Raw fish and problems

I received an email from our exchange secretary in MOME that I’m not going to get enough ‘points’ while I’m studying in Budapest. By points I mean the credits (I think they are called ETCS or something) we have to collect every year to graduate on time.

I got almost angry because the information I’ve received about my studies here is close to nothing. Nobody ever told me what courses I have to take and what are the options. And of course with the tiny language barrier it’s even harder.

I wrote to UCCA, talked with my master (I’ve started to like using that word) and with the head of design department and nobody seem to know what should I do.
I’m pissed off but decided not to panic, at least not yet. It just feels strange that I, along with the other Erasmus students, have to found out everything by myself…


Yesterday we went to restaurant called Wasabi for some sushi. It’s a buffee, eat as much as you like for 14 euros. The prize is quite expensive when compared with other restaurants here. Normally you eat and drink with 5 euros.
Anyway, it was a really nice place. They had this long, I don’t know what to call it, service line going around the restaurant with the strangest Japanese dishes I’ve ever seen. I can’t really describe them, you should see the food to understand what I’m talking about. Green jelly soup and sweet fish egg dessert just to mention few of them. But the sushi was good and I didn’t have any surprises when I ate. We sat there almost for three hours and I ate around 200000 sushis and makis. It was so good... I couldn’t stop!

I did something brave yesterday. I cut my own hair. Kitchen scissors just aren’t the best choice to do it. But it looks ok. Thanks for the tips Aingeru!

Toby asked me to mail some Hungarian words for him but I thought you all might want to learn something (written as pronounced):

It’s snowing here! I can’t believe it. It seems like where ever I go I just drag the snow and cold weather with me. I also have flu. Feels like everybody are catching a cold.

I had a good weekend. Friday I took two girls from Israel, Gaby and Yael, to Szimpla. They are doing the same course than me in MOME. I’ve never met people from Tel Aviv before and belive me they told some strange stuff that happens in there. We really do live in a bubble in Europe…

Szimpla is my favourite bar here and just around the corner from our flat. They have amazing furniture and I think the decoration is really cool too. Lot of students and young people go there to drink and hang around.
I talked with one of the bartenders there and he told me that most of the stuff they have are found from the streets. I was a bit surprised... He explained that once a month people in Buda and in Pest put all their unwanted stuff (furniture, clothes, dishes…) on the streets and other people can just go and take what they want. I think that’s quite nice way to recycle.



On Saturday me, Galatee, Haley & Fergus (they study photography in Maidstone) went to West Balkan. West Balkan is the ‘hip’ club in Budapest, the place to be. And it actually is really cool too. We danced all night and I came home around six o’colck in the morning… So you can understand that I haven’t done that much work during this weekend. With the flu I’ve been superduper exhausted all weekend. I have tutorials tomorrow so I have loads to do!!

I found out there’s a bar called Vittula. We were supposed to go there on Sat but didn’t have time. I read that it’s a Finnish bar but still it has nothing to do with Finland. They sell only Slovakian beer and the mentality in the bar should be very Finnish + the drinks very cheap… Who knows what can you find there. I let you know when I have time to go!

Doesn’t anybody want to know how my date went??

I just got an email that Hungarian lessons for erasmus students are starting friday next week.
Well, I'm excited because I already know some important words in Hungarian:

'Fulolaj' is said to be the most beautiful word in Hungarian. It means ear wax.
'Elkaposztastalanithatatlansagotokert' is Hungarian version for epajarjestelmallistyttamattomyydellisyydellaankaansaankohan, which is the longest word in Finnish.

So soon I'll be writing my blog in Hungarian!!

Hello my darlings!

20.2.2007, Tuesday


I had the strangest experience last Thursday. Andrea took us all in to this Hungarian folk dance bar/club. It was crazy! The place looked like a school gym class, there were Hungarian and Romanian bands playing but the coolest thing was that all the people there were around my age. Greatest thing was that the people took it so seriously. People weren’t drunk. They were there to dance. Sweat was flying when they danced in massive circles! It was almost like looking Hungarian River Dance. I have always thought that ‘tango culture’ dies when we get older but apparently not in Hungary.

I don’t know can you see anything from the video clip. I didn’t have my camera with me so I had to use my mobile phone to record some evidence that I wasn’t dreaming. I was amazed after seeing the dances and can’t wait to get back there! I heard they have dancing lessons once a week and we decided to go next Thursday. I have to at least try it! It didn’t look too difficult.
(Annuska & Mikko we are SO going there if you come here!!)



