Home is...

I've been in Pest for a about a month and a half now, and I can honestly say that this city feels like home.  When I go away for weekends, I look forward to coming back to my apartment and the familiarity of the subway (and the leather straps), the sights, and the streets.  That being said, I still manage to get lost on the regular...I should probably continue to explore this city.  

"No Mary Allowed" -
my roommates love me.

This week I encountered my first waves of homesickness.  It's a little strange for me because I've always prided myself in the fact that I am so independent that I don't really get homesick, but this isn't like going away to college.  If anything happens, the support system I have consists of people that at this point I know pretty well (and I love each and every one of you) but it's not the same because there is so much that they all have yet to learn about me.  I am realizing how much I like the consistency of having people in my life, and I'm realizing how it's nice to feel grounded.  Sometimes all of this just feels disposable (this is not taking away from the experience that I'm having, I'm loving every second of it...these are more like random ramblings).  I'm bad at keeping in touch with the people I care about, and being here hasn't changed anything at all...my communication skills are pitiful (sorry).  I feel out of sync with not only my friends and family, but with America.  I have not been keeping up with current events, and I'll probably come back to the states without any frame of reference to what's going on.  That being said, part of these thoughts are coming from my experience this weekend, in getting to see one of my good friends from home when Kait came from Prague to stay with me!

Thursday's dinner!

We had a weekend I'll never forget.  I am amazed by how easily Kait adapts to all situations, and she fit right in with the JSBP crew.  Thursday...after a torturous experience getting the tickets, we had a delicious dinner that Sarah and I had made earlier in the day, and we spent the night at a bar called Instant, where we had an absolute blast.  Kamikazes for everyone!  

Making friends with the passed out man
in the upside-down room at Instant

Nellie creeping on the water polo team

Friday we spent the day exploring the city.  It was great to be hosting a tourist here, because it forced me to be curious about the city that I'm so comfortable in that I take the sights for granted.  We went to Heroes Square, Vajdahunyad Castle and City Park in the morning, and then 

we picked up Court and went to St. 

Steven's Basilica and the Central market in the afternoon.  From there we added Nell and Grace to our lovely group and walked around Margaret Island for a little while, before going out with everyone to two bars we hadn't been to yet: Corvin-teto and Alcatraz.  I loved the scene at Corvin-teto (more Budapest ruin bar type experience) with a Jamaican-dubstep group playing the sickest music ever, that Kait and I raged to on a stage on the side of the crowd.  It's on top of a department store, so they have a penthouse/open roof bar...just a really cool place.  We all went over to Alcatraz afterwards, which was packed because of an ESN (international student organization) party, and is pretty cool because it's themed like a prison.  It was pretty expensive though, so I wish we'd stayed at Corvin-teto.  That night, we got home at almost 4.

Trying to take an innocent picture
at Szimpla turns into something like
this...

Hospital in the Rock

Call us crazy, but we were able to wake up on Saturday and head over to Buda to do more exploring with Nell and Court.  Buda is very quaint and less hustle-and-bustle than Pest.  There are cobblestone streets and it's quiet and there are amazing views everywhere.  In Buda, we went to see the Hospital in the Rock, which was a secret WWII and Cold War hospital in a cave in the side of Budapest.  It was classified as top-secret from 1952 to 2002, and they still have all of the original equipment inside.  It's crazy!  Kait and I then met up with Sarah and went to dinner at a great Italian place before we went out to Szimpla which is my favorite bar over here.  We had hookah and hard cider all night, and good conversation as always.  

I had so much fun with Kait over here! I wish that every one that I know could come visit me here so they could see the kind of life that I get to have here!! 

FRIENDS

And here's something I've been thinking about all day....home is wherever I'm with you.  

      Live and Learn.