I am in Hungary... Now what?

SO, after years of dreaming, months of planning, and 12 hours of traveling, I have finally made it to Hungary.... Now what?  My current state of mind is, why did I want to do this again?  All I want is to hop on a plane, go back home and say "Okay, I went to Europe, I'm good now."  Oh well, guess I'm stuck here for the next 135 and a half days, might as well make the best of it.  Not that I think I'm going to hate it here, I just need to get used to it, the homesickness will eventually subside and I'll be fine.  I just wish that I came with someone.  As far as I know, I am the only American here, but who knows who will show up today.  Classes start tomorrow, but am I signed up for any? Nope.  I need to meet with my faculty adviser first because I don't know how to do it on my own.  Have I heard anything from my student mentors? Nope. But in their defense I only got here yesterday. 

I do have two roommates though, both are south korean and very friendly.  They made dinner last night and let me eat with them.  I'm actually borrowing my roommate's ethernet cord because I forgot to bring one.  That is actually my mission today: find and purchase ethernet cord (aka the cheapest way to connect to people back home).  I don't even want to know how much I spent on international texting yesterday (sorry mom and dad!) but it was necessary, I don't think I would have made a good impression on my roommates if all I did was whine about wanting to talk to my family. 

One positive thing is the view from my room, the picture doesn't do it justice.  As you can see, to the left is a building with a red roof and its very pretty in person, and to the right you can see a hill with houses that are on the outskirts of the city.  I think the building in the foreground is the library, at least that's what my roommate thinks it is.  I plan on uploading more pictures to facebook, but something is wrong with the pictures when I try and upload them to my computer, and my favorite person who can fix it isn't here :-(.  Oh well, my second mission of today, tomorrow, and the rest of my time here is to think positively.  I mean, not many people have this opportunity and here I am wanting to go home! Nope, not cool Anna, not cool.  So here's to optimism, finding friends, and an ethernet cord! Egeszsegere!

And Away I Go...

I leave on Friday... FRIDAY... It's Tuesday today, Tuesday night to be exact.  This leaves me 2 and a half days before I leave, 2 more nights in my bed, and one last full day at home.  Am I packed? No. Do I have everything? Dear God I hope so. Am I ready? Well, that's a complex question... I think I have everything, so in that sense I'm ready. Emotionally though? I'd have to say I'm getting there.  At least I can say that my tearful panic attacks have subsided... Now I feel more confident that I won't perish in a fiery plane crash, and I feel that I can handle several plane rides and layovers... But saying goodbye to everything familiar?  Saying goodbye to parents, sisters, and animals?  That I'm not sure I'm ready for.  

Can you blame me though? I mean, I'm about to experience several new things: traveling by myself, traveling internationally (Canada doesn't count), going to a country where the primary language is not English, and if that's not enough, I haven't the slightest clue as to how to speak Hungarian! Did I mention that Hungarian is one of the hardest languages to learn?  I know two words: koszonom (thank you) and egeszsegere (the Hungarian variant of cheers, literal translation: to your health). Although I know these words, I can barely pronounce them.

I have to admit, I am ready for one thing: Adventure.  I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am to do something new and completely out of my comfort zone.  I don't want to be content with where I am, I want more.  I want to see what this world has to offer, and what better place to start than in Hungary? So ready or not (most likely not) here I go.