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 PHOTOSMay 25, 2016
I've dreamed about visiting Berlin since I was 14, sitting Herr Stark's German I class and being immersed in the loud, vibrant language that is Deutsch. In Frau Michalak's German II class, we even created presentations for a project called "Reise nach Deutschland," in which we planned a week long trip to Germany, complete with Jugendherberge (youth hostel) bookings and public transportation plans. A few weeks ago, that dream became a reality,... continue reading
HOSTEL BERLIN PHOTOS TRAVEL CRISISApril 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 EUROPEJanuary 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 TRAVELJanuary 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