Arrivals

It seemed like we just kept arriving to places on our way here. We arrived at the airport. (After a long flight) we arrived in London. (After another long wait) we arrived in Budapest. Finally, after a very speedy drive from Budapest, we arrived in Szeged.

I'm happy to report that the flights were all unremarkable. Driving from Budapest to Szeged was much more interesting. The countryside reminded me a lot of driving through western Oregon - lots of farmland and trees, rolling hills. It was very green. We saw a lot of fields of sunflowers (and corn), and I asked our driver what the word was for sunflower in Hungarian. It's napraforgo. (With an accent mark on the last o - I just can't figure out how to type it in here.) There were a lot of trees that I recognized: piles of locust; quite a few aspen and willow. Orchards of fruit or nut trees.

One interesting difference in our drive from Budapest to Szeged was that the freeway never actually went through any cities. We skirted the sides, of course, but I never really saw anything that looked like "city" surrounding the road. Can you imagine what Seattle would be like if they'd thought ahead and said, "You know -- situating this freeway through the center of town might not be the best idea..."

Our apartment in Szeged is really great! It's right in the middle of the city, so it looks like it'll be walking distance to pretty much everything (or easy access via tram.) The building is old and beautiful, and the ceilings inside are probably 15 feet high. It's been refinished so it has air conditioning and modern accessories, but maintains the feel of the original. I'm super excited about air conditioning. All we have at home is a little window unit upstairs that mostly keeps the bedrooms cool enough so that we can sleep in them, except occasionally when we get a string of really hot days where it doesn't cool off much at night. Of course this probably deserves a #firstworldproblems kind of tag, if I were into hash tagging things. Anyway, our apartment is in this amazing building:

We were pretty exhausted yesterday, so it was a bit of a chore to do much of anything, but we got a short tour from my colleague at the university, including a trip through the chemistry buildings. That's right: not science buildings, but chemistry buildings. First clue that the University of Szeged (SZTE) is just a little bit bigger than Saint Martin's University (SMU)? For context, at SMU we have around 75-80 tenure-track faculty members (or so); at SZTE they have around 2000.

The plan for today is to explore a bit more, and start to learn how to find our way around the city.

Divesting

Well, this is the day! We're heading to the airport in a few hours. I tried to sleep in, but my body decided otherwise. On the other hand, at least I didn't have insomnia last night! It's fairly common for me on the night before a trip. I guess this time my brain realized that I had most things figured out, so it didn't need to spend half the night trying to remember all of the things that I've forgotten to pack.

What have I forgotten to pack? At this point? Who knows. I'm pretty sure we have all the critical stuff: passports, visa documents, medication, credit cards, and glasses. Pretty much everything else we could buy if we have to. (OK, I really do recognize that having the funds to buy what you forgot isn't trivial.) But it's fairly liberating to realize that when we get down to the absolutes, most of us have pretty minimal essential requirements.

There's something very interesting about getting ready to go on a trip - especially when it involves flying. There's a lot of prioritization that has to happen. Well, I guess it doesn't have to, but it's a really good idea. I'm a big proponent of Rick Steves' advice for traveling light, so that's what we'll be doing. I've happily done this for short and medium length trips, but I've never gone anywhere -- by plane -- with the intention to stay for 6 months before. My starting plan was three backpacks (one each) and two small rolling bags. Also my purse, but I don't really count that. In addition to our clothes and shoes, I need to bring my laptop, a few books (paperback) (and no, hard copies aren't negotiable), some essential medicines, and...probably some things for the kids to entertain themselves. It's kind of challenging. I expanded the original plan to include a messenger bag for the computer, and another small bag for snacks. So that's 8 receptacles including my purse.

I'll be honest: I was in panic mode yesterday when I had nearly filled up both rolling bags and hadn't packed any of Tristan's stuff yet. But I had forgotten how large my backpack is, and so I'm feeling pretty OK now. There's still a few more things to pack, but they're mostly the kinds of things that you can't really pack until the last minute -- chargers and toothbrushes and stuff like that.

The other thing that's interesting about packing is what you don't bring along. All those little cards for grocery stores in my wallet? Nope -- definitely don't need them. U.S. cash? Not so much. Pocket knife? Move it from my purse into a checked bag. (Darn it. I still think that's silly.) Keys? Not this time. There is a lot of personal paraphernalia that is location-specific. I think I've divested of those things now, so I'd better stop while I'm ahead.

Whew. This is going to be a big day. Wish us luck!