Week 1: September 6th - 12th

Monday 1999-09-06

The trip went ok. Woke up at 4:40, by bus to Helsinki. Couldn't find the Thomas Cook exchange at the airport => the bank took a 33mk fee. The exchange rate was lousy.

It was the first time I met red wine with a plane-lunch. It was Spanish, should've been Hungarian. At Ferihegy I met Mikko Nieminen, who studies telecommunications here and in Vaasa. We took the airport minibus to the "hotel". They say taxis will cheat you. Only a rich idiot takes a taxi from the airport.

I got Janne Pölönen from lappeen Ranta as my room-mate. He studies engineering management. Janne Mäkipetäjä (Nakki) from Tampere, and J-P and Jarkko from Vaasa had arrived on Friday.

Martos was pretty much like I expected, not exactly a five star hotel. Could've been worse. Remember to draw a picture of the room! It'd be good to learn some food-vocabulary asap. I went to eat with Janne to a sucky bistro behind the corner. Cold fries and dry Wienerschnitzel. The cashier wasn't happy with my notes, she would have liked coins better, I guess.

They sent us to say hello to Eszter. She was nice; we discussed the program for the first days and the forthcoming bureaucracy.

Hot and sunny.

I called to Divinyi. Zsombor answered first, but he doesn't know Finnish. I called again later. They invited me for dinner on Saturday. Anna is going to show me the town some day on the week.

Ear hurts like always after flying. In the evening we visited some bars in Pest {Finns}\Janne. I walked back home when the others began to look for company.

Tuesday 1999-09-07

I slept late and took a liter of juice for breakfast. Martos has massaging showers, i.e. the spreader is missing. The toilets are like in Germany. And there's no paper, one has to buy it oneself. Next to the dorm there's a shop that's open 06-01 every day. My ancient bank notes from the last visit (commie time) are nem jó.

I went to a department store and bought shampoo, maps, a cup, spoons and soap. It would have been sensible to bring some of the stuff from Finland. Paying works like in Finland. Neither the customer nor the cashier need to say anything. The ATM-machine accepted my card and knew English and German. I had lunch at the Market Hall in Pest. Great place. I wouldn't buy anything, though. The hall was full of tourists, and they knew German in the bar. Coffee was quite a shock. It costed next to nothing, 50ft, but there was next to nothing in the cup also. And it was far too strong.

Wine is cheap. They sell 3 liter tanks of white wine for 450ft in the market hall. The worst red wines in our shop are 250ft, less than orange juice.

The others hadn't found anything yesterday. In the evening I went jogging with Janne on Gellért hill. We were looking at the statue of liberty and the great view. The city is beautiful, dirty and full of Trabants. Danube smells a bit.

I called Anna, but she's ill. The guided tour will apparently be later. Anyway, I'll visit the Divinyis in Gödöllő on Saturday.

Wednesday 1999-09-08

We enrolled to the school and filled forms to get the residence permit. Some idling and confusion, but Eszter was taking great care of everything. In the afternoon we had a guided bus-tour: the city center in Pest, Népstadion, some square ['twas Heroes square], the parliament, Margit island, the Castle Mountain and Fishermen's Bastion, and the Gellért hill. In the evening we had pizza in our regular-to-come restaurant with a Finnish-Swedish-American group. Hunter (from Virginia) got a slight food poisoning.

Later we were playing the clapping game in some pub in Pest. (Dan, Sarah (Texas), Annika (från Stockhålm), Mikko,JP,Jarkko, Nakki and me.) The waiter didn't quite get the order "two bottles of white wine and one glass (for eight)". IN CAnada.

We visited shortly the school of economics disco (Közgáz). Jarkko with his gangster-look got checked at the entrance. The music wasn't anything special, and we left soon. Except for Mikko who was back at 6 a.m.

Thursday 1999-09-09

We left the residence permit applications to the police station, which went smoother than one would have expected. J-P, Mikko and Nakki got lost on the way to the station.

