I have to do this I have to do this I have to do this I have to do this I have to do this I have to do this I have to write this I have to kick my procrastination soul away I have to be diligent I have to!!!
I still have mid test week going on until next Thursday but it's okay I'm going to finish this. But like the last time, I will probably just post some pictures and not giving a detailed information about this whole trip because I basically forget the name of some places and forget the timing also.
My brain is not some hard disk with 998762765462636 TB memory!
Man, I forget this but if I'm not mistaken my schedule is Friday, February 12th 2016 18:30 PM from Brno Hlavní Nádraží (Brno) to Budapest Keleti Train Station (Budapest)!
There are 20 exchange participants for the project I did (plus Easy!), and we all wanted to go to Budapest so much because people say it's such a good city. My friend from my team, Bessie, was the one who booked the hotel. I went to Budapest by train because Hlavní Nádraží (main train station in czech) is approachable for all the three teams.
The 2nd week of teaching ended on Friday (3/12), and we decided to gather at Hlavní Nádraží around 5 or 6 PM so we can buy the ticket together. I went there with my team and we also met the other teams there.
The train is comfortable and we got to decide whatever seat we want to take as long as it's not occupied by other people... I took a seat with Hoai and Lulu and we ended up sleeping at the train because we were tired so much.
(I have some pictures of my friends when they slept at the train but I won't expose it here!)
The train passed Bratislava, Slovakia so I guess I can conclude that I had a little piece of Bratislava even when I just stopped by the train station! So we arrived at Keleti train station Budapest around 10 PM and the train station is huge and beautiful!
Not to be overly dramatic but I wore that orange hijab so often and I don't know why. I brought many hijabs but I always stuck with that orange one, I washed it and then wore it again and again. Man, it's just comfortable wearing it.
We took some pictures there in the train station because it's so beautiful, there are paintings on the wall and the ceiling is so high. So aesthetic.
The first thing we did is buying tram ticket. We exchanged money for Forint (Hungarian currency) back then when we were at Brno to make it less complicated once we arrived in Budapest.
The weather was so cold like usual. There were not so many people passing by around the train station and we were trying to get into the hotel Bessie booked but it was a little bit difficult because we were basically strangers in a foreign country so we didn't know how to get there.
We tried to take trams and trying to dechiper the hotel maps on the internet. When we walked for minutes, there was this one guy who approached us and started to talk to Franzi. He knows how to speak German and Franzi asked for help. Ding! The guy knew the location of the hotel.
We followed the guy to the hotel and we reached this certain street, but it's more like a really scary path to pass. No people, so dark, yes it's such a really scary street. The guy told us that the hotel is probably 500 meters ahead and we can just keep walking straight. We thanked the guy and did what he tell us.
Franzi then said, "That guy asked me why we booked a hotel in the most dangerous area in the whole Budapest. Guys, he said this is the most dangerous street in the entire city,"
I couldn't be anymore dreaded, I was scared and sweating, my knuckles were white (okay this is lame), and we all felt terrified. We then walked closely to each other and Yntymak brought my camera and keep sticking to me and he kept asking oi Nuha where are you everytime I walked far from him. He was worried of me, I suddenly miss you, Mom :(
The street is really dark. It was scary. For real. I spotted some people doing I-don't-know-what near the dumpster, there was a drunk guy walking by, there was a man sleeping in front of the shop, damn, I want to run to the hotel and lock my door.
After walking for minutes, we finally arrived at the hotel and I felt relieved because the hotel is nice and comfortable so I'm good. I like my bed! We arrived at the hotel at 2 AM in the morning so you can feel how tired we were at that time.
We were supposed to gather in the living room at 9 AM so we will have so much time to explore the city...BUT we ended up leaving our hotel at 11 AM! I bought two kebabs from the nearest Turkey Kebab Shop the previous night so I can eat it in the morning.
I was a little bit disappointed because it was raining since morning. So we had to bring umbrella and it was complicated to take pictures when it's raining and I hate it. Rain in the middle of this cold weather? Better slap me.
Actually, I forget what's the name of this place we visitted. All I know is there were so many people doing demonstration in front of the building. People holding banners, and yelled some sentences in their language of course, so I'm pretty much clueless at that time. I also don't know how we ended up there.
We also went inside this huge church and I only took some pictures because there were bunch of people praying there so I don't feel it's such a good idea to explore it and take some pictures of the ornaments.
We continued to stroll around and cross the bridge to the other side of town. Hungary looks like Prague, I mean there is a huge ass river in the middle of the town and they have many bridges between it. We tried to go to the other side to get a closer look of Hungary Parlement building.
Hungary Parlement buiding is so popular because it's located along the river. You can see this building crafted in most of Hungarian souvenirs because it's indeed their popular site. Look at the building with the green roof at the top below. Yes, that's it.
For your information, that river, Danube river, separates two part of the town, Buda and Pest.
We didn't go to the parlement building but instead we went to this museum located on the top of the hill so we can see the city from above. It was so good. Some of us went up by walking but I decided to take this motor train, I don't know what I should call it, from the ground to the top of the hill. I searched in on internet, the hill's name is Gellért Hill.
We went to museum, but Yntymak brought my camera so I didn't take any pictures but here are what he took. Yntymak is a designer student so he really likes taking pictures of art and he really fonds of museum!
After that, we visitted the biggest church or cathedral in the whole Budapest, St. Stephen's Basilica. It's sooo huge so we have to take the pictures from far away so that the whole church will be on the screen camera.
We went inside the church and the ornament is so nice, the ceiling is so high, it has such a nice architecture.
And we decided to go home at around 7 PM and I bought kebab again because I was hungry. We spent our time at hotel talking and chatting and doing some stupid games in the living room. I remember it was late at night when some of us wanted to go to the grocery store across the hotel but no one was brave enough to go there alone.
So some of the guy played a game and the one who lost had to go to the grocery store. I remember Easy said, "Geez I don't want to go there alone and die killed by some stranger on the way,"
Bessie, Alex, and Ben cooked and baked something in the kitchen and the cake is really good. Bessie nailed it.
In the morning, we left the hotel at around 10 AM and decided to go to some places we haven't visitted the day before.
On the way, we were crossing Liberty bridge, the third and shortest bridge of Budapest. It was built for the Millennium World Exhibition in 1896, its original name being Francis Joseph Bridge. At least that's what I found from the internet.
We decided to climb up the hill, I once again forget what's the name of this place. We can see a bridge from up here but I don't know what kind of bridge is that. Thank God it was sunny that day. But still, I was tired because climbing up the hill will never be my favourite activity.
We were so hungry after so much walking and exploring so we decided to drop by some restaurant in the city. It was a little bit complicated because we tried to find a good restaurant with cheap price, hey we are all still students!
I went to souvenirs shop and bought some things. I still have some at home, so please hit me up if you want a souvenir from Hungary.
Okay so we went to Keleti train station at 1 PM and we took the same train to go to Brno. We arrived in Brno around 5 PM and my team go back to our own host family. Once I arrived home, I have to pack my things real quick because I have to go to my next host family.
I was so tired but it's all worth it!
