Plane Tickets

So plane tickets have been purchased, which is a big and expensive step, so it is good that it is done. I had originally thought of visiting other places in Europe, including possibly Ukraine or Switzerland, but it was much cheaper, and gives me more time to pack and prepare if I travel directly to Budapest. So I'm arriving a little early in Budapest, and will hopefully be able to get to know my host family and the city a little bit before starting classes. As for the exact dates, I'm leaving August 12th (arriving the next day) and will be returning on December 21st, with layovers in London. One reason that I need the return ticket purchased, besides getting it for cheaper and not having to worry about buying it while I'm there, is that I need it for my visa application.

I find the visa application slightly unnerving. Not for that fact of everything that they need from me, but more from the fact that I get this sense that I am basically presenting everything that I can about me and basically asking them if I am good enough to enter and stay in their country. I have no doubt that I'll get it, but it is still a very odd feeling.

So I still have a lot to do within the next couple of days, but hopefully it will all work out.



Also, as for the picture, that is the Buda Castle, which sits on the east side of the Danube river in Budapest, which is the Buda side, which is less city-like and more like suburbs, which is hopefully the side of the river that I will be staying. So one of the little houses in the background could very well be where I live in the fall. But we will have to see.