Budapest--First impressions

Budapest is a very interesting city. It has been a little over a week since I have arrived at Budapest, and it is time for me to write a bit about it.
My first impression was somthing like "hum, it seems a bit dirty!" And who could blame me? All the walls of the buildings from the airport to the university dorm were vandalized with graffitti. And yes, I say VANDALIZED! It is one thing to create a work of art in the form of graffitti next to the railroad station or alongside its walls, but painting over 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th or early 20th century buildings is a crime. The dorm sucked big time. It works like a hotel and a conference center and I really did not like it there. I did not want to get all my stuff out of my suitcase since I was planning to move as soon as possible. Hence, I spent the first week using the same type of pants and shirts, which nearly drove me mad! And I did not have anyway of doing laundry...Arghhh! The first day of class, well, no...let me be more specifici: the first day of orientations was boring! As usual! Becca was right! No matter where in the world are you, orientations are always boring! But late in the afternoon, we went to apartment search! Well, well! Everyody was anxious to get their hands in an apartment! Of course, we do not receive any money if we don't have one...and you have to have the contract and the property page of the building before you get any money at all! So you could imagine my willingness to find an apartment. I had spent all day long looking in the apartment list and I got around 20 different apartments. When I started making calls, nobody answer the phone, except for a lady who could only speak Hungarian. But she called her son, and I had an appointment for 6:00 pm that same day. I went there and I really liked it! It is 25 minutes away from my university and the center of the city! (or one of them at least...I am in Pest, but Buda and Obuda also have a nice city center, that I have yet to see!). The apartment is in fact and attic, and it is located in a very shabby building, but the interior of the apartment has been remodeled and it looks great! The area where I leave is a residencial area in the XIV discrict next to Hosok Tere, and one of the most beautiful areas in Budapest!!!!! It is fantastic!!! After thinking how dirty everything was, I went to the city center and I was half in awe of the place. It is just huge! The historical buildings mix with the socialist/communist buildings in the area in a very strange yet pleasing way. I feel that there is beauty in decay, and thre are many buildings that are decaying. Yesterday Zsuzsanna and I went to the antiquaries and it was a fantastic experience! We had to go into some buildings that were coming right out of some communist vs capitalism movie scene! This amalgamate is so rare and disconcerting...is like a roller coaster: at one point you are up, and before you know you are down the rails! I have a gut feeling that I am going to like it here!

In the next episode: 10 Things about Hungary and Hungarians!!!!!!!