Hello from Istanbul, Turkey! I'm here on Sprıng Break wıth Jaymie and Cassie and we are havıng SO MUCH fun! The weather is absolutely gorgeous. We've shed our wool coats in favor of T-shırts and jeans and if the weather continues like this İ thınk İ'll buy some sandals (I haven't worn any since İ was in the states!)
I can't make this too long, but İ promıse İ will update you on ALL my travels (wıth pictures!) once İ get back to Budapest. You can expect stories about Bratislava, Krakow, Eger, Prague, and, of course, Istanbul! As for now İ'm off to enjoy the Turkish sunshine (and the Turkish delights!)
Happy Easter to all!
Turkey, by the way, is a Muslim country so İ don't think İ'll be doing much along the lines of celebrating (instead, İ hear the Muslım call to prayer amplifıed ın the streets five times a day - ıncluding at fıve am!). Please, eat some extra Easter ham and chocolate bunnies for me :)
Saturday, March 22
Friday, March 21
Szia! (That means hello!)
So I’ve been out of the country for two whole months now and I figure it’s time for me to let everyone at home know what I’ve been doing in that time! I’m on a bus from Prague to Budapest right now, so as I watch the Slovakian countryside roll by, I’ve got lots of time to give you all an update. Here goes:
My first stop on my adventure abroad was in London. I flew through Heathrow Airport on my way to Budapest and I decided to spend a few days sightseeing in the city. There was a lot to do in just three days, but more about that later…
After London I arrived in Budapest – my home for these six months! The city is absolutely gorgeous. It’s situated along the Danube River with seven beautiful (an all dramatically different) bridges connecting the two halves of the city (Buda, on the west; and Pest, on the East). Along the river there are beautiful old buildings in the neoclassical style, the unbelievably ornate Parliament house, and the huge old castle. That’s the chain bridge in the picture with me above and if you look beyond the bridge you can see the dome of the Parliament building. Though the buildings are beautiful, the city can be dirty at times, some buildings have damage from the war that still hasn’t been repaired and there is a lot of graffiti. But I’m actually beginning to appreciate the beauty of the honest, gritty reality.
I live in the most beautiful part of Budapest: in the fifth district, just a few blocks from the river on the Pest side near the Parliament and Margaret’s Island. You can check it out on Google maps:
My first stop on my adventure abroad was in London. I flew through Heathrow Airport on my way to Budapest and I decided to spend a few days sightseeing in the city. There was a lot to do in just three days, but more about that later…
After London I arrived in Budapest – my home for these six months! The city is absolutely gorgeous. It’s situated along the Danube River with seven beautiful (an all dramatically different) bridges connecting the two halves of the city (Buda, on the west; and Pest, on the East). Along the river there are beautiful old buildings in the neoclassical style, the unbelievably ornate Parliament house, and the huge old castle. That’s the chain bridge in the picture with me above and if you look beyond the bridge you can see the dome of the Parliament building. Though the buildings are beautiful, the city can be dirty at times, some buildings have damage from the war that still hasn’t been repaired and there is a lot of graffiti. But I’m actually beginning to appreciate the beauty of the honest, gritty reality.
I live in the most beautiful part of Budapest: in the fifth district, just a few blocks from the river on the Pest side near the Parliament and Margaret’s Island. You can check it out on Google maps:
The apartment building is 
typical of late-nineteenth century Budapest apartments: a central courtyard, high ceilings, no central heating (trust me, radiators just aren’t the same when it’s below freezing), and an early form of double paned windows that are actually just two sets of windows. But my apartment is BEAUTIFUL. It’s bright yellow inside and decorated with white molding and chandeliers in every room.
typical of late-nineteenth century Budapest apartments: a central courtyard, high ceilings, no central heating (trust me, radiators just aren’t the same when it’s below freezing), and an early form of double paned windows that are actually just two sets of windows. But my apartment is BEAUTIFUL. It’s bright yellow inside and decorated with white molding and chandeliers in every room. That’s Cassie on the left, Jaymie in the middle and (of course) me on the right. And the room on the left is our living room (isn’t it bright and cheery?) and on the right is my room (it’s a little small but I have a nice big bed and a pretty view of the courtyard.)
Cassie and Jaymie are great. They both go to USC and Jaymie is my sorority sister. The three of us have been together 24/7 since we've been here (as a matter of fact, Cassie is sleeping in the seat next to me on the bus right now.) They're both really funny girls and we've had lots of fun times in the apartment.
School is going great; we’re almost halfway done with the semester. I’m taking classes in Hungarian language (it’s the third hardest language in the world to learn – yikes!), Hungarian history, Hungarian art and architecture, and modern Hungarian politics. But the best part of going to school is the building – our university is in the old customs buildin
g, which was built in 1896. The building is situated between the river and the Grand Marketplace, and there are underground tunnels where they used to move goods ship by boats on the river to the marketplace. The building itself was built in Budapest’s heyday and it’s really beautiful. Now the school has expanded to include two more buildings: the Salt house (I’m not sure why it’s named that) and the new building, which is really modern, with a glass façade and a neon light show at night.
School is going great; we’re almost halfway done with the semester. I’m taking classes in Hungarian language (it’s the third hardest language in the world to learn – yikes!), Hungarian history, Hungarian art and architecture, and modern Hungarian politics. But the best part of going to school is the building – our university is in the old customs buildin
g, which was built in 1896. The building is situated between the river and the Grand Marketplace, and there are underground tunnels where they used to move goods ship by boats on the river to the marketplace. The building itself was built in Budapest’s heyday and it’s really beautiful. Now the school has expanded to include two more buildings: the Salt house (I’m not sure why it’s named that) and the new building, which is really modern, with a glass façade and a neon light show at night. Ok, that's the barebones update for now. I'll write more about my travels (Bratislava, Krakow, Eger, Prague, and now Istanbul) later. Much love to you all! (and of course I miss you, please please please leave me some little comments on this blog to let me know how you all are back at home!)
p.s. My mailing address is NOT the same as the address at my apartment (we don't even have a key for the mailbox here), so please DO NOT send mail to that address (it will cost alot in shipping and I'll never get it.) Should you want to mail me anything, you can send it to:
Stephanie Harnett
Corvinus University of Budapest
ISC-CIEE
Fövám Tér 8
Budapest, Hungary 1093
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