Week three!

I haven't written a blog in a while so thought I should update you....
Last week was very busy with university and school. One thing that really stuck out for me at school was on Tuesday morning when we were observing the grade 2 class the children asked the teacher for more homework. They are constantly so enthusiastic to learn and certainly never complain about the eight o'clock start, unlike us! So being in Budapest has certainly opened my eyes to the amount of things I take for granted. (I'm beginning to teach the children next week so I'm excited for that to start.)
We tried to fit in some cultural excursions last week!... and so we grabbed our swimming suits and took a trip to a thermal bath! It was absolutely amazing... and just what we needed after all of our early mornings... although apparently swimming suits are optional over here and so we were a little shocked when we walked into the pool! But the baths are one of Budapest's well known attributes and now we can see why!
We also visited the Merlin theatre in the Pest side of the city.. and we loved it so much that we went back last night to see, 'Stone in his pockets'... a play set in Ireland so it made us feel right at home!
We were beginning to feel a little downhearted at the end of last week as our halls do not have any other international students and so it is very difficult to meet English speaking people.. and to make things worse we got lost on Friday when we tried to find the international building (to enable us to go on the international weekend.) So we went to a nearby cafe to chear ourselves up with some cookies... only to randomly bump into a girl from Georgia, America. She asked me some questions and then we had lunch together. It turned out that she has been in Budapest for one month and was feeling some of the same emotions that we were feeling. She is over here with an organisation called, 'Hope for Hungary' and trying to build up relationships with Hungarians. We invited her to come to church with us last Sunday and so she and her friend came along. We soon knew that we weren't supposed to go on the international weekend as things just seemed to be working out. We went the International Baptist Church of Budapest and were made to feel very welcome. I was really excited as a lady approached us and asked if anyone would like to join the worship team... this is something I am really passionate about and so it excited me a lot to join it. I am really looking forward to see what I can be taught through another culture's style of worship.
So I really am feeling at home in Budapest. We even got three days of this week as it is a ski week at school... so that has made me feel even happier! I visited the main Budapest indoor market today and tried some Hungarian food for lunch, and tonight our flat is holding a fancy dress party.
The past week has been great for me also as I feel like I'm getting to know some of the Hungarian people in my flat well. Last night I was able to have personal conversations with them about how they feel about their country and about their views on religion... it felt great to talk about more than merely how their day went! Their even starting to understand my Northern Irish sarcasm which is very good!!
So I'm excited for my other two days off this week...and I'm hoping to head to Vienna this weekend with Kirsty and Kattie so I'm really excited to see new things there...
Until my next blog....

So I thought I would put up a photo of the tram... just to let you see what we spend most of our time travelling on! The public transport system here is great... so your never standing around waiting for too long!!

Our mentors took us out for the day on saturday... so this is a photo taken from the castle which overlooks all of Budapest.

You can't come to Budapest and not experience the dried paprika!

A guy from our flat brought us up some this week that his grandmother had spend a year drying.. which was lovely of him.. although I did have to drink a lot of water after the experience!!

European counries at this time of year often celebrate the 'carneval' season.. and this is a photo of parents of the children coming into the classroom, surprising them, and singing a famous Hungarian song!

On Sunday we were feeling a little low as we had tried to

find a church to visit but got lost! So we went exploring to find something i

nteresting! When we walked up the steps of the underground this was what I saw....suddenly we knew that Hungary was where we wanted to be... as it holds many hidden treasures!....The parliament building is just one of them.

So it's been a week since I last blogged... what a busy week!
We had university on Monday and thursday.. and school on tuesday, wednesday and Friday... getting up at 6 oclock everyday! The school we are in is great. The children's English at the age of 6 is incredible.. and very humbling as they are teaching us Hungarian! The teachers have been great at making us feel part of the team at the school and hopefully this week we will get to teach some lessons as so far we have just been observing. It is interesting to see how differently the children over here learn.. and the enthusiasm we can see in the childrens eyes as they are being taught is so encouraging to watch.
As for university... we are taking a pottery class and have started to make vases... I am not the most creative person and so this is certainly a challenge! We are also learning some Hungarian songs and are taking piano and singing lessons.
Outside of school and university things are going super... I have truely fallen in love with the sights around the Gellert Hill and across the Danube river. When the city lights are on at night Budapest looks stunning. Our mentor Klari took us sightseeing yesterday throughout the city and we went to the 'House of terror' where we learnt about the history of communism in the country. It was really beneficial for us as now we have a better idea of what situation the people of Hungary have moved away from.
So the first 10 days are over and I really feel like Kirsty, Kathryn and I have settled in well. We have made friends with the Hungarians in our flat and they are now teaching us lots of new Hungarian phrases. This has helped to give me confidence and now when I walk down the streets of Budapest I no longer feel like such a tourist!!
So tomorrow is the beginning of our second week of university... I will let you know what new things we experience this week!

So we're only finishing off day three but I feel like I have achieved a lot! Today we travelled a lot using the trams and I feel like I am getting to grips with how it all works! Our accommodation is located in Buda, along with our university, but today we travelled by tram and the underground to get across the Danube river, into Pest. The first thing that we saw when we got out of the underground was amazing architecture all around us, with the parliament buildings straight infront of us. They are absolutely beautiful, especially in the snow!

As for the lanuage, I ordered my first drink in Hungarian in a restaurant yesterday... and it arrived successfully!

Tomorrow morning we begin class at eight o'clock in the morning so an early night is certainly needed! I'll keep you updated as to how university goes and if we find our way okay!

So after all of the waiting we have finally arrived and our first day is nearly over! Everything so far has ran smoothly which has helped to keep us all calm. We have met many lovely, helpful people who have helped us arrive and feel at home in our halls of residence. We met with our mentor today and collected our Budapest student cards and collected our timetable for the next 3 months!

After only one day I feel like I have achieved a lot. We are beginning to get familiar with the transport system, which is a lot different from back home! We are mainly using the tramline where trams come every 2 minutes!

We have been trying to use as much Hungarian as we know when ordering food and talking to people, although it is slightly embaressing as my pronunciation is terrible!

I am very excited to find out what the next few days have in store for us!!