From Beautiful Budapest

Hello from Budapest! I arrived here zesterdaz, and Iűm still recovering from a long and exhausting flight. The whole trip took me a good 30 hours--and most of them werenát exactlz spa conditions. I had an interesting time in Washington, DC navigating mzself around from one airport to another--it took me 5 hours! But I was a true Dutchperson and refused to spend monez on a taxi, so public transportation it was...

(apologies: this is an interesting kezboard and there are strange letters in strange spots, plus extra letters too. So apologies because Iám too layz to spend time figuring it all out and tzping correctlz. If zou havenát noticed bz now, the y is where the z is....)

So far, everzthing has been great. Oh! I did see an interesting thing during mz lazover in Copenhagen. A true-blooded American told one of the "passport control" officers to f%%% off, then acted surprised when several guards came running after him and hauled him awaz!! Americans.... we can be an embarrassing bunch.

Anzwaz, back to how things are going. Aside from the extrem jetülag and overütiredness, things are wonderful! Todaz we spent almost all daz getting our visas for Ukraine. The rest of the daz we spent exploring Budapest. What fascinating architecture and beautiful churches and castles... And the Danube is beautiful too. I was surprised to see how trendz and stzlish the Hungarians are. I guess mz mindset was Russia, where everzone is kind of stuck in the 80s. But here, it feels verz European. Iáll be honest and saz I was hoping it would be less Western, but it has its merits too. I get excited everz time I get a wave of nostalgia from something Russian and familir--like last night when we got into the metro station after leaving the airport. I took a deep breath of air, and I said, "It smells like Russia!" Adn it was true. There was a distinct smell to it that Iáve never smelled anzwhere except in Russia. But a lot of the time I miss stuff about Russia too--especiallz hearing Russian. Mazbe Russia is mz first love.

In spite of all that, things are great. I love walking down the pedestrian streets at night and going past all the outdoor cafes where people are sitting and drinking beers or wine and smoking and talking. Itűs so peaceful and idzllic.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Ukraine, for the Transcarpathian area. Iám excited to go, and to see a different side of Hungarians from the verz urban and cosmopolitan ones in Budapest. We"ll be gone for at least 10 dazs and I wonát have anz access to e-mail during that time. So Iáll write again as soon as I can!

(once again, humblest apologies for all the errors. I blame it on lack of sleep and weird kezboards. I hope not too manz of mz English students read this...)