Downtown - where all the [Basilicas] are bright

So I just got back to my room. 3 hours ago, I was walking in downtown Budapest to a bar that I can neither spell nor pronounce. I was too wiped to have any booze - it would have put me asleep immediately. Instead I had a Pepsi in a glass bottle with a straw :) I really wanted a Coke, but I was flexible. The walk through downtown was so beautiful! My camera battery was charging, so I wasn't able to take an photos this afternoon or evening. But I will do that tomorrow (or the next day, or the day after next, or the day after the day after next, etc.). The place that we are staying is a 5 minute bus ride, followed by a 15 minute train ride, followed by a 10 minute walk to the university. When we get off the train, we walk by Basilica Square:

http://siofok-taxi.hu/images/800px-Saint_Stephen's_Basilica_Budapest_2005_087.jpg

then we walk away from the Basilica down this very street:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/8840345

We didn't get to see Parlament yet, but it's not too far from the university. Parlament is right alongside the Danube, and it looks like this:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Budapest_Parlament_ArM.jpg

The climate here is just perfect. It's been a nice, sunny 60-70 degrees all day. There is lots of green all around, which is also real nice :) Our class schedule is pretty intense, but we do have Friday, Sat and Sunday off. Tomorrow my schedule looks like this:

7am - breakfast

8am - start bus, train, walk to campus (and stop by a coffee shop we saw tonight to get juiced up)

9-10am - Orientation at University (show us library, get us passwords and usernames for computer system on campus)

10:15-11:45 - course intro by Tim O'Connor

12-1 - library tour

1-2 - lunch break

2-4 - classical compatibilism and the consequence argument by Mike McKenna

4:30-6pm - compatibilist responses to consequence argument and Frankfurt's PAP by MM

6-7:30pm - optional public lecture on something I am not going to because I will be eating dinner

7:30 - CEU opening reception
So, I don't think there will be a shortage of activities. There is a boat ride planned on Sunday - I'm guessing it's a ride up and down the Danube, and that should be fun.

Hungarian is the most impossible language I have ever heard or seen! Anna, our course coordinator, told me earlier how to say "thank you," and I forgot it instantly. That is probably partly due to my exhaustion, but it is also related to how crazy the language is. It's really pretty sounding (not written), but impossible to decipher. I am going to learn as much of it as I can, but first on my list is "sorry" or "excuse me," because I have bumped into people and the best I can do is make a scrunchy apologetic face and put my hand up to convey how I'm feeling.

Right now, the lobby receptionist has the radio on, and George Michael's "Father Figure" is playing. The first song I heard when I got here was "For your Love" by the Yardbirds in the cab from the airport to the dorm. I am hoping to find some Hungarian pop music, but most of what people listen to seems to be in English. Hrmmmm.

My roommate is really sweet. Her name is Sasha, and she is a PhD student in Florida. She used to work in a zoo, but then decided to do Philosophy. Cool. I also met a cool lady from Holland - Neelke (Neel-ka). She's really sweet and we've been chatting a bit today during our travels. She was an engineer for 10 years before she decided to get her PhD in Phil. I also met up with Cullen Gatten, who is a student at Lincoln, Nebraska. I met him when I visited that school, before I decided to go to Boulder. I also met a girl named Yeva (don't know if it's spelled that way) from Lithuania, and a guy named Jonathan who is from the UK but studying at ANU. And I met both of JMF's students - Chris and Patrick. I met Derk Pereboom at the bar on my way out, and Paul Russell from UBC. There's a girl named Lizzie from the UK who is really pleasant. This is a really incoherent paragraph.

So I already mentioned the black squirrels for sale in the pet shop in the mall, which is easily the best thing I have seen since getting here. But the second best thing I've seen is a giant poster advertising a Tom Jones concert in Budapest. I'm going to take a photo of it, because it's hilarious. There are lots of McDonald's and Burger Kings here. BK seems to be more popular - and that's the way I think it should be. It's kind of funny - if a McDonald's has a drive thru, it is marked as a "McDrive" and they sell deep fried shrimp and stuff. I'm not going to eat there, but I will take pictures of it.

It is now 11pm here, so I should go to bed. I am tired, but I think I will be adjusted properly by tomorrow evening. And I will take photos and post them.