Oh The Places We’ll Go

The next morning, my stomach hates me.  I hadn’t PROPER drank since Krakow and even then I wasn’t pounding beer after beer post-shot taking and vodka redbulling.  It’s not so much a hangover as it is the acid buildup in the stomach.  A combination of “I need to eat” and “I never want to eat again” all wrapped into one.  Once I finally wandered out of bed and showered, I pulled out my book and delved into my book.  The group had all gone out walking for some sightseeing and I had inevitably missed out.  My hair needed to dry (don’t laugh) and I just couldn’t be bothered.  I figured I’d get myself together and wander out by myself for a bit later that afternoon, which I inevitably did.  If every night was like B. City Monday’s, even if Budapest was ugly as SHIT it would be one of the best cities I’d stayed at if not purely for the night life.  Once I got around to walking, though, I discovered Budapest is anything but ugly.  It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  Just one glimpse at the Parliament building, this grand and intricate building covering a span of land right next to the river, and I am sold.

After my bit of walking around Budapest to get a good idea of what the city is like, I wander back into the hostel and realize there are new non-Krakow and non-Vienna acquaintances that have just arrived.  Beer o’clock is here and, beer in hand, I pull up a bean bag next to a tan mid-twenties guy with a nice square jaw.  He opens his mouth and I’m in heaven- he’s a southern boy.  From Alabama.  I meet his friend, who is insanely nice, but I’m too preoccupied with the southern oil-rig working Alabama boy who drives the truck and the whole shebang.  Way to fit a stereotype buddy, but I didn’t even care.  Just keep talking with your funny, slow, insanely adorable little accent and I’ll just smile and nod.  You don’t meet many southern people traveling.  I wonder why that is?  Loads of Canadians, Californians and New Englanders, but Southerners and Midwest people are few and far between.

Wednesday night is the Epic Pub Crawl (mind you, there are many epic pub crawls every couple of days, not that it matters) and I am ready and roaring to go.  The lot of us headed out to the first pub and after a few minutes of chatting away at everyone I am poked on the shoulder and turn around to, guess who, 2 of the crazy foursome of Australians from Krakow and Vienna.  Dan, the hippie dreadlocked and laid back one of the crew, and James, the relaxed and friendly Aussie with hair that may even be longer than mine, always tied in a nice and long, straight braid.  I hadn’t expected to see them in Budapest, so I was excited to see yet another familiar face in with everyone else that I already knew.

As we hopped from one crazy looking bar to another, including one with graffiti’d bathrooms that looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since Hungary was communist, I got to drinking more and more with the southern boy and his friend before we somehow ended up in some random club with the rest of the group?  This part I really don’t remember.  I remember dancing (which, as I feel I need to remind people every time I state that I was dancing ANYWHERE- I don’t dance… ever), and I remember drinking a lot, but other than that I couldn’t tell you what the club looked like or what music was playing.  It’s a mystery.  What I do remember is heading home with southern boy and his mate, stopping at a kebab shop along the way and preventing the drunken southern boy from getting into a fight with some guy who shoved him while we were standing in line.  It was all drunken stupidity, really, and as drunk as I was that night I wasn’t drunk enough to let anyone get into a fistfight over some stupid shove.  Get over it, men.  After wandering back to the hostel kebab in hand, we got into our rooms and I immediately passed out.  Too much alcohol, most of the night I don’t really remember, and until I started clicking through the photos the next morning as I woke up I hadn’t even realized that Dan and James had shown up.  I completely forgot until I saw the pictures and just went “Oh yeah!”.  Woops.