Katie's trip to Hungary was one that won't soon be forgotten. Read on to hear about the highs, the lows, the excitement and the surprises narrated by Katie...
Early this year, signup for the Hungary trip began. I was offered a spot since I was in the International Relations class taught by Mr. Bailey, a teacher I had last year and for three classes this year. My close group of friends also received spots on the trip and we began the process of writing our bios to match with hosts, paying for the tickets and other expenses, and preparing for the Model UN conference we were participating in.
When the coronavirus surfaced in China in December, it didn’t concern us since our trip was not there and it was still far away. As we got into the new year, our trip got closer and the virus spread to other countries, including Italy. This became a little more concerning but there was still only a small amount of concern involving our trip.
Two weeks prior to our trip, the countries affected by the virus kept growing and Germany began to have a notable amount of cases. While Germany was not an official stop on our trip, we did layover in the Frankfurt airport. These new developments and the growing concern of spread in Europe caused concern about whether the trip will happen or not. The next two weeks consisted of lots of “will we or won’t we” thinking about our trip. While I was very excited about going to Hungary, experiencing the culture, participating in Model UN, and having a break from my stressful senior year, I was preparing myself for my trip to be canceled. I kept thinking that LCPS would shut it down.
I was hesitant about packing because packing is a struggle enough and I had no interest unpacking again if the trip was canceled. The Sunday before we were planning on leaving, my mom finally convinced me that I needed to pack. Packing for the trip officially began.
On Monday, I had to take a retake for a math test at ACL and then attend LVHS for the rest of the day. All my teachers were aware of my two week trip and everything was inline for my absence. I still didn’t think we were going.
Tuesday morning, Carleigh and I voted together, and then I finished packing. At that point, it would be difficult for the trip to be canceled, so it was happening. We were on our way to the airport.
This is where the adventure starts. The following was the schedule/plan we had going into the trip:
March 3 - Leave Virginia
March 4 - Land in Budapest, train to Debrecen, night with host family
March 5 - Go to school with host student
March 6 - Trip to Eger
March 7 - Day with host family
March 8 - Travel to Budapest
March 9 - Day in Budapest
March 10 - Trip to Visegrad
March 11 - Day in Budapest and Model UN Opening
March 12 - Model UN
March 13 - Model UN
March 14 - Fly back to Virginia
In the end, the initial schedule was changed in several ways due to concerns around the coronavirus.
Tuesday, March 3:
Upon arriving at the airport, we were informed about the first change to our itinerary. Since we were in airports and flying, the administration of the school where our host students go saw us as a potential “threat” for coronavirus spread and did not want us to attend school with them on Thursday. We would be sightseeing around Debrecen that day instead. Change #1.
Our flight was overnight and we landed in Frankfurt on Wednesday morning. While in airports and on airplanes, we were instructed to use tons of hand sanitizer and wipe down everything we touched. I followed those suggestions a lot.
Wednesday, March 4:
We arrived in Frankfurt with no problems. We had a good breakfast and then got on a shorter flight to Budapest. We arrived in Budapest, got our 50 pound suitcases and then rode a bus to the train station. The train station had lots of stairs. They were not enjoyable with our suitcases. Also, we were going on about 24 hours with no substantial sleep. We were advised to not sleep on the train so that we could beat jet lag. That was rough.
After a two hour train ride consisting of lots of card games and random trivia, we arrived at the train station in Debrecen and met our host families. Hungarian students had picked which US student they wanted to host based on a biography we wrote in January. I had been talking with my host over Instagram for about two weeks prior.
After arriving at my host’s house, I met the rest of her family (who didn’t speak English), set up where I’d be sleeping, and then had dinner which consisted of pork, noodles, and bread, and has a fancy Hungarian name I don’t remember. After eating, I gave them some authentic Virginia gifts and their favorite American candy. Then I went to sleep.
Thursday, March 5:
Instead of going to school, we had a walking tour of Debrecen given by the students and their teachers. Our first stop was the Reformed Great Church of Debrecen. We were able to go up in the bell towers and see a panoramic view of Debrecen.
From there, we took a tram and bus to Debrecen University and walked through the main building.
We then walked through the Great Forest in Debrecen (which was not very great because all the trees were dormant :) ) to the stadium.
We then went to the American Corner, a part of the library where a program run by the Hungarian Embassy and Department of State takes place, to give a presentation about American culture that we were planning on giving to students at the school.
