Day 6 - Exhaustion

Today was different than most of our other days have been. It might have been coming down from our enjoyable group dinner the night before. It might have been watching 3 members of our group each eat 3 eyeballs from a goat just to get their picture on the wall. One other member gave it a great effort with more courage (or lack of good judgment) than I would have shown and none of them actually got sick, though several did come close at times. It never amazes me what a little peer pressure can accomplish.

I think the fatigue of the trip is catching up to all of us. Being on the go constantly each day can wear a person down. Now that I think about it, the reason for my exhaustion is that I’m just old and the student’s reason is that they stay up until 3am each night, but you almost have to if you want to experience all of Budapest that you can in such a short time.



Anyway, today was rainy and very cold. We took a ride on the Budapest subway to the stock exchange to see what happens there in relation to the Hungarian economy. I must say this, the subway system here is so much cleaner than it is in New York or Chicago that it is hard to believe. It is also far deeper. The escalator we had to ride was the longest and steepest one I have ever been on. You almost had to lean back as you descended to ensure you did not go tumbling forward.



In the afternoon we went to Habitat for Humanity in Hungary which was really very interesting. Because of the differences in their culture they don’t build houses for people. In Hungary owning a home is not as important as in America. What they do is try to provide the same experience by making repairs in existing apartments or other living quarters that make the quality of life better for the people. By doing this, they hope to provide hope for people who are in the poorer sections of Hungary and inspire them to work harder to achieve some financial success for themselves.
One thing I could not help noticing is that cultures all over the world are the same in many ways with one that I thought about in particular. We all have a prejudice against one part of our society and form a bias against them. In Hungary it is the Roma or the Gypsies. These are the nomads of society who have no education, no real opportunities and therefore no hope. We were told that the government demonizes this group and blames all the ills of society on them and people here cannot stand the Gypsies. I could not help recalling Hitler and his hatred of the Jews in this way, especially since we are in the part of the world where it all took place. I wonder if it is human nature to want to blame someone else for our problems.

Tomorrow, though, is a new day with a visit to one of the largest marketing and consulting firms in the world (which is what I was told) and some of our students are extremely excited about this visit. Included in here today are a few shots of the Hungarian Parliment interior, the Chain Bridge over the Danube and a view of a museum across the Danube from our hotel. They are not the best, but I hope you enjoy them.