Week #4

Last weekend we ventured out of Olomouc and made our way to Budapest, Hungary. Most of our class took this weekend trip and checked it off our bucket lists!

Peace out Olomouc

After six hours of travel we arrived at our hostel called Grandio Party Hostel. We walked in the front door (not knowing what to expect) into a big courtyard and you could definitely tell that they were "party people" by the way the place looked. There was a bar in the courtyard we walked up to and the bartender asked if we were checking in. He yelled twice for someone and after asking if we wanted a drink he redirected us upstairs. We walked into the “office” were the employees were around our age, barefoot, pajamas on, and alcohol everywhere. Everything was very informal, but the people were extremely nice to us. We got our room and meet up with the other seven girls who were staying there and the seven of them decided to get a different hostel. Kassidy, Molly, and me stuck it out in the scary party hostel and tried to make the most of the weekend!

Jimmy & Chris

That same night our hostel invited us on a pub-crawl where I meet some really sweet guys from Sweden (Chris & Jimmy). Kass and me got separated from the rest of the group, but we hung out with the guys for the rest of the night talking and laughing about our cultural differences. They walked us home and we said our goodbyes.

Wine tasting cruise
Courtesy of Kassidy McConville

Saturday morning I went shopping all over Budapest and found so many cute boutiques. Probably did not need to buy anything, but I got some summery clothes for my three weeks in Greece! After meeting up with some of the girls, four of us got ready and left to go see a Folklore show. It was very intriguing from the dances to how fast the musicians played. After the show we took a five-minute walk to our wine tasting cruise. Somehow we sat at the same table with other girls who came to Budapest with us! They gave each of us seven different glasses of wine every ten minutes from all the different regions in Budapest. They had live music playing in the background as we cruised down the Danube. We made our way to the upper deck and took some stunning pictures of Budapest as we watched the lights dance across the water. We also ran into another group of UNK students who were on the upper deck enjoying the evening as well.

Sunday we woke up early to enjoy the entire day at the thermal baths. I had expected it to be more like the Hot Springs in Colorado, but it was still a great day to unwind. The buildings were stunning and there were pools everywhere. The thermal baths were all different in size and temperature. Again, we ended up seeing everyone else in our group at some point throughout the day! Kass and me both got an hour massage that was definitely needed. That night I went out to dinner with some of the girls and then got ice cream in a cute park with lights hanging all over. The Sweden boys I meet the first night in Budapest happened to walk by us as we were eating ice cream and greeted me with hugs and smiles. We couldn’t believe that we had run into each other again in all of Budapest! We hung out for a little bit and explored more of the city together. They helped us find our way back to our hostel safely and said our farewells as we knew we all would be traveling to different places the next morning.

Thermal Baths

Spa Day

Monday morning the whole group woke up early and got onto our train to head back to Olomouc at 7:25am. By 1:00pm we were back at the dorms and headed to classes shortly after.

What I learned this weekend: Life truly does begin at the end of your comfort zone.  The culture that Budapest holds is so different and our hostel really made us step outside of our comfort zone. We made the most of our weekend by saying “Yes!” to all new kinds of firsts. I want to look back on this and smile because it was life, and I decided to live it!

Making the most of Grandio Party Hostel
Courtesy of Kassidy McConville