Going Out with a Bang (or a Beach?)

Somehow, my time as a Fulbright grantee has quickly drawn to a close. I'm not sure how that happened, as it seems just yesterday was still February. Somewhere in between then and now, my Fulbright friends and I decided that we wanted to celebrate the end of our Fulbright experience the only way we knew how: Travel. So we packed our bags, loaded them up into a Marco, our trusty rental VW Polo, and set off southeast for eight days of adventure in Croatia.

Here we all are with our trusty little car, who took us 2,200 km (1,367 mi)

 Our first stop was Korenica, a little town right outside of the world-famous Plitvice Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Inside the park is a series of freshwater lakes, connected to each other by countless waterfalls. The water in the lakes is crystal clear, allowing you to see the little fish as well as the bottom of the lakes. There is a path that goes around the lakes, occasionally turning into a boardwalk, allowing people to essentially walk among the waterfalls -- which makes for a beautiful hike, naturally. We spent the better part of a day wandering the park and enjoying being in nature, a nice change from downtown Budapest.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Group photo near the top of the lakes.

 The lakes are quite far inland, almost into Bosnian territory. Next, our journey took us through the beautiful Croatian countryside, over the mountains, and to the coast.

Driving in Croatia was an absolute treat. Around every turn was another beautiful vista.

We were fully equipped with plenty of snacks and road trip music. 

 Our next stop was Split, a coastal city and the second largest city in Croatia, located in the Dalmatia region. I was hoping to see some dalmatians (dogs) there, but we only ever saw hordes of friendly stray cats.

The Split waterfront, Riva.

The center of Split was built within and around Diocletian's Palace, a 4th century Roman structure that remains the heart of the city today. When we first began wandering around, we wondered where Diocletian's Palace was. We didn't realize that it was all around us -- the walls of it still make up much of the city today.

Diocletian's Palace. Restaurants, shops, etc. can be found inside the remains.

Pretty cool to wander around a structure that's thousands of years old like it ain't no thang.

 Split is, of course, a coastal city, so we took an afternoon and headed to the first of several Croatian beaches we would visit on our journey. It was a lovely quiet beach, away from the city, and we relaxed there for several hours. At one point, there was a guy sitting next to us on a beach towel, and he got up and asked if we would watch his stuff while he took a dip -- we said sure. From his accent, we could tell he was clearly American. When he came back, he thanked us and we got to talking. Turns out, not only was he American, but he was a REAC -- Regional EducationUSA Advising Coordinator. (Remember, I worked for EducationUSA as part of my grant). Turns out we had several mutual acquaintances! What a small world.

Beach time.

 The Dalmatian coast is famous for its many islands, so on one of our days there, we took a big catamaran ferry out to Hvar, one of the older and more well-known islands.

Hvar Island

Parts of Hvar's old town stem from the 13th Century, and walking around the small, winding streets was a treat. Around every corner was a lovely little house or a cute café -- and the whole town was on a hillside, so there were always wonderful views of the ocean to be had.

The streets of Hvar,

 We borrowed a guidebook from one of our Hungarian friends, and it said that Hvar is "where one goes to see and be seen." That seemed to be true, given the number of yachts around. So, naturally, we made sure to be seen.

This is us, seeing and being seen.

 Soon, it was time to move further down the Dalmatian coast, in the direction of Dubrovnik. We started our journey on the highway, but soon noticed on the map that there was a coastal road we could take instead. "Let's just pop on over to the coast and follow that road," we thought. So we turned onto the road that would supposedly take us there, and began to follow it. Turns out, the road we turned on to was a mountain pass somewhat famous for being extremely fun -- and ever so slightly dangerous -- to drive on. First, we climbed our way up the mountain and then zig-zagged our way back down. On one side of the car was sheer rock face, and on the other side a several hundred foot drop into the ocean. It was beautiful, terrifying, and mesmerizing. Nate was driving, and, as a car guy, he drove himself into a bit of a trance, and had a smile plastered on his face the rest of the day (Jasmine and Tanya, on the other hand, were quite happy to get back to sea level at the end). It was amazing.

Post mountain pass, feeling pretty cool.