We had the first house party for Erasmus students last Saturday. There are around 40 of us studying in Moholy-Nagy and around half of them arrived to our party. We had really good time. Only one glass broke and nobody threw up or anything, except the day after… J
I had my real proper club experience on Saturday too. I don’t remember the name of the place but it was huge and full! It was almost impossible to move around which was a shame because once again the building was so beautiful. Good music and people.

I’m spending most of my spare time with the Spanish girls and surprise, surprise with some photography students. (You know, with the chair project and people who speaks ‘camera’ it sometimes feels I never left from RochesterJ.)
Bjorn and Andrea are from Germany. Andrea’s parents are Hungarian and she also speaks the language. Her local flat mates have been a huge help when we’ve been looking for good bars, etc. They are heavy partiers and always up for something fun. Then there are the French people. If there are lot of Finns in Rochester, there are a whole army of French here. I really want to learn their accent!



Tonight I’m going to a gulash party. Gulash soup (or stew) is traditional Hungarian dish with meat and vegetables. It’s really good. You usually have it with bread and some kind of alcohol. Well, it feels like people here eat bread and drink alcohol with every meal.
Maybe that’s why Hungary has the highest suicide rates in whole Europe… who knows?

I almost forgot to tell you… Some Erasmus students are putting together a football team. They already got a place to play in Margaret island and now all the need is a coach and the cheerleaders (I think I belong to the last group).



I’m falling for Budapest. I can’t believe that I ever had seconds thoughts about coming here. I’ve met awesome people, this city never sleeps and I have my first date this weekend…!

Pics are about me, Susana & Paloma, me & mi French mate Francuais who broke his tooth after two days in Budapest and Andrea & Attila. Attila is the angel who takes care of me in our tutorials.

Got to go draw some chairs now!
pusspuss


Ps. Toby, your card and cookies don’t count! You have a loooovvveeeerrrr!

Pps. Annuska, mullakin on kova,kova iksu sua!!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!! I hope you got lots of love and care from everyone around you. I send you kisses and 100000 hugs from warm and sunny Budapest.

I totally forgot the whole Valentine’s until I put the TV on (for the first time since we moved). We have about 70 channels but only one !!1!! English … All the others are German and we are in Hungary for god sakes! Anyways… I was watching CNN News (or CCN?? ;)) and one of the main stories was that has Valentine’s Day become too commercial?
Of course it has. May I just ask has any of you or anyone you know got a self made Valentine’s card during the last decade? I haven’t and I definitely don’t know anyone who has or has given one to somebody. I miss those days when you were eight years old or so and found these secret and not signed cards hidden between your schoolbooks. That was so romantic! Yes, this city has some magical romantic powers in it. I’m talking “soft”…

I had better luck today when I went to uni. I met my life-drawing teacher who also teaches photography and visual communications. We had a long talk about KIAD and the photography degree there. He had nothing else than good things to say about it but was quite surprised that Rochester is turning into Little Finland. He was really nice and helpful AND he even spoke very good English.

I also met the “master of product design”. Hungarian teachers are masters… not tutors or professors, masters. I don’t know should I call them that or do they have first names?



So this product design master speaks only Hungarian and it felt like he was a bit nervous about having exchange students in his classes. So far I know that we will be doing same task for four months. It sounds like a looooong time but the designs has to be perfect. We have to figure out every single detail and make models, 3D drawings ( I don’t know how I’m going to draw something with Rhino.. Thanks a lot Thomas…), technical drawings, etc.

The task in product design is a water tap. It can be anything and it is a competition for some Hungarian company. It sounds quite interesting. I haven’t heard the total brief yet but apparently you can win something too. Sounds tempting…

I had a quite bad luck with the furniture design brief. It is a CHAIR. I didn’t believe my ears when I heard about that. The difference is that it has to be a chair specially designed for public places like schools, restaurants, airports… and it must be stackable or foldable and totally made out of wood. So there are quite many “limitations”.
I’m going to the product design tutorial tomorrow morning and see what is like. I have to decide until the end of this week what will I do.

We had a uni party yesterday. It was a bit different than parties in Kbar... There was a live band playing all night, fashion shows, a musical and the drinks were so cheap that I’m not going to even start with those.
I’ve been out few times now and it’s been good fun.

Oukkeydoukkey, I go to bed now!
See you later!

Ps. Pics are of the house I'm living, Moholy-Nagy university and a video of the apartment. I hope it works...

Budapest

9.2.07, Hotel Touring

Finally I’m here!
I was so nervous on Tuesday night before I left Rochester! Seriously my stomach was making full rounds and I constantly thought how much I would miss everything and everyone. But as soon as I got to the airport with my 27,4 kilos of luggage all my nervousness was gone.

