Week 18: January 3rd - 6th

Monday 1999-01-03

I'm writing my essay and proceeding slowly. I was in Lurdy Ház with Mikko and Juho. We bought souvenirs (in the "negro shop", as Mikko put it. E.g. in Julius Meinl.) We ate in Cactus Something near Oktogon. Anssi T & co. were also there. I scribbled my essay till almost three a.m.

Tuesday 1999-01-04

I wrote. In the library I found a helpful book. The essay might be ready tomorrow, if I aim low enough. Feels like travelling fever. I can't sleep.

Wednesday 1999-01-05

The essay was ready at noon. Six pages must do. I had lunch with Mikko. The falafel place on Karinthy was overcrowded. We went to Rolling Rock on the other side of Zsigmond. Despite the stupid name it proved to be an excellent place. Good Mexican food in huge portions. Not too cheap, though. In the jukebox we found a weird but crappy song called "Hyvä Suomi!", by some Hungarian band. It consisted of an ice hockey commentary from Hungarian tv.

On the way back I sent a box of books to myself in Finland. I walked past a small post office, but thought I'll try the bigger one (on Fehérvári) first. Nobody knew any English or German. Somehow I knew enough Hungarian to manage. They told me to go to the smaller post office.

There they gave me a form and asked to fill in the information about sender and recipient. Logically the filling instructions were in Hungarian and in French only. They also gave a piece of string to wrap around the box (so easy with one hand), and sent me back to the other post office. There they finally agreed to take the packet, though I probably was on a wrong desk. I still had to sign the form and invent the value of the books. [The 4.3 kg shipment costed 6500 ft. It was in Finland in a good week.]

I went to an internet cafe to scan pictures for my essay. One was not allowed to use the scanner oneself. Instead, some screw-up staff member (who had never used the scanner before) did it. The scanned pictures were useless, blurred, too pale and had awful colors. I couldn't use the pictures and had search new ones in the net. The whole crap was ready and printed at eight.

Mikko had tried to order the Airport minibus, but the number didn't answer. I also tried a couple of times and finally got the bus.

Juho and Anssi came to visit. Mikko would have wanted to take a taxi and drop in n+1 bars and pubs. However we went to 22. The Russian girl Vita also came. And after a while also Sünci, Edith and Vincenzo.

Thursday 1999-01-06

Travelling day. I packed rest of my stuff. Mikko screwed up his last exam at eight. (The same one that J-P and Jarkko had failed already before Christmas.) I paid the rent for the first half of January. I returned the student card. I would have returned my essay, but Mrs. Gombos or Eszter hadn't come yet. Mikko called Finnair and asked about taking the snowboard. It's ok if he wraps it in cardboard or something. The only available packing material was a Martos sheet. The minibus came in time and took us to the airport. Philip came with the same bus.

Mikko had over 40 kg of luggage, and he had to pay about 20000 ft for the overweight. We couldn't split our quota since Mikko was going to fly to Jyväskylä from Helsinki. I had only 16.5 kilos, which is enough for one hand. While waiting for the plane we already got a piece of Finnish atmosphere, as a Bacardi-cola costed 1500 ft.

Surprisingly, my ears weren't complaining about flying. The food was edible and there was an empty seat next to me. Mikko was taking full advantage of the free booze.

In Helsinki we took a bus to downtown. I bought a train ticket to Tampere. The next non-IC train will leave after three hours. We had a beer in a nearby bar, and Mikko called a friend of his there. In the next table some drunken stereotype is explaining loudly how everyone else is a loser and sucks. I want back to Budapest.

We had a pizza. Mine had pi/2 kg garlic. By train to Tampere. Jouko picked me up from the station. We left some of my luggage in Hervanta and drove home. Everything's just like always.

phew. The end.

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