14 October 2008: Budapest, Hungary

I woke up early and thought I was at Marvin's place-- sorry, Greg's place. Except I didn't remember going back there the night before and, to be honest, had no idea where I was. This was the first time of the entire trip that I woke up and had forgotten where I was. To be honest, I'm surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

Anyway, I went back to sleep and when Juliana woke me up at 9:30 it all came back to me. She asked if I wanted to go with her to her university and I politely declined-- boy, did I ever.

I had run out of ham and cheese packages from Tesco, so for lunch I went to a shop and bought two rolls of bread and 150g of mystery meat for 150ft. And I realized that I had been doing it wrong the entire time-- you don't buy packaged meat, you just go to the deli and buy it there. Price per gram is cheaper that way, and it tastes better too. Even if you are buying mystery meat.

I meant for this to be my last day in Budapest and I had 1,900ft leftover, not including the price for my bus ticket the next day. I figured I could spend it on a final drunken, stupid night. Or I could spend it on gifts. I thought gifts would be a bit more productive.

(And I'm not going to make a generic joke about alcohol right here, since everyone is already thinking of one.)

I had seen some street vendors on the Buda side a day or two earlier and thought that would be a good place to start, although it took me a while to find it. I have to buy gifts for my mom and my two sisters, and while I wasn't going to get all three with 1,900ft-- about $13-- I thought I could get some nice stuff for two of them and it would still be pretty cheap.

I found a nice scarf for my one sister and a nice table cloth for my other sister-- who is married and likes things like table cloths-- but each cost 1,500ft. They were both at different stands, so I tried to haggle each down to 1,000ft, although the math majors out there might tell you that still wouldn't have been enough. Which is irrelevant, since neither seller bought.

At this point I took a walk up to Citadel, because there had been street vendors there too. I expected that the things there would be even more expensive, on account of Citadel being a tourist spot, and they were. But now I had climbed Citadel for the second of three time periods-- sunset and day-light. And sunset wins.

I went back to the first shops and found a different scarf, more like a shawl I guess, for 800ft. It wasn't as nice as the other scarf, but was green, which my sister likes, and is still pretty nice. I got the price down to 600ft, and now we were looking at it costing $4. I figured that would do.

Then I went back for the table cloth, which I really thought was a nice gift, and I paid 1,200ft for it. So I had paid 1,600ft instead of 2,300ft and was walking away with gifts for both of my sisters. Although I might need to add a little something to the shawl.

(When I was at the first shops the first time, I told one of the vendors that I needed a gift "for my sister" but that I didn't have much money. She pointed to some pins and said they were only 500ft. Not really a bargain, considering what I ended up buying, but what got me was that, after I said the gift was for my sister, she pointed almost directly to the pin that said "Angel in the Kitchen, Devil in the Bedroom." Oh hell no.)

I went back to Pest and found the same shop as before, where I bought two rolls and 150g of a new mystery meat for 200ft-- obviously I was splurging on my last day in town. I ate and walked around downtown for a bit. And I decided that, although Budapest in general is prettier at night, downtown Budapest is still nicer during the day. At least, when you're walking around at ground level in downtown Budapest. Just because of all the incredible buildings, since all you need to do is look up and-- like I've said-- you'll be amazed.

I went back to Greg's place and hung out for a bit, and then Greg went to some bar. I told him I would meet him there later but first I wanted to walk around a little more.

Specifically, I meant that I wanted to walk along Andrassy Street. Andrassy Street is the most famous street in all of Budapest and is on the World Heritage list, but I had spent quite some time on it and was completely underwhelmed. I thought I'd give it a shot at night, and so I walked the length of it.

And, well, I'm still completely underwhelmed. I mean, Heroes' Square is pretty cool at night-- it's a square with statues of the founders of the country, and so at night it's pretty creepy/eerie-- but the street itself is really just a street. Not a huge deal.

Anyway, I soon thereafter met up with Greg at a bar. Greg and three other Americans-- one of whom who is from Plymouth, Michigan, and another who goes to Michigan State. I'll tell you, it was the most cordial meeting between a Wolverine and a Spartan in the history of the two universities. Even if he did guarantee a State victory next week.

Now, this bar was pretty cool, but almost the minute that I got there they stood up and we went to Szimpla, where I had spent two nights before-- including the night of the Hobo Brawl-- and which was, besides Morrison's, probably THE erasmus bar.

As expected, we went to meet with a group of Portuguese and Italians-- which, though better than Americans, still meant there were no Hungarians. After a while everyone left except me, Greg, the other three Americans, and one of the Portuguese guys. And this is where things got messy between Scott the Spartan and the Portuguese guy.

The first argument was about sports. Scott said the greatest athlete of all time was Michael Jordan and the Portuguese guy said the greatest athlete of all time was Maradona. I personally agreed with the Portuguese guy, who said that Maradona was "magical," but Scott countered that MJ won six NBA championships while Maradona only won one World Cup-- and that the lone World Cup, furthermore, was "tainted by the 'Hand of God' goal."

What Scott, who was sort of a pompous asshole, failed to consider is that the NBA championship only involves American basketball teams while the World Cup involves the entire world-- and only occurs once every four years, not annually. I think he was losing the argument. And the Portuguese guy was getting pissed as hell.

(Then the other American-- not from Michigan-- chimed in with "If Pele was strength and Maradona was magical, then in Michael Jordan vs. Magic Johnson, who was strength and who was magic?" I HATED this guy.)

The second argument was about the Beatles. The Portuguese guy-- who claims to know "everything about the Beatles, don't challenge me"-- called Scott out on not knowing which guitarist played on which song. The conversation then turned to favorite song, and Scott said his least favorite was "Imagine" because it talks about forgetting God and "nothing to live for, nothing to die for."

Scott said that life is all about having something to live for and something to die for and that religion creates common bonds between people, which is what society relies on. The other American then said that identity politics and that sort of thing creates "others," which leads to unnecessary conflict. He then referenced Edward Said, whom Scott called "an asshole." And the American, my friends, flipped out.

This is where I completely lost them, since I've read Said but couldn't tell you more than two sentences about what he argues. These dudes were smart as hell-- although Scott had, in my opinion, gotten bitch-slapped in both arguments-- and it occured to me that either 1) I chose the wrong majors, or 2) I just didn't learn as much as I should have in my chosen fields. Sort of upsetting to think that those are the options, to be honest.

When the bar closed I went back to Scott's place, since the night was dead, and that was how I spent my final night in Hungary. I mean, it was a Tuesday-- what were you expecting?

***************************

1) The Portuguese dude was hilarious. At some point the American dude jokingly said he would take his shirt off at a party if the Portuguese guy asked him to-- you need the context for this, I'm sure, but I can't help you with it-- and the Portuguese guy said "I'll ask you when I want everyone to leave." This is only one example, but I just think it's so incredible when people can have such wit in their second language. And brilliant.

2) I didn't have a single forint for beer money, and this wasn't the kind of bar you can swipe a beer at-- least of all on Tuesday. The lesson is, no beer money = no bar fun. Remember that.

3) I wish I had hung out with more Hungarians while I was in Budapest. In Pécs that obviously wasn't a problem, and I had a blast, but the big city would have been more fun if I hadn't been in such a tight erasmus circle. Oh well.