Hello, Budapest!

I have arrived! After a long journey, I finally arrived in Budapest on Monday afternoon. I took a taxi to my apartment, where I was greeted by my wonderful landlady, Kinga -- a former Fulbright grantee herself -- who kindly showed me around the apartment, invited me for a walk around the neighborhood, and bought me a much-needed cup of coffee. I felt so welcome, and the apartment is just perfect. It's a little studio apartment on the third floor of a building directly in the middle of the central district downtown, very close to my university and within walking distance of several modes of public transportation. There's a park right next door and many shops and restaurants around the area.

My little apartment.

I was supposed to arrive in Budapest a few days early, so I would have time to get situated and learn my way around the city. However, I had to change my flight when my original flight was canceled out of Houston (thanks, Hurricane Harvey!) so I ended up here later than expected. This meant that I jumped right into orientation the next morning (yesterday), and was extremely jet lagged the whole time. At our fancy welcoming dinner last night I could barely keep my eyes open! However, surprisingly I feel almost normal already today, and all the excitement during the day probably helps.

The other Fulbrighters all seem very friendly and they have an enormous range of research areas, from mathematics and chemistry to rural agriculture and ceramics. We've been learning some basic Hungarian words, and getting a primer on Hungarian history, politics, culture, etc. Yesterday we took a tour of the city, and tomorrow we have a field trip which we are all looking forward to. On Friday, thankfully, we will end early, so I will finally have time to go figure out my cell phone plan, buy a public transportation pass, etc. Next week, I begin teaching, so that's very exciting as well!

Right now, we are on the move all day with Fulbright activities -- but as soon as things calm down a little bit I will update with more photos and information. Until then, viszontlátásra! (Goodbye, pronounced "vee-sont-lah-tah-shrah")

Budapest on the Danube