Today was a free day for the students. Some of the activities included visiting Roman ruins, visiting the city's gorgeous central park, and guided tour of the city.
Today was a free day. Some of the group took the train to the Roman town of Aquincum. The ruins included some bath houses, a market, residences, and other public areas of the town. The ruins are centered on a museum that showcases numerous artifacts discovered in the ruins by archaeologists ranging from maps displays of public decrees. While a whole day could easily be spent here, there is simply too much to see in Budapest. After returning to the downtown area, some of us went to an open air market for lunch. We tried baked cabbage layers, goulash, a pizza like dish served on fried bread dough, and a Hungarian cheeseburger. After lunch we attempted to visit the Parliament building. When we arrived there, we found that all the tickets had been sold for the day. We were able to walk around the building and see some of the beautiful gothic inspired architecture of the building, however.
This doesn't describe all the activities enjoyed by the students today, though. Some of the other sights that were taken in include the Saint Margaret Island Park, a guided tour of the Citadelle and Palace, a hike up Gellert hill, and biking around the city.
After dinner, we met our hosts again at the CE building before heading to a popular student hangout. The place is essentially a gigantic outdoor patio. For European football fans, this coincided with the playing of the Champions League final match between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. There were also areas for playing foosball, video games, and dance floors. Towards the end of the evening, I met some CE undergrad students, and had the opportunity to discuss the similarities and differences between curriculum in Hungary and the US. We also talked about the bridges of the city, and how the Hungarian brandy palinka is made. It was important to not stay out too late, though. Tomorrow we leave early in the morning for Bratislava.