After our presentation, I went to get lunch with my host and we then went and wandered the mall in the city for several hours. We met up with one of my host’s friends and the student who she was hosting (one of my friends) and we wandered the mall. I got some shoes:).
We returned home and I slept a lot again.
Friday, March 6:
We went on a trip to Eger, a historical town. It was a dreary day, but it was still a beautiful town. We started in a basilica, then saw the minaret, then went up to the castle. The castle gave us another beautiful view of a different Hungarian town. For lunch, we went to a crepe place and then went back to Debrecen where we went to another restaurant and then went to sleep.
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| My host, Agi |
Saturday, March 7:
This was our last day in Debrecen and with our host families. I slept in late in the morning and then went to the city museum in the afternoon. We met up with other students and went to a restaurant and then went back to my host’s house to pack and get ready to leave the following day.
Sunday, March 8:
In the morning, I finished packing and then went to the train station to meet up with my classmates and teacher and travel to Budapest for the second part of our trip.
The day before, our teacher informed us of another change of our itinerary due to coronavirus. The Model UN conference we were supposed to participate in was canceled due to rising concerns of spread due to large groups of people and people traveling from other countries. Our teacher gave us two options, either cutting the trip short or just going sightseeing instead. Everyone chose the sightseeing option, so we no longer had to do Model UN but still got the full length of the trip. Change #2.
At the train station, we were made aware that we were going to stay the full duration of the trip. When we arrived in Budapest, we went to our hotel and then out to a three course dinner.
From there, we went on the metro and tram to see sights in Budapest all lit up before seeing them close up the following day. We saw the castle and the cathedral all lit up.
Monday, March 9:
We started the day by going to the Budapest Citadel where the Liberty Statue was located. There were many locks on the rails and beautiful views of the city.
We then walked all the way down the mountain and then rode a bus up to Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion. Another beautiful church and more beautiful views. There was also an amazing street performer we stopped at to watch for several minutes.
We then went to the castle and wandered the castle grounds for an hour.
After visiting those four major sites, we returned back to the main parts of Budapest, took a cheesy picture at a sign, and then had langosh. I would describe langosh as funnel cake without the sugar and with sour cream, cheese, and other toppings (I had ham) on it. It was one of the best things I ate on the trip.
After eating lunch, we visited the main basilica in Budapest and saw the preserved hand of St, Stephen. It was quite an interesting sight. We paid less than a dollar to make it light up.
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| The hand is in the middle of the case. |
We then returned back to the hotel, dressed up in our fancy clothes, and went back to the basilica for an organ concert. Although I am not a fan of classical music, it was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We had dinner on our hotel street.
Tuesday, March 10:
We went to Visegrad. We took an hour train ride out of Budapest, then a ferry ride to the other side of the Danube, and a car ride to the top of the mountain to get to the castle. We had two hours to wander the castle grounds and a large group of us spent the last 30 minutes laying at a viewpoint and just taking in our surroundings.
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| Our teacher |
I tried frog legs at lunch and then we hung out on the side of the Danube River while we waited for our train. One of us decided it would be fun to go into the river…:)
We returned to Budapest and then went to a food truck caravan for dinner. The food truck caravan consisted of many food trucks lined up in one place with a variety of choices. I had a langosh burger and then a chimney cake, both very Hungarian foods.
We then wandered Budapest Fashion Street and had some time to go shopping.
Wednesday, March 11:
Instead of Model UN, we went to Esztergom, a historic town with one of Europe’s largest basilicas.
After a hour train ride out of Budapest, we arrived in Esztergom and walked to a bridge where one half of it belonged to Hungary and the other half belonged to Slovakia.
We then walked to the basilica and chose to climb the 500 stairs to the top of the highest dome to get another great view. The stairs were mainly spiral staircases and climbing through ceilings. It was 100% safe, and a very crazy experience. The view was beautiful, and we got to see a lot more of Slovakia as well. The walk back to the ground through the ceilings and spiral staircases was just as crazy on the way down.
After having lunch in the town, we took the train back to Budapest and got ready for dinner.
As we were all in the lobby getting ready for dinner, our teacher called us over to talk, and it was not looking like a good talk.
He told us that with the announcement of coronavirus being a global pandemic and the rapidly changing statuses of European countries, he made the decision to end the trip and get us home before something changed and we couldn’t get home. We were leaving 3 am Thursday morning. Change #3.
The message came as a shock to all of us. We all decided to make the best of the last amount of time we had. At dinner, I had duck and a fancy crepe-like dessert.