The Hungarian and Central European studies were introduced, and we got the preliminary time tables. Nearly all my lectures seem to overlap. Don't quite know what to do with it. I took Hungarian and Hungarian Culture in addition to the courses I selected earlier. I'll skip the information theory, I've had it.

In the evening there was a Hungarian Folklore program, i.e. gypsy music and dance. Most of us skipped it, though it was worth seeing. Stepping in boots, clapping hands and a gypsy violin orchestra. Japanese-Gypsy bass-player? I should've eaten/slept before the show. Didn't feel like talking to anyone. I bet the French girl next to me [Veronique] got a ¬good impression. Well, she didn't talk either.

I didn't feel like going anywhere with the others, or even find out if they are going anywhere. I walked back to Martos.

Friday 1999-09-10

The Hungarian Music course was introduced. Seems interesting, and the teacher is a funny guy. I don't have time nor know anything 'bout music. Then 3 hours of basic Hungarian. I hope the actual course will be better [It was.]

In the afternoon we selected the courses for good, kinda. The time conflicts won't be a problem, one can agree it with the teachers. I'll take every other lecture Operating Systems and every other lecture Computer Architectures.

The official opening of the term was less boring than in Tampere. Mikko kept a long speech, the Finnish exchange students were introduced as long as all the others together. There're 3 Mikkos and 5 Jannes. I'm not feeling too well. What the hell am I doing here? [on this planet]

Great evening. First we ate at Kis Rabló (small pirate), a good but quite expensive restaurant. We were 8: Eric (Moscow, Idaho), Philip, Veronique, <mumble> [=Remko] from Holland, Nakki, Mikko and me. In the evening we were boozing at Piia's place. She works at the Finnish embassy, and has an unf*ckingbelievable apartment on Gellért hill. The view from the balcony to Danube and the castle mountain is just like from a postcard.

At night we partied in the Citadella disco on Gellért. I had the best time in disco ever and wasn't even too drunk. Upstairs there was a large plastic doughnut filled with air. It lay on the floor, about a meter high and five meter's diameter. There was a pipe in the ceiling feeding soap foam into it on the dancing people. My jeans smell like a foam bath. Mikko lost his shirt and bought a very small blouse from a local girl at 5000ft. Piia lost an earring and Sarah her shoe, (which was found). I left with Annika before the others.

Saturday 1999-09-11

I paid the rent for September, 3500ft e.g. about 80mk. I visited the Gellért bath. From inside it looks like a Roman bath from Asterix, though it's less than 100 years old. The Finnish sauna had large warning signs and an alarm button, but no water to throw on the stove. Had to use the swimming cap for the water.

I planned to buy trousers somewhere in Pest, but couldn't find a suitable store. Shopping sucks. Most of the exchange students were playing football on Margit island in the afternoon. I was a goal-keeper. Can't remember the result. As the others went to a bath, I left for Gödöllő.

I took a Hév to Gödöllő. Péter and Zsuzsanne picked me up from the station and we had dinner. Must see Sissi's castle some day. We went to a local beer-fest, which was pretty much like in Finland. I heard that some Hungarian mafioso owns the bicycle brand Schwinn. Later we watched in tv Hungary beating Croatia 15-12 in the European Championships of water polo. They were really exited about it. Zsuzsanne brought me back to Budapest.

Sunday 1999-09-12

I was with Eric, Philip and Remko at a wine party on the Castle Mountain. A bit better and cheaper party than the one in Tampere. The wine (and 'twas good) was 80- 120ft/glass. I had approximately good time. We read text in each others mother tongues and laughed at the ridiculous pronunciation.

The tv and computers disappeared from the lobby of Martos, hopefully they'll be back. An insanely hot day again. Probably burned my neck. In the evening we had pizza (J,J-P,S,B,D,N). All restaurants are far too hot to be comfortable.

The locals have some sort of party. There's celebration on every floor of Martos.

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