June 30, 2012
For me, it has to be a rule that I cannot sleep the night before anything important. A responsible Darwin tried to go to sleep before 2:00AM. I eventually give up, stay up until 6:00AM and I get loopy and then get a quick 4 hours in before getting ready for my trip. First on the list is a haircut. Bitch and moan, bitch and moan, I had a good thing going with a couple ladies at my local place giving me good haircuts. I had been free from bad haircuts for a year almost.
The lady even cuts it alright, then she decides to get the “toothed” scissors and proceed to chomp a complete side of my bangs. I think she notices what she did because she does not do the other sides. I basically have this weird one side forehead, other side covered forehead look. Great. To top that off, for those who remember my “Spock” haircut, I had these weird sideburns that suddenly stop flat. Basically, it makes your hair look like it’s an artificial helmet. I should have immediately said something, but I never do. Granted, it was probably too late at that point, but I always assume that it’ll “Be okay” when I get home and wash it off or something. No Darwin, your hair is right in front of you, if it looks like it’s fucked, it’s fucked!
In the end, I’ve gotten worse and it’ll grow out in the next few weeks. I really need to avoid letting this bother me too much and it always does because I’m weird like that. After a lunch with mom, she brings me to the airport. My tiredness sets in a bit as a wait for a few hours and once the plane starts going up, I immediately pass out for an hour. Dinner arrives and I chat with the guy next to me. He’s from Manchester and works for some clothing company. He’s off to Berlin for a tradeshow. I have a few exchanges with cool guy Gary.
The case reading for my class due Tuesday and Wednesday were already emailed to us. Studious Darwin prints out most of them so I have something to do on the flight. I get that done pretty quickly and then move onto the textbook reading I downloaded. I eventually give up as we’re passing through Canada and about to enter the Atlantic. I wake up for breakfast and we’re over the Atlantic now and over England. Very good that I ended up passing out because I have a layover in Berlin at 1:30AM Eastern Time and I don’t get to Budapest until 5:00AM Eastern time. Not getting sleep would lead to a grumpy traveler.
The plane had some garbage movie with Matt Damon and Scarlett Jo about opening a zoo or whatnot. It’s so stupid kid’s movie and boy did it suck. It did however have that up and coming young blond actress that was in the recent Spielberg movie. Anyway, you heard it here, she’s going to grow up to be a very beautiful lady. Fine, that’s probably pretty obvious, but I’m still saying it. And please don’t take this in any weird way. I never understood the idea of young girls being attractive. Like 18-19 year old girls being “barely legal” and the whole “jailbait” whatnot, I don’t get it all. I like me some women, real women. Keep the girls to yourself.
Since I slept half or most of the flight, it turns out fine. We arrive in Berlin at 7:30AM local time, I get through the checks and I have an hour and a half sitting at my terminal before Budapest. Going through passport check, the guy confirms that this is my first time in Germany, I affirm with a “Yeah/Yah.” He hears the German, “Yaah,” and spews off a few German sentences. I kindly let him go on and then say, “Oh sorry, I don’t speak German.” After a Danke schon, I hastily walk away.
Sitting at my terminal, the shorts were a good idea. I got cold at times, but the airplane had blankets. I currently feel absolutely gross and really need a toothbrush and a shower. Good thing I booked a shuttle from the airport to the school’s dorm because I don’t want to deal with that bizz. English is not the best in Budapest compared to Western Europe. I read the instructions about getting from the airport to my dorm and it was complicated as hell. Transfers, buses, subways, no no.
Hopefully getting to the dorm will go smoothly. Then there’s a huge list of thangs. One of the people in the program added me on Facebook and apparently people are getting lunch. I probably won’t make it, but I’ll be meeting all the people and fun stuff.
Though I have to worry about exchanging US Dollars for Hungarian Forints. Maybe I’ll do that at the airport first so I have some spending cash. Then I need to fucking eat because I’m fracking starving right now. The food on the airplane was meh and I avoided just eating shitty bread to fill me up. I really don’t want to gain 10-15 pounds while I’m here.