 Well, we finally got to the coastal road and followed it all the way to Dubrovnik, passing through a tiny little sliver of Bosnia on the way, eventually arriving in Lozica, the town outside of Dubrovnik where we would be staying. There, we spent the first evening lounging around on our private beach, drinking sangria and enjoying life.

Our private beach <3

The next day, we ventured across the bridge and into Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik was already the most famous tourist destination in Croatia, and became even more renowned when Game of Thrones filmed there. The result being: crowds. Crowds everywhere. We had planned to spend a whole day in Dubrovnik, but after walking the 2 kilometer perimeter wall with throngs of people in the blazing sun, we were all pooped after a half a day. So, we took our photos and went home to go enjoy our private beach again.

Dubrovnik: Been there, done that.

One thing that really struck me in all of the places we went was how friendly Croatian people were. Even though Croatia is overrun by tourists every summer, Croatians are still incredibly welcoming and kind and it made us all feel welcome and happy. Even the lady selling jewelry and embroidery on the wall, the most touristy part of Dubrovnik, was friendly and personable. 

As an example, on our last night in Dubrovnik, we ran out of wine when the stores were already closed, and walked a few doors down to the local restaurant to see if they would sell us some. "No," said the restaurant owner, "I won't sell it to you because it would be too expensive. Just take this bottle, enjoy it, and bring me a new one tomorrow when you can go to the store," she said, pressing a bottle into our hands. As we left with the bottle, incredulous about what had just happened, she shouted at us to have a fun evening.

The second thing that struck me about Croatia was how beautiful it was. The lakes and everything inland was green and lush -- separated by striking, rocky mountains, and then everything on the other side of the mountains was dry and rocky and equally breathtaking. I have been to few other countries with so much natural beauty.

View from Dubrovnik.

From Dubrovnik, we started to make our way back in direction Hungary. Our rental agency would not allow us to drive through Bosnia, the most direct route home, so we made our way back along the coast and stopped overnight in Zagreb. Weary from being tourists, we took it easy in Zagreb. We watched a movie, went shopping, and stayed up late talking and laughing.

You get one guess as to which movie we watched.

Weird neon lights in a geek store, selling Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, etc. merch. But no Star Trek. They NEVER have Star Trek. *grumble grumble*.

On our last day, we spent the morning leisurely wasting time in Zagreb, trying to stretch out our trip as long as possible. Eventually, we piled back into the car and went back to Hungary. Although we were supposed to drop Tanya off in Pécs, no one was quite ready for the trip to end, so instead we all had dinner in Pécs together, and then more or less kidnapped Tanya and took her back to Budapest, where we hung out, spent the night, and had lunch together the next day. Eventually, though, we had to say goodbye -- but not before taking one last picture!

Love these people!

In a way, our Croatia trip was our grand finale to the Fulbright experience, and it was perfect. I have taken a lot of trips with a lot of people in my life, and I can say this one definitely ranked among the best. Rarely does everything come together so well as it did this time. Thanks for a great trip friends, and I'll see you back in the U.S. of A!




Next blog post: Conclusion of Fulbright :-(

My Recycling Failure

Although I have lived in Hungary for nine months, by no means do I have everything figured out. This was reinforced yesterday when I embarked on a doomed hour-long venture to recycle, ending in me shouting expletives frustratedly at a random dumpster on the street while passers-by watched warily.

Let's rewind to my first day in Budapest.

On the bottom floor of my building, there is a room containing three large bins. One is for garbage, one is for plastic and metal, and one is for paper products. There is no bin for glass -- when I asked my landlady, she said the building doesn't recycle glass, so I would just have to take it to a regional recycling center. No problem! I decided to worry about that later, and just started to collect my glass in a big paper bag.

Fast forward to yesterday morning, nine months later. Of course, I still haven't figured out how to recycle my glass, and now there are three huge paper bags filled to the brim with, let's be honest, mostly empty wine bottles. I'm cleaning my apartment from top to bottom in preparation to move out, and I realize that the time has come to deal with the Glass Problem. Now or never. So I hop on the internet, and find a really helpful webpage that tells me that there are recycling centers all over the city, and even gives me a really helpful photo of what they look like and an interactive map. Great! This'll be a breeze.

