A trip to Eger.... and the rest of Northeast Hungary

This last Saturday a fellow BSM student Chris and I decided we wanted to take a day trip to the town of Eger. Eger is well known for its wine cellars and its cathedral, so it is a fairly popular tourist destination in Hungary, so we thought it'd be worth a visit.
So we decided to meet at train station at 9 that morning to catch a 9:33 train. We bought tickets at 9:30 and spent the next three minutes running around the station to find the train. We finally returned to the main entrance and looked at the main board listing all the departures. From there we were able to locate which train to catch. As soon as got to the platform the train began moving and we could not get on. Fortunately there was another train leaving at 10:03 which we were able to catch.

We had to transfer trains at Füzesabony, so we were constantly looking out for the station. By 12:30 we made it to a city called Miskolc where the train stopped for about 10 minutes. We continued looking for the Füzesabony station, but it didn't come. Finally a little after 2 pm the train reached the end of the line at Sátoraljaújhely. At the station we found a map of the Hungarian train system, and realized that we had missed our stop by over 2 and a half hours. We also discovered we were in a small town located pretty much on the Slovakian border. There were only a few trains per a day that left the town, so we ended up having to wait until 7:47 pm until we left.

So we had an entire afternoon to spend in Sátoraljaújhely. We found a really good and cheap restaurant to eat some lunch. Then we walked around the town a bit. There was a big hill right next to the town, so we decided we would try to walk up the hill. We were able to climb to the top of the hill, but most of the climb was simply through dense forests. It was a very beautiful climb, and we had many pretty views of the countryside. When we reached the top, we discovered a chairlift. Apparently there was a chairlift that people could ride up to the top of this hill. This was an interesting discovery. Unfortunately we were not allowed to ride it town. We made it down and back into the station in time for the 7:47 train. We decided that we would ride the train to Füzesabony, and then take a train to Eger from there. It turned out that the train ended at Miskolc, and we had to find another train to get to Füzesabony. We eventually found a train that began at Miskolc and ended at Füzesabony. When we were at Füzesabony, we noticed that the sign for the station was missing two letters. This probably explains why we missed the stop in the morning.
Then at Füzesabony, we were able to find a train that left Füzesabony and ended at Eger. Since we had to ride three different trains their entire length of the line to get from Sátoraljaújhely to Eger took about 4 hours. So we arrived in Eger close to midnight and we didn't have a hostel to stay. We walked all around town looking for a hostel, but did not find any. Just outside of town we found some bushes by the side of the, and a field. We decided that we were going to sleep in the field. This appeared to be our only option. So we ended up sleeping in a field that night. What began as a crazy day ended up even crazier.

We did not get much sleep that night, though daylight savings did help us get an early start to the day. We woke up, went back into town and saw the castle. Then we got some breakfast and went to go see the cathedral. We ended up going to mass in the cathedral in order to see it. Attending mass was a very awkward experience and I had no idea what was going on. I really hope I wasn't too disrespectful there. The fact that the mass was Hungarian didn't help my confusion.

Then after mass we headed to what is known as the Valley of Beautiful Women. This is where the famous wine cellars of Eger are located. We went to a few cellars and tasted many different types of wine. These wines were certainly much better than any other wine I had tasted. I can certainly see why Eger is well-known for its wine. After that we took the train back to Budapest, and finally successfully figured out the Hungarian train system.

Overall it was quite a trip. Not exactly what we wanted, but it sure is a great story to tell. And we did actually get to Eger, even if it took 12 hours longer to get there!

Its been a while....

So I have been pretty busy lately, and haven't done a good job of keeping my blog up to date. I'm sorry about that.

Anyways the last two weeks have not been too eventful for me. Some of the highlights include having dinner with Calvin students a couple of times and running a 5.2k road race in Budapest.
Last week Saturday I took the GRE. There was a center over here in the city where I was able to take it. That wasn't too fun of an experience, but I'm glad its done and out of the way now. Now I can focus more on my school work and enjoying life abroad.
Last Saturday after the GRE I took a trip just outside the Budapest city limits to Statue Park. This was a very interesting experience. The park contained statues that were put up during communist rule in many different places throughout the city. Since Hungarians really hate their communists they took them down. It was interesting to see this tourist attraction over in the outskirts of the city. It didn't appear to be a very well maintained place, which I found to be pretty interesting. It seems that the Hungarians really hate their communism.

A couple days ago I realized that I have been in Budapest for over 2 months already! That is a really scary thought. It certainly does not feel like its been nearly this long. I can't say I yet really feel comfortable doing business here and living here. I really don't think I could see myself living in Hungary. The language barrier has been quite a problem, and although it has been getting better all the time, this just isn't a lifestyle for me. At the same time, I really like Budapest quite a lot, and I will be sad to go. I feel like I have been blessed greatly to have this opportunity to live in Budapest and participate in Hungarian culture. So far, it has certainly been an experience well worth it.
In some ways I feel like I can call Budapest home. I have a daily routine which I do, and I am able to get everything I need. I feel like I know my way around the city, and I certainly feel comfortable riding public transportation (Budapest public transportation includes buses, metro, trams, troli buses and a couple commuter trains). It's a nice place, and I've been many great people here.