citrus and tea... I must be sick

Fighting a cold over here, but in true mommy style I am eating tangerines, drinking tea, and sitting in the sun coming in from my window. Its nice to see the sun, since it was snowing a bit yesterday. (again, California here I come) Also, although a wee bit early, I have picked my new years resolution: I am going to perfect Grammy's Cabbage Roll recipe, because honest to god, they are the best. (and that 5 lbs is staying where it is anyway) I feel that I am now an authority on the subject since I have eaten stuffed cabbage in every restaurant that offers them since arriving in Hungary; and have come to the not-so-shocking conclusion that no one can stuff a cabbage like Grammy. I'll let everyone know when that happens...give me about 5-10 years. Seriously though, everyone is so big on the Guylas, its all hype, stuffed cabbage is by far superior, if its done right, aka Grammy style.
On a rather unscrupolous sidenote, does any6one have a paper about the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and/or the Rise of Democracy in East Germany that they would like to give me as "reasearch"? I"m almost joking. Very hard to find motivation to write papers when I know that I have such a limited amount of time left in Budapest. Well, back to the vitamin C and sunshine...

Word:
toltott kaposta "stuffed cabbage"

loving shakespeare

Decided it was time for me to attempt to absorb some culture while in such a fabulous city, and went to the opera last night! It was, in a word, spectacular. The Hungarian National Opera House is gorgeous, and the opera, Otello, was amazing. I’m rather pleased that my first opera was in Hungary, especially since I’ll never get such great seats for so cheap ever again. Here’s a picture of the chandelier; reminded me of the Phantom of the Opera.

Phrase:
Nagyon szep! "very beautiful"

Also, here are the links to my new albums!

Random- http://claremont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056250&l=e9434&id=13306486

Dad's visit- http://claremont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057115&l=577b0&id=13306486

Erin's visit- http://claremont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057853&l=ac575&id=13306486

3 months gone...

Although my first not spent at home, Thanksgving was great. Dinner at the Marriot was amazing, and it was really nice spending the evening with my friends. We all sat around sipping mulled wine and catching up on each others amazing adventures around Europe. We had a few professors there and I got to here about how they used to skate on the Balaton when they were young. I really enjoyed that, especially because I am so accustomed to having close relationships with my professors at Scripps. Most of us love Attila, our history prof, he went to Transylvania with us, and when you spend 20+ hours on a bus with our group, you get close, however I doubt my other professors even know my name.
Unfortunately, now I have to think about the looming paper deadlines and upcoming finals. I have two papers due on my birthday, which is rather irritating, however once I turn them in I am free to celebrate and jet off to Rome, so that will be fabulous. I have just 31 days left in Budapest, a statistic that excites and saddens me at the same time. I have truly come to love this city and the people in my program far more than I ever could have anticipated. I know I'll be back someday, but it will be a long time, and much will have changed. However, I am terribly excited to get home and be truly warm again. I am becoming accustomed to the cold, which is rather frightening, I stepped outside today and actually uttered the phrase, "Oh what a great day, its so warm!" Its 50 degrees outside... who am I? I'm sure its been good for me to experience the joys of many, many, many layers, but I am looking forward to a sunny socal christmas. Hope everyone had a good holiday.

Hungarian word or the day:
hideg "cold" meleg "hot"

the cousins do praha

Ok, it has been ages, but life has been so busy lately, my apologies. It was fabulous having Erin here; showing her around, dragging her to my classes, we had a ball.

We had a great time in Prague; definitely saw all the highlights. Ali’s friends gave us the grand tour at light speed (about 4 hours) on Saturday and then Erin and I spent Sunday doing what we do best, wandering, eating, and shopping! Having Erin here reminded me just how weird and crazy Hungary and Hungarian is. There are definitely some funny stories and cultural learning anecdotes.
We went on quite the quest to find Grammy’s old apartment building; we trekked around Buda for a few hours in the rain, but we did find Grammy’s Uncles old building, so that totally counts for something.

We saw a beautiful piano concert that my professor gave me tickets to…that is after she quizzed Erin on her non-existent Hungarian. Erin was a good sport, and actually did quite well; she learned turtleneck “gabor” and not a turtleneck “nem gabor.” Went to Morrison’s and almost died from smoke inhalation… anyone who thinks the fires were bad, spend a few hours in a Budapest bar, we literally quarantines our clothes afterwards. Hit up all the major sights, my fav restaurants with all their quirky themes, and of course the baths! I had such a great time, it makes me miss everyone for thanksgiving, but the program is having a dinner at the Marriott hotel, so that will be nice; I’ll be doing thanksgiving with my pseudo family. (Man are we a crazy bunch) Also, the sun has been out for the past two days! It makes me so happy, amazing what about a month without real sunshine does to you. (I am such a Californian it’s embarrassing.)

Hungarian word of the day
Pulyka “turkey”

Erin is here! We are going to frolick around Budapest and then Prague for the next week!

flurries...

Its snowing in Budapest!

Hungarian word of the day:

ho "snow"

Paprika, Mozart, and Papa... what a week

Well, Dad just touched down in LA. It was a blast having him here, and getting to show him around the city. I got to take him to my favorite restaurants, Darkness, Marxim, and Paprika! And show him all the amazing things that make me love Budapest so much.
We had a great time in Vienna; the hotel was gorgeous, as expected, and in the best possible location. We saw some amazing sights, although we almost missed our train because of the idiot ticket guy…literally handwriting our ticket and taking his sweet time. Yes, one would think that there would be a computer system for such things, but alas, one would be mistaken.
We had Wiener schnitzel, and ironically some of the best goulash our first night. We decided to get tickets for the performance of Mozart’s requiem in St Stephen’s Cathedral. It was stunningly beautiful, although even with at least a thousand people in the church; it was still about 50 degrees. Absolutely worth it though, the most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen.
We visited Schonbrun Palace, but decided not to go inside because “We don’t do lines.” Great choice actually, we wandered around the grounds and got some amazing pictures, which I will post as soon as Dad emails them to me. Vienna was gorgeous; so clean and beautiful, I kept expecting Mickey to jump out from around the corner, because it really looks like a something Disney would have built. Which really makes me ponder why in the world anyone would go to Euro Disney…? Anyway, I will expound more stories later, now I have to get to my fabulous art history class.
Also, I just managed to make some rather yummy fried potatoes, so I’m quite proud of myself right now.

Hungarian word of the day:

Burgonya or Krumpli “potato”