Never Again
February 28, 2016
From the outside, the building at 60 Andrássy Street doesn't appear too different from the rest of the elegant, stately houses along what's known as the "Champs-Élysées" of Budapest, with the exception of two massive metal stencils spelling out "TERROR" attached to the roof. Once past the ticket booth, however, I'm immediately greeted by the barrel of a Soviet tank, behind which are thousands of black and white portraits above a panel with... continue reading
HOUSE OF TERROR BUDAPEST APPLE SAN BERNARDINO POST-WWII HUNGARY OPINION TRAVELFour Tongues
February 08, 2016
Elnézest!Excuse me! Szia!Hello! Beszélsz angolul?Do you speak English? Nem.No. Umm… egy doboz és ket… postkarten?Umm… a box and two… postcards? (Not knowing how to say postcards in Hungarian, I gave German a shot) Ah, envelope elêg, nem dobozAh, an envelope is enough, no box (She was obviously trying to accommodate my English as well) To my relief, the elderly lady turned to the machine, tapped a few buttons, and handed me a small slip of... continue reading
BUDAPEST HUNGARIAN CHINESE GERMAN LANGUAGES INTERACTIONS CHINESE NEW YEAR TRAVELWhispers of Hungarian Yore
January 29, 2016
I've never lived in a city with as much history manifested as in Budapest. In China, almost everything was destroyed during the cultural revolution. In America, tour guides point to buildings and say, "In the 1980s…" In Budapest, the tour guides point to buildings and say, "In the 14th century…" As someone who once considered picking up a second major in history, I can't help but shiver (it's cold, okay?) every time I lay eyes on some relic... continue reading
HISTORY HUNGARY BUDAPEST ST. STEPHEN'S BASILICA HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM COMMUNISM STATUES WALKING TOUR PHOTOS TRAVELPhotos of Budapest
January 19, 2016
In the 1.5 days before the start of my two-week language bootcamp, Dad and I tried to squeeze in as much sightseeing as we could. I'll share some tales from the trail in a future post, but for now, here are some of my favorite pictures: Matthias church, named after Hungary's most popular monarch Matthias Corvinus. Between 2006 and 2013, Hungary spent $9.4B HUF (~33.5M USD) on renovations. Our tour guide said that if you rub the balls of this... continue reading
BUDAPEST DAD EXPLORING PHOTOS TRAVELMusings from 30,000 ft above the Atlantic
January 17, 2016
"Oh, you've been separated? I'll make sure to find you seats together, don't you worry," said an Aer Lingus flight attendant in the most charming Irish accent. She, like the plane seats, were dressed entirely in green, and had astutely noticed that my dad and I were headed in different directions. A minute later, we'd been moved up 15 ranks, from the back of the plane to the front, and given an entire row to ourselves. Can you say lucky... continue reading
PLANES FLIGHT AER LINGUS REFLECTIONS YALE TRAVEL