To finish off the trip, we went to the Parliament Building and walked across the bridge from Buda to Pest.
We settled in the hotel by 11pm but most of us decided to stay up until our flight the next morning. We had to leave by 3 so we decided sleeping wasn’t worth it. About midnight my time (around 7pm Virginia time), President Trump announced new travel bans/restrictions for anyone coming from Europe back into the US. All of our phones blew up. “Are you stuck there?” “Are you allowed back in?” “How long do you have to stay in Hungary now?” I guess his message was not clear because since we were US citizens, it wouldn’t have affected us anyway (other than a few more screens) but we also were set to be back in Virginia before the ban took effect. The rest of the night consisted of packing and making sure we were not late to our flight.
Thursday, March 12:
3 am arrived and we had to report to the lobby. Everyone was there and ready to go. We got into a van that was full of neon lights (we called it a party bus) and loaded our luggage into a little trailer attached to the back of a van. We were driving down the streets of Budapest at 3 am in the morning singing Budapest by George Ezra.
When we arrived at the airport the check in and luggage drop off stations were not open yet so we had to wait. While we were waiting, we talked with a couple other Americans whose travel plans were affected by the travel announcement. Also, we saw many people wearing masks, but the thing was, half of them were not even wearing them the right way. Some people were wearing the masks on their head like a headband or hat and some were wearing it over their mouth but not their nose.
Eventually we all dropped off our bags and got through security, boarded our flight to Frankfurt, and took off. About two hours later, we landed in Frankfurt and had strict restrictions on our actions. Frankfurt is in Germany, a place where there are a large number of cases. Our teacher led us to our gate and then instructed us to stay seated for the 5 hour layover until our next flight. He did not want us wandering and touching/coming into contact with large amounts of people. The chaperones took us in small groups to get food and use the restrooms and then brought us back to our corner of the gate. We spread out and slept for some of the layover and some slept for all of it.
I slept for about one hour after getting food and then woke up to the chaperones and other students talking about how school was canceled for the next week or so. This announcement sent many thoughts into my head mainly about the status of the world and how it is changing so drastically so face. Many other students were expressing similar concerns and my teacher and chaperones did a good job reassuring us that everything was going to be okay and that all these actions were precautionary actions so we didn’t need to have reactionary actions.
As we were boarding the plane, our teacher reminded us that we will be allowed to go to school and told us that our principal sent out a message to the whole school essentially telling them not to be afraid of us and squashing all the rumors that we would be quarantined. Our plane was fairly empty and we began our 8 hour flight back to Dulles Airport.
8 hours later, we landed and many smiles crept across all our faces, including our teachers and chaperones. We got through customs surprisingly quickly and then got our luggage. After everyone got their luggage, our teacher pulled us aside and said he had to tell us two more things before we went through international arrivals to our parents. He told us that while we were in the air, the CDC changed all of Europe to Level 3 and suggests that anyone traveling from Europe self-isolates for 14 days. He also let us know that there were reporters outside interviewing random international travelers.
The trip was an amazing experience. It was life-changing in many ways and something I would never choose not to do. My teacher and the chaperones made sure we all felt safe and happy given the constantly changing situation. It was an amazing way to spend part of my senior year. I got to get closer with 15 of my classmates, I got to explore a new country and try new things, and I got to have many experiences that not a lot of people my age or any age get to have. I am so glad that I got to go on this trip and experience everything that I did.
When we were in the customs line at Dulles, my friend was on the phone with his mom and said, “I don’t think I like what we are walking back into.” I cannot agree with that statement more. Coming back from an amazing and life changing trip to the changing status of LCPS and the USA as a whole has been quite alarming. The closing of school has changed from one week to many weeks, about 4 with the possibility of closing up to 12 (or the rest of the year). The science fair I was chosen to participate in got canceled, the hackathon event I have been leading planning for all year will most likely be canceled/postponed to next year, and several other college events I was set to participate in are canceled.
There is a part of me that is worried about how my senior year is going to end. Will I ever get to see my friends again? I traveled with all my LVHS friends but I haven’t seen my ACL friends for weeks. We will graduate, but how? There are many questions about how this year will end, but one thing is for certain. The Hungary trip was a trip of a lifetime that I will never forget. It was an amazing addition to my senior year and I will be forever grateful to my teacher and everyone who put it together and made it happen.
And as we like to say, Wow! Hungary!
So there you have it....only 8 more days of self isolating due to her European travel.
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