Perhaps the draw of Europe for many is that wherever you are, another place doesn't seem so far away. Of course, for any travel addict like myself, Europe provides a wealth of sites to see in relatively short distances. Budapest lies at the heart of Europe, and with the dawn of low-fare air carriers, everything has become increasingly accessible.
So, I decided that making every possible moment a new adventure to some unseen place was a good idea. Of course, I knew it would cost a pretty penny, but how many times was I going to be in Europe, young and studying abroad, with few other cares in the world?
Yes, every weekend has been jam-packed with trips, and I have yet to spend a weekend home in Budapest since the first two weeks of arrival. This weekend, on a four-day group excursion to Transylvania in Romania, I found myself living it up and enjoying every second of a new culture and a new way of life.
Immersed in the ethnically Hungarian portions of the region exposed me to some interesting and exciting new ways of life. My Hungarian improved (although I still find myself replacing gaps in my vocabulary with my far-better French language skills) and living with a Transylvanian-Hungarian family shed new light on a culture that is slowly fading out in favor of an ethnically, culturally and linguistically homogenous identity. It's a beautiful and still relatively undiscovered portion of the world, but it's also fading fast. It's a place on the verge of reinvention, yet one that desperately holds on to old traditions.
But all the majesty of another trip in the vast expanse of Europe came to a screeching halt on the last day of my time in Romania. On a visit to a Roma animal trading fair that takes place in a dirty meadow at the base of the beautiful Carpathian Mountains, I found myself wishing for my Budapest home more than ever before.
Stooping down to take a picture of a man in the crowded marketplace, a driver paying little attention to the thousands of people that swarmed the dirt roadway quickly approached me in his car. Without seeing it or having the chance to react, I found a small Renault parked on the back of my left ankle.
Needless to say, it was quite a painful experience. After realizing what he had done, the driver backed up and let me free. He quickly zoomed away, anxious to escape from dealing with my injury.
Long story short, I got very lucky on this trip. Not only are my muscles and tendons fine, but there are no fractures in my bones. All I have is an ankle the size of my thigh and a bruise as blue as a new pair of Levi's.
But in the process of fixing my ankle this week, I have also fixed my perspective on my time in Budapest. I've realized my time in this city gets shorter by the day. I have forgotten this in my never-ending quest to travel more.
As one of my fellow program-mates put it, "I want to feel like I have lived here for four months, not just visited." We are not abroad for the sake of seeing how many stamps we can get in our passports. Experiencing time abroad means immersing oneself in the culture that has so graciously welcomed you into its heart.
While I freely admit I have done a pretty good job of experiencing a lot of what this city has to offer, I realized what I really need now is a weekend at home to try that great new restaurant, or go see the new exhibit at the National Gallery, or cook paprika chicken (a favorite Hungarian dish) in the kitchen of my apartment.
While my ankle may be a little black and blue, it really helped put a lot into perspective. Experiencing the everyday things that a Budapester experiences is what I need to focus on now. This weekend, I am going to be home. And it will feel so good.