Then I need to figure out if I want to get a SIM card. I brought my old phone. The people in my program will be all Europeans and will have phones. I also want to keep in touch with my friend Lizzie during this whole thing.
Oh introduction, I met Lizzie, an Australian, in Paris at a hostel last year. Her, this guy, and I had this crazy scary adventure in a Parisian park at 3:00AM and we were not sober and what not. She visited New York in the fall and I hung out with her and her friend Emily for a week. Funny thing, she just started law school too, what a coincidence. Anyway, she basically booked her Europe trip parallel to mine. She’ll be in Budapest too while I’m there, then we coordinate hostel bookings at Berlin and Cologne. We still need to figure out Amsterdam though that’s three weeks away. It’s going to be sick having a good pal to travel with.
Back to more worrying, then I have to figure out the subway system and how I’m buying a 2 week pass. Apparently you give them a passport size picture and they create a pass for you. Like Prague, it’s an honor system. People randomly check for tickets, you get a hefty fine if you cheat the system. As a foreigner, I’m not risky that bizz.
After my quick flight from Berlin to Budapest, I’m relatively exhausted and loopy. I pick up my checked luggage and then hit up the ATM to withdraw around $225. The money situation basically comes out that I should have received an ATM card without a foreign exchange fee and only had to pay for a foreign ATM fee, the usual $2-4 y’all know. Instead, I’m stuck with a Citibank, which charges a 3% exchange on all credit card charges and withdrawals. What can I do.
I thankfully booked a shuttle and I quickly get to the residence center. It’s basically a 10 story hotel in the outskirts of the city. My first impression is that it looks a bit like shitty outskirts of Prague. A lot less developed and nice and I still haven’t seen any of the real city yet.
I check into my room by 12:00PM and I try to go to sleep for a few hours. I have a hard time doing so despite being exhausted. Funny thing, these guys knock on my door and they run into my spacious room and basically build a bed right in front of me. I’m supposed to have a roommate for this trip and now the room is just a lot tighter.
I rest a bit and the jet lag surprisingly hasn’t killed me and I Facebook message someone that added me from the program. She says she’s meeting with a friend to watch the EuroCup match. I man up and decide to get out there and jump on a foreign bus to the local mall area to get a 2 week pass for public transportation. That goes by okay as the lady is able to understand my English.
I’m starving too so I head into the mall, which looks like any American mall with H&M and all that. I go to the food court and sadly my first Hungarian meal is McDonald’s. Even in fast food, I must say that European vegetables just taste better. I also get this promotion Gosser NaturZitrone. After some research, it’s a beer company, but they have made a lemon based soda and damn is this shit good. Just vibrant, refreshing, not very sweet, and tart. I gotta find me this.
I meet up with Christina, who is an Italian student, and her friend, Rita, who is a Maltese law student, in the afternoon and we head off into the city. They’re both in my program. We head into the city, which is a bit of a schlep because of how far the dorm is from the city or campus, which is smack dab in the middle of the city.
A bus to a train and it takes almost 40 minutes. It’s excruciating as they’ve been hit by a heat wave and it’s 90 degrees. Indoors are somewhat air conditioned, not like America though, and the buses and subways are so old and basic. I thought we had an old subway system, but there’s really looks like you’re barely in a first world country. The windows are open the whole way and it’s just hot. I’m not made for this shit. I won’t bitch about how bad it is for the next few days, but either way, I’m taking 3 showers a day, I’m running through clothes like crazy, and I prefer long pants, but nope, I’m wearing one of my two shorts everyday.
