beetrock

So my first week in Budapest is coming to an end. I even survived my first weekend all by myself. With everyone worried about my mental state turning to that of complete despair while alone in this unknown city, I have to report that my depression has not yet peaked and my suicide tendencies have not yet surfaced. I actually had a great time, studying, sleeping and walking around on the weekend. I also found a great vegetarian restaurant, a knitting store, and a Mac store. I also saw a very cute bag in the window of a store that I might buy for myself as a “moving” present. So basically, I pretty much covered all my basic needs except for … shoes!

I even looked at an apartment sort of in the middle of Pest and not too far from my office. It took me a while to get there since it was my third day in the city and once I made it, I wasn’t too impressed. Actually the apartment wasn’t bad but the one thing that occupied my paranoid mind was the water-heating tank prominently located just above the shower. All I could do is picture myself killed while showering when the tank comes crashing down on my pasty nakedness. Also the Spanish guy who was showing me the apartment, in attempts to best advertise it, said that the area where the house is located “used to be a ghetto,” so the streets have lots of character. “A ghetto,” I thought…wait a minute… he doesn’t mean Harlem, kids… Sad, very sad… so I decided to forgo the tank and the former hiding place of the very unfortunate Hungarian Jews. Slightly disturbed, I walked back to the office and noticed a sweet real estate agency that claimed that English was spoken on premises. Thank God, because usually that is not the case, and while my Magyar is rapidly improving (well, where three words per week is an achievement…) I sure hope there are more premises with spoken English attached for me to discover in this wonderful city.