Weekend in Szeged

Having spent the last two weekends in Szolnok, then Nyíregyháza, this weekend I moved a step further towards a real city by visiting Szeged with Juli, Chad, and Janos. Any weekend that can involve such varied amusements as death metal one day and ice skating the next has to be a great one. Highlights, in roughly chronological order, include:

- Gyongyi, the kind and generous friend of Juli’s who vacated her apartment for a night so we could have it. My favorite part was the fact that she forgot to bring extra clothes to her boyfriends, so we had to deliver them to her this morning, and she came out to meet us wearing only a big, blue bathrobe.

- getting Juli to drink alcohol for the first time (theme song: “Californication”)... and having her admit the next day that she liked it.

- the first bar we went to was this cave-like cellar, in which the walls were covered by the scrawlings and doodlings of past patrons. My favorite: “Az alkohol az emberiség ellensége” (alcohol is the enemy of mankind).

- the four giant men sitting hunched on stools like gargoyles, guarding the entryway of the second club we went to

- the Hungarian death metal band with the trombone player... surprisingly good

- when Janos bought me beer in a bottle, just in case I needed to bash someone’s head with it. Apparently I looked twitchy enough to take someone out. I did try to strangle Chad later in the car, but only because he tried to crush my kneecaps.

- Chad trying to cheer up the depressed Hungarian teenagers sitting in a McDonalds at midnight by giving them his Happy-Meal toy and Coke.

- Janos knocking the picture off the wall at 4.30 in the morning, making a huge crash and nearly taking out Gyongyi’s massive towers of CDs

- Chad wearing Gyongyi’s red and black rayon shirt, two sizes too small... and actually letting us take pictures of him, which will be posted here as soon as possible

- seeing the sights of Szeged with Juli as our expert tour guide - namely, the Dom tér (pictures here and here), then walking around, through the Christmas markets, and drinking hot wine

- going ice skating, not falling, having a beer, skating more, and still not falling. Amazing.

- two fantastic lunches: chili on Saturday, followed by Mexican food on Sunday. My usual diet of pasta, bread and butter has lost all appeal.

To be perfectly honest, after spending such a great lazy, chill weekend, most of my normal routine has lost all appeal. Right now, I’m living for Christmas break. Weekends have to keep me sane until then.