Eric Mellow: Hallo from Budapest.

Other than having to run through the airport to catch my connecting flight in Detroit and having a 10 hour layover in Brussels, my trip over was relatively uneventful. It didn't start to get crazy until I got to Brussels and didn't hear anyone speaking English for hours on end. I spent part of the day sleeping here:

I somehow skipped customs in the Budapest airport. I think that's bad. I was so drained from the day and a half of travel and almost no sleep that I almost didn't recognize Johnmark when I saw him, but was so happy and relieved when I did. This trip is definitely and adventure of epic proportions for me, but having JM around is making it so much easier. Unfortunately he only has a week off from work to get me acclimated and then I'll be spending a little more time on my own. Most likely that time will be spent exploring the city and butchering Hungarian words from my phrasebook. Hopefully I'll get a job soon, but I'll also need to find some things to fill my time. I think it's safe to assume that the main two will be reading and writing...and learning Hungarian.

For everyone who is wondering what it's like being in a foreign country, I must admit it is a bit disorienting to not be able to read anything. I feel awkward and isolated in that sense. On the other hand, probably about half of the people here speak at least a little English, so I can manage better that way. Still, this would be impossible without JM.

We live right near downtown in the middle of the city. Public transportation is available all over, but we can walk pretty much anywhere we need to go. We spent the whole first day walking around and I got to see a lot of cool stuff that I'll explore more in depth when I have the time. However, here are a few pictures of where we went the first day: