Hungry for Hungary

It's almost been a month!! I can't figure out why I'm unable to stay on top of school this month, but I plan to start organizing my time better over the weekends. Who thought that finding a boyfriend (I know, I finally committed) would make time management this much harder? Not me, that's for sure. Although, finding a boyfriend was never part of the plan for this semester. But, that's life, always changing things up on you. And I admit, I love it. But as much as I love change, there are things I miss. Lately, I've really been missing Hungary - the fresh air, the billowing farmland, the city streets and colorful Budapest buildings. I miss ice cream with real,rich flavor. I miss stuttering in a language I'm scared I will never master. I even miss the small town - Szombathely (some-but-hey) - in which I stayed, where dogs barked whenever you walked down the street and there was absolutely nothing to do but walk around, breathe in the air and hang out with my 32-year-old cousin. Szombathely, located right near the Hungarian-Austrian boarder, was founded in 45 AD, making it the oldest city in Hungary. Originally, it acted as the capital of the Panonnia Superior province of the Roman Empire. It used to be a major center of Western Hungary, but no longer. The 1920 Treaty of Tianon, signed after WW2, took a great deal of land away from Hungary and dealt it out among neighboring countries. The population of Hungary decreased from 20.8 million to 7 million. Land area dropped by 72 percent. Many lands settled by Hungarians were lost, and these ethnic Hungarian haven't always been treated so well in the countries that gained possession of their land. I almost understand how they feel - that deep, inexplicable longing for a certain place you call "home". Although I'm only half Hungarian and I've never lived in Hungary, I always used to feel that aching in my soul, that longing for the place I'd never been. But now that I've been there, this tiny landlocked country calls to me all the more loudly. I miss the friendly people. I miss my family. I miss the Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe and known as "Hungary's Ocean". I even miss the thermal baths that leave you stained and stinking for the rest of the day. And, being kind of hungry right now, I miss really miss eating langos - a fluffy, friend dough with garlic and possibly cheese and sour cream spread across the top. My stomach grumbles just thinking about it. My soul grumbles with desire to return to the country to which I belong, at least for part of my life. I can't wait until life changes again, and I go back home.

(Szombathely)