Corporate America Saves the Day

No American wants to admit to intentionally seeking out a McDonald’s while in Europe. But when you arrive in an unfamiliar city at 4 a.m., there are only so many options for 24-hour safe havens.

This weekend I went with one of my roommates to Prague via train and it proved to be an interesting experience. We had tickets for any train on Thursday from Keleti Station in Budapest to Prague (her birthday present to me). In our search at the station, we were so wrapped up in finding a train to Prague that we didn’t notice whether we would arrive at 4 a.m. or 6 a.m., as we originally intended. It was the 4 a.m. train.

We didn’t have a reservation in addition to our tickets so we sat in one of the seating cars, which are far from ideal for sleeping. Still, we managed to get at least a couple hours of rest wrapped in our coats and taking full advantage of the current blanket-scarf trend.

We arrived in the city with little idea of where we were with our only destination being warmth until we could check into our AirBNB at 9 a.m. I had briefly used the data on my phone to search 24-hour places in Prague and McDonald’s seemed to be our safest option. It helped that the first sign we saw upon stepping out of the station was one pointing us toward the nearest McDonald’s.

Unfortunately, that particular one was closed. We continued walking down what appeared to be a main tourist street where we passed two more closed McDonald’s, two Burger King’s, a KFC, and a Starbucks before finding an open McDonald’s around the corner. We found our safe place so we got coffee to get us through the day and settled in for the next three hours.

Another perk of the American fast-food chain: free Wi-Fi. We used it to set our plans for the next two days and find directions from one place to the next before leaving to try to catch the sunrise by the Charles Bridge. Well, directions didn’t seem to help too much for that. We ended up about 10 minutes in the opposite direction before checking and making our way back, heavy bags in tow.

Eventually we made it to the bridge and caught the end of the sunrise before going to check into our AirBNB right at the opposite side of the river. We were finally able to warm up and drop off our bags before beginning all over again.

The best part of arriving so early in Prague was being able to see it so empty. There were barely any people around and it was the perfect opportunity to take pictures and appreciate the sheer beauty of the city. Having that first impression got Prague a spot as one of my favorite cities in the world before we resurfaced in the middle of the day to the extreme crowds.

Nearly empty Charles Bridge and Prague Castle in the distance

Deserted Old Town Square in the early morning

Crowded Old Town Square and Christmas market at night

After a brief stop in the apartment we went around the corner to Bohemia Bagel for a real breakfast. Czechs are excellent at breakfast. I got a delicious and filling French bagel toast. When we left to explore the other side of the side, we found the Charles Bridge covered with people and vendors.

It was a pseudo-maze to get through the Old Town Square and past the Astronomical Clock that hours before had been barren. We passed the McDonald’s we had started the day at and paused to get their Wi-Fi and check directions to a real maze – one of mirrors (think corn maze but with walls of mirrors instead). It was smaller than it felt on the inside, very disorienting, and a lot of fun.

Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square

We visited several churches and got a late lunch of traditional Czech food and amazing white mulled wine with cinnamon and apple juice at Café Louvre. We ate our way to exhaustion and we were both in bed by 8 p.m. and slept for over 12 hours.

Inside St. Nicholas Church

Refreshed, we began our Saturday with a stop at the Lennon Wall (dedicated to John Lennon) on the way to breakfast at Café Savoy. There we had to wait almost half an hour but the meal and the service was well worth it.

The Lennon Wall

The Lennon Wall

Once we were sufficiently stuffed we went up to Prague Castle where we got tickets to see St. George’s Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, St. Vitus Cathedral, and the Golden Lane. We sauntered around the city afterwards, enjoying the Christmas markets and the cobblestone streets.

St. Vitus Cathedral

One of many impressive stained glass windows in St. Vitus Cathedral

Golden Lane

Besides the heavy crowds, Prague has been my favorite European city so far. The streets and architecture were beautiful; the people went out of their way to help; and when we were desperate, corporate America and its offer of free Wi-Fi always came to our rescue.

Four Languages, Countless Christmas Markets

Temperatures are down and I’m in a winter wonderland dotted with Christmas markets! Here in Budapest, there is an abundance of vendors lining streets and squares in their wooden booths throughout the city. This weekend I left the Hungarian language behind for Barcelona, Spain – though the flight there and back was conducted in English, Hungarian, Spanish, and Catalan.

Christmas Season in Budapest

It already looks a lot like Christmas in Budapest: main streets and buildings are lit up with twinkle lights, streets and squares have turned into villages of vendors, and a #2 tram is wrapped in lights. I’m in my glory!

