Four Months in Budapest: I donno dude, it's all Greek to me...

Sorry, I've been pretty bad about updating lately. I'll start with two weeks ago! The weekend after I went to Madrid, I stayed in Budapest. It was a much needed travel break, though I guess I didn't take much of a rest. I actually went for an 11 mile run one day, to the World Photo Press Exhibit another day, and then out to a little village called Eger which is known as wine country. Oh wow was Eger a cool village! We visited a castle and the Minaret, which is a Muslim tower built by the Turks during the Ottoman Empire era. We went up that... it had the steepest and narrowest stairs ever, I'd never felt claustrophobic before that! Really though, a normal sized guy couldn't get up there easily, the walls were touching my shoulders on either side! Ah and the wine! Eger had amazing wine cellars. Oh it was so good. And very cheap to taste :)

The rest of the week went by extremely fast, like always. Class on only three days a week makes time just fly. Or teleport, that's faster. Time teleports. But anyway, I had a flight to Athens last Wednesday night. I was supposed to get there at about 2:30am. That was a little inconvenient actually because I didn't want to book a hostel, only be there for half the night, and have to either wander around Athens at 3am with a suitcase or pay for a taxi. So I decided that I was just going to be homeless for the night and wait it out until morning at the airport. However, I ended up sitting next to a Greek girl on the plane, Christina. She had just finished medical school in Hungary and was going home finally. I talked to her the entire flight, she even taught me the Greek alphabet and vowel combinations. Somehow, my plan of sleeping at the airport came up, and she wouldn't have it. She said she would rather know I was safe, so she and her mom took me home with them instead! Her mom was probably one of the sweetest people I have ever met! She couldn't speak much English, she was the classic Greek mom. She loaded me up with food upon getting to their house at 3am and then again the next day she gave me tons of food that lasted me the whole weekend!

Christina and I on salsa dancing night :-D

Christina's mom and I

Christina took me directly to my hostel the next day, she said she wanted to see it to make sure it was a safe area. She knew a lot of good restaurants too and she kept saying she wanted me to have a great Greek experience, so I know I got authentic food :) She met up with me each night I was in Athens and took me out with her friends. Once we stayed in Plaka, a famous district in Athens with lots of bars and restaurants. It's located right under the Acropolis. Wow it was crazy to see that hill everywhere. Another night she took me to Gazi, a clubbing district where a lot of Greek people go. The last night she took me salsa dancing! She and her friends are very very good at it- it was nice of them to teach me! I'm so grateful I met her. It's crazy, because I was so nervous about going to Athens all by myself, but I ended up not being alone at all.

Eleftheria and I drinking Rakomelo

Christina, me, and Eleftheria on salsa night

Athens is a different kind of city. It didn't have office buildings or very big buildings like you can find in most big cities, even in Europe. It was very hustle and bustle and crowded. Everyone seemed to live above their shop or the place they worked. Even Christina's parents lived above their own doctor's office. I liked it though. The weather was nice and the ruins were amazing! The only thing it it's kind of a dirty city and now I have a cough.

The Friday I was there, I got up early and took a walk. I was trying to find the Acropolis, but you can't just walk towards it. The streets kind of wind... So it took me a little while to find it, even though one of Christina's friends had given me directions the night before. But it was so cool. The view from the top of the Acropolis Hill was amazing, and some weird weather looked like it was moving in really fast and that was awesome to watch from up there. Also, I think there might have been an NBA player there... It was like a 7 foot tall guy who a bunch of Americans kept recognizing and asking for a picture. I don't follow basketball, so I don't know who he was. Was there ever someone named Reg Rexall? I don't know who or what I was hearing people say.

Later, I met some people who were staying at my hostel. We went for a walk around the city. We found Hadrian's Arch, the Temple of Zeus, the old Olympic stadium, a sweet national park, and the Parliament with it's traditional Greek guards out front. It was a really nice day. OH and I can't forget that we got ice cream at this place near the hostel. It was amazing, by far the best ice cream I have had on this entire trip so far. I can't even describe it! Wow.