Budapest, Hungary!

As bummed as I was to leave the amazing city that was Copenhagen, I was equally as excited to travel to the amazing city of Budapest in Hungary. All I knew about Budapest was what I learned from Bettina, one of my roommates from Amherst who was part Hungarian and what I had seen on my favorite tv show The Amazing Race. I heard nothing my amazing things about it so I figured what the hell. When else in my life can I run to Hungary for the weekend. Our Hungarian adventures got off to a rocky start. We had a connecting flight in Germany that we barely made due to a delay from our Copenhagen flight. Put at 9pm we finally landed in Hungary! And to think that we thought Danish was confusing…yeah that had nothing on Hungarian. We literally couldn’t even begin to pretend to know what was going on.  After a confusing journey from the airport, getting stuck in ATM’s, and wandering down dark streets the wrong way for blocks, we finally arrived at our hostel. The description on the site said it was a party hostel and it for sure was not lying. We were so exhausted from traveling all day, the last thing we wanted to do was explore the raging Budapest nightlife scene. But that didn’t stop our roommates though. I am quite certain that I didn’t fall asleep that first night until 630 am and with a 945 wakeup to explore the city, we were struggling hardcore three hours later. 

Saturday was our day for exploration since we had arrived so late the night before, we couldn’t get a feel for what Budapest was all about. We grabbed a quick pastry at a local bakery and then we were off exploring the city. Our first stop was the chain bridge which connects Buda to Pest. Yep they are technically two separate cities. Our hostel was in Pest so we would be walking over to the castle district in Buda. Along the way we saw some amazing architecture and I never really got the “im in eastern Europe” vibe at all when I was there…well except for the language. Once we crossed the bridge, we decided to climb up castle hill to get a better view of the city. From there we could see all of Pest,had amazing views of the Hungarian parliament, which has a striking resemblance to the parliament in London, and as well as the basilica. Since the weather wasn’t that great we figured we would head back to the hostel for a little midday nap and then make a game plan for what to do the rest of the trip. We were talking to the girl who was working at the hostel and she recommended a few restaurants to try as well as typical Hungarian dishes.  After chilling for a little bit, we wandered down the main road to heroes square. That led into this gorgeous park with the famed Szechenyi baths and endless castles which made it seem like we were frolicking around Disneyland and not a park in a European capital. After our visit to the park, we were starved. A huge plus about Budapest was that it was beyond cheap. We took out 20,000 forint (which is a little more than $100 USD) and that lasted us three days, for food and hostel! We grabbed some typical goulash at a restaurant that the girl at the hostel recommended! It was soo good. We came back to the hostel, fully intending on going out. Kelly and I were bonding with the three Australian girls that were in our room, and one by one our voices faded and by midnight all 5 of us were passed out. Whoops!

Sunday brought a rested day and a walking tour of the city in the morning. We basically went on the same walk Kelly and I had done the day before but it was nice to know what we were seeing as well as some stories behind it. This day we again climbed up castle hill, but it was gorgeous and I think at that moment I fell in love with Budapest. On castle hill this day we ventured over to the castle that they believe in part influenced Walt Disney in the creation of Cinderella’s castle. Side note, we noticed a lot of Spanish speakers in Hungary which was comforting to hear something familiar to us. But I am not sure how anyone could travel to such a country like Hungary and not speak English. Anyways after our walking tour we grabbed gelato which was put onto the cone in a shape of a rose! It was soo cool looking! We also bought Túró Rudi which is a Hungarian chocolate bar which is filled with cottage cheese. Yeah it was as gross as it sounds but I figured we had to try it since we were there. We were all exhausted from exploring the city all day so we headed back to the hotel to chill before going out to dinner on our last night in Budapest. We watched music videos and even saw the Katy Perry Firework video which was filmed in the castle we were at earlier! For dinner we went to this really nice restaurant. There were 6 of us. Kelly and I, the three Australian girls we had met as well as an American guy who was going to grad school in Copenhagen. We ate some amazing food and it was so cheap. For the six of us, our bill only came to 11,000 forint, a little more than $50. Back at the hostel, we began some birthday celebrations for Matt. He had a friend visiting from the US and brought the forever missed red solo cups and flaming shots! We had so much fun with everyone but by the time everyone was getting ready to go to the bars it was close to 2am and we had an early flight to catch to Italy. We called it a night and wished the birthday boy well! We met some amazing people in Budapest and highly recommend that everyone visits Budapest. Everyone was super friendly and welcoming and there are some amazing sites there! 

Kel and I on the top of Castle Hill

Jumping pic in front of the Disney Castle!

Chain bridge connection Buda and Pest

St. Stevens Basilica

Heroes Square

Castle in the park

over looking Pest

church

Hungarian Parliament

Parliament in the background

rose gellato

København, Denmark!

