Days 1 & 2: Buda, meet Pest.

And so begins the Hope 4 Kids Romania adventure. Like all trips I go on, I am the least prepared of the 19 team members. I came here knowing close to nothing about the culture, language, or even the trip itself, so I have no expectations and everything I share on this blog is what I have learned here. The only thing I can say I DO know and that I am looking forward to is meeting my 7 year old sponsor child, Dorothea. J

Like I said, there are 19 team members, lead by Tom who is the founder of Hope 4 Kids. The whole group is awesome: about half are older and the other half about my age, plus two little ones who came with their parents (5 & 7 years old).

I wasn’t kidding when I say I came unprepared. List of things I forgot to pack: computer charger, ipod, sweatshirt, swimsuit, toothbrush, “feminine products” and sunscreen.

Yesterday was one of the longest days of my life…literally. I don’t think I ever saw the sun set and I was up for 35 hours straight. The travelling consisted of a 3 hour flight to Minnesota, a 9 ½ hour flight to Amsterdam where there was a 5 hour layover (guess who went through customs and immigrated into the country JUST to get a stamp on their passport? THIS girl!), and then a 2 hour flight to Hungary. 

 Aaron: a fellow Arizonian on the trip

Welcome to Amsterdam!

Ouside in a garden? Wrong. Still in the airport.

The “younger” group spent the afternoon exploring the beautiful city of Budapest, or rather Buda and Pest. A large river separates the two parts of the city; Pest is very flat and holds the Parliament building while Buda (which was my favorite part) is filled with hills and greenery, cathedrals, winding streets and street performers. 

Pest:

Buda:

The one thing that surprised me was how quiet the city was. It celebrated its 1900^th anniversary last year (as opposed to the United States mere 225 years of existence), so the buildings are very old but pristine. It was surprisingly clean, but the streets are still small and mostly cobblestone so there are almost no cars, which made it almost eerie. The whole team met up for a family dinner at one of the traditional Hungarian restaurants in the city at 6:30. The portion sizes were overwhelmingly large, and absolutely delicious (I tried a plate of the beef goulyas and loved it).  After literally falling asleep on the dinner table after eating, we went back to the hotel and fell asleep by 9:00pm.

Today we leave for Romania by bus. Yet another day of travelling. So many countries in 2 days. Holy cow!