So-called "recycling center"

I take the smallest of the three bags of glass (still quite large) and I start heading down from my apartment. As I get down to the last set of stairs, a rogue prosecco bottle tumbles from the bag and falls to the ground, making a very noisy CLANK! sound. It begins to roll. I watch as the bottle rolls closer and closer to the stairs. I want to pick it up, but I can't bend down without releasing several of the rogue bottle's comrades from the overfilled bag, so all I can do is watch as it reaches the precipice and then falls down an entire staircase -- CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

The sound reverberates in the echoey hallway, and one of my neighbors looks in to see what the commotion is about. She sees me trying to balance this huge bag of empty wine bottles while picking up the rogue prosecco bottle (which, by some miracle, did not break). She grunts, typical Old Hungarian Lady fashion, and goes back to her cigarette. I ignore her and begin my journey to the recycling center.

Now, I have mentioned several times that I kept these glass bottles in a paper bag. This fact becomes important, because during all the shifting that occurs during the Great Staircase Dilemma, some of the rinse-water leaks out from the bottles and begins to moisten the paper bag. I become increasingly aware of this and start to walk quite quickly. Not to worry, my fears about the structural integrity of the bottom of the bag were soon put to rest -- because the entire side seam gave way first, and dozens of bottles go CLANK!-ing to the ground, in a glorious cascade of glass.

So there I am, too far from my apartment to go back, and not nearly close enough to the recycling point, holding the sad remnants of a once-proud Aldi bag, surrounded by a horde of rogue bottles at my feet. I stand there for a few moments, in the middle of the sidewalk, empty jam-jars rolling at my feet, deciding what to do. An older man walks by, sees my dilemma, and audibly laughs as he keeps walking. (I'm so glad that my distress could give him a moment of joy.)

Luckily, I always carry a re-useable shopping bag with me, and on this day in particular I had my rather large nylon bag with me. I whip it out and fill it with glass. A small victory in this day of defeat! I continue on my journey to the nearest recycling point, feeling the judging stares of Hungarians as I clank by with my overfilled bag of wine bottles.

After several minutes of clanky walking, I reach the place where there is supposedly a recycling center. It's a park. I look around, and I see nothing. I walk the perimeter of the park, looking for anything that might be glass recycling. Nothing. Confused, I clankily sit down on a bench and consult my phone. Hmm, I think to myself, maybe this one isn't valid anymore. It's kind of a small park. 

There's another recycling center marked on the map not too far from this one, in a much bigger park. I have been to this bigger park several times, and never noticed recycling bins, but I also wasn't really looking for them. They're probably just in a corner somewhere, I tell myself, and begin walking to the bigger park. (Clank, clank).

I reach the bigger park, and begin to walk around. I see the Ferris wheel, I see a basketball court, I see and ice cream stand, and I see lots of benches, but I do not see recycling canisters. Once again, I walk the entire perimeter, to no avail. Discouraged, I once again find a park bench. I sit down next to a homeless man who also has a bag full of glass and nods at me, as if we are part of a secret society. My map tells me that there is a third recycling center just around the corner. Maybe they moved it from inside the park to around the corner, I tell myself hopefully, and I once again hoist my bag of class onto my shoulder and clank away towards the third place. Third time is a charm?

Third time is not a charm. I reach the third place, walk around the whole block, and still do not see a single glass recycling container. Frustrated, and tired of carrying my heavy bag of glass around the whole damn city, I walk into a wine store that is seemingly right where this third "recycling point" should be. I briefly summarize my dilemma and ask the man if he knows where the recycling point is. I thought he might know, since he works in the wine business.

"Not a clue, Miss," he tells me, laughing at my absurdly large bag of bottles. "Good luck, though."

At this point, I am no longer that close to my apartment anymore. I have been lugging my wine bottles around for the better part of an hour, and my shoulder is starting to hurt. I decide to give it one last walk around the block.

As I turn the corner, I think I see it -- a big conglomeration of bins! Maybe this is it! Finally! I walk up them, hoping that my struggle has finally come to an end.

They are not recycling. They are garbage bins.

"HOW DO YOU F***ING RECYCLE IN THIS CITY?" I shout at no one in particular. "I JUST WANT TO DO MY PART FOR THE GODDAMN ENVIRONMENT!".

