for my year long study abroad in Budapest
(1a. I use the word ostensibly a lot)
(1b. I can already foresee my blog peppered with inside jokes so be warned)

2. While many would attest to my ability to talk and rant I feel as though I remain a fairly personal person, and thus writing what is on my mind to a potential audience is going to feel really weird to me; I am really excited for that.

3. I cuss a lot. For my dear family readers I apologize for that, and I do not mean to be crude or compromise my vocabulary. Rather, I personally feel like there are certain situations that can only be properly expressed with particular words, even if vulgar. . . annnddd it has become quite a habit at this point....Also I rant a lot so that really just exacerbates the whole habit (especially if I'm tired..oh boy).

4. I REALLY apologize if my blog sounds like an academic paper. That just sort of happens the second I start to write (hence the 'ostensibly' and 'thus'es)...add in some Radiohead and I am gone. I will try to tone it down though and refrain from digressing (obviously not right now haha)

Okay, well that is it.
I will actually start writing about travel stuff laters.
Until then, watch this video: