You pronounce it Budapesht...

Here I am, in the city on the Danube. I cannot believe I finally made it (and that my luggage did, too). The first few days since my arrival have been a mixture of delight and dread...today, however, I feel like an entirely new person and I am excited for the next eight weeks.

I arrived on Sunday after a grueling day of travel from San Francisco. Okay, I am being dramatic...the travel was actually not that bad. But it was exhausting and until last night, I hadn't really slept much at all. Arielle gave me the Ambien for the flight and I think it messed up my system.

I was so excited to get off the plane, grab my bags and run into Peter's waiting arms...Alas, the bags never arrived and my sweet sweet Peter was left to wait on the other side of the customs line, wondering if in fact I had gotten on the plane after all!

Of course, when we finally did see each other it was wonderful. A month is too long to go without seeing your love. We rushed home to the apartment he found for us. It's on the Buda side in District 2 on Kuruclesi Ut (Kugh-rughtz-leh-shee Ught) and it is lovely. Nicely furnished, two terraces, lots of light and lovely wood floors. The bathroom is nice, too, although I will say I find the shower, with it's strangely placed showerhead (about the height of a six year old to stand under it...on me it's at about my boobs) a little difficult to work with. Today it occurred to me that at some point over the summer I will probably get used to that shower...what a thought!

Not too much English going on around here, though I did hear a lot of it today as I ventured over into the Pest side of town for lunch. Of course, everyone at work speaks English and there are a few Americans. That helps to ease the feeling of outsiderness for sure. Nonetheless, dinner last night at Andi's place, where she spoke Hungarian, I spoke English and Peter translated between us, was strange. So, Peter and I initiated a Hungarian-only rule for at least 30 minutes a day. During these 30 minutes he speaks only in Hungarian and I try to figure out what he is saying. Mind you, we haven't actually done this yet...but I am willing to give it a shot. I cannot imagine how else I am going to learn this crazy language!

Living with Peter is funny. Having never lived with a boyfriend before, I was a bit afraid...but so far, four days in, it's been pretty fun. It's a lot like playing house, even more so when you consider the fact that I am only here for two months and so it is not quite reality. But it's nice to go to sleep together, wake up together, bustled around the kitchen together, etc. And, of course, there is nothing like living with your love to force you to leave your judgments out of it and to really communicate. All that after only four days!

And work...work is getting off to a slow start but I think it's going to be grand. Heather is great and she really wants me to have a good experience. The main project seems to be a corporate governance initiative that is being sponsored by AmCham and the Budapest Stock Exchange...I like it not least because it keeps me (if tangentially) tied to the whole public company/socially responsible investing thing. Long term that is still what I want to focus on and so this project, though in an odd and foreign country, allows me to stay connected to that theme. This way, in a job interview, when I am asked, "Why Budapest?" I have something else to say besides, "Because my boyfriend asked me to go."