Touring Budapest
I have to admit that for the last couple of days I've been a typical tourist in Budapest. But I guess that's something you cannot really avoid - somehow you need to get to know the new places.
Both yesterday and today I've started my days with swimming. I didn't think I would manage to go swimming as soon as on my 2nd day in Hungary! :)
Luckily, it turns out that swimming is something like a national sport in Hungary. Because it's so popular, there are many swimming pools. I've been to one on Margit Sziget (an island in the city centre, in the middle of the Danube). This is probably the best pool I've ever swam in. Actually, the place has 3 swimming pools - one inside (which is nothing special), and 2 outside (of which one is usually closed, as they play water polo there - another popular sport in Hungary). The other outdoor pool where I was swimming in is 50 m long with very clean water, although it was rather crowded today. The weather has been really great the whole time I've been in Hungary. It has been sunny and around 25 degrees - much like the summer in Estonia.
I've done some sightseeing in town. Budapest is a beautiful city with very nice architecture. One of my favourite buildings so far is the Hungarian Parliament - it's very impressive with lots of details. Take a look in my gallery to see it.
I've already seen the building of my university, which is located in the centre. Apparently, it used to be a residential building and it still does look like one, both from outside and inside. The Gender Studies department is quite small, with only a few classrooms, and located on the 3rd floor.
The hotel where I'm staying at is almost full, as all the new CEU students were supposed to arrive by today. All of them will be looking for apartments in the next 2 weeks. I've talked to some of the students, including one guy who is also in the Gender Studies program. It looks like we have quite an international student body - the guys I talked to are from Turkey and Romania, and I saw some Asian people as well. Tomorrow the school will start and I will meet more people.
For the next 2 weeks there will be no specific department courses, but instead there will be a preliminary program. We have the department orientation tomorrow, starting at 9 am. Throughout the week there will be the Academic Writing course, which I'm looking forward to, as I've never really studied any academic writing before.
Within the next 2 weeks I'm supposed to find an apartment. I would like something not too far from the universty. It would be nice to rent something with 2-3 other students from the CEU. As for the apartment, it should definitely be furnished, there should be Internet and car parking available. The latter could be a problem though, as Budapest is packed with cars and thus finding a place to park will be difficult. Anyway, I won't be using the car too much in the city, as the public transport is very efficient here.
I'm really looking forward to moving to an apartment already, so that I could cook my own meals. We get breakfast here in the hotel, but there's not much choice for me and I feel like the food I'm eating now is not nutritious enough. I've been eating out every day, which is quite expensive in the centre. Luckily today I found some kebab place where they sell falafel sandwiches - it was delicious, but too small for me. In an hour, I bought another falafel sandwich from a different place! :) Today I got the names and locations of vegetarian/vegan and Asian food places in Budapest. Luckily there's a cheap Asian food place just near the CEU!
I've also been to the supermarket. The lack of soy foods was disappointing. And I didn't find dark bread either. There's a huge supermarket quite close to the hotel, I'm planning to go there by car soon.
I will soon write about Budapest and about some observations I've made here. So far, I've talked only to the international students, but I would love to chat with a local, to get to know Hungary and its culture.
Both yesterday and today I've started my days with swimming. I didn't think I would manage to go swimming as soon as on my 2nd day in Hungary! :)
Luckily, it turns out that swimming is something like a national sport in Hungary. Because it's so popular, there are many swimming pools. I've been to one on Margit Sziget (an island in the city centre, in the middle of the Danube). This is probably the best pool I've ever swam in. Actually, the place has 3 swimming pools - one inside (which is nothing special), and 2 outside (of which one is usually closed, as they play water polo there - another popular sport in Hungary). The other outdoor pool where I was swimming in is 50 m long with very clean water, although it was rather crowded today. The weather has been really great the whole time I've been in Hungary. It has been sunny and around 25 degrees - much like the summer in Estonia.
I've done some sightseeing in town. Budapest is a beautiful city with very nice architecture. One of my favourite buildings so far is the Hungarian Parliament - it's very impressive with lots of details. Take a look in my gallery to see it.
I've already seen the building of my university, which is located in the centre. Apparently, it used to be a residential building and it still does look like one, both from outside and inside. The Gender Studies department is quite small, with only a few classrooms, and located on the 3rd floor.
The hotel where I'm staying at is almost full, as all the new CEU students were supposed to arrive by today. All of them will be looking for apartments in the next 2 weeks. I've talked to some of the students, including one guy who is also in the Gender Studies program. It looks like we have quite an international student body - the guys I talked to are from Turkey and Romania, and I saw some Asian people as well. Tomorrow the school will start and I will meet more people.
For the next 2 weeks there will be no specific department courses, but instead there will be a preliminary program. We have the department orientation tomorrow, starting at 9 am. Throughout the week there will be the Academic Writing course, which I'm looking forward to, as I've never really studied any academic writing before.
Within the next 2 weeks I'm supposed to find an apartment. I would like something not too far from the universty. It would be nice to rent something with 2-3 other students from the CEU. As for the apartment, it should definitely be furnished, there should be Internet and car parking available. The latter could be a problem though, as Budapest is packed with cars and thus finding a place to park will be difficult. Anyway, I won't be using the car too much in the city, as the public transport is very efficient here.
I'm really looking forward to moving to an apartment already, so that I could cook my own meals. We get breakfast here in the hotel, but there's not much choice for me and I feel like the food I'm eating now is not nutritious enough. I've been eating out every day, which is quite expensive in the centre. Luckily today I found some kebab place where they sell falafel sandwiches - it was delicious, but too small for me. In an hour, I bought another falafel sandwich from a different place! :) Today I got the names and locations of vegetarian/vegan and Asian food places in Budapest. Luckily there's a cheap Asian food place just near the CEU!
I've also been to the supermarket. The lack of soy foods was disappointing. And I didn't find dark bread either. There's a huge supermarket quite close to the hotel, I'm planning to go there by car soon.
I will soon write about Budapest and about some observations I've made here. So far, I've talked only to the international students, but I would love to chat with a local, to get to know Hungary and its culture.
posted by Kadri Aavik at 00:43
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