Hey Everyone!
Wow. What a crazy few days it has been! where to begin. Well, first of all the airport. My entire family came. Mom, Dad, Noni, Papa, Auntie Drena, Taron, Rylan, Zach, and Cale were all there to see me off. This was so hard, wow did I cry. I mean I know a year goes by fast, but when your siblings are so little it makes it very rough. Anyways enough talk about that, it’ll make me homesick.
My flight was good because I sat next to a very nice young guy named Nick and his Dad and was able to chat with him for a good portion of the way. When I got to Frankfurt Airport I was amazed at just how huge it is!! I never even had to switch terminals and I walked for like 2 KM and went down a bunch of flights of stairs and FINALLY got to my gate. Then when they called us to board I was surprised to discover that we had to take a bus to get to the plane!!! This was cool because I got to board from outside like a celebrity or something. :P When I landed in Budapest needless to say I butterflies to the max!! I didn’t have to go through customs or anything and I got my baggage no problem. When I walked through the doors to the waiting area much to my anticipation was my host family. Jumping up and down and squealing and holding a big sign that said “Welcome Tori” with a Canadian and Hungarian flag. :) It was extremely cute! I was given big hugs from Andi, Toni, and Kira and we were off. I felt bad because my bags barely fit in their vehicle, they told me that their daughter Nike had left earlier that day with only one bag. :S
On our way back to Debrecen they shared with me many Hungarian sites and facts about things I was seeing along the roadside. Their English wasn’t as good as I had anticipated and their accents are very thick. Poor Kira had to work her brain extra hard to translate almost everything. We stopped at a convenience store and picked up some Hungarian chocolate bars called Turorudi. They are AMAZING!! they are some sort of cream cheese coated with chocolate and a mystery center because I have no idea what they were saying to me :P.
Back at home they showed me their house and gave me a tour of the neighborhood where I tried some ice cream which is also VERY good! all of the flavoring is added from scratch. Then I unpacked my things, very odd feeling. Needless to say i slept like a baby that night!! Until 3 PM the next day I was out like a light! That afternoon I went to Debrecen with Andi and Kira and they showed me almost every attraction in the city. The Forum (huge mall, boy am I gonna like it there!), the market, the concert hall, the University town, the Aqua Park, the city Square, Frog Lake, and the Big Forest. Everything here is so incredibly beautiful!! All of the architecture is so old fashioned and everything is magnificent and huge! I loved ever second of it!
Since then I haven’t been able to sleep as good, waking up between 3 and 5 AM and not being able to sleep again for at least a couple hours, but I guess that is to be expected.
The last couple days I have taken the bus into Debrecen with one of Nike’s friends Zsofi to see my school. Its not what I expected but I can’t judge yet what I will think of it. We then met up with a few of her friends and Nike’s best friend Robert and walked around the city with them. They were all very nice to me and although only two of them could speak English I felt very welcome and had a lot of fun. One thing I have learned is to expect hugs and kisses from EVERYONE! I got kisses on both cheeks from guys I have never even seen before! :P I also went with Kira to a nearby town where she goes to school and got to see it, as I expected, its huge and beautiful. While her parents where away to a funeral the one day Kira and I decorated our school books with wrapping paper and covered her text books. We also just laid outside on the grass for hours in the sun and played with Dogi (their adorable little dog). I love the weather here! It has been in the 30’s every single day. :)
Some interesting things that I have come across are things like: the stop lights, instead of solid yellow or green they are yellow or green arrows, everyone rides a bike, the food, so far I have tried things like Fruit Soup, a drink made of milk and sour cream soaked in Mushrooms, cross walks with buzzers, and there is Graffiti absolutely everywhere! except, interestingly enough, the very old and important/respected buildings. Very cool I thought!
So that has been my adventure so far. The language is excruciatingly confusing and i have no idea how I am EVER going to learn it, but I’m trying. Kira is teaching me the alphabet, and words and slowly becoming phrases, but I can’t wait to be able to hold more than a 30 second conversation!! It will make this whole culture shock thing a whole lot less exhausting. I hope I can give you all another update soon!! :)
LATER!
