A fun filled week in Debrecen
On Monday, I went to my American Hungarian Relations class - it has been about a month between breaks and cancelling class, so it was a bit of a struggle to get back into the groove. After class, Flora and I met up for lunch and ran into Charlotte and Adeline in the hall. We decided to all go over to the canteen, where we ran into Eetu. He had been back in Finland for the last week, and we had not seen him the week before Croatia! He brought a friend back from Finland too, so I officially know 4 more Finnish people than I ever thought I would! After lunch, the four of us went and stood in a line for an hour to get tickets to Food Day. The event is on Wednesday so I will have more information about then, but we bought 5 dining tickets, and the stadium will be filled with different cuisines for us to try with said tickets. The Italian girls will be there as well, and the night ends with a concert! Charlotte joined Flora and I for a walk down to the center for coffee and retail therapy. With the clothes here being so cheap, thrifting a whole outfit cost about nothing (it is definitely a good thing I have another suitcase to fill). After a few hours in the center, we decided it was time to head back to the dorm. We made our respective dinners and called it a night.
On Tuesday, we had a pretty chill day grabbing lunch at the canteen and heading to the park for the afternoon. I headed back to the dorm to get ready for my language class. Afterwards, I headed back to the dorm with Charlotte and Adeline and we discussed our next few weeks and summer plans. It is really starting to scare us all that we are almost done with our time here! After that terrible realization, we parted ways and turned in for the night.
Wednesday had arrived and it was my most memorable day/night here in Debrecen. During the day, we slept in grabbed food at the canteen and started planning our outfits and coordinating times to meet up with the friend group for Food Day. This year was the 20th anniversary for the event that is organized by the International Student Union - over 30 countries had cuisines provided for people to sample. We had bought our 5 meal tickets on Monday and decided to try and conquer as many foods as possible! Flora, Charlotte, Adeline, and I walked over the stadium where the event was being held around 5 with an appetitie to try new flavors!
South African: Mzansi Bites and Lekker Treats
Liberian: Liberian Seasoned Dry Rice with Fried Fish and Fried Plantain
Lao: Lao Salad and Fried Lotus Root
Albanian and Kosovan: Gjelle me pule dhe miell misri
Azerbaijani: Paxlava
Palestinian: Mango Lassi and Jalebi
Unfortunately, we were to busy enjoying all our food options that I did not even think to take photos! However, based off that list of food you can imagine we were absolutely stuffed! The festival also had different dj’s representing different cultures and around dusk live bands began to perform as well. By the persuasion of our French and Italian friends, we detoured to the closest liquor store and grabbed a few bottles of wine to share amongst the group in the park (apparently, they are considered bench parties here and are legal). A few hours later, the club had opened its doors, and we were off to party with the other international students on campus that were not part of our regular groups! After several bad decisions that I am choosing to not re-live (including a disastrous combination of white wine and tequila), we had made new friends and were ready to call it a night. The festival was absolutely amazing and will definitely be one of the highlights of my time here in Debrecen!
Unsurprisingly, Thursday was spent recovering from our food festival party. Fortunately for us, it was also Labor Day here in the EU so most people were either off to their next travel destination or also recovering!
Friday morning, we woke up bright eyed and ready to do something! We walked down to the center after eating breakfast in our room to go shopping. To our surprise, the fountains in the center are on and are stunning (I have one photo down below of the main one). We grabbed a late lunch at a Turkish restaurant that we get discounts at for being international students. The street was absolutely beautiful and tucked off the main street. We wandered around the center for a few more hours looking at all the places that had crowds in front of them that we had not noticed during the chilly season and added to our list of places to try. We made a quick detour at ALDI to stock up on some groceries before walking back to the dorm. By the time we were back in the dorm it was dark, and we were ready for a shower and sleep.
On Saturday we had breakfast in the room again. We headed to the Aquaticum which is the sunbathing, waterpark, and thermal bath destination in Debrecen! With our student discount, we made quick work of setting up a few chairs and starting our tanning session. After a few hours, we headed into the pool to cool off, where we ended up doing some water aerobics and ventured through the lazy river a few times. Between the sun and water, we decided it was time for lunch. Unfortunately, the system was not very efficient, and it took us about an hour to get our chicken and fries from the restaurant. By the time we were done eating we were hot and sweaty so, going against the waiting 30 minutes rule after eating, we hopped back in the pool for a quick dip. After cooling off, we went back outside to tan for another few hours. When the sun started to disappear, we figured it was our sign to head out for a quick ice cream bite in the park.
On Sunday, Flora and I packed up all our plastic bottles and headed to the store to recycle and make some money back. Afterwards, we decided it was time to try another brunch place in town. This one was a little out of the way, so it was a bit quieter. The cafe was super cute and they were playing country music inside, which was a first for the time I have been here! The menu had a lot of classic Hungarian dishes for breakfast but surprised us with Mexican options too! I had a delicious smoothie bowl and cappuccino and explained what tomorrow’s Cinco de Mayo celebration was to Flora! We have yet to decide if we are venturing down for the celebration tomorrow but if we do, I will grab some photos! After an enlightening morning/afternoon, we grabbed a few more snacks from the grocery store and headed back to the dorm. We called it a day and opted for dinner in the dorm, and I finished this post and started another book.
This next week will be another slow week with our classes winding down, but after that is 2 weeks full of traveling so stay tuned!
