Hungry in Hungary

As some of you may know, I do not speak Hungarian. In Hungary, they do however speak Hungarian. Oh, and did I mention that they don't speak much English?

I was able to get by fairly well not talking to anyone. It's less that I'm scared to learn a new language, and more what the hell are they speaking. I mean, seriously. They're entirely incomprehensable. I couldn't even understand enough to mimic them. When ordering food one day, I actually said "what he just ordered", not knowing what the hell he ordered.

By day 3, I decided it would be best if I just stuck to McDonalds. At least I knew what a cheeseburger was.

I booked the ticket entirely last minute. It was mostly a way to get out of the office. I had the time off and had no responsibilities (in other words, I was unemployed). I didn't even realise that Budapest was in Hungary.



The city itself is quite pretty. Parliament looks like a nice gothic cathedral or something. I'm not sure what it was previous to democracy (which has been in Budapest for 15 years).



The rest of the city was quite serene. It definitely reminded me of being back home (with the obvious lack of English). They even had Canadian NHL hockey on TV (of course translated, but I don't care). For some reason, they had a brand named 'Canadian Shield', which seemed quite popular. I'm glad that I didn't have a lot to drink there, or I might have ended up thinking I actually was home.

I enjoyed myself, but if I go again, I'll book a bit earlier and make sure to get an English -> Hungarian translation book or something.