Margitsziget.

Finally I have a proper weekend this week and decided to go to Margaret Island with my friends. They went this morning for swimming and I joined them a bit later. This island is called as Margitsziget in Hungary and it's located in Danube River between Buda and Pest. You can reach this island by metro M3 to Nyugati Palyaudvar and change to metro 4 or 6 to Szell Kalman Ter. It's a recreational park, so nobody actually lives here but there's swimming pools, parks, restaurants, and the main attraction is the dancing fountain. I went there quite early today around 4pm and got to watch the show for 3 times since it scheduled for each hour. Budapest was burning hot today, and it felt so good to be there because I sat under the shade and it was windy.

PS: 

If you are wondering why I always write what I did during my exchange, it's because I want to have a travel diary so that I can remember what I did during the trip.

Budapest Free Walking Tour.

Today I joined Budapest free walking tour since I had nothing to do on Saturday. I've joined one before in Prague and I found it was amazing. We went to some famous places in Buda and Pest such as St. Stephen Basilica, Danube River, Chain Bridge, Buda Castle, St. Matthias Church, etc. Basically we dont pay for the tour but we give tips in the end of the tour based on your favor. Our tour guide today, Andy, was funny and interactive and he gave us lots of information about Hungary's history and cuisine. It's actually similar to the places I went on my first week in Budapest but with the history in it. I thought it would be very far because we went from Vorosmarty Ter in Pest to St. Matthias Church in Buda but actually it's not when you did it. My history knowlegde about Europe has improved a lot because of many tours I've joined and this made me happy. Through the tour, I knew that the place I went before with the green dome was actually not the Buda Castle but it was kind of the national museum. Only the castle's ruins are left in that place. This walking tour is highly recommended if you like to walk and enjoy the city's view and at the same time you can get the knowledge about their history. It lasted for 2.5-3 hours for each tour. After all these times, I started to love this city and just realised that I only had 13 days left before I leave Budapest.

Buda Castle viewed from Pest riverside

St. Stephen Basilica

View from Buda Castle

St. Matthias Church

Lake Balaton.

I just came back from a 3d2n trip to Lake Balaton. It's 2 hours by train from Budapest. There was Balaton Sound Festival and some of my friends went on Friday so we left on Friday morning. It's great; actually it's pretty much the same as Lake Toba but too bad Lake Toba is not properly organised hence not many tourists go there. Here they have parks for people to picnic with family and friends and also they can sunbath. This is absolutely different with the culture we had in Asia; people dont like sunbathing because they can easily be tanned. We also dont really go on a picnic (maybe it's for Indonesian only); we prefer to go on holiday staying in villa spending time with family and cousins. We like to travel to nature but not by exposing ourselves to direct sunlight. I like the environment here because people really enjoy their life to the fullest; most of the shops in Hungary close on Sunday and that's why they have their own private time to relax themselves. In Indonesia or other Asian countries, most shops open on Sunday so it's not difficult if you want to buy things on that day but as the result you dont really have much time for yourself unless it's a public holiday. Everything always has a positive and negative side. For the second day, we went to the other side of the lake. They also had parks, beaches, and restaurants; we went uphill to a church at the peak and took some pictures. I found a souvenir shops who sold everything about lavender and later found out that there were lavender fields in that island; too bad it's a bit far so I didnt go there. It's a good choice to spend the weekend there because we can enjoy the nature but maybe 2 days are enough for me.

My roommates: Zehra (Turkey) and Marisa (Portugal)

Budapest: the first few days.

It's my third day in Budapest and the second day in the hospital! Budapest is VERY hot; in Paris and Prague it's not this hot. Paris was cold in the morning and night and in the afternoon it's hot but still windy. Indonesia is definitely hotter than any other cities in Europe but we have aircon everywhere: bedroom, living room, inside the car, plaza, everywhere. It's totally the opposite in the hospital. Being accepted in the Pediatric Surgery Department in Semmelweis University hospital, I stay most of the time inside the surgery ward so it's definitely better with the aircon. Im very happy that I got this department; my chief and the other doctors are very friendly and they speak English well. They explain the case to us whenever they can and I got to see some cases which I never saw before. The only thing I dont like is that because I bought the wrong shoes, my feet hurted a lot since we were always standing. Apart from this, I really like this department and especially because I have interest in anatomy, it really helps me alot. Even after three days in Budapest, I've not gone to any tourist places probably because it's very hot makes us easily to get tired. Im even lazy to do anything; I just want to sleep.

