Arriving: 7 April 2002

It happened in front of the Taj Mahal. It happened while I was on safari. And it happened while I was standing in front of a life-size white chocolate sculpture of Michael Jackson. My camera malfunctioned. Luckily, I did capture photos of a diorama of dinosaurs made out of marzipan as well as marzipan reliefs of Hungarian historical figures. The previous day I even took a picture of my dorm room. (scroll down for fotos.)

You probably want more information about my trip so far. Ha. So far you must content yourself with knowing I have a nice dorm room (is it temporary or permanent?) and that I have recently visited a Marzipan museum.
 

13 April 2002

All I really wanted to do today was see some dirty pictures and instead I ended up attending the largest rally in Hungarian history. On my way to an exhibit of erotic art at a downtown gallery, I noticed that the subway and bus were particularly crowded. When I got off the subway there were hundreds of people carrying Hungarian flags and wearing red, green and white ribbons heading in the same direction. Curious, I followed them to a political rally in front of the Parliament building. There were speeches, songs and lots of clapping and cheering. I tried to blend in, which wasn't difficult since the crowd was a mix of ages and types of people. I tried to figure out if everyone looked like they were from a similar socio-economic class, or region but it looked pretty diverse. I figured out it must be for the right of center political party which is in power now, but lost a recent election. I believe this is the same party whose leader refused to condemn the leader of an even-more-right-wing party who stated that the US got what it deserved September 11th. I feared getting involved in some sort of "Beyond Rangoon" situation, so I tried to remain inconspicuous. I found some young people with fancy cameras who looked disinterested. I correctly guessed that they were reporters and approached them for more info about what was going on. They pretty much confirmed what I had figured out. Then, finally, I headed to the erotic art exhibit.

I guess you might be interested in some general information about my daily life. Classes started this week. This semester I'm taking International Criminal Courts, The Global Economy and Human Values, Emerging European Constitution and European Citizenship, and Individual and Human Rights. So far they seem a'ight. I'll report more when I feel like I can say something interesting.

I've been living in the dormitory since I got here. It's nice, but I miss cooking for myself and it's a 40 minute bus and subway ordeal from the CEU campus. Tomorrow I'm moving to an apartment with 4 roommates. I'll have my own, furnished room (see pix below) and hopefully wacky hijinx will ensue. I met one of the roommates when I visited the apartment last weekend and ended up drinking tea for three hours with him and the woman whose room I'm taking. They both share my sense of humor. In addition to looking forward to preparing my own meals, I'm looking forward to regular human contact. This past week I've fallen back into going on Long Walks Alone Mode, i.e. a state of tiresome self-absorption.

Sorry for the bad layout of this page. I still haven't figured out exactly how I want to set this up. I know this wasn't news in the US, but the 60th country signed the Rome Statute this week! That means the Statute establishing an International Criminal Court will go into effect July 1st. No more ad hoc tribunals to try those accused of genocide and crimes against humanity! Given my disenchantment with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, I'm excited, however, given my disenchantment with criminal justice in general, I'm concerned...[eheh. Did you catchy my sneaking attempts to get you to read up on domestic criminal justice issues through the magic of hypertext links?]

Mistakes I have made:

2. I though the abbreviation "ft" was for "foot." Thus, when I saw signs like McDonalds Hamburgers 200 ft, I thought they meant, that 200 feet away was a McDonald's selling Hamburgers. Really, "ft" is the abbreviation of forint, the local form of currency.

3. I've seen a lot of people wearing red, green and white ribbons. I thought it was some form of solidarity with the US and its terrorist attacks or maybe in an overlooked newstory stateside, some office buildings in Budapest had been bombed. Really, a party leader had requested that people wear them in a show of solidarity with a right of center party in the recent election.

4. I thought that MTV had a serious presence in Budapest. Really, Magyar Televizio, Hungarian Television has its headquarters here.
 

Click on the photos to see larger versions.
 

What I left behind:

What I went to :

In a continuing joke that amuses only the 2 of us, Dad and I toast my 25th birthday and his 17th

Watching the Oscars w/ roommates Jennie and Dave and friends Emily and Joe. (Not that the 2 are mutually exclusive.)

Game Nights w/ Laura and Dave in Brooklyn (photo from the Dave's Birthday Edition). Note the T-shirt.

This is the CEU dormitory.. I like the sculpture out front. I call it: The Masturbating Breakdancer.

My dorm room in Budapest. Note the computer!

These are made of marzipan.

13 April

1 May:

My abode

Political Rally in front of the Parliament Building.

My bed and dresser. I got the drawer which contains my toilettries from a dumpster. The African Violet was a birthday gift from my flatmates

The study portion of my room.

This isn't the door to my flat, but my neighbor's.  It's prettier than ours.