Discovery

Tonight I had a lovely evening sitting at the Costa Coffee café on the corner of Andrassy Útca (pronounced ootsa) and Bajzsy Zsilinszky Útca. I remember seeing the café on the way from the airport, but I had absolutely no idea where I was. I stumbled upon it again when walking my drunken friend back from the Rooftop Bar at 2:30am. It is right across the street from St. István Basilika and has outside tables that you can sit at and marvel at the basilica, or you can go inside and enjoy some softly playing American music (I hear it everywhere!). I opted for the latter because it was getting a bit chilly as the sun went down. Also, I was after a prized luxury here, WiFi. Most of the cafés have it, but it's not such an easy thing to obtain in our flats because of the amount of time we are here. Usually internet service is yearly, so finding internet for only three or four months is difficult.

It was lovely to sit and download photos onto facebook, so my friends and family can see what I've been up to, and open up skype and chat with my mom. The other nice thing about Costa Coffee, which I must admit is more of a Starbucks place than quaint café, is that you can get a significant amount of coffee. At the a fore mentioned quaint cafés, you can get very good coffee, but they are only about half the size of a tall at Starbucks. I love coffee way too much to be satisfied with such a little amount of coffee, especially if it's good. But as with anything, the larger sized coffee at Costa was priced higher, so you pay for what you get. The other nice aspect of Costa is that, like at Starbucks, you order at the counter. It's a terrible pain to get your check at restaurants here. It's the European way to sit and have long meals at restaurants. That doesn't sit well with my impatient American ways. When I'm done eating I want the check. I went to the café next to my flat for a quick cup of coffee, and ended up sitting there for an hour because the waitress never brought me my check. I finally asked her if I was supposed to pay at the counter. I think I might have offended her, but I felt a bit foolish sitting there trying to make it as obvious as possible that I was done and ready to leave. Anyway, I digress.

The WiFi was not the only mentionable aspect of my visit to Costa. The trip itself is remarkable, or at least it is to me. The entire time I've been here I've been fighting with myself to be courageous and adventurous and go off and do things on my own. While I like my alone time, I'm not one to go off and do things in public by myself. I've never been to a movie by myself and I absolutely detest eating in a restaurant/dining hall by myself. I still haven't grown out of my adolescent self consciousness. After I saw Costa the other night I really wanted to go and have a nice cup of coffee while using their WiFi instead of my prepaid mobile wireless stick. So, after being productive this afternoon and making some headway with my homework, I did it. I was independent and it was wonderful and exhilarating. I'm sure those of you reading this who are accustomed to such acts of independence are not impressed, but I am very pleased with my progress towards being comfortable in my own skin.

Other than my very timid grocery shopping experience the first night and tonight's outing to Costa, running has been my only independent undertaking. As my friends and family are well aware, I am addicted to running. My legs were practically screaming at me for not running for three days while I was travelling and getting my bearings here. My running route is spectacular. I run west along my street, Bank Útca, all the way to the Danube (when it meets the river the street has changed to Széchenyi Útca, after the great political reformer István Széchenyi). Then I run along the river and past the Parliament building where I hook up with a bike path that goes along the river on the other side of the Parliament building. Every time I run past the Parliament building and see the groups of tourists oggling up at the gorgeous architecture of Budapest's most famous landmark, I can't help but feel amazed. I am not a tourist. I live here! The first few times I ran, I just followed the bike path until it curved away from the river and turned around and came back. One day, however, I was curious about the island in the middle of the river where, from my path on the Pest side, I could see many runners, so I took a chance and crossed the bridge to the island. I sure am glad I did!

Margit-sziget (Margaret) Island was named after the daughter of King Béla IV, who lived in a convent on the island as the result of her father's vow that if the Hungarians were victorious against the Mongols he would dedicate Margaret to religion. The island is in the middle of the Danube and was declared a public garden in 1908. This island is like nothing I've ever seen before, and certainly puts American parks to shame! There is a running track made of track rubber that runs around the entire island, which made my day when I discovered it. Upon discovery I immediately hopped on the track and allowed it to lead me to whatever the island had to hold. From the track I saw very nice benches that lined the path where one could sit back and look across the Danube to Pest, a petting zoo (I almost fell off the track when I saw the petting zoo. I wasn't expecting anything like that), the ruins of the Dominican Convent where St. Margaret stayed, a Grand Hotel, numerous restaurants, a kayak rental shop, a huge pool complex complete with water slides and a high dive, an official Nike race clock, green spaces, gardens, a large fountain that shoots water to the rhythm of classical music playing over the loud speakers, clay tennis courts, and a soccer stadium. There is also a lovely outdoor theater. I recommend anyone visiting Budapest to take a stroll through the island. It's gorgeous, and it's inner paths are shaded by towering trees providing a nice escape from a hot day.

I actually had an interesting experience this morning during my run on the island. My run started like every one before it and when I got to the island, I hopped on the path as usual. Shortly after rounding the tip of the island a huge group of runners flooded the track around me from an inner path. I saw many people wearing the same shirt, so my immediate thought was that I had inadvertantly wound up in the midst of a road race. It wasn't like any other road race I'd ever seen. More people than not seemed to struggle with running and many just walked. Also, many people had backpacks and there were even a couple bikers trying to navigate the sea of bodies. Despite my confusion, I proceeded to dodge people left and right in an attempt to keep going at my pace. The other strange thing about this "race" was there was no finish line. Soon after we rounded the southern tip people filtered off the path and back toward the soccer stadium where, from the looks of it, the race organization center was located. Oh well, just another odd encounter while out running. I seem to have some pretty weird experiences when I run, and I'm sure this won't be the last.

Well it's getting late, so I suppose I should fold the mountain of clean laundry that has taken over my bed and then go to sleep. Though I don't have class on Mondays (or Thursdays), so I could stay up as late as I want. I certainly am not in Ripon anymore. I don't know what I'm going to do with all the free time I have here without classes all day everyday, three jobs, and softball. Oh I know, I'm actually going to have a life!