An International Group!

Meet MESPOM Batch 5!

Our department is made up of students from 31 COUNTRIES! And Central European University, as a whole, has representatives from over 100 countries!

Here are the 31 countries that are represented in our program:

• China
• Columbia
• Denmark
• Kyrgyzstan
• Sweden
• Tajikistan
• UK
• USA
• Mongolia
• New Zealand
• Russia 
• Poland
• Palestine
• Ethiopia
• Armenia
• Hungary
• Serbia
• Turkey
• Indonesia
• Trinidad & Tobago
• Honduras
• Uzbekistan
• India
• Ukraine
• Bangladesh
• Venezuela
• Ireland
• Costa Rica
• Belarus
• Zimbabwe
• Macedonia

It is amazing to be surrounded by such a diverse group of people. I hope to walk away from this program with a Master's degree in environmental studies, but more importantly, with a more global view of the world and the people that live on it.

I take the lift to my flat...

It's official... I am living in Budapest! I just rented an apartment (I mean my "flat") from a Hungarian couple and will be spending the next 9 months living as a student in Budapest! Renting out an apartment makes me feel more at home and less like a tourist in this city. As you can see from the map below, my apartment is right on the Danube river. While we don't have a view from our apartment, we have a gorgeous view from the front door of our apartment building. From my room at night I can see the Liberation Monument that stands on top of Gellert Hill on the Buda side of the city. Our apartment is nice and close to Central European University (CEU) and we can easily walk there. We have also been taking a trolley that runs right in front of our house. We hop on the trolley and in two stops we are at school! Super convenient location right by school, the river, the bridges to Buda, a metro station, and more. Great apartment and spectacular location! 

The apartment I am renting is on the 4th floor of an apartment building that houses probably only 30 apartments. The whole inside of the apartment building is open to a courtyard, which is common in buildings in Budapest. We take the "lift" (aka elevator) to the 3th floor (really the 4rd floor, but they call the second story the first), and then walk up a set of spiral stairs to get to our apartment. We are the only apartment on this level, so it is nice and quite and feels super safe. Speaking of safety--we have a door and a gate on our apartment, which makes me feel really safe but is also a little impractical. Yesterday my roommate and I got locked inside our apartment because the gate was stuck and we couldn't open it!!

I am living with two other MESPOM students who I met within the first couple of days of being in Budapest. Galya is from Ukraine and Fanny is from Indonesia. They are both great girls and I am excited for a fun year of traveling and studying. Our apartment has tons of room so there should be space for everyone to hang out, study, and relax.

Our apartment has one angled roof and lots of wood floors and walls. It kinda looks like a ski cabin! Check out the pictures below of my new place....

• My bedroom: I took the smallest bedroom in the apartment and am paying less in rent per month. It is a cute little cozy room. Not quite enough room for all of my stuff, but I am sure that I will manage. I picked up some new sheets and a mirror from Ikea, so the room is starting to look like more of a Katie room!

• Kitchen: We have a cute little kitchen! We are lucky because we have a dish washer, washing machine, microwave, and a stove in our kitchen. Should be a nice place to prepare meals and have dinner parties!

•  Only problem with our kitchen is that the fridge and the freezer are in a closet..... kinda hard to get to the food in the back of the fridge! 

• Living room: We have a great big living room with two couches, my study desk, and a kitchen table. Great place for entertaining! 

• And, speaking of entertaining, we had a housewarming party and had a bunch of MESPOM students over to our house for wine, snacks, and games. Fun to hang out in our new place! 

I am sure that by the time winter rolls around I will have new stories about the apartment and how everything is working out! Hopefully this apartment is as great as it seems! So far this apartment is great for three students studying in Budapest, Hungary! 

Hungarian Oddities

Because I just arrived in Budapest, I am still adjusting to all of the things that are different and unique to Hungary. This is just the beginning of a list of things that are unique and strange to Hungary. I am sure this list will grow and change as the year continues. Also try to imagine me in all of these situations... I have already been doing some silly and klutzy things! Somehow the MESPOM group already knows that I am not the most graceful of characters. :)

Toliets: In Japan the toilets were on the ground and hard to use. I am happy to report that toilets in Budapest are familiar and easy to use! However, the flushing mechanisms are pretty noteworthy. I search for nearly 5 minutes for the flush in our apartment's bathroom before asking help from Galya. I couldn't find the flush because the water tank is on the celling and you have to pull a chain. Aghh! Around town this cord and tank system isn't common but check out the HUGE flush button in the picture below. Wowza! You don't need to put your glasses on to see that flusher!

Electronics/Outlets: I knew before I left for Hungary that I needed power adaptors in order to use my electronics in Europe, but I didn't realize how confusing and dangerous this voltage switch could be! Of course I didn't look at the voltage of my hairdryer on the first day and almost caught the hostel on fire because it started to spit sparks!!! I know better than to just plug in the hairdryer, but I think I was jet lagged and didn't have the energy to think about voltage.

I am happy to report that my Mac is doing well and charging well. The battery pack is suitable for the voltage here, and with a power adaptor it is working really well. I do notice that the battery pack gets really hot, but hopefully that isn't a problem!

Showers: Ah, the joy of showering in another country. It seems that bathing is always different, based on the shower head height, the water temperature, or the fixtures. You all remember when my shower lit on fire in Ecuador and I was running around my host family's house in my towel? Yeah, apparently I don't have very good luck with fires when traveling! The most recent shower "saga" involves showering with a hand held hose. This is actually quite easy, but it is definitely a change from home! It is virtually impossible to take a warm 30 minute shower.... your arm would get too tired!

"Coffee:" If you have interacted with me in the past year you know it was because I had my morning coffee. Ever since graduation I have been drinking coffee left and right to stay awake. Now that I am in Europe I am without a coffee pot or a local coffee shop. To make up for this, Galya and I have been drinking lots of cappuccinos at cafes and restaurants. BUT currently the only coffee we have in our apartment is instant coffee. This stuff is disgusting. I am buying a coffee pot this weekend. :)

Gay Pride in Budapest

I definitely didn't plan to write about a Gay Pride parade in my first blog posting from Budapest, but the events are happening and I felt the need to write about them. You guys all know that when I have something to say, I say it!

Today, Saturday the 5th, is the Gay Pride parade in Budapest. Last year, this parade turned violent and there were many arrests. I guess that people threw eggs, tomatoes, feces, and more at the participants in the parade. How absolutely disgusting! Walking through the streets today there are tons of fences put up around the city and police everywhere. There are groups of police in riot gear and gas masks!! I honestly don't know if the police are there to control the crowds, enforce peace in the streets, or reinforce the idea that this is an event where people should be angry and riot.

After living in Portland the events of today are absolutely outrageous. I hope that today goes smoothly and that there is little to no violence. I hope that I have moved to a country that is supportive of all people, regardless of sexual orientation. I would write more but I think that Whoopi Goldberg summed it all up nicely in this video.

I will keep you updated on the events of today. Please join me in wishing that the people of Budapest are able to celebrate and have fun today, without worries of violence or arrest.

PS- General Budapest blogs coming soon!