Tag: budapest



A Reflection on my Semester Abroad

June 05, 2016

After four and a half months of traipsing around Europe (yet at the same time, saving thousands of dollars compared to paying a semester of Yale tuition), I'm back at the place I initially departed, in Stamford, Connecticut. The cliché things to say would be that "I can't believe it's over," and that "I had the time of my life," and who knows, I might even default to one of those responses when the 100th person asks me about Budapest and... continue reading

   REFLECTION    TRAVEL    BUDAPEST    ACADEMICS    CLASSES    AIT-BUDAPEST    MOMENTS    RANDOM    YALE    PHOTOS   

My Quest to Join a Hungarian Soccer Team

April 27, 2016

About a month into my semester in Budapest, I felt that something was amiss. It'd been two weeks since I'd been immersed in Hungarian at the Babilon Language school, and my schedule had started to become… mundane. I'll write more in depth about the AIT-Budapest program in a future post, but my point is, I was taking computer science courses in English, attending classes with (almost all) Americans, and living with Americans. Moreover, I spent... continue reading

   TRAVEL    BUDAPEST    SOCCER    FUTBALL    CONVERSATIONS    LANGUAGE   

#sb2k16 #london #photodiary

April 11, 2016

While most of my Facebook and Instagram friends posted spring break pictures of scenes like this: My spring break looked more like this: Just kidding. Thanks to friends and family, not even occasional volley of hail could make a dent in what for me was the perfect spring break. My Wizz Air flight to London took off at 6 am on Saturday morning. Although the process was inconvenient and the service nonexistent, the roundtrip ticket only cost me... continue reading

   LONDON    BUDAPEST    PHOTOS    MOM    FRIEND    SPRING BREAK    PLANES    FLIGHT    VISITING    RECAPS    TRAVEL    EUROPE   

Daily Recaps from Jen

February 29, 2016

My wonderful high school roommate Jen flew into Budapest last Monday and has been giving far higher quality and more consistent daily recaps on Instagram and Facebook than I could ever hope to provide. 1) She's a fantastic writer. 2) She takes incredibly artsy pictures. Thus, I've decided it'd simply be easiest to embed her posts here and update the links everyday! So far, we've spent a week journeying through Budapest and Krakow. Next... continue reading

   JEN REN    RECAPS    BUDAPEST    KRAKOW    FRIEND    VISITING    TRAVEL   

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    TRAVEL   

Four 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    TRAVEL   

Whispers 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    TRAVEL   

Photos 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    TRAVEL