I love being a tourist!

I had such a great weekend. Even though I don't really do anything at work, I hate that it's Monday because that means the weekend is over and I had such a great one, I hate to see it end!

Friday night, Peter and I went to Miskolc so he could celebrate the arrival of his newest nephew. While he was out with his brother and other men, I stayed home and gorged myself on English-language television. We don't have TV at home and his brother's place (where we stayed in Miskolc) has satellite TV. So I watched the Tour de France, I watched CNN's all London all the time coverage, and I watched Turner Classic Movies, "CRIME WAVE" special. Hey, what can I say? I was desperate.

Saturday was massage day! First of all, my one hour massage cost $22. The guy spoke English, which was nice. The massage was good. It has been so long. But it was weird, too. Peter sat in the room the whole time and he and the guy chatted away while I got my rub down. What kind of relaxation is that? Well, it was okay because the massage felt so good. But it was kind of strange. For $22, though, what can I expect?

Saturday night, Peter went to a wedding ceremony and I walked around at a streetfair on the Lanchid (Chain Bridge), which they turn into a pedestrian-only zone during summer weekends. It was fun and strange at the same time. They had a show of folksingers and they were so bad, I couldn't believe my ears. It was straight out of European Vacation. But it was a beautiful night and I enjoyed being outside. I walked along the river a bit, too, waiting for Peter's wedding to end. I sat on a bench next to a lady who tried to tell me, in a mixture of mostly Hungarian and a tiny bit of English, that I reminded her of her niece, Monica, who is a doctor living in Niagara Falls and is apparently beautiful (awww). I later found out that she was also telling me about her other niece, Jennifer, who lives in Buffalo and is a drug addict. Apparently I don't remind her of Jennifer. Thank goodness. I will tell you, though, before Peter arrived to translate, I thought she was recounting some episode of Friends that I missed in which they all go for a trip to Niagara Falls by way of Buffalo. Because the only words I really understood her saying were Monica, Jennifer, Niagara Falls and Buffalo.

So, Peter met me and we walked along the river and then to Raday Utca, a cute street near his old university with lots of restaurants and cafes. We had a decent dinner and then went to Vaci Utca, a pedestrian area with lots of cafes, to get some gelato for dessert. We walked around for hours, just enjoying the beautiful night and the sights and sounds of the city.

The Castle that Wasn't
Sunday was one of my best days here so far. We woke up late and puttered around home for a bit before going out. Then we headed out for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant near the Buda Castle, which is a famous site in Budapest but DON'T BE FOOLED...Buda Castle is not, in fact, a castle at all. It's more like a neighborhood, though you could get away with calling it a fortress. I kept expecting to go to a castle and see, well, a castle, like Neuschwanstein in Germany. But no, there is nothing of the sort. Just a neighborhood up on a hill with lots of cobblestone streets.

There is a famous labyrinth under the "castle" and we went to check it out. It was awesome and if you come here, I highly recommend it. It's an underground cave-maze and there is even one room, "The Labyrinth of Courage," that is completely pitch black and you feel your way through by holding onto a bungee cord running alongside the wall. It was hilarious.

We then walked to a medieval synagogue that was turned into a museum. Turns out it was on a street that was the Jewish neighborhood WAY back in the day. The synagogue was discovered only in the 1960s when some workers were excavating the location to remodel some apartments. We stumbled into the synagogue at the same moment that a group of (we think Israeli) teenagers were getting a lecture about it. So we listened in and learned about Jewish history in Hungary as far back as the 1400s. The best, though, was how the woman who was telling the history kept describing the Hungarian army as, "the Hungarian good for nothing army." Hahahah. I loved it. Peter was less amused, his nationalist pride only slightly wounded.

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?
I am worried that I am losing my personality a little bit. I mean, I don't have any friends or acquaintances here and because I am working all day, have no way to meet any. So I exist in isolation all day long (except for the occasional Skype IM with Katherine or Moh) and when I get home, I talk to Peter but I haven't much to say because, well, because nothing happens all day long. I mean, after talking about what I did all day at work, which is never very much, I am out of topics! I am hoping this changes soon. I do my best to go out during the day, to hover in highly-populated places. It's not working. Now, I am not one who has trouble making friends, although I realize that this is only true when potential friends and I actually have a language in common.

HAAS DISAPPOINTS ME
I am pretty disappointed with Haas right now. Of course, I love so much about it, including the amazing people I have met and the many useful things I have learned. So, forget that most of my first year teachers SUCKED and that career services did nothing for me and that the administration of the school seems mostly dimwitted. Today, my vitriol is directed at the fact that the school has made it nearly impossible for international students to attend, unless they are rich enough to pay out of their pockets or lucky enough to get a randomly-offered scholarship. This is due to the fact that international students at Haas can't get loans unless they have an American co-signer. This is not true for any other top business school in the US. This policy is specific to Haas, lucky us.

Well, unless you have relatives living in the US, how many Americans do you know that would be willing to co-sign a $50,000 loan for someone who is not a relative? Not many, right? So, this leaves many students scrambling to scrape together tuition. It's a new rule, this no loan thing, and so soon I worry that Haas will become a school where the only international students are students of privilege and the few who get scholarships. And with Haas costing as much as other schools, but with a lesser reputation, what would make them choose our school anyway? Do you see the vicious cycle they are starting here? It would be a shame because a diversity of students from all over the world is one of the things that makes Haas so special.

A dear dear friend from Haas won't be returning in the fall thanks to this sorry state of affairs in which it is impossible for internationals to get loans without co-signers. I am very sad about this. The Haas community's loss is surely the gain of the new school she will be attending, where tuition is half the price and she won't have trouble getting a loan.