Hello everyone, Alessandra here :)

I hope all of you had a good beginning of the year and made through this really challenging month. Even if January is been such a long month (lovely weather, no?), it’s almost coming to an end and I can’t wait to be closer to spring! 

For Christmas holidays I went back in Italy (the picture on top it’s the beautiful sea of Maratea in the South of Italy!) for about ten days, and it was really nice but coming back to Budapest was better than expected! When I was home the reality of Budapest felt so distant, almost like if the last few months here were just a product of my imagination. Once I stepped out of the metro from the airport everything felt so familiar and I realized how much I have learned in the previous months. In the last few weeks I noticed that now I am able to recognize words, customers at the shop and starting again with the daily tasks made me feel like I really know this place better and I am definitely feeling more confident. 

This month me and Vilma also made a little day trip to Vienna. Such a beautiful city, elegant and classy, but it’s NOTHING compared to Budapest! This city is so alive and full of opportunities that I can’t wait to explore in the next months. 

Also, this weekend two of my friends from Italy are coming to visit me and I can’t  wait to show them my favorite spots around the city (and of course the shop)! I am really happy to share my life here in Budapest with them and hopefully the weather will be nice! 

Anyways, that’s all for this month! It’s always great to share the little but big changes as the time passes by…

See you next month :)

Alessandra

Olvass tovább

Hello blog, volunteer Vilma here!

Totally crazy that we have already reached the time for my second blog post. That is the advantage of occasionally writing a blog post, because you get a chance to look back and think about everything you have experienced. This is also one of the reasons why my New Year's resolution is to keep a diary as often as I can. So that I can remember my time here.

I went home to spend the holidays at home with my family in Sweden. I really enjoyed meeting them and celebrating Christmas together, especially since this is the first time I've been away from home.

Now it is the beginning of January and I returned to Budapest a little more than a two weeks ago. This time it was a great feeling arriving in Budapest and being able to recognize places and the names of some the streets. Especially compared to when I first arrived when things definetly felt a bit confusing. 

Right now the weather in Budapest is quite bad, cold and rainy, but it is January after all. When you think about it, it's kind of silly that January is always the first month of the new year, because the weather is always so bad. However, I feel grateful that it is at least not as cold as in Sweden, where it is below freezing almost all of January. But to be honest, I'm also looking forward to some sun. Come on?! Just a little streak of light would be enough! Anyway, I hope that during my time here I get to experience slightly warmer temperatures. It feels like you can't get a fair picture of a city without seeing it in both summer and winter.

However, the advantage of January in my opinion is (as it is the first month of the year whether we like it or not) that due to the bad weather you have time to focus on making your everyday life as pleasant as possible and plan for the new year. In that sense January is a bit like a rip in time. Having said that, I have a lot to look forward to in the coming months, such as my family coming to visit me. Hopefully one of my friends will also come to visit a little later.

To conclude, I would like to say that I'm very happy to be back and I hope that you who are reading this have had a good start to the new year as well.

Olvass tovább