Oh Copenhagen. Words cannot possibly describe how in love with that city I am. I feel like it is such an underrated city. I never hear anyone talk about it and even when one of my best friends said she was going to study abroad there, I specifically remember asking why? When she returned she had nothing but amazing things to say about it. She said if I ever had the chance to go there, I needed to go. Alex was absolutely telling the truth. Im not going to lie, I had no idea what to expect from Copenhagen other than cold weather and expensive price tags. It proved to be so much more than I could have ever dreamed of.

My Danish adventures began last Wednesday. My roommate Kelly and I had a 9am flight from Sevilla to Barcelona. During the layover in Barca, I shelled out my last remaining euros to purchase an American cosmo. Probably one of the best things I could have spent 5 euros on. God I’ve missed those 107 things to do with a silk tie articles. After a quick layover, we were off to Copenhagen. I saw more blondes boarding the plane than I had seen over the past 3 months in Spain. Little did I know what I was getting into.  It was only a three hour flight and we were finally in Denmark! Stepping off the plane was brutal. We had gone from 35C to a mere 7C but I didn’t care since we were in CPH. We stood in such awe of the Danish everywhere and then soon realized we couldn’t even begin to pretend we understood what was being said. Good thing the danes realize no one else speaks Danish and had English subtitles under everything. After a quick metro ride to the central train station and a three minute walk to the hotel, we immediately dropped our bags off and began exploring the amazing city. It was about 530 when we started to wander. We decided to walk down Strøget which is Europe’s longest pedestrian walkway. It was over a kilometer long and it was lined with little restaurants, pastry places and shops. We stumbled upon this store called Made in America. It sold all sorts of American delicacies like jello, marshmellow fluff, mountain dew, reeses and cheetos. We were in such awe and seriously considered shelling out some big bucks for these treats. Side note, Denmark uses the Danish krone. So 1 USD equals a little more than 5 krone.  Anyways, one pack of reese’s were 20 krone so we passed on that fast. We couldn’t help but notice all the 7-11’s that lined the Strøget. It was insane, like how dunks or starbucks is in Boston is how 7-11 is in Copenhagen.  We assumed that they would have cheap prices for things, but we were mistaken. We were in CPH so everything was pricey. A carton of Ben and Jerrys was 50 krone. Yep $10 dollars. For dinner we settled for a box of Chinese takeout for 45 krone. We decided to call it a night after that and headed back to our hotel room, ate our Chinese food and watched a little Jersey shore in Danish. What could be better!

Thursday brought endless adventures. It turns out we picked some of the best days to be in Copenhagen. Thursday was opening day at Tivoli, which is an old amusement park which Walt Disney based Disneyland off of.  There were Easter decorations everywhere and I felt like a little kid again running around in such awe of everything Tivoli had to offer. The highlight of Tivoli during the day was certainly stumbling upon a wild peacock. It was making such god awful squawking noises at me but I honestly don’t think I’ve seen a peacock in person before.  It was so beautiful and I knew Nini would be insanely jealous. After meandering though the park, we discovered they were having a fireworks show at night to commemorate opening day. We were thrilled since we both absolutely love fireworks. After Tivoli we ventured to try and find the famed Little Mermaid statue. We navigated though the confusing street names until we came across this area which said it contained the Little Mermaid. Im not sure what I thought the Little Mermaid would be but it was literally a small rock with a bronze mermaid on the top that was no bigger than I was. Oh well. I couldn’t hate since I love the Little Mermaid terribly. Walking back towards the city center, we stopped to get Pølsers which are Danish hotdogs essentially. Next stop was Christiania, little did we know we would be in for a royal treat on our way there.  We came across these massive crowds and tv crews and literally had no clue what was going on. We asked a few locals and they said it in a few minutes the Danish royal family would be arriving to the church for the baptism of the royal twins, the new prince and princess of Denmark. We stuck around and caught a glimpse of the Danish royal family! It was so cool and I’m sure we couldn’t have even found this place if we tried. Next stop before reaching Christiania, was climbing this church to seeing panoramic views of Copenhagen. Of course we got their right before it was closing so we had to run up and down in record time. The views from the top were spectacular and it was a little frightening since once we had made it through the church, there was a spiral staircase on the steeple. I loved every second of being up there. Seeing the city from up high was definitely the best way to do it. After the church we made it to Christiania. Words cannot describe this place and neither can pictures since photography is prohibited. It’s basically this outlaw community that isn’t technically a part of the European union. They sell weed in little baggies like its candy and there are no cars there. It’s a very hippy community with a really cool vibe and intricate graffiti everywhere. Kelly described it as a Morocco with blondes.

