Igen. Nem. Citromos.

Disclaimer: As I write this  post, the three Summer for Youth interns are typing away on their own laptops, and Cherry, our newest addition, is having a Skype call even though all she wanted to do was go to sleep. My atmospheric indie is not loud enough to drown her out. 

"It's a really weird feeling meeting a foreigner for the first time, and realizing that there are real people outside of your country." Lali

So you would think that I would be prepared to experience culture shock. You would think that as one of the Vice Presidents of a non-profit aimed at decreasing cultural tensions/barriers/stereotypes, I would be expecting my life in Hungary to be drastically different from my life in the States. You would think that I would be prepared to be observed, stared down, and talked about just because I looked (and sounded) different than everyone else. 

And you would be right. 

I was expecting all of these things, and I am almost surprised that I'm not experiencing them more. 

Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on my internship, or maybe I've studied too much about culture shock and the stages of adjustment for my exchange participants. I've only been here for four days now, and I'm already waiting on some sort of life-changing, mind-altering awakening. 

I'm ready for my culture shock. 

The Basics.

Hungarians put interesting topics on their pizza.

Beer is often cheaper than water. 

If you don't have a bike, you're probably the only one. 

Swear words are more fun to learn than relevant ones. 

Cheetos come in flavors.

The Details.

1. So if you follow my twitter--@calledkiandra in case you're interested--, you've already seen my post detailing one of my first dinners in Hungary. Pizza and beer (my first legally purchased beer ever!). After dealing with the initial American problem of converting the pizza size from centimeters to inches, I settled on a 26 centimeter (tell me what that is in inches without looking it up) pizza with ham on it. For the relatively low price of $4.45 (including delivery), my pizza arrived at Lali's, and I was ready to dive into it. And it. Was. Delicious. Warm crust...ham...cheese...corn? To say, that finding that sweet corn on my ham and cheese pizza was a bit shocking would be an understatement. Don't get me wrong though, it was great! Corn on pizza. Who knew?

2. This wasn't so much of a culture shock as it was an adjustment. Here's how I justify it. I am a college student. Therefore, I am working on a college student budget (read: I'm poor). Anything I can do to save money (not just in Hungary, this is a general trend in my life), I will do with little to no hesitation. I need to drink water, right? It's a fairly essential part of the whole "being alive" thing. Well, beer has water in it. The prices of beer fluctuates around 210-250 forint (roughly 1 US Dollar). The price of water is closer to 230-270 forint. It would be a disservice to my parents and my wise, financial upbringing to spend more money on pure water when I could easily just buy beer (with water in it!) for less. You're welcome Mom and Dad. 

3. Never in my life have I seen people who bike more. Everyone seems to own their own set of wheels. A car, roller skates, a skateboard, a bike (and that in reverse order of frequency), and unless they're out for a jog or trying to catch a trolley, everyone is on wheels all the time. If I were the kind of girl to get self-conscious easily, it would make me feel bad about not touching my own bike after I became old enough to drive. Even now as the urges to ride a bike rise, I remember that I have a month long bus pass, and that idea quickly fades away. Exercise is for healthy people.

4. My knowledge of the Hungarian language is about as vast of my knowledge of organic chemistry (ouch, bad joke). However, I'm learning--and surprisingly, retaining--a little bit more every day. Thus far, my vocabulary consists of: yes, no, lemon, help me, I don't understand, thank you, you're welcome (though I forget this one repeatedly), gold, potato, office, pull, hamburger, pub, and fuck off. I really think I've covered all the bases here. You're free to assume which words I learned first, and in which situations I've obtained these vocabulary words. Oh! I also know the words for 1, 4, 5, and 7. I know...I'm impressed too. 

5. Going to the supermarket is always a fairly arduous task for me (but that's a post for another day), but I have consistently bought two objects no matter when I enter the grocery store--sprite and Cheetos. At first, I think it was just me taking comfort in the only two things in the store that I understand, but now even as my Hungarian has improved (kis burgonya!) I find myself going back to those two staple objects. Sprite is arguably the only soda I feel comfortable drinking since I stopped drinking soda almost 6 years ago, and I think the only thing bringing me back to the Cheetos are their crazy flavors. Seriously America needs to step their game up if they ever want me to buy Cheetos again. Puffy, Flamin' Hot, and Original? Pshh. Try Ketchup, Hamburger, and Pizzerini (seriously, try them. they're delicious). Adventurous Hungarian dining? Not quite. But that's not gonna stop me. 

Baby steps, people. Baby steps. 

Well, that's all for now. Go treat yourself to a beer after reading this, unless you're underage, then go enjoy some Hungarian pizza.