Budapest/Semana Santa

Well, it’s pronounced “BudapesHt” but whatever. Anyway, I went to Budapest with 2 friends for 5 days, and it was great! Budapest is one of those cities that are authentically OLD, not one of those cities whose city council decides to re-vamp all the buildings to be new but look old and vintage, but it’s really old, and it shows. It seemed like all of the buildings are super old, have Byzantine-style architecture and black or grey ashy-colored outsides. There are obviously also lots of old monuments and religious buildings—St. Stephen’s Cathedral: huge and gorgeous; the largest synagogue in Europe and 2nd largest in the world…don’t know the name, oops; and other religious stuff….anyway, I’ll stop rambling and maybe organize my thoughts.
First of all, Budapest was originally 2 different cities separated by the Danube river, Buda and Pest. At some point in history…? they united and now it’s a huge city, and major tourist attraction for it’s beauty and history; Buda is the more suburban part of the city, while Pest, where we stayed, is more metropolitan and has all the shopping, exhibits, monuments, restaurants, etc.
So to begin, I’d say the whole language barrier was by far the hardest thing to get a hold of, or rather to accept. I remember when we first arrived and made it to the metro station to get to our hostel, we were standing in the middle of it all, literally turning in circles because we had absolutely no idea where to go, how to get to wherever we were going, nor obviously how to read all the signs. True, lots of people speak English, or at least a little bit, but it was all hustle and bustle so we just felt lost and helpless. Luckily we made it on a metro after figuring out the stupid ticket system, and a nice guy heard us speaking English on the metro trying to figure out where to get off, and he spoke fluent English and was really helpful, getting off with us, walking us to our hostel, and marking on my map cool things to see and do. Great first impression! But anyway, that feeling of not being able to communicate or understand what people are saying to you, or how to ask a question, or anything, is a really terrible and hopeless feeling. It was one that I know we all felt and experienced many more times throughout our time there—like me trying to order my friend a pizza on the phone, or my friend being yelled at in Hungarian in a museum, we think for carrying her backpack but we’re not sure, or a lady in another place telling us to do something that we clearly didn’t understand, etc.—it’s just so overwhelming. I honestly cannot remember the last time I felt that helpless and useless. They talk to you, and you really have nothing to say in return, other than give a blank stare and raise your eyebrows. Like when I was trying to order the pizza, we were in the hostel and there were several people sitting around listening, digging through guidebooks for expressions I could use, laughing hysterically, etc., and it was all funny and all, since I called twice hoping for an English speaker (we’d stopped there before and the guy knew English and Spanish, so we just figured he’d answer….HAH), but I had to hang up after the first time because my saying “pizza” “angolul?” for ‘english?’ was getting me nowhere, and then the second time I just remember thinking, this is ridiculous. It’s funny and I’m cracking up, but it was maybe the most stressful/overwhelming 30 seconds of my life…if had to live like this, I honestly don’t know how I’d survive. I mean, of course I’d try to learn the language, but mannnnnnnnnn. Just imagine immigrating to another country in search of a better life or something but not knowing the language: what the hell do you do? I guess in hindsight it’d be stupid to move to a country where you don’t speak the language, but it happens, so the problem exists…ahh. In the end the pizza fiasco failed, and my friend went hungry. Imagine that, hungry in Hungary…HAHHHHHH.
Aside from the language barrier, we did a lot of cool things. Budapest, or maybe all of Hungary, is known for their natural thermal waters (is that English?—aguas termales—)so we went to one of those, and left smelling of sulfur, but feeling refreshed and relaxed. We went to the huge synagogue that I mentioned before—apparently designed by a Catholic, so the architecture inside is pretty distinct for a synagogue, but still pretty—we went to a couple museums on the history of Hungary and also on the Soviet/Communist occupation and Hungary’s role in WW2, went to the citadel, saw some great views of the huge city, walked a ton, ate even more, and made a lot of new friends at our hostel. We stayed at this hostel called Bubble Budapest, so if you ever go, stay there! There were people from England, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Canada, US, etc. We all went out together a lot, spent maybe too much time together, but had a great time!
Oh, and the weather in Budapest might be even weirder than Texas. On our last full day there, we were out and about seeing the last things we could, and it was sort of cloudy, sort of blue skies, normal. Well, all of a sudden it starts to SNOW. Not rain, but snow, legit snow. So that lasts for just a bit, like 5ish minutes and then it starts raining, and then like 20 minutes later, we have clear blue skies and temperatures like 10 degrees warmer. Yah, weird. So then like an hour or two later, we’re walking across this huge bridge and what do ya know? It starts snowing AGAIN. Whattttt? Anyway, I just thought it was crazzzy.
Oh, and then on a completely unrelated note, on our flight back we stopped in Munich, and omg I saw the most german looking guy ever. Well actually, several of them; it was insane!!! I just remember looking at him and immediately thinking, that guy is GERMAN, sooooo german!! And the german people were really nice, so I think I’d like to go back there sometime, spend some quality time in the country eating sausages and beer and feeling like I can actually fit in with the blond-haired people. but I wonder…will I be able to order any food?!?!? I mean, I don’t speak german. Speaken-zie deutsch? NOPE.

To say the least, traveling is nice and rewarding and eye-opening, but it’s always nice to go back ‘home’ and speak the language and be able to communicate.


After I came back from Budapest, I spent the rest of my time here in Granada, experiencing the true Andalucian Semana Santa. Basically there are tons of processions with old and young people alike, lots of music, standing in the cold, carrying the heavy statues and 'palios' or those big things that have the Virgen Mary, etc. sitting on top and are intricately decorated, etc. Here, Easter is all about the few days before, especially the processions and everything else that goes on on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and then on Sunday. I went to a couple processions Thursday night, and one of them, 'la procesion de silencio' is apparently one of the most famous and special. It starts processing at midnight, and as it reaches different parts of the city, all of the lights are shut off in that part, and everyone is supposed to be silent, obviously, and the people in the procession are all wearing black and carrying candles, and then there's the big Jesus on the cross. It was nice, honestly not all that it was hyped up to be, but maybe because the idiot beside me decided that the SILENT part of the procession was the perfect time to start eating his stupid sunflower seeds and drinking from his coke wrapped in a plastic bag and talking to his girlfriend. moron.
But it was all nice; really different. No easter egg hunt this year, just the normal crackers and tea and unripe pear for breakfast. :)