Here are some of the many markets around the city:

Advent Feast at the Basilica

This market is located directly in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica and features an ice-skating rink with a large decorated tree in the center and several food trucks down the road opposite. In the evenings, there is a short video version of The Nutcracker projected onto the face of the basilica (as you can see in last week’s post).

 

Fashion Street Advent

High-end stores on Fashion Street face the wooden booths that line the center of the pedestrian road. Large lights are suspended in the air above in the shape of gift boxes, umbrellas, purses, and shoes.

Budapest Christmas Fair at Vörösmarty Tér

At the end of the touristic street of Váci Utca you will find a Christmas haven in Vörösmarty Tér. It’s considered one of the prettiest markets of the city and hosts specifically chosen vendors of high-quality handmade products.

Four Seasons Christmas Market

The Christmas market of the Four Seasons Gresham Palace is a window-shopping experience for many, selling mostly luxury-type products. Still, the hall dedicated to the market is beautifully decorated and indoor, serving as a good place to warm your fingers between hot apple ciders and mulled wines on cold winter evenings.

Nativity in Barcelona

We got lost trying to follow a map to a Christmas market, but we found it shortly after. It reminded me of Spain’s heavy Catholicism. About 90% of the market stalls only sold nativity scenes and related items. There were also several small nativity “towns” throughout the city for people to walk through.

We stumbled upon one of these whilst walking through some Roman ruins. We followed the crowds and ended up in the central courtyard of the Cathedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia where geese wandered as people walked through the little village in the center.

We didn’t keep only to Christmas-related events and places. We visited the famous Roman Catholic church, La Sagrada Familia, with its incredible details and amazing acoustics. The sun shined through the massive stained-glass windows so that the walls appeared to be painted with color.

 

In the afternoon we searched for a late lunch and ended up at Melic del Gòtic, a traditional charcoal grill restaurant. When the waiter brought our breadbasket he asked, “Do you know how to do it?” We looked at each other wondering what he was talking about and gave a unanimous “No.” He then taught us how to properly prepare the bread with garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, and salt for a delicious outcome.

The grilled corn on the cob was delightful and the (white) house wine was phenomenal. The meal took longer than we anticipated because of the laid-back, slower-paced culture, but it was worth it. It was also very reasonably priced!

From there we went to the Gaudi House in Park Güell, where the architect of La Sagrada Familia lived. Our visit there was brief because arrived late and the building had to close. We took our time leaving through the park and stopped to take in the night view of Barcelona below.

On Sunday two of us were able to appease some nostalgia by going to the beach. We walked past the Arc de Triomf and through the Parc de la Ciutadella to reach the Spanish coast and touch the sand for the first time in three months.

Most study abroad students will be heading back to the U.S. in the next two weeks, but I look forward to travelling with my best friend for a couple weeks after the semester. Time will fly, as it already has, and soon it will be January and I will be standing on the Maine coast again (but maybe with a few more layers of clothing).

Eating Turkey and Playing Tourist

This week has been full of exciting things to be thankful for. Despite living in Hungary, the CIEE group and I were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with a fantastic feast. On the same day, my parents landed on Budapest soil for a five-day visit as the first leg of their vacation. I’ve spent most of the past three days feeling a joyful combination of spoiled and stuffed!

Buda Castle and Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving is an odd holiday to celebrate outside of America, mostly because it doesn’t exist anywhere else... That didn’t stop us from having a celebratory feast in Budapest!

We (unfortunately) had classes on Thanksgiving Day, but several of us spent the hours between those and dinner cooking up our home specialties. I made Oreo balls the night before so that I could use the time to meet my parents who had reached their rented apartment while I was in class.

There where lots of hugs and “I missed you’s” before the “where can we eat?” slipped out so I brought my parents to Púder Bárszínház (my favorite restaurant on Ráday Utca, where I live) for dinner. I couldn’t resist getting my own meal (I did say it is my favorite restaurant). Two hours later I headed back to the dorm for round two of eating.

CIEE hosted the Thanksgiving dinner in the dorm kitchen. They brought the turkey and several side dishes in addition to those made by students. People in the program made sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, salad, wild rice casserole, stuffing, and more, as they would have back home. There was homemade pálinka (Hungarian hard liquor), several bottles of wine, and lots of talking and laughing.

Everything got rave reviews and people loved the Oreo balls (not to brag or anything). We ate until we could barely move but there were still a lot of leftovers remaining. There was a whole other turkey we didn’t even touch! CIEE comes prepared.

Tourist for a Weekend

I’ve had the enormous pleasure over the past few days of being able to share this beautiful city with my parents. My sister and her husband are having a second wedding ceremony in India (where he is originally from) later this week and so, once Mom and Dad decided to attend, it wasn’t a far stretch to stop in Budapest to see me on the way.

