I am in Budapest … finally. My never-ending journey started at 3:30 a.m. this morning when I got up to get ready to go. My train left at 6:12 a.m., but I had to be at the station at 5:30 a.m. to meet the group.
Twelve of the fifteen students from the Graz program are here. On the train we ended up setting together in second class, but we later had to split up and go to first class. I guess that the second class car was not going all the way to Budapest.
A fellow student and I ended up in a compartment with a few rowdy Hungarian kids.
During the train ride it seemed that the further east that we traveled, the more economically depressed the landscape got. Just before we got to Graz, it looked like a scene from the beginning of “Borat” where he was supposed to be in Kazakhstan. (It was actually Romania.) I have also noticed a lot of U.S.S.R. architecture (blocky, colorless buildings).
The first thing that I noticed in the city is how grungy the buildings look. It looks as though they get a lot of acid rain here each year that destroys the stone buildings. Also, there is graffiti everywhere. I even saw a bus that was “taged.”
Besides Hungary, I am getting my first youth hostel experience. Our hostel is in a building that looks pretty shady, but inside the hostel itself is actually pretty nice. Since we have such a huge group, we have two entire rooms to ourselves.
This evening we are planning to take a river cruise on the Danube followed by a “pub crawl.” It sounds like fun so I am really looking forward to it.