Budapest and Hungary 2006

Now I am at the computer lab at CEU(Central European University). Although everyone(professors, PhD students and alumni) confesses it is super busy and challenging to study here, I feel more relaxed so far for this orientation period. So I assume beginning from Monday, the students get started studying. During last two weeks I have seen enough things to brief you about Budapest, Hungary, my university and myself.

Budapest:
The center of Budapest, downtown is a very charming area. All the European style castles, Churches, Museums, wonderful parks and beautiful Danube flows right through this center, splitting Budapest into two sides; Buda and Pest. My school and my apartment are on the Pest side where most lively and busy Hungary locates.
Fist week I stayed at a hotel in 13th district which is a quite far, 50 minutes of commune from the downtown. Blocs of apartments similar to Ulaanbaatar with tidy streets are common scene in that area. Public transportation is good here; easy access via both bus and metro.
Generally you won't get lost in this city because simple three metro lines and very nice bus systems take to everywhere you want to go to. People on street look more likely reserved, however they will happily direct you with basic commands of English if you kindly ask them to do so. Everything is Hungarian which is indeed hard to pronounce and as consist of long words as Mongolian words. It sounds like mild mixture tunes of Mongolian and some other European languages.
Interestingly the MacDonalds, Burgerkings, Subways and other Americanized markets are very common things around. Turkish kebab and Hungarian traditional meals are served in restaurants as well. Amazingly on street , good quality of Hungarian wines can be found in cheap prices.
Since they try to enter Euro, European Monetary Unit, Hungarian goods seem to be a little expensive than that of USA.
Finally I found an apartment in downtown, very close to my school and all the entertainment. I share big rooms with my roommate Jeff.
Balaton Lake:
Another site which made me admiring impression of Hungary was Lake Balaton. Altogether with my new class mates, all of us had two days of trip to this lake. We had great time at the hotel, tasting Hungarian wines, drinking beers, playing bowling, swimming and socializing around.
The lake is very pleasing and big enough. Surrounded by inhabitants and small villages, it reveals beauty of nature and nicely structured villages. Some areas of it remind me of Khuvsgul Lake, my home town and other parts with private houses look like the coast side of North Shore, Hawaii. Groups of swam in the lake really add romance to the lake. We hiked around the lake on second day.
Including lake and area around it is the oldest national park of Hungary. However, I was surprised by its full of houses and inhabitants which is totally different than Mongolian National Parks where you see next to nothing humans.
On the way to and back from the lake area the typical Hungarian life presents. Geographically and apparently Hungarian villages and counties are familiar to that of Pennsylvania; wide area of cultivation, trees, backyard houses etc.