Hello again!

Where to begin. . .

Since my last update I have done a lot of really cool stuff! On the 24th of September David Guetta came to Debrecen and so a bunch of the exchange kids from all over met up and went. It was insane! loved it!! we had to wait 2 hours just to get into the building and once we were inside we listened and danced to some Hungarian DJs until David Guetta arrived. This wasn’t until about 12:30!! so the concert didn’t even end until after 3 AM! Obviously it was an extremely long and tiring night but also SO much fun! The next night was Amanda’s birthday, and our first night out on the town together. We were at a little birthday party for her and her host brother and sister for a while and then went out to a pub with her classmates. Soon we met up with the other exchangers as well and hung out and talked until 3 AM! That night was also my first experience trying Palinka :P. It is a VERY strong drink that is famous and more or less exclusive to Hungary. Very interesting to say the least. All in all that weekend was a lot of fun and not very much sleep was had by any of us. Since then I have also gotten together with some of my classmates and did some baking. We made everything from muffins and cake, to homemade fries and deep fried cheese! It was great to spend some time with them outside of school. I also got invited to one of my school mates houses (Bori) who lives just down the road here in Jozsa. It was awesome to be able to speak to her and just hang out, I really appreciate the friends I have made here so far and I find them all so kind and caring! 

This past weekend was the trip to Venice! All of the exchange students were reunited in Budapest and were all pumped for an awesome weekend! We kicked off the journey by stopping at Lake Balaton. This is not only Hungary’s largest lake, but also the largest in all of Europe. Its about 75KM long, or so I was told. The stop here was short and sweet, but interesting for sure. The rest of the night was spent on the bus, with stops every 3 or so hours. I got NO sleep at all. I’m almost sure that no one else did either! Between the laughter, chatting, temperature extremes and uncomfortable seats it was almost impossible to sleep. I ended up in the isle on the floor most of the night. Early morning brought us to Venice. After forcing our eyes open and accepting that its already daytime we were off!! We took a water taxi into the city and the whole time all I can remember thinking was, “how did they actually build this place ON the ocean?!” It was truly amazing! I now know why this is one of the most famous cities in the world! We did everything. Walked up and down the narrow streets and shops and looked at the typical Venetian masks, bought some souvenirs and post cards, and then went for lunch in a tiny Italian restaurant where I tried authentic Italian pizza! Afterwards a small group of us got into a Gondola and took a short tour of the streets by boat. It was so interesting to see things from that perspective. Peoples doorways opened right out to the ocean water! they didn’t have vehicles, but rather boats. SO COOL!! Everything had a beautiful and unique/old style to it as well. However I could never live that way, especially during tourist season. The city was absolutely PACKED with people everywhere! I couldn’t handle that. Later on I also had some Italian ice cream and Spaghetti for supper before saying goodbye to the city and taking a sunset ride on the water taxi back out to our bus. Needless to say I had an amazing time and Venice is a place I will never forget! 

Aside from a few key highlights I have been keeping myself really busy here in Debrecen. I have Volleyball on Mondays and Wednesdays, Tuesdays is Rotary meetings and Im considering joining an Aerobics class as well, Wednesdays there is a HUngarian conversation club at the American Corner that is more or less a free Hungarian lesson so I have started going to that as well. Thursdays is Spin class, and on Fridays will be Basketball. The twist with Basketball is that there is no girls team! So Im going to be playing with the boys! :S Wish me luck!! So as you can see I have been anything but bored AFTER school! Its DURING school that is sometimes a slow and painful death. I feel bad talking to my classmates while they are studying, and so sometimes I have absolutely nothing to do and remain silent for hours. You can imagine how hard that is for ME! But its getting better all the time. I find things to do and Im meeting more kids so I can wander around and find someone to talk to most of the time. I have suffered from a little more homesickness recently, but the reason mostly being because of a slow day in school. Afternoons are more or less always great! :)

I LOVE my host family!!!! They are amazing! Living with them has been more than easy and I am becoming so close to them! I miss my family and friends back home a lot, but I  am feeling better all the time. 

I am hoping to be starting private lessons for Hungarian sometime within the next couple of weeks and I can’t wait! I need some motivation other than my own nagging mind :P. 

So there is my update, next time I’m sure won’t be half as exciting considering I won’t have any extravagant trips to tell you about until December. But who knows!! Until next time! Sziaszok!