Entourage

Howdy,

ENTOURAGE

Well, the ride to Budapest was great. The first leg of the trip to the border was rough., the roads I mean. The roads were rough. It wasn't bad during the day, but on the way back at night it would prove to be more difficult to stay on the winding, bumpy roads. We made it through the border (barely). The American passports are easy access, but Aly, the Egyptian with a French Schengen Visa, they took a little longer to process him. Anyways, the highway came next, and it was smooth and free of police. We went about 200 km/h for a large portion of the trip. For the Americans, that’s about 125 mph.  We were in 2 cars, and the 7 of us this weekend included the Leon, Valerie, Haegen, Aly, Irina, Mircea, and myself. There were cows at some point:

awwwwwww

Vaca

Vaca Grasa

We arrived in Budapest around nightfall and had to wait outside of the Apartment we rented for a little bit, not knowing that the guy owning it was sitting upstairs waiting for us. While we waited, Mircea whipped out his guitar. Yes, he plays guitar ladies. Get in line:

Mircea...

We seriously considered acting like we didn't know him and start dropping money in his hat and see if other people would too. We got one person to stop and listen to him! But, that was it. Anyways, the guy who owns the apartment was really cool and spoke pretty good English, which is always reassuring. We made our way out to the city to walk around a bit. It is very pretty. We made our way past a couple fountains and saw a bridge that was well lit:

One of many bridges

We made our way back to the apartment. Everyone found their way to a pillow, at some point in the night. We woke up the next morning and got ready to go caving! Scrounging for breakfast was a challenge, but Burger King never lets me down. Valerie and I ran across Burger King on the way back from our trip to the bank to withdrawal money. So, we all piled into cars after that, and made our way to the caving adventure!

Now, we weren't walking like in Carlsbad Caverns, but we also weren't lowering ourselves with ropes. This was more of a “how claustrophobic are you?” kind of cave. The cave attire was dirty, warm, and full body. We had helmets with lights attached as well. Joining us were 4 Aussies, 2 couples. Jake & Sam and Murray and Beck. I would expect no other names when I heard their Australian accents. They all were in Budapest to train for a kayaking competition. They were all super fit, as well. Jake is a plumber, Murray is an architect, and both the ladies are teachers. The things you learn about people when stuck in small caverns… It was a super ‘red ass’ tour by the way. At one point, we had to sing a song before the tour guide would let us go any further, in the dark. So, the Aussies backed out and said they couldn't sing. Naturally, the Aggies pulled together and sang the Aggie War Hymn. I suppose it counts as singing. Oh, and our tour guide’s name was Aggie:

Haegen

Cave selfie

The gang (Aussies took the pic)

Me stabbing Leon with a pointy rock we found

Aly's favorite moment of the cave, the end

There was one portion of the tour we had to keep our lights off for about 20-30 minutes. It was not to keep the peace of the cave, but to keep us calm. The spot we squeezed through in the dark was so small that most people freak out if they are looking at it. J

Next we split up. Irina, Mircea, and I went to see the Parliament building while the others went to quickly change at the apartment for a tour we were meeting up for at 3. Parliament and more:

Myself

Mircea, keep your tongue in your mouth, te rog

Walkway

Some street

Metal shoes

Parliament

Statue

Parliament

Shoes for days

Parliament

Statues

So, Irina, Mircea and I made it to the tour in time, but the others showed up just after the tour had left. Luckily, we waited back at the meeting location and joined them. So, we all went to see more of the town instead. (I preferred this option anyways.) We headed to the palace, on top of a minor hill:

Palace

Atop the palace hill

The alternate to walking

'Murica

Aly and the classy girl journaling under the statue

Budapest

Bridges

Haegen

Gang

Haegen giving the belly a rub

Husky in Hungary

Wedding!!