Having them here has allowed me to revert a little to tourist status. We’ve gone places new and known to me: Spinoza Café, St. István Bazilika (St. Stephen’s Basilica), Café Gerbaud, Buda Castle, Halászbástya (Fisherman’s Bastion), and Christmas markets all over the city.

Four Seasons Gresham Palace

Gresham Palace Christmas Market

Gresham Palace Christmas Market

We’ve had a ton of delicious meals and plenty of mulled wine to keep us warm outside. We even accidentally found out that St. Stephen’s Basilica has a short version of The Nutcracker projected onto the front in the evenings. It reminded me of the Christmas “show” in the Comcast Center in Philadelphia – except on the face of the biggest basilica in Budapest instead of on cleverly disguised screens in a lobby area.

St. Stephen's Basilica Christmas Market

St. Stephen's Basilica Christmas Market

The Nutcracker on St. Stephen's Basilica

Rain and snow could not affect how thrilled I am to have been able to share such an incredible place and my experiences with my parents – and there were both! It was nice to take pictures as if I were here only for the weekend and would never see these people again.

Fisherman's Bastion

It was even better to be able to act as a guide and to know where I was and how to get from point A to point B in the easiest manner. I realized how much I take my sense of direction for granted because Mom and Dad had no idea where we were most of the time.

It was best to be able to hug my mom and dad for the weekend. (My debit card and) I will have a hard time saying goodbye again, but I’m thankful to have the opportunity.

Dubbed

I have never seen a dubbed movie. Those that I have seen in foreign languages have been with subtitles. It’s rare that, as an English speaker, I should need any sort of translation to experience a culture and its entertainment. I often forget how fortunate I am to speak English.

This weekend my roommate and I found a theater showing the new “Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” in English with Hungarian subtitles (the closest to just English that’s offered). The movie was great and tears were shed. The trailers beforehand were an odd mix of the two languages but the strangest thing was seeing Samuel L. Jackson dubbed. The most difficult part of the whole thing was ignoring the subtitles but eventually even that was easy.

As an American, I’m surrounded by familiarity wherever I go. Even in Budapest there are Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFCs, Pizza Huts, and an absurd amount of Burger Kings. There are also a lot of European brands that are well known in the U.S. including H&M (there are two in just one mall and several more throughout the city), IKEA, and Zara.

This weekend I found myself in a lot of touristy areas of the city where I noticed a strong concentration of English speakers. These areas are filled with shops and restaurants with English-speaking employees, making it easier for international travelers since it’s the most common, well, common language.

Saturday I got breakfast not too far from my dorm at Zoska where, despite being in an alley between tram stops, is a very popular spot with English speakers. I went to H&M (yes, it has the same things as in the U.S. but I needed socks) and walked back to the dorm via Váci Utca, a very popular tourist street lined with shops and vendors where English is the language you hear most from those around you.

Today we went to Café Gerbeaud, home of the Gerbeaud chocolate cake and one of the most traditional coffeehouses in Europe, for dessert. Of course we got the Gerbeaud cake and some tea – both were amazing. Between bites of the glorious cake I noticed that every server that came to our table immediately began speaking English before they ever heard us, probably because it was in a touristy area on the edge of a Christmas market.

Gerbeaud Cake

We visited the Christmas markets in Vörösmarty Tér and on Fashion Street where we had no problem asking vendors how much the citrus wreath or the (insanely fuzzy) slippers cost. Some even struck up a conversation, asking where we were from, why we were here. It was simple and something that could just as easily happen in the U.S.

Vörösmarty Tér

Fashion Street

The citrus wreath currently bringing Christmas cheer and wonderful scents to our dorm room.

One of the first major miscommunications I’ve encountered occurred Saturday night. There was a mulled wine festival on the street I live on and each business participating was marked with a mannequin. We went to Rombusz, a small square down the road with a food truck.

My roommate and I decided to order together for the sake of ease and intended to get two cups of one deciliter each (since that’s how it’s measured and priced). There was some confusion between our limited Hungarian and the vendors’ lack of any English and we ended up getting one cup of two deciliters and paying double to get a second one. Thankfully, it was still only approximately $1.00 each (and pretty good!).

The situation was minor and turned out all right but it was a reminder of how frustrating a language barrier can be. We had tried to explain the confusion but to no avail. As it was being sorted a bilingual girl offered to help. We had already handed over the extra 280 HUF, but it was a kind gesture that I’ve found to be fairly common.

Language is something that’s so easy to take for granted, especially for English speakers. I have the privilege of seeing movies and talking to others in my native tongue simply because it’s the most commonly shared language. Sometimes it seems as though the whole world is dubbed for our convenience.

