we spent the past few days with 4 alabamans...

...i know, but they were cool once we got used to them.

they are all architecture students, so we had interesting discussions about sustainable buildings and home design. they all volunteered to come help us build our cob house, whenever and wherever that might be. walking around the city with them was a new experience--we had been becoming a bit blase about the gorgeous buildings, like the locals--but they helped us to see the city in a new light.

our hostel was great the whole 3 weeks we were there, but the last week was the best. we loved our little loft; it was like a tree house, looking down over the rest of the room. we could see our church out the window and the church bells woke us up every day at noon (yeah, yeah). all the guests/residents that last week really clicked, and rather then going out with one or two of them, as in the previous weeks, the ENTIRE hostel would go out en masse! there were the alabamans, the two of us, a hilarious german couple, and whatever hostel employee was on duty that night. there was also a couple from los angeles who only spent one night, but kept coming back to visit us at mandragora. we played music, played drinking games, walked out to margaret island, introduced everyone to our favorite little cafes and bars (Dz and i knew of some that even the hungarians hadn't been to!), bemoaned the doggy land mines in the streets, broke hostel rules, discussed ideal city planning, stayed up late and got up early, cooked for each other, learned each other's languages, laughed and laughed and laughed, and vowed to visit each other whenever we got the chance.

we compared the experience to summer camp (except coed & with alcohol), Real World Budapest, and a college dorm.