Budapest Day 2- Castle Hill at Night and Meeting Kata

After emerging from the tunnels, I decided to walk about a bit before texting Kata to meet up. Buda at night is an absolutely surreal experience. The yellow-orange glow of the street lights reflecting off the untouched snow and the yellow, Baroque buildings made me feel like I was in a David Lynch film and not in the real world.



I could have walked around until my feet froze off, but Kata texted me asking if we should meet up. We agreed to meet up at the bottom of Castle Hill, I wanted just a bit more time in this place before I returned to the real world.

I made my way down the stairways of Castle Hill, this time unafraid since I was on the side I was familiar with.


Kata was waiting for me when I arrived at the square. She's a young doctor, and I instantly liked her. She asked me where I wanted to eat, and I said I was open to anything, but I'd really love to eat some real Hungarian food from a restaurant she likes. She said there was a small restaurant near her flat that she really liked.

On the way, I asked her questions about Hungarian health care and medical school and learned some very interesting things. I told her about the differences I noticed between Norway and the US making sure to highlight the good and the bad. I learned that Hungarian textbook writers get paid by the page, so they are rather long winded. Kata said she survived medical school by buying German textbooks and using those. They were literally half the size with the same exact info.

I could easily write a small novel on such fascinating topics as needle recapping and the Hungarian residency program, but I have a feeling I'd be the only one interested in reading it. Instead, I think I'll jump ahead to my Hungarian dinner. There were two Hungarian dishes she recommended at the restaurant. Potato casserole or stomach. I decided to live dangerously and went for the stomach with a side of potatoes and a cucumber salad.


I can now safely say it's a myth that everything strange tastes like chicken. Stomach tastes like stomach. I have nothing I can even vaguely relate it to. It has a seafood-like texture and is very chewy. I honestly can't say if I like it or not, it was so new to me that all I can say is I didn't hate it. After eating it another two or three times, it's either going to be my new favorite food or it'll make me throw up.

The cucumber salad was also interesting. It had a sweet-cream dressing which was an interesting contrast to the cucumbers that were slightly vinegary. It was like a salad and a dessert mixed into one. Tasty, but strange. I can easily say that will become a favorite of mine one day.

We went back to her place for tea and more conversation. She told me that her apartment used to be her grandparents apartment. They lived in this tiny one-bedroom flat with four children. They were also jumping for joy when they acquired it. Their previous apartment didn't have its own bathroom, there was one bathroom per floor that was shared with the other tenants. The apartment is perfect for one person, but would even be small for a couple. My mom, brother and I have lived in some small places, but they were veritable mansions compared to this flat.

It really hit home for the first time how fortunate Americans really are. The poverty I lived in as a child and a teenager was nothing compared to the middle-class life in Hungary under Communism.