Still, there is one thing most shopkeepers, store clerks, and waiters like to hear in their own language: thank you//köszönöm szépen.

Crossing Bridges

There's a proverb that became all too relevant to me in this bittersweet weekend: "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

I had the privilege of crossing bridges over canals in Amsterdam with two of my closest friends this weekend. But this joy was interrupted when we had to cross a different kind of bridge: making decisions in light of tragic events that were far too close for comfort.

Amsterdam: Bridges Adorned with Bicycles


I happened to have the same Thursday night flight as two others in my program and so we kept each other entertained on the way to and while waiting in the Budapest airport. It was nice to have the company and someone to hold my bag while I got my shoes off to go through security - even though I forgot to take off my jewelry.

My first friend landed in Amsterdam shortly after me and we met at the end of the hike it took to get to the arrivals hall (that airport is HUGE). We took a bus to the hotel, got off at the wrong stop and, once we became too skeptical of the directions I got from Google Maps, stopped in a gym to ask the reception for directions. It was another 20 minutes walking but (as we constantly reminded ourselves) we were in Amsterdam - where canals make navigation easier and excessive bicyclists make crossing streets scarier.

Street-sized hallway in the Amsterdam airport

Amsterdam sign by the Van Gogh museum - nearly empty in the rain

Street and bridge completely covered by bicycles. They even had their own parking lots!

More bicycles in front of the palace by the Red Light district

We finally found and checked into our hotel - a Best Western half an hour out of the city - before venturing back out for dinner. We decided to stay in the area so we didn't have to attempt navigating night buses. We ended up at a restaurant down the road where only one waiter seemed to speak English and the menu was only in Turkish and Dutch, but the food was good and we got two mugs each of Turkish tea on the house.

The next day we met our other friend at the train station and found a café for breakfast in the city center. It was delicious and they had two cats! That wandered freely and received attention from whomever they pleased. We intended to go from there to the Anne Frank House but thought the line was too long (this will come back later) so we went to the Van Gogh museum instead and followed that with a tour of the Heineken Factory.

Heineken Factory

Heineken Factory

Cat in the cafê

Saturday was emotionally sobering. We woke to the full news of the attacks and to friends, family, and school officials confirming our locations and well-being. My friends had to confirm they had safe travel back to their cities and one of them had to completely change her plans to avoid flying in to Paris. It was stressful, it was frustrating, and it was sad.

For comfort we returned to the café with the cats for breakfast. We went to the Anne Frank House - only this time the line was three times as long and we waited (freezing) for two hours. But it was incredibly worth it.

We saw the bookcase that hid the doorway to the secret apartment where she and seven others lived in hiding. I learned things I didn't know about the holocaust, about Anne Frank, and about her diary itself. For example, she rewrote most of it with the hope and intention of it being published after the war.

Canal by the Anne Frank House

Once we let it all sink in and got our thoughts together again, we walked to the Red Light district to see what all the hype is about. It's exactly what you'd expect from the Red Light district.

Christmas decorations in the Red Light district

The rest of the night was spent back at the hotel pre-packing and watching Netflix before calling it an early night - one of my friends had to leave shortly after four in the morning because of adjusting her flights. It was fun as always to see them, especially in a pretty European city, but it did not go as planned.

Bridges of Nightmares 


This weekend was the closest I've gotten to being ready to go home. In the wake of tragedy I missed the comfort of home, of my native tongue, of distance, and of being able to go in to the next room to hug my friends and family.

I'm mad.

I'm mad that we had to cross this bridge. I'm mad that one of my friends had to deal with the stress of finding the safest way back to her study abroad city in Western France. I'm mad that we cancelled our trip to Paris next weekend out of safety - out of fear.

I'm mad that nearly every conversation I've heard in English since has been related to the attacks; that this is what preoccupies minds. I'm mad that it is a conversation that has to be had. Most of all, I'm mad that we live in a world where such a tragedy, such a violation, may occur at all.

I'm also lucky.

I'm lucky that we happened to schedule our Paris trip for the following weekend. I'm lucky that my biggest loss in all this is $80 and a few extra days with my friends who I will see again in a couple months regardless.

I'm lucky to attend a school that was proactive and sure to check on the locations and well-being of all students currently abroad and to update students and families frequently. I'm lucky to live in an age where technology makes that so easy; even Facebook activated a safety feature that allowed people to check in and check for others. I'm lucky not to have lost anyone in the attacks.

But many people were not as lucky. My thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives were lost as well as with those who remain but will never forget. I hope that they can recover and move on.

In the words of Anne Frank: “... in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”