My first contact with a Hungarian person was on the plane. His name was Pascal. He was fun, adorable and SO cute, until he started kicking my seat. Apparently for fife years old it is loads of fun to disturb other people on the plane… Yes, Pascal was a kid who was visiting some family in London with his aunt (who had no control with him at all!). He sat behind me, got bored on the plane and could not stay still. Well, that is all forgiven now…

I arrived to the hotel around fife o’clock absolutely exhausted after all the travelling and stress. I took a taxi from the airport BECAUSE I didn't have the strenght to be adventurous and YES I can afford luxury here!
When I got to the hotel I fell asleep while watching Sex and the City.. that was about six o'clock.
And nothing more to tell about my first day in Budapest! Oh, I did see a massive Tesco ☺

On Thursday after visiting my new host university (what a place!!) I went to see few flats. They were ok, but with too many no-no’s. The other apartment was a bit too far away from where everything is happening (yes, I mean the shops, clubs, bars…) and in the other flat there was this German guy living in who seemed a bit odd… and not in a nice way at all! I have one German in my life and I think that is enough for now ☺ (and Anton has made such a good impression about Germans so I didn’t want to ruin that!).

I think this is the most beautiful and romantic place I have ever been. The buildings are absolutely amazing! People are friendly but don’t speak that much English. Luckily body language works here the same way than everywhere else. So far I’m happy to be here. I need this adventure and hey, I’ve always been a bit bad staying still.

Take care!



11.2.07, hotel room

Today was the last time I had to take the train from this awful hotel to the central of Budapest because we found a perfect flat! By ‘we’ I mean myself, Susana and Paloma. I met them yesterday and found out that they are starting exchange program in Moholy-Nagy University as well. I was desperate for flatmates because it has been a mission impossible to find a nice flat/room just by myself. For some reason landlords here doesn’t want to rent one room in a flat of three.

Our apartment is quite big, 90 square meters. The three rooms in the flat are ridiculously high with huge windows. (I post some pictures as soon as I can) The flat is close to the central of Pest and it shouldn’t take more than half an hour to get to uni. My future home is veryveryvery nice!!! I’m happy that I had the patient to wait… You all know that I don’t have any patient in my body.

Susana and Paloma are from Madrid and, I’d say, very Spanish, passionate about life itself. Both of them study fashion design but are far way from the category of English fashion students (thank god!). No blingbling, bad attitude or cockyness. And as soon as I heard they had bought all the six series of S&C to "keep them company in Budapest" I fell in love with them. Susanna and Paloma are funny, beautiful and benevelant people.

The past three days has been strange in a good way. I haven't done that much. Well, I have but nothing that you would like to read about...mostly just turist things. I went to see Van Gogh’s exhibition in the Museum of Fine Arts. I just have to say that man knew how to use colours. Seriously. I have kept myself busy by walking around and I’m still amazed of the architecture. My neck aches because I have been looking up more than forward.

Anyways I have to pack my bags now and go to bed. Tomorrow is a big day for me. The uni starts at two! I’m not nervous, more relieved actually. I miss doing my stuff and I’ve been so inspired by this city that I have to start doing something…!

Catch you later!

Ps. I don’t miss Rochester at all but I have this strange feeling because I haven’t had a beer in three days!


13.2.2007, home sweet home

I’m even more in love with our flat! Everything works and it’s just so beautiful. No problems with water pressure or heating. Real wooden floors and I even have a working TV in my room.
And of course after we moved in we had to go to IKEA (it’s dangerously close to our home… just few metro stops). We bought stuff for the flat, sheets, dish brushes, etc. But I was more excited about the food section. Finally I got salmiakki, proper cheese and Kalle’s kaviar! That was all I had for dinner as well. Hehe.

Maybe I should say something about the uni too... The first day there was a total chaos. Nobody actually knew what is going on, when actual classes are starting, who is their tutor… I still don’t know when, where or what I’ll be studying/doing here for the next four months (don't tell anyone!). I heard rumours that I can choose from product, metal, furniture or packaging design. And that we can take life-drawing and sculpting classes. Yay!

After the frustrating Monday I finally met some tutors and local students today. In Hungary to get a design degree takes five years so I’m in the same class with third years. I was quite surprised that the man who teaches furniture design doesn’t speak English at all! “Alvar Aalto” was all I understood when he spoke to me. But there was this VERY cute Hungarian student who translated our conversation...

I’m on my way to some party. Don’t ask… I don’t know where or what but I got to run now!
And for everyone who are making bets about my "bf's"... I have to say it's gonna be hard to stay under 10! haha

pusspuss