Passers-by walk by, clearly wondering what the heck is wrong with the crazy tourist. "YOU WIN, BUDAPEST!" I shout. "I GIVE UP!" And I dump my glass into the trash can. The final clank.

As I trudge home with my empty nylon bag, feeling awful about myself for not recycling, I treat myself to an ice cream shaped like a rose to lift my mood. When I get home, I see the other two huge bags of glass still sitting in my closet, taunting me. Resigned, I take them downstairs and throw them into the garbage bin.

And that, friends is the story of how I completely failed to recycle. I still have no idea where the real recycling points in this city are. And, with only a few days left in my apartment, I guess it doesn't matter anymore.

Sigh.

My rose-shaped ice cream.

Farewell Cruise: or, Is It That Time Already!?

Somehow, nine months have passed by in the blink of an eye. It feels like just yesterday that I arrived, alone and nervous, at the Budapest airport. And yet, it also seems like an eternity ago to think that this time last year I was rushing to finish my Master's degrees and jetting off to Costa Rica with the freshmen of the University of St. Thomas. A lot has happened in the time that I have been here. so much so that it is difficult to comprehend that I haven't even been here for one full year.

• I taught my first university-level classes -- at first, feeling super nervous (and tanking some lessons), and gradually becoming more comfortable (and better!) with it. 
• I got to know Budapest intimately -- to think how anxious I was on that first day, trying to figure out how to get to my apartment from the airport... these days, I zip around on public transportation like nobody's business. 
• I have made some deep friendships here, and it feels weird to think that a year ago, I didn't even know Jasmine, Nate, and Tanya, and now we are all fast friends. 
• I also traveled a lot, visiting four countries I had never been to (Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Poland) as well as several countries I had been to before (Belgium, Austria, Germany, and the U.K.). I am well on my way to completing my goal of visiting 30 countries before I turn 30 -- I'm at 29 now (years and countries), and the big goal-reaching day will happen in just a couple of weeks when we head out for a road trip to Croatia.
• I made a lot of headway in my professional life, too, passing the Foreign Service Oral Assessment as well as the Portuguese language test -- now it's just a matter of waiting and crossing fingers that the State Department hires lots of new Foreign Service Officers. 
• And finally, in the last year I have been to weddings of two very important people to me, as well as one big birthday followed by one very sad funeral. 

I can't believe how much has happened, and it hasn't even been a year -- it has been nine months. This week, I finally booked my plane ticket home, and although I am very happy to see my family, pet my dog, and eat lots of  tacos, I will be sad to leave behind the exciting and happy life I have had here in Budapest.

To conclude these reminiscing thoughts, here are some photos from the Fulbright Farewell Cruise that we had the other day. It was nice to spend a few hours floating on the beautiful blue Danube with all my new friends.

All the Fulbright Student Grantees.

Friends.

Beyond Budapest -- Pécs and Eger

With my time as a Fulbright Hungary grantee coming to a close much too quickly, I have been busy trying to explore as many corners of Hungary as possible. One place I really wanted to go that I hadn't been yet was a city called Pécs, where one of my Fulbright friends, Tanya, lives. Tanya is an artist who works in ceramics as well as other media, and Pécs is a hub for ceramics. As a bit of a hobby-ceramicist myself, I really enjoyed getting to see the city that is home to the famous Zsolnay ceramics factory. The train ride down to Pécs was beautiful, and the city was pretty breathtaking as well.

Main square, where they happened to be having some kind of a biker convention -- hundreds and hundreds of motorcycles lined the streets and then all loudly zoomed by as we walked.

The picturesque grounds of the university, where Tanya works, next door to the Zsolnay factory.

Zsolnay is famous for roof tiles, among other products. These types of tiles can be seen all over Hungary, such as on the famous Mattias Church in Budapest, and are on seemingly every building in Pécs. So colorful!

Perfect spot for a selfie!

Here is Tanya with some of her work, preparing to set everything up for an exhibition.

