It's about time, I know

3:00 PM Padova -
Hey friends and family, I’m excited to write this next post because there is so much to say there is no way I can get it all in. Well let’s see let’s start where I left off… In Budapest:
The Saturday we arrived in Budapest we made it to our hostel the girls went out for lunch with some people from the hostel and Dave and I went with our new found Australian friend Lachlan to the House of Terror a place previously occupied by the Nazi and Communist parties in which people who disagreed with their beliefs were executed. We saw the gallows and some powerful artifacts and videos in remembrance. After we got back to the hostel it was time for a dinner. We split up into two groups and the one I went to ended up going to a Greek restaurant with fire dancers and they did that Greek dance, I forget what it’s called right now. That was a lot of fun and really good food.
After that we ended up going to a Turkish bath indoors around 10 at night – (It was open till 2). We stayed for most of the night and then went back and chilled at the HomeMade Hostel, drank a little and SLEPT.
Sunday I woke up fairly early (11-ish) with Lachlan and the two of us hit the town to see as much as we could. We walked to St. Stephen’s Basilica, The Parliament Building (biggest on the continent) and the castle area. He was really cool and it was nice to just be two people we could get more places faster. Then we went for a beer and some goulash and waited for the others to return so we could hit up the Hungarian bath which was outdoors this time. That also was a lot of fun. That night we had a party at the hostel.
Monday I went to the Museum to see the Van Gogh exhibit they had which I really enjoyed and then we went caving under a mountain outside of the city. That was a great experience – it would’ve been a blast to be a little kid exploring a cave like that with a friend. The guide told us that people would hide in the caves during the World Wars when the city was being bombed.
That night we went to a typical Hungarian restaurant recommended in one of our friends’ book that was located pretty far outside the city. We told them we were coming and it took us an hour longer then we thought (we were the only people left in the place), but the waiter was very nice, though very sexist. I was proud of Laura for not saying anything and accepting the cultural differences.
Got up early Tuesday to take a walk of the city with a guide – some more castles, the Jewish ghetto, the school. Having a tour guide was awesome and we learned a lot thanks to her. Tuesday night - train home.
Wednesday morning arrive just in time for a 9:30 class. Newbies arrived. Wednesday evening class, went out to the piazza at night. The following two weeks have been spent studying for tests, watching movies, and getting to know some of the new kids. There are now 71 American students in Padova between our program and the Boston program. Last Wednesday the piazza was full of Americans… it was crazy!
This past weekend I had some people over here and that was fun, but we got into a little trouble for being too loud sooo… no more parties here :-( Ok I think that's enough for now, I'll get better when more interesting stuff happens. Later!