- Hungarians, typically, are thrilled that any foreigner is trying to learn Hungarian--it's rather difficult and Hungary is a small country. This surprise and happiness at our admittedly pathetic attempts usually yields one of two outcomes. If the other person is one we'll never see again, like a cashier or seat partner on the train, they squee over you for a minute and fawn over how good your Hungarian is, which totally makes your day. If it's someone you see repeatedly, like a classmate or Rotarian, they are pleased you made an effort and fail to mention that you're pronouncing a word wrong, thus giving it a different meaning. (Eg. my friend saying "no grace" instead of "no problem" for two months, me saying "I like" instead of "I think", and me saying "pumpkin" instead of "Thursday" up until like three days ago)
- Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, highschool. I've already graduated and done my time, but I just love it so much I had to come back :D
- Okay, this isn't entirely true and we all know it. Being in highschool for another year while my former classmates pursue higher education is kind of a bummer sometimes, not gonna lie. But, I do study and participate like I should--to the annoyance of my teachers I'm sure--and my doodles are getting quite advanced. It helps that I love my classmates too, and the cafeteria food here is far superior to what we have in America.
- #hungaryisthebestplacetogetfat. It's true, and it's a distinct possibility. Anyone who follows my Instagram knows my love of food and selfies knows no bounds, though I haven't posted food photos in a while. The diet here is primarily rice/potatoes and meat, with soup thrown in pretty often and of course, white bread. I'm never one to deny comfort food, but I do miss the color green being present on my plate. Still, at least I'm not vegetarian! (Shout out to my tough veggie loving friends who get fried cheese slabs and an assortment of fried vegetables at every Rotary meeting.) My host mom is also a super good cook, as all my friends can attest, and makes home made pogacsa. So, I think it's safe to say that my tummy is pretty happy over here.
- I haven't really posted about the great volleyball saga that is my life yet, but I do play here. It's a little odd for me because I've been setting for a very, very long time and I do a lot of passing and hitting here. Even when I do get back to my comfy space next to the net, the changes don't stop. Sets here are higher, which is more challenging because you have less control over the location of the ball relative to the net. (sidenote: it also doesn't help that I've been trained forever that quicker is better, and short 'n' sweet is the way to go) Also, I may or may not have knocked some people over in my pursuit of the ball because I'm a little bit of an aggressive player...But! Despite these differences I love being on the team here and it's cool being able to say I've played abroad.
- Shout out to Jim Dietz for teaching me and talking volleyball with me. I didn't understand anything starting out two months ago, but since he taught me how this stuff works and I know basically every variation of every drill ever from his practices, I got by. It's hard to nerd out about it without you here, but I think we make it work.
- Last but not least, travel! So far I've been to Vienna, Romania, and of course Budapest. I loved all three. Being in Vienna and seeing/speaking German was so comforting to me, though I did confuse a French girl. (She was confused because she thought I was American. But I speak something other than English. So I can't be American, apparently. As a country, we really need to get on that. It sucks surprising people because they assume we're incompetent/lazy about foreign language, among other things.) I'm going to do a post about Vienna soon and post some of my friend's amazing photographs--she has a nice camera, and it just overall really talented.
That's all I can think of for my three month round-up. Of course there are lots of stories and accidents and embarrassing habits I've left out (like how my classmates and I have started replacing words with onomatopoeia because everyone speaks their languages half-way) but I have to save something to tell everyone for when I come home, and I honestly don't know how to put some of my experiences into words (insert onomatopoeia-speak).
Thanks everyone for everything! I'll try to post more often and be more succinct, it's just a little difficult because I don't always know what language I'm speaking, as silly as that sounds.
Puszi!
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