Prague.

Finally Im in Budapest and after all the struggle I get to use the internet lol I just got back from Prague this morning, made me missed the Explore Budapest tour in the afternoon because I arrived here at almost 5pm. My 4 days 3 nights trip in Prague was totally awesome. Prague is a very beautiful city with lots of history which is definitely my cup of tea. I explore the Old Town Square, Prague Astronomical Clock, Charles Bridge, and Prague Castle alone with map and by asking people I met on the street. At the first day, I dont really understand anything about the history but Prague Castle tour really helped me a lot. The tour guide talked about the history of Prague, King Charles IV, St. Wenceslas, St. John, etc. Pardon me for my knowledge of history. The Prague Castle complex consisted of many buildings such as St. Vitus Cathedral, Basilica St. George, Old Castle, Golden Gate, etc. I got discount for almost half price because of the student's card and it's better if you also join the tour because the tour guide explained everything. Another good thing I got to see was the astronomical clock. It's the third oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one which is still working. I saw the 30s show for a few times: in the morning at 10am, 6pm, and the next day at 11am. The best part was at 6pm in the evening because everybody gathered around the clock just to see how it worked. It was veryyyyy crowded. Actually I still dont really understand about the mechanism; it's just too complicated. The second day I joined the Prague Free Tour; basically there was lots of people holding colorful umbrella around Old Town Square and Prague Astronomical Clock asking if you wanted to join a free tour. They'll bring you to the Old Town, New Town, and Jewish Headquarter for almost 2.5 hours and the fee was tip-based. This was really worth it; you got to see which part is the Old Town and New Town. Too bad the Jewish museum was closed on Saturday. I also met up with my friend who was having her exchange in Prague and we went to the Prague Castle because my ticket was valid for 2 days. Prague is definitely my favorite; if you dont like history then it's not really recommended. It has a very great scenery, but if you understand the history it will feel much better. I will come back again for sure (even I dont know when).

Prague Astronomical Clock

Paris.

Finally after a few days here I got the desire to blog. It's been my 5th days in Europe; first three days in Paris, yesterday in Budapest, and today in Prague. I plan to write a travel diary in my blog during my journey to Europe, but I just get tired everyday because we walked a lot, which I didnt do often back in Indonesia. This is my first journey to Europe and my first time travelling alone. I was a bit scared since Europe is really far from my hometown and I dont know about the system in each country. I went from Medan-KL-Abu Dhabi-Paris using Etihad Airways which I thought was similar to Singapore Airlines; it's really good. It took almost 13 hours for me to arrive in Paris. Everything is expensive in Paris; food, taxi, public transportation, souvenirs, everything but this city is too beautiful to be skipped. If you travel to Western Europe, visiting Paris is a must. Spending my first day to visit Champ Elysses, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Jardin du Tuileries, and Musee de Louvre, I was accompanied by my friend who has been staying in Paris to study. She really helped me a lot; French people doesnt really speak English though. Paris is awesome; the information for tourist is very complete and you can easily go everywhere using metro and buses but you need to understand how it works. It was very confusing for me at first because it's operated differently with the one I used in Bangkok. The first day was very tiring because I had jetlag but I directly went to all places as soon as I arrived in Paris. The second day I slept a lot and in the evening we just went to see and buy souvenirs. As for the third day, I travelled alone and got lost in Korean Town which I ended up eating Curry Udon and Gyoza. I and my friend went to Montmartre in the evening and it's so damn beautiful because you can see the whole city from the uphill and there's a famous old church called Bazilika Sacré-Cœur. Three days in Paris was more than enough for me; I like the environment; it's clean and tidy although we have to walk a lot to reach either the metro station or bus station. In Europe the sun sets at around 10pm so you can still walk everywhere at night. I went to Budapest in the afternoon yesterday and it hasnt left me much impression since I only stayed for a few hours and went straight to Prague using train.