In addition to visiting Pécs, several of my Fulbright friends also wanted to visit Eger, a small city famous for its red wine, known as Bull's Blood. If you are an avid reader of my blog, you might remember that I have, in fact, been to Eger before. However, I liked it so much that I tagged along and visited as well. This time, since I had seen the city before, there was no pressure to see all the sights and do all the things -- we arrived, and basically ate and drank until we left.

We started with a Turkish coffee in a traditional Turkish tent, then ate an amazing palacsinta (basically crepes) with chicken, cheese, and a creamy dill sauce, and then we walked out to the Szepasszonyvolgy ("Valley of Beautiful Women") and spent the afternoon tasting seven eight different types of wine. From there, we wobbled back to the bus and slept all the way back to Budapest. It was a lovely day trip, and I was so busy enjoying myself that I only took two photos all day:

Egészségére! (Cheers!)

There was a cat at the bus station, apparently this was the only other photo-worthy event of the day. 

17 days left until my grant officially ends :-( I'll miss this place and these people.

Igazgyöngy: The Real Pearl Foundation

I am very lucky to live in the middle of bustling Budapest. My apartment has appliances, heating, and running water, and there are countless stores, restaurants, and cafés within a stone's throw of my doorstep. Every day, something different is going on, from parades and protests to festivals and fairs. My life here is not so drastically different from life in the United States (just with more walking, less obesity, and a distict lack of tacos.)

However, many people in Hungary do not live like I do. Outside of the city, especially out in the countryside, there are entire towns that lack running water and basic grocery stores. Last week, I, together with a few other Fulbrighters, traveled to the far  east part of Hungary to visit a foundation that works in places like this.

The organization is called Igazgyöngy, or Real Pearl Foundation. It began as an art school and has since branched out into community development work (through art and otherwise) in underdeveloped areas of Hungary. Last week, a group of Fulbrighters and I, together with a representative from the Embassy, took a cushy Embassy car out to the town of Berettyóujfalu, where the foundation has its headquarters. There, we learned about some of the work they do, from artwork to social work and community programming. Afterwards, we visited Told, a village that is home to their pilot program. We toured the village and the Real Pearl's community house in the area.

The village of Told was tiny, and I say that as someone who spent two years in Mavudzi-Ponte, Mozambique. Told is home to less than four hundred people. There is no store, the houses are all in various states of disrepair, and the inhabitants (most of whom are of the Roma minority ethnic group) live in extreme poverty.

What impressed me most about the work of the Real Pearl Foundation was their attitude. Instead of coming in and deciding unilaterally what the community needs (the pitfall for so many "development" organizations), the staff of the Real Pearl Foundation work closely with members of the community, as equals, to do needs assessments and respond with adequate programming. The two staff members that we met with were originally from the area and had no intent to leave anytime soon. We were able to watch a community meeting, and the rapport between the Real Pearl staff and the community members of Told was easily visible.

Here are some photos of our visit. There are more photos on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Some of the art that the Real Pearl children made.

"Pearl One" community house in Told.

The village of Told. This is most of it.

Photos: Slovenia

Last weekend, I took a trip with friends to Slovenia. Rarely have I had the joy of visiting a country of such natural beauty. Enjoy these photos from our trip!

Ljubljana, Slovenia's tiny little capital city., and it's charming river.

Slovenia made me think "WOW!". Tanya too.

These guard dog statues cracked me up. Looks like the moment right before you throw the ball.

Ljubjana from above -- view from the castle.

Lake Bled, one hour north or so of Ljubljana -- beautiful lake with a tiny island in the middle, complete with church.

View of the Slovenian countryside from the Bled Castle.

Three intrepid travelers at Lake Bled! The same three that featured in a recent journey to Bosnia.

Chcek out my bubble-monacle.

Stunning Lake Bled at sundown.

This is the second lake we went to, just a few kilometers from the first one. Lake Bohinj.

Happy hikers! We walked 13+ miles on this day.

Another little church by the lakeside.

Picturesque Slovenian house with the Julian Alps in the background. Still snow-capped!

On the way to a waterfall - found a river! Such a green color!

Tanya and I take a break on the way up to the waterfall.

The waterfall itself wasn't THAT exciting, but this view from the top sure was!

Feeling naturey and hikey!

Slovenia was restful and beautiful! Until next time!

Up next: Visit to the Real Pearl Foundation