As we arrive out off of the subway, I just have my head up and keep soaking in the city. I’ve barely seen and it already realize how beautiful the city is. (See my pictures). We meet up with Christina’s friend, Lydia, at a Starbucks. They met at the hostel Christina was staying at as she arrived a couple days earlier. Lydia’s skinny, pale girl from Galicia, a northern part of Spain that borders Portugal. She’s rocking a few large tattoos on her forehead and shoulder and a lip ring. Her accent has that very familiar, well for me at least, Castilian lisp.
We wait around for a bit and grab a coffee. We meet up with this New Yorker, Pierce, that is doing a “peace camp” kind of thing in Europe where he counsels kids and stuff in what is basically our summer camp. We meet him at this huge “pit” with a projector screen. It’s a really cool situation has it’s tiered and people are sitting down, getting table service of beer and wine, and waiting for the game to start. However, it’s really crowded and after a bit into the game, we give up and try to find somewhere to watch the game.
On our walk, Pierce stops and we try some “langos.” It’s basically a deep fried flat bread or “pizza,” but topped with non-Italian toppings. It’s pretty tasty, I get it with garlic sauce and sour cream, but it really is just carbs and fat. We also grab a beer with it as drinking on the street is acceptable, one of the best features of Europe. The food and beer is hilariously cheap. A tall boy is about $1.00.
We find this cool bar that turns out to be a hipster cinema spot. It’s a bar with a large projector screen that screens new film festival flicks. The game is there and we watch it as Spain destroys Italy, 4-0. Again, the bar is cheap as fuck. A pint or .5L is $2.00 and they don’t tip at bars here. I realize that enjoying myself and spending money here will not be a problem. Don’t hesitate, just buy, eat, drink, and experience. Stuff is too cheap for regrets.
We then go to this beer garden type place at Kuplung. Pierce brings us there because he plans on doing a poem for their open mic. The back is this indoor area that is hot, but has a really cool situation. Apparently Canadians love travelling and all of them from the hostel decided to celebrate Canada Day, I didn’t even know it was today. The dudes are shirtless and draped in Canada flags, the girls look like they’re out for fun, and it’s just a great frat party, but in a very European bar. There’s something about seeing people like me (non-European tourists) enjoying the city how I would like. There’s an association that is created and even just hearing English without an accent is enough to spark this.
The open mic is surprisingly taken up from what basically sounds like professional artists. They’re playing George Michael, Sublime, The Police, and whatever random stuff. However, it’s crazy that all these random people congregated to do this and they all turns out to be highly sufficient musicians.
After meeting some people, exchanging some stories, having a try of their local liquor, Palinka (a flowery grappa, rough to drink), we realize that Pierce might not make it up to the stage tonight so we leave. The metro system stops at 11:45 so we have to take a night bus. Although it feels far, the dorm is only 5.5 miles from the city center. Even then, the night bus takes 20-30 minutes and we get back at 2:00AM and need to wake up at 7:00AM for class tomorrow. After a shower because I haven’t felt this gross in a while and I’m off to sleep after having an incredible day that broke my meager expectations.

July 2, 2012
It’s hard to wake up considering the jet lag, the lack of sleep, and the couple drinks from yesterday. They offer breakfast, which isn’t too bad, scrambled eggs and mushrooms and water. They unfortunately don’t have coffee. The food is a bit oily, but I don’t get the carbs in and it’s a huge plate of eggs. (I repeat this meal for the week).
During breakfast, I meet Timothy, a student and TA from Belgium. During the classes, he’s way to knowledgeable about the subject and probably shouldn’t be taking this class in the first place. Miriam is from Munich, a tall pretty German. You know, those creatures.
We walk over to the bus in front of the building. The ride is less than 10 minutes, but it’s still a scorching 90+ degrees here. The university building is quite nice, as it was funded by George Soros. It has a lot of the fixings that you’d expect from an Western European or American university. We have changing professors so we get a taste of different perspectives and they are able to teach their specialties.
The first one is this guy: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/law/staff/damian-chalmers.htm
He’s a scholar and goes through the EU institutions with us. That stuff would usually be quite dry, but he’s a huge EU nerd and follows all the dealings so he is actually able to apply real life countries, people, and situations with the relationships of players and institutions that he’s explaining.
