Heroes Place

  

Michaela and Georg on Andrassy Street

  

Two Cousins, One Party

  

Michaela and I in Front of the Parilament

  

Me over Budapest

  

Birthday, Pecs, First signs of Spring

These past few weeks I have been quite busy with at first my cousin visiting from Austria for my birthday. Michaela and her boyfriend Georg were here for the weekend and joined our party on Saturday night. The next two days we filled with lots of sightseeing and checking out the shopping mall. We had a lot of fun together, going out for drinks, lunch at a Belgian brasserie, freezing in the cold, taking hundreds and hundreds of pictures. Thanks again for your visit, Michi and Georg!!

Apart from that I started doing a lot of work for school as readings are now increasing steadily. My profs are all very interesting and fun! For example, I have an old, very nice professor who teaches about the change from communism to demorcracy in Eastern Europe. It is a very interesting class! However, his humour doesn't quite reach the class, so he regularly breaks out in laughter and we at first don't quite understand the reason for it. However, with time we do get his joke and start smiling too. Another very funny professor is our Marketing Professor who enjoys a drink or two (or more) each day, and is very easy going. He tells us a lot of stories about his travels and international differences in culture, values, customs, etc.

This past weekend I went with friends to a city in southern Hungary, Pecs. This was really good as Budapest has been rainy, snowy and grey during the past week. Down south it was nice and warm and we could walk around in T-Shirts. We went for walks, went out and enjoyed to be somewhere else in Hungary for the first time.

And returning to Budapest was great too! The first signs of spring have came and we have had warm temperatures and sun since Monday! Although it is supposed to cool down towards the weekend again everyone is really happy about these first warm days of the year!

Marina and I With the Danube Behind

 
 

Hungarian Parliament

 
 

Matthias Church and Fisher's Bastion

 
 

Szechenyi Bridge: Budapest's oldest Bridge

 
 

 
 

Surprise Party

 
 

SSSUURRPPRRIISSEE!

Well, well. This has been yet another exciting week in Hungary and Austria.

First off, we have found ourselves a really nice flatmate! Marina, a girl from Germany moved in last Tuesday. She is currently doing an internship in Budapest at a Lifestyle Magazine - and that's a good thing! Because of her, we'll always know what's happening in Budapest. Insider information is always good to have!

On Thursday I finally managed to do some sightseeing in this beautiful town. Lionel and I walked through the old part of the city, checked out some souvenir stores, looked across the danube, and had coffee at a beautiful old Cafe. Later that day we attended our first international students' party, which was fun as well. We tried not to stay for too long, as we were both going home for the weekend, but somehow didn't get home before 2.30 a.m. Whoops!

The weekend in Austria was great, as always. Clemens, his family and my grandparents pre-celebrated my birthday with me on Saturday. Contact lenses and spray-on pantyhose were among the original and really cool presents. Thanks again! That night we celebrated another friend's birthday - as a surprise party. Of course it was also a lot of fun, one of the best parties in a long time!

This week I tried to get myself into school-mode. I had my first full week of classes and a lot of homework already. Nonetheless I managed to go see the castle, parliament and other touristic things today. I went with Marina and her father and we saw a lot of interesting things. However, it was so cold and wet that we were all happy to be back home quite early. Pictures are attached :).

Since my cousin is coming tomorrow, be sure to find more news and pictures online soon!

Tobogganing in Austria over the Weekend

 
 

The Hungarian Statue of Liberty

 
 

My New Room!

 
 

Our Neighbour, the Synagogue