Haegen taught Irina how to sorority squat

Haegs

Irina and Valerie

Then we stumbled across a Catholic Chapel that was getting ready for Saturday night mass. We didn't want to pay to go in though, as it required us to. But, when the elder at the front saw we were turned away by the price of admission, he waved us in, free of charge. So, we went in and saw the chapel and the preparation for mass:

Before mass

Candles

Articulate

From there, we had a pub tour starting at 8. Aly, Mircea, Irina, and myself were very tired though. The 4 of us decided to head back to the apartment and meet up with the others later during the tour. We needed to relax a bit and wash off and change. We got back to the apartment by taxi, and then realized we had left the keys with Leon. So… Mircea and Irina went to meet the others and grab the keys, while Aly and I sat upstairs on the inner balcony by the apartment. I scouted for potential ways to get in the bathroom window on the side of the building, and Aly knocked on a neighbors door to see if anyone had a spare. We checked all the windows, but no luck. When hope had almost vanished, Aly applied pressure on the door near the lock with his hand. He increased his force gradually until the door just opened with ease. Nothing was broken or damaged. A MIRACLE!! (The lock actually required 2 full turns to be all the way locked. Instead, we had only locked it once, so partially locked.) As Mircea and Irina took close to an hour to return from their initial departure, Aly and I refreshed ourselves and lied down for a bit.

After a rest, Aly and I decided to head out to join the others. Mircea and Irina were still tired, reasonably so, so they rested a bit more. Aly and I headed to this pub that is supposed to be one of the best in the world. We entered, and it was interesting to say the least. A good interesting though. There was an upstairs with open balconies, and everywhere is was modeled like the 50’s almost, but 70’s lighting. There was an old car in which you could sit and socialize. The name of the pub was Szimpla kert. The others still had a little bit before they arrived, so after we scouted out the place, we went upstairs where many were watching the game. That night it was Costa Rica vs Netherlands. Netherlands won, just in case you were wondering. But, better than that, we sat next to a lovely couple. They were Americans! Matt and Jenny. Matt is in the Air-force, and they air stationed in Germany. We were just talking and Matt went to the restroom, and he came back with beers for us all. Did we pick the right people to sit by or what! My favorite part was that at some point Matt and I talked about American football for a solid 20 minutes. He went to Nebraska, and he doesn't like Aggies. Hopefully his opinion changed ever so slightly by the end of our talk.

After the game, or close to the end, Aly and I went down to find the others. I met another guy downstairs from Virginia. He told me there was an Asian girl in the pub from Texas!  But, I wasn't about to go ask every Asian girl in the pub if she was from Texas, so I left it alone. What we found was even better, when we found the others that is. The others were accompanied by a group they had started the pubbing tour. The group included some awesome people, all around. 2 Englishmen (Jack & Liam), 1 Singaporean (Bjorn), 1 Brazilian (Evelyn), 1 Irishman (Ian), and a German couple named Greta and Vilhelm (except, Greta is Mexican and Vilhelm is Argentinian). This group was seriously my favorite part of Budapest. Ian and I talked a while at the pub. He just got out of Electrical Engineering at his university and has a girlfriend back in Ireland. Jack and Liam were two down to earth English guys who just wanted to have a good time. I joked with Jack excessively loud in the streets between venues the rest of the night. He taught me some British words I would have otherwise never have known. Bjorn and Evelyn had actually met once before in Madrid, but just happened to see each other again in Budapest. Both were fun individuals. Greta and Vilhelm were a little older than the rest of us, but not too much. They were very cool and sweet, and left a little earlier than the rest of us. After the first pub, the group went to a club, which we stayed and danced at for a bit. Valerie even accompanied me in a dance. We two-stepped to a techno song. It was grand. Once we got everyone together, we left and tried to go to another place, but the Belgians in town were crowding the line for their celebration. We decided to go to subway instead. It was past 2:00 AM for sure, but no telling what the actual time was. We all departed after a few more laughs, and exchanged some contact information. The group is pictured as below (taken before Aly and I arrived):

L to R: Evelyn, Haegen, Liam, Leon, Bjorn, Jack, Ian, ??, Valerie, Greta, Vilhelm

