Impressions

The First day had enough excitement with a slightly turbulent flight (plus side was an early arrival due to the winds!) and a minibus trip from Budapest airport to Szeged with adventures in currency exchange and the aisles of a local Tesco. I knew hardly anyone here speaks English but I hadn't thought that even in a supermarket we'd have to rely on one of our local hosts and teachers for translations. We found ourselves some evening snacks eventually and headed for the dorms where we'd be staying for the month. We were already waiting for spring in Finland because of unusually warm weather but had a sudden drop in temperatures and a snowfall, to boot, just before we left. Here it's warm, if windy, and we are very lucky: the cherry and peach trees are in full bloom! The flowers only last for a week or two and our visit just happened upon that period.

The next day we had a tour of the central area after a brief drop at the school that received us. The buildings in the city centre are old and grand with art nouveau influences. Churches are everywhere with their robust decorations and sky-high towers. There's decay where renovation hasn't touched, every block has a bakery and a tobacco shop and our guide told us many stories about statues, buildings and Szegeds own little peculiarities. I'll give you a photopost as soon as I figure out how to do that on my phone... I was happy to find there are many second hand shops and fabric stores (I love both with such passion) and we hear the music scene is lively in little clubs and bars.

I should be heading for bed like everyone else. Tomorrow we have another tour - who knows where to - and on Friday we're off to a visit to Vienna! We'll manage to go to some museums before that and prepare for our task... I'll tell you more about that later, now I bid you all a good night.