Trains will always make me think of Germany.

But this weekend, I’m leaving from Keleti Pályaudvar, not from Mainz Hauptbahnhof , I have a ‘jegy’, not a ‘Fahrkarte’. But when I get the shiny, square-shaped ticket, when I settle into mostly-inflexible inevitably blue-fabric-covered chairs, when I see the conductor coming with his strange clicking device to check my ticket – I’m always in Germany in my head. I miss it.

This weekend, though, I am going to Eger – a small town about an hour and a half away from Budapest (not quite sure in which direction yet- though, if I think about how the sun looks outside of the window – I’m guessing North? Northeast? I’ll check.) Along with an apparently lovely church and town square, this place is also host to an amazing national park with lots of caves (complete with thrilling stalactites, etc.) , and a valley called ‘Valley of the Beautiful Women’ (okay, in some translations, ‘Siren Valley’, but I like the first one) which is the home of many tiny shops bearing the fruit of the many vineyards in the area. 

And it’s not like I don’t have homework this weekend. On the contrary – there is as much as there always is, if not a bit more (midterm season – also that ‘you-wanted-to-apply-to-gradschool-right-then-now’s-the-time’ season). And I know I will be spending some of this weekend doing that homework. But I’m excited to sit in a different café, to have a different view out of the window. To walk somewhere different in the mornings… And, yes, to have some fun. I realized how little of the city/country I had seen earlier this week – it was an intense moment as I realized I had never even been to the Bascilica, only been on the Buda side of the river three times, only ever leave my tiny neighborhood (which includes the BSM school) at most once per week. And sure, I’ve got a lot of fun math to prove for it. But man, I’m here. I need to actually be here. 

Which is why last week, I went to see a friend of mine perform with some fellow musicians that he found when he moved here and has been playing with ever since. This was their first gig that wasn’t on a sidewalk in front of the Buda castle, and it went well! And now, a trip to Eger.

And next weekend? A trip to Germany. This math is like a treadmill. I have to keep going or I will fall off, but it’s not like I can actually finish it all, fast as I might go, hard as I might push. So, why not have some fun?