For lunch, Christina, Rita, Timothy, Miriam, and I walk around and find a nice, albeit slightly touristy and pricey (for Budapest), Italian spot. I get a huge pizza that I can’t finish and it only comes out to $10. It was quite good with a salty smoked cheese and arugula.
After a second round of class until 4:00 or so, (it’s not a short day of classes considering stuff starts at 9:00), I head back and immediately go to sleep. I need to catch up on it. I wake up around 6:00 and I really don’t want to go to this dinner event they’re throwing. However, it’s my second day here and I need to get my ass up.
I head there and eat their poor attempt at some Hungarian dishes. At least there’s wine that I enjoy a few glasses of. After that, people are going to this “Ruin pub.” Basically, they had shitty closed factories or tenements and the newer generation decided to build around this setting to make beer gardens or bars. This is a really smart idea because it leads to some really cool looking places.
However, when ordering, we deal with this racist bartender. Rita is younger looking, but really, no one gets carded in Europe. You literally have to be 10 years or old or something for that. The bartender cards her and we kindly laugh about it because that’s usually what you do. Instead, the guy gives a really shitty attitude about it and barely even knows English and nastily repeats, “What?!” to her.
Dude, I’m not cool with this. Then again, I’m in a different country nor do I speak his language. I doubt causing ruckus around here as a foreigner does any good. We end up being really annoyed by it and getting served from the other bartender. In the end, I’m slightly confused by it. She’s an EU citizen and maybe she’s a bit brown!? But she’s from Malta, the fucking least offensive and smallest country you could imagine. Shitty people everywhere, but I expected something like this in Hungary at some point.
At the table, I meet Esther who is from DC. She’s Hungarian by blood and studied here for almost a year. Now, she plans to go to law school near Boston in the fall. Law school has trapped yet another one of us.
We hang and chat for a while, a bit about nerdy politics stuff, and then Rita and I take the night bus back. I get back at about 1:30.

July 3, 2012
Same procedure, though this time we go to the cafeteria on the campus and boy does the food suck. Then again, it literally is $3 for a plate of vegetables and a chicken breast, you can’t say the value isn’t at least somewhat there.
In the afternoon, we have this guy call us from Italy on Skype: http://www.law.yale.edu/faculty/MMaduro.htm
He gives the class his explanation of the EU crisis and what I find intriguing is that he is very opinionated and very clearly states what he wants to occur for this to be fixed. I mean, as a former Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, he obviously is more about integrating the EU and making it stronger. He wants direct election of the EU Commission President (which is currently an appointed position), a fiscal union instead of a simply an monetary one, and generally, a more EU centric political climate at the national level, as in having people care about and vote for EU politics instead of simply seeing this at the national level.
I get back and immediately pass out from 6-9:00. I only planned on sleep for an hour, but I kept pushing it. I then go to the lobby and try to find food. It turns out that everything is closed. I can’t remember the last time I skipped dinner, but I guess things occur. I just go do some reading, get some writing done, and slack off until 1:00 and then head sleep.

July 4, 2012
We have a new French professor now, Professor Caunes.
http://centers.law.nyu.edu/jeanmonnet/archive/JMCteam.html
She goes through some cases about EU citizenship with us, she has a philosophy background, so she tries to frame issues in that sense.
For lunch, about 8 of us go with the professor to this vegetarian Indian place. The food isn’t bad, but it’s not bad and really fucking bloating. Tofu, rice, beans, potato, just all this really heavy shit. I’ve never had a meal hold me down that bad for like 4 hours.
The professor and I chat a bit because she’s a New Yorker now basically as she teaches at NYU Law. After another lecturer after lunch, we have this even where we go to this ruin pub for drinks with the class and two of our professors.
