Saturday, March 19, 2011

Our Final Day







Here we are at the end of our final day in Hungary. In some ways it seems as if we just got here and yet, I think we’re all ready to go home. Since this was Saturday there were not many offices open so our only visit was at Grayling which I mentioned yesterday. They are indeed a huge PR and consulting group with 70 offices in Europe, Asia and the U.S. It was an interesting presentation and the people there were so nice and interested in why our students wanted to visit their firm.

After our one visit we were taken on a 4 hour tour of Budapest. I was a little nervous because I still remember what happened to Gilligan on just a 3 hour tour. (I know that was bad, but I couldn’t help it) We had the chance to see the Heroes Square where they have monuments to the greats of Hungarian history. It was an impressive area that apparently was used for many events by the Soviets when they had control of Hungary.






I should mention that the weather today was not conducive to wandering around outdoor sites. It was very cold, overcast and rainy. Our guide kept giving us more time to stroll around and take pictures, but most of us ran back to the bus long before his deadline. We also got to see 2 of the castles of Budapest – the Fisherman’s Bastion and the old Royal Palace. The castles were amazing. They are not still intact, but it was easy to see how impressive they must have been back when they were in use.



These pictures do not do justice to the palaces, but it can give you an idea of how much fun we had being able to see these.





Tonight will be filled with packing and trying to get a good night’s sleep because I know I won’t get any rest on the plane. Someone told me to stay up all night and then I would be able to sleep on the plane, but I tried that on a trip to India and all it did was put me in a very bad mood from sleep deprivation on the plane.
All things considered, this has been a great trip. It has been educational for all of us in a variety of ways. We learned about two countries that none of us have ever visited before. We learned about different cultures and economies and we also learned something about ourselves and how we can or cannot adept to new cultures. I also learned, once again, how much I can miss my wife in one week’s time.

No comments:

Post a Comment