Sleep was nice. The next morning, we all awoke and got ready. We headed to this farmers market that was difficult to find. We were standing next to the pub from the night before, which is right next to where Google maps said it was, but still no market. Until we went in the pub… They had transformed it from just a few hours before. The magnificent pub from the night before, was now filled with locals selling jams, cheeses, meats, breakfast bagels, breads, fruits, a variety of things. We gathered each of our own breakfasts and stumbled upstairs to avoid the rush of the market. It was a lovely breakfast:

Valerie in a bathtub

Texas in a bathtub

Haegen and his bagel

Aly and I

Texans

After breakfast we split into the groups from yesterday. Leon, Aly, Valerie, and Haegen went to some thermal baths in the middle of the park and Mircea, Irina, and I went to go see some more of the city. It turned out great, because everyone got to do what they wanted, and enjoyed it. My group went to the highest hill in Budapest, which has a statue of a lady holding a feather (I don’t know why). It overlooks the entire city. When we were atop the hill, I met a Korean girl who was there by herself. Very sweet, but our conversation was short lived because my colleagues wanted to continue on down the hill. It was a pretty walk both up, and down the hill:

Me and Irina and Budapest

Small stream near base of hill

Local Art

Top of the hill

We walked, a lot. All the way to the central park, which was down the hill, across the bridge, and a few more kilometers to central park. But, the city was worth walking through. We even went to the main train station in town. Mostly, it was made of glass:

Side Street

Mircea refreshing

Train station

Now, to tell of the adventures the others had at the pool, Haegen has written an insert:

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The baths

                As Josiah and the rest of the try-hard crew began the six hour tour of Budapest, the smart interns decided to immerse themselves in one of Hungary’s oldest traditions; the Szchenyi  thermal baths. After two days of long hikes, long nights, and no sleep, the crew of Aly, Valerie, Leon and myself decided it was time to treat ourselves to a little luxury and what better than these naturally heated thermal baths. To start, the bath house itself is absolutely gorgeous. With its old world architecture and modern amenities, even from outside the anticipation was mounting .  Once inside the first step was to get in the hot tubs to soaks our aching joints and broken bodies; the only problem was deciding on which tub to soak in. Tub hopping commenced and was only broken up by the occasional sauna/steam room pit stop. That was until we discovered the ice baths. I’m still not sure if it was meant to jumpstart the heart or stop it completely but what I do know is I felt much more alive afterwards. After the fun of pool hopping subsided, Pharaoh Shash…err… Aly opted to get a massage in the palace room (it’s actually just the upstairs VIP room but palace is a better description). Food and an hour nap followed in the warm sun until we awoke to a meet a very tired Josiah and friends. I think I speak for all of the crew when I say that was one of the best decisions we have made on our trip and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

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After we rejoined, we went out to dinner in the city. All you can eat buffet! Glorious. Then, we got in the cars, and headed back to the border, and then back to Zalau. We got home at 2:00 AM.

Random Facts/Comments:

1. Everyone here in Romania expected the Americans to be fat. They were surprised all of us were in shape. “At least one of you was going to be fat, c'mon..”

2. Our British friend Jack, his last name is Appleyard…. Yup, Appleyard.

3. I Skype’d a couple of my good friends this week. Payden who is in Florida right now and Bob who is in Spain. Good conversations on both ends. Payden described something in yards instead of meters, and it legitimately through me off for a second. Bob and I related all the new European things we now know.

4. Work is picking up, but I’m learning a ton. We only have 3.5 weeks left. Scary.

5. I Skype’d my parents at their breakfast table today. Mircea joined me halfway and met them. He’s a goober who couldn't stop smiling.

6. I received a picture from my good friend Carly Rose King on Sunday evening showing me her and her boyfriend Kaleb just got engaged. Whoop!

7. I (lastly) Skype’d Tiffany Doan this week, who was with Shannon Gaden and Leon Coe and in the car in front of them was the Jack Harper. As I was talking to them, Shannon ran the phone to the car ahead of them (at a red light of course) and showed me jack for about 10 seconds. Good seeing you bro.

8. We will stop at 7.

Before it's over, check this guy out.

Until next time. Ciao.