Bratislava & Budapest!

To be honest, I didn’t know about Bratislava until I decided to go this past weekend and it was AMAZING! First off, there were so many dogs playing in this fountain by the train station and at that moment I knew I was going to love it. One other thing I noticed right off the bat was SO MANY PEOPLE WERE WEARING AC/DC SHIRTS. So many that I was like something MUST be happening. And I was right - AC/DC was coming to Bratislava the very next day and everyone was just already prepared. The group I went with decided to stop by the pop-up shop and get our own AC/DC merch to fit in and let me tell you it changed our life. People began stopping us; one girl took a photo with us and another asked us for directions to the show and some guy even yelled at us as we got on our on the train that if we were headed to the gig, we had boarded the wrong train (we unfortunately had to make it back in time for class & did not actually go to the show…). It was iconic.

Another iconic thing about Bratislava was the Bratislava castle. We toured the castle and it was of course very picturesque with a view of the Danube River. We noticed a lot of Hungarian history associated with the castle so we were big fans, and there was a lot of cool artwork in there as well. There was a room of paintings from Martin Jonas which I really liked. We also saw lots of artifacts from different ages such as the Iron and Bronze age as well as many religious paintings and statues. After the castle, we had traditional Slovakian food which was my favorite food of the whole trip I think. Although not the most photogenic dish, it was DIVINE. It was potato dumplings with sheep cheese and bacon bits, which if you know me might sound a little out there, but trust it was incredible.

The rest of the day we walked around the city and went to supposedly one of the best ranked pubs in the world, but both days we tried to eat there, the kitchen was closed, but I was still able to get some traditional goulash. We also had Slovakian McDonalds and that was the best I’d ever had (the SNICKERS CARAMEL MCFLURRYYYYYY and apple juice were perfect).

After Slovakia, we had one final day of class and then we were off to Budapest. Leaving Szeged was sad because it was such a quaint town that I felt we had all become pretty accustomed to. However, Budapest is such a unique city and I really enjoyed my time there.

One really cool piece of Budapest that my group explored was the ruin bars. They are bars in old abandoned buildings or run-down or unused areas after WWII in the old Jewish Quarter, so each one was different. We went to four different ones - one specialized in craft beers (Élesztő), one was more “quiet” and in an old literary coffee house from the 1880s (Csendes Létterem), one that was a multistory bar/club with 18 bars and 7 dance floors (Instant-Fogas), and my favorite one that was multiple stories and had rooms with different vibes and so much eclectic decor (Szimpla Kert). We also hit up the market where I got some souvenirs and then we toured the Castle District which was stunning and had a great view of the entire city and the famous bridges. We climbed the BudaTower (Magdalene Tower) which is the only monument that survived in its original form and it even survived a siege. Let me just say I got my steps in that day.

I really loved the Parliament building, and I got a full view of it on our Danube River cruise, but then we also walked around it at night and got to see it light up. I looooooove all the architecture. For dinner on the second to last night, we ate Hungarian street food of fried dough (Lángos). I got the 4 cheese one which was maybe 3 cheeses too many, but it was delicious. For our final day, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe in Budapest to close out our trip.

Overall, I would say this trip was one of the best I’ve ever taken! It simultaneously felt like it lasted 2 seconds as well as 2 years. I met so many great people who I had literally never seen before on Clemson’s campus but that I hope I will stay in touch with! I learned a lot about the skeleton and teeth, and I ate a lot of great food and saw a lot of great places and buildings and history (and ALMOST saw AC/DC). Truly a trip I won’t forget. I’m currently in the Munich airport waiting for my connecting flight, and I am looking forward to coming back home (hopefully with my luggage) and all my new experiences! BYEEEEEE! THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING ALONG!!!!!!