2006 was the “Hell-year” of my life. So many things happened that I don’t even want to talk about them – those who know me well, know what I’ve gone through. But anyway, in spring I found out that, curtesy to AEGEE (a European student association) I would be visiting Italy. Finally, something to look forward to. So the summer came, with all its exams, the final paper (done in 3 weeks while others struggled with it for months) – which was finished on a Friday, 5 minutes before midnight (thus avoiding the turning-into-pumpkin stipulation of the contract) and after 4 hours of sleep, I was on my merry way, with my good friend Chris towards Budapest. We were supposed to stay for a couple of days there, and I was to fly to Rome after said time frame.
We went by train, and after a grueling (for me)/delightful (for Chris) 11 hour trip, we got off at the Eastern Station in Budapest. For a couple of days I showed Chris the sights, he brushed up on his Hungarian (which was rusty to say the least) and finally, there I was, at the airport, eagerly waiting my journey to Icecream-land.
The trip included: flight (Budapest – Rome), bus (airport – Termini railway station), train (Rome – Termoli).
I got to my destination (the lovely city of Termoli) dead tired, in dire need of a shower and some food. This whole italian experience was a summer university, gathering people from all over Europe: Hungary, Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria. That first night I thought I would get a good night sleep. Yeah, right. Around 2 a.m I feel my bed being moved (with me in it). Turns out, they (the organizers) thought it was funny to deposit me in the hallway (we had lodging in a school) – I should have freaked them out, but instead voted for slow and painful revenge (mu-ha-ha). Which never came, since they turned out to be a pretty cool gang. All of them. So we bonded over field-trips, wine-tasting (which was done A LOT). There was a party every night, but my personal favorite was, when it was held on the beach, and I was dancing, only in my pants (sans shirt or shoes) on a bench. At some point I stopped, and a guy turns to me and says “why did you stop? you are great!”…so, thanks to the ego-boost, I kept on dancing.
The organizers took us on a 2 day trip in the mountains, where it was EXTREMLY windy, but I loved it (went horse-back riding and with the ATV cars) – you should have seen the other participants freezing and me only in a t-shirt and sweatpants – lovely.
By far my favorite moment of this whole summer university was the trip to Tremiti islands. Imagine a tropical island with beautiful blue waters, sandy beaches, gorgeous flowers and you get the picture of these islands. They had to take us by boat (a 1 hour trip) then we went exploring, swimming, snorkling, taking in the sun, basically having a great time.
The last night of the summer university was European night – it’s basically one huge party, where all the people bring their national food and drink – needless to say, from all the tasting we got totally wasted.
My summer university experience taught me several things: I need to be open to new experiences, being yourself is the greatest gift, people want to know you if you let them, alcohol crosses language barriers and fun is at every corner!
So after 2 glorious weeks of partying, wine drinking, field-trips, the heaviest rains in the past 10 years (seems my revenge caught up with them after all – feel my wrath muhaha) and even winning an award for “Summer’s best poet” I went to visit some relatives who live about 1 hour from Rome. After the heavy experiences, some relaxation was in order. I got to see, in the little town of Terni, how the rich people live, even met some of them, I got to walk on cobble-stone streets, found clothes at bargain prices AND even got to see Rome – what was the point of going to Italy if not to see Rome as well.
In 8 hours we covered the basics – the Vatican (suddenly feeling the desire to re-read Angels and Demons), the Trevi fountain (simply breathtaking and crawling with Japanese tourists), the Pyramid, the Colosseum (in which I was slightly disappointed – not in the building itself, but in its location – you exit the subway and you’re smack into the Colosseum). But all in all, it was a great experience. Being in the pizza-home, I ate some – had the best and worst pizza of my life there (of course not in the same place, but in the same city).
Though I liked Italy, I said it might not be likely to return, unless it’s for a very good reason! I would rather visit other places on this lovely planet if the chance presents itself.
I returned to Budapest, just in time for the National Day. So around 9 pm my cousin and I head for the major attraction – the fireworks. While on our way, I tell him there’s a storm approaching – you could hear the distant thunders. Well, I was right – go figure. The storm lasted for about half an hour, but the damages were huge – 6 people killed, several hundreds injured and the city looked like a hurricane went through it…and I need to point out, the winds were so strong, the rain was “falling” horizontally (something I’ve never seen before and not really looking forward to it). The remaining days of my vacation in Budapest were spent walking, riding the subways, shopping during the day and partying at a local trance club almost every night – even attending a trance parade – very cool.
The trip home was a blur – I came by bus, but slept through the whole trip. At home I had to study for the license exam, and after that for the residency exam, but due to some emotional issues, I squeezed 3 weeks (once again, the magic time frame) of reading and even managed to get a decent score, thus securing a place for my desired specialization and city.
This is how the year 2006 went for me (part of it)….next episode – guess who gets to see the pyramids?