Miriam and I “lead” the pack as fast city walkers, even though she’s from the country side. She’s currently passed her first lawyer test or something and needs to take another in case she wants to practice in a different field. She’s one of the handful of people in our class that is actually a practicing lawyer or has practiced. She studied a year in Chicago about 4 years ago and reminds me about Ela’s German eliteness. Despite being a country girl, she has very strong views about Germany. While Ela hates the Southern accent, Miriam considers Bavaria to be the “real” Germany and that my trip is incomplete as I am not going to Munich. The people got their stiff opinions.
We make the “cool” table of 5-6 of us where we don’t sit with the professors. Granted, the table can only fit 15 or so and our class has probably 20-25 or so. It ends up being the smokers table basically.
I meet Ellen, who has a really cool story. She’s almost 40 and moved to Austria last year from Vermont. She spent 8 years of her life as a prosecutor in Vermont and I guess she wanted a change in this. She’s here to boost her EU knowledge and whatnot and I guess she’s looking for some law related job in Europe as she lives in Vienna with her husband now.
I then meet another Christina, who is the 3rd American in the class, from Chicago. She’s 25, I’m turning 24. She went NYU undergrad, politics major, she graduated ’09. I graduated early as a ’09 Fall graduate. She spent a semester abroad in Spring of ’07, I was there Fall of ’07. We swap a couple stories and it reminds me of fucking incredible Cross Club:
http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/traveltracks/files/2008/03/cross-club-1.jpg
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5168/5253777511_f55d460415.jpg
Yeah, you want to go there. It’s cool as hell. Anyway, she’s been here for a year studying whatever International relations or whatever and is soon moving to New York with her boyfriend. But seriously, what a small freaking world and imagine the people out there that we’re all not meeting with all these same crossroads and stories.
I also meet Martina, who has worked in Brussels for the EU and a huge EU nerd as she follows the European Stability Mechanism and all that stuff. I could swear that she is Scandinavian with her sick bleach blonde hair, but she’s Slovakian. However, she studies in the UK, so she has that absurdly hot Oxford English accent. Motherfucker, it’s a fact. Then again, I guess I shouldn’t roll my eyes when girls get drawn in by British guy because I’m just as susceptible to something as mundane as an accent.
Drinks are cheap as hell as I’m paying $2.50 for a gin and seltzer with lemon. Beer is even cheaper at about $1-2. And again, this country doesn’t tip on drinks, but I do anyway because I just feel bad it’s so cheap. Restaurants usually have preadded tip at 10-15%. And wouldn’t that just make things easier and then you just add on tip if you want to be generous about great service?
After sitting there for 4-5 hours, it’s 9:00PM and Christina, who has been living in Budapest for a year by now, tells us to go to this gyro place, or doner in Germany. Some of the best pita ever, great white and spicy sauce, and meat was meh because it was chicken instead of lamb. And in the end, I bit in a pool of grease because they shaved the meat beforehand and leave it sitting there under the huge spit as fat drips down.
Ellen, Miriam, Rita, and I head back and get back by 10:00. By the way, notice all the female names, there are basically 4-5 guys in my class. The ratio is probably something like 1 to 4 or 1 to 5. We get back and we hit up the “bar” in our dorm. It’s actually packed with tables in the back and despite it being almost 11:00, there are at least 20 or so people drinking beer. I get this Dreher Bak, which is a really dark beer. Not my kind of stuff for summer.
I realize that it’s July 4th and cheers with Ellen, but I’m still a bit disappointed. I wanted to do something stupid like what I saw on Sunday with the Canadians and Canada Day. It’s not about nationality or being “American,” but it’s about the camaraderie with people, the connection of fitting in with something and repping it hard (no matter what it is), and hell, it’s all just about good fun. Either way, it was never my favorite holiday anyway.
After a beer, we call it a night. I chat with my old Norwegian friend Emma from years ago. We haven’t Skyped in years and exchanged pleasantries about being in the same time zone, Budapest, etc. etc.