Two layovers and three flights later.. Posted on January 17th, 2010 by Jennifer Van Osdel

So I’m finally here!! After a year and a half of paperwork and anticipation, I am sitting at the kitchen table in my Hungarian apartment eating the pasta I made with ingredients from the local market. The crazy thing is that I’ve only been here for about 4 hours, but I’m already unpacked and on the internet (after much cursing, coaxing, and general anger towards my computer). From Minneapolis check-in to Budapest landing, I was in airports and airplanes for 19 hours yesterday/today! This was made somewhat better when I received one of the seats for the overseas flight with extra leg room free of charge for some unknown reason. I can’t imagine how the other passengers were survived because even with the extra room I was fairly uncomfortable. Once I arrived in Budapest, I got picked up by my flatmates, Fatema and Melissa, (they live in the apartment across from me), and they showed me the ropes and took me to the grocery store called Kaiser, which is really close by. The apartment is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and my room is enormous! I’ll hopefully be posting pictures soon and will share the link once I have it all set up. Now that I’m all settled in I have nothing to do but wait out the jet lag. All I want to do is sleep, but I’m making myself stay up until at least 9 so that I don’t mess up my sleep cycle. And then tomorrow, Rachel, the girl who I’m sharing the apartment with, is coming, which will be nice since it’s kind of lonely right now. On Tuesday, we start the language course so tomorrow I have to get a metro pass so that I can actually get there. I’m also hoping to get one of the pastries from the little shop around the corner that everyone seems so crazy about. Other than that, I’m just glad that my luggage and I made it to Budapest in one piece, and I’m counting down the minutes until I can pass out on my bed. Viszlát!