One of the best things about Copenhagen is their men. It is such a 180 from Spanish men.  Spaniards are most of the time shorter than I am and have very dark features. Danish men are tall, blonde and have amazing blue eyes. It was heaven for sure.  On our way back from our adventures, we grabbed some typical Danish pastries and went back to the hotel to get ready for the fireworks.  Went ventured back out to Tivoli at 10 for the show. Even though they were only 15 minutes long, I still loved every second of it. Fireworks are my favorite part of 4^th of July and it just reminded me of being back on the cape. IT was the perfect way to spend our last night in CPH. Friday we had a 5pm flight to Budapest so we could spend a few hours in the city before we left. We decided to take a walk along the canals and played with the geese! Our last stop was the famed Nyhavn district. It is the most picturesque area of Copenhagen. It’s a canal lined with boats and various colored houses. I wish we could sit at an outdoor restaurant and stay there forever. I loved Copenhagen so much and am literally going to tell everyone I know to visit there. I want everyone else to loved Copenhagen as much as I did. It’s just an indescribable feeling but seriously, I cannot wait to someday return to this amazing ciy. Jeg elsker København :)

playing with the peacock

Tivoli :)

just for you Nini

Little Mermaid

bikes, bikes, bikes everywhere

Prince and Princess at the baptism

At the top of the church

entrance to Christiania

Fireworks!!

Nyhavn :)

Kelly and I at Nyhavn

Semana Santa!

I am currently trying to pack 10 days worth of clothing into a duffel bag! Tomorrow morning, my roommate Kelly and I leave for a whirlwind adventure to Copenhagen, Denmark, Budapest, Hungary and the Amalfi Coast in Italy! Ahhhhh!!! I will return late next Thursday night and will have some amazing blog updates. Until then muchos bestitos a todas! xo

Barça Baby!

I think I might still be recovering from Barcelona! I had the most fun ever in Barca. I loved everything about that city. When choosing a place to study abroad, I was stuck between Barcelona and Sevilla. Clearly I chose Sevilla but I think I would have loved it just as much as I love Sevilla if I had chosen to go there instead. I left for Barcelona with my friend Meaghan right after class. We were lucky enough to experience a thrilling two hour delay for our 90 minute flight but in the end it all worked out. We got picked up at the bus stop by my friend Lily from UMass and she was nice enough to let us crash at her place for the weekend. It was so nice having our own little personal tour guide around the city. Thursday night we were both exhausted from staying out late the night before so we took it easy and rested up for the busy weekend we had ahead of us. One of my roommates from Amherst, Bettina, planned a spontaneous trip to Barca that weekend so I it was nice to see another familiar face after all this time.

Friday morning came and Lily had a service project with her program so I had the task of retrieving Bettina at the airport bus stop. All went according to plan and we were ready to tour the city. First stop was Montjuïc, essentially a hill in Barcelona but it had a castle on the top to frolic around and provided some breathtaking views of the city and the busy port below. After we wandered to Arc de Triompf. I loved this little area with the long green promenades lined with lanterns and palm trees. We grabbed lunch at a cute little outdoor cafe and just soaked up the beauty of Barca. We next made our way to Parc Güel.Everything about this place reminded me of Candyland the board game or a real life gingerbread house. Gaudi, the designer of the park had a very whimsical design to everything . It was all so fun and youthful and all was covered in amazing tile mosaics. To end the night, we went to this amazing, out of control, totally unbelievable night club that was on the beach called Opium. Turns out Lily happens tobe bestfriends with one of the biggest club promoters in all of Barcelona so we got in for free and were in the VIP section. This is how its done! We stayed there until they kicked us out at a mere 7am. We tried to stay up and watch the sun rise on the beach but never made it. We immediately crashed when we got back to Lily's and essentially took a nap and prepared for Saturday. 

Saturday brought amazing weather and extreme exhaustion. We figured the perfect cure for this would be the beach! I lathered on my spf 85 and walked down to the beach. This was easily the most beautiful beach I have ever been to. It was crazy having the city in the background and the sparkling blue Mediterranean in front of me. The water was cold but nothing like Wellfleet in the height of summer.  That night we went to this amazing fountain show that took place in front of a castle. It was essentially a light show and they set the fountain to music. So cool! After we walked around the new mall they opened. Bullfighting was banned in Catalunya (the region Barcelona is in) two years ago so they converted the old bull ring into a mall. It was gorgeous and so modern and such a good way to still incorporate part of their history in their future. Saturday night brought a fashion show at a club and more free drink! I don't think Lily's amazing lifestyle there will ever get old!

Sunday was our last day in Barcelona and that brought us to the Sagrada Familia. The line to get in was unreal, about an hour and a half so we passed on that and just walked around the little neighborhood instead. We grabbed paella for lunch then it was back to the apartment to grab our bags and head to the airport! I had a spectacular time in Barcelona and could honestly see myself living there in the future.

Fountain light show

benches at Parc guell

top of montjuic with Bettina

arc de triompf

view of barcelona from parc guell

girls at opium

port vell

beach with the w in the background

attempting to spell love at the fountain show

la sagrada familia

A Whole New Meaning to Bottoms Up -Extremadura, Spain

So sorry that these blog updates are becoming less and less frequent. I have just been so busy with midterms just wrapping up, traveling on the weekends and trying to get ahead on my work load here. I am in the middle of what will perhaps be the busy week of the semester for me. I just got back from a weekend trip to the west of Spain and am currently trying to prepare for a weekend trip to Barcelona this weekend. On top of all of this traveling, I of course have school work to do. This week I am lucky enough to have to to a 10 minute presentation about the importance of honey in Spanish cuisine and in my Arab class I have a presentation on how tourism has been affected by the recent Arab uprising. It is extremely interesting to me since I am a tourism major, however planning adventures around Europe is much more thrilling then a 10 page paper due on the day I get back from Barcelona. So being the good student that I am, I am trying to do this all before I leave as well as doing last minute preparations for my semana santa trip next week to Copenhagen, Budapest and Capri! I find myself resorting back to my favorite activity, list making, and updating my blog is one thing I can now check off!

Ok so I had such an unreal weekend. This was our last API excursion as a group so it was bittersweet. When we first got a list of all the places we would be going, I had absolutely no idea what Extremadura was. Later finding out that it entailed a 10 mile hike in the mountain, made me all sorts of hesitant. I am so glad I decided to tough it out and go. It was truly a once in a life time experience. We boarded our little bus as 815 and headed off for a three hour ride to the first town called Merida. This was a gorgeous little town with incredible Roman ruins scattered throughout the city. We would be walking down the street and then just stumble upon an amphitheater or Roman columns. After two hours frolicking in the ruins, we headed off to our final destination for the night, a town called Trujillo. We found out we would be staying in a 15th century palace which was beyond thrilling to me. Being a hospitality major, I get all sorts of excited seeing how different hotels operate. After we checked into our palace, we explored the city and stumbled upon an ancient castle. We climbed to the top and had some of the most beautiful landscapes you would have ever seen. It was like a mix of being in Ireland with all the rolling greens and Italy with the small villages tucked into the hills near castles. It was truly spectacular. For dinner, we happened to be in town during the annual medieval festival. So kebabs, sangria and delicious pastry for dinner it was! After dinner, we went to this great discopub we heard great reviews for. The only down side was we literally opened the bar since we had gotten there so early. But the bartenders were awesome and the deck had great views of the castle we had just recently climbed. We called it a night early since we had a 10 miles hike ahead of us the next day!

We awoke early the next morning, grabbed our sneakers and sunblock and hoped for the best. I was slightly hesitant for a 10 miles hike but there was no turning back now. We arrived to the hike site and all of API joined in on some group stretching before we embarked. The first two hours were so far so good. Nothing too treacherous but we knew some kids who had gone the week before and they said it got intense real fast. Yeah they were lying. Kepa, our leader tempted us with lunch, but didnt warn us we would literally be scaling a mountain for 45 minutes, balancing on sheer rubble. When we reached the pinnacle, we were treated so some of the most beautiful landscapes ever. Mountains converging, rivers with valleys in them and cities off far in the distance. Pictures can honestly not do it justice. Walking down the mountain after lunch was almost worse than climbing up it. But I somehow managed to survive without rolling down the mountain so that was a success in itself. I can now say I have literally walked from one city to the next! After our hike we arrived at an 11th century monastery which would serve as our hotel for the night. I do not think I have been surrounded by so much history in a hotel in my life. It was mind blowing to think what had gone on in this building over the past 1000 years! We decided to celebrate our victory in the hike that night with a little karaoke at the local bar, however apparently they didnt do it on Saturday night so we learned a little salsa dancing instead. All in all it was an amazing weekend and am so glad I didnt ditch to stay in Sevilla!

But I have so much to look forward to. This weekend is Barcelona! I am staying with my friend Lily from UMass and just recently found out that Bettina, one of my roommates from Amherst, is making a spontaneous trip to Espana this weekend! I cannot wait! But I need to run off and stop procrastinating about my homework! Muchisimos besitios!

11th Century monastery in Guadaloupe

Jen, Nora, Kelly and I at the castle in Trujillo

Roman ruins in Merida

View from the top of the castle

Mountains we climbed

courtyard at the monastery

outside the monastery

Looking so good right around mile seven