Sav: Today was another crazy, action packed day full of laying around. For a few reasons.

A) I wanted to spend my last day in Budapest with the people I’ve grown so close to

B) I’ve seen everything I wanted to in the city

3) I was a bit tired from the games night that didn’t end until late. Though everyone else was also, so we were all happy to lay around together.

Maddie left this morning, and I woke up with a knot in my stomach. It’s going to take a lot of getting used to not having her constantly making me laugh. I’ve loved learning through Maddie that being unapologetically yourself is absolutely the best way to live. This girl has a laid-back, stressless way of viewing life and the world, and I’m hoping some of that rubbed off on me. I am going to miss her a lot.

There’s this room in the hostel called ‘Parliament’ because it’s got a massive mural of the parliament painted in it. It’s quite small, but has a huge vaulted ceiling and every corner is packed with bean bags and comfy chairs and there’s a projector in the corner. A bunch of us ventured outside to grab McDonalds, and then went back to Parliament to watch the movie Kubo. We all spent a lot of time talking and reminiscing about our time in Budapest, which got me a bit misty-eyed.

I joined in on family dinner, which was an awesome cheap pasta made by one of the staff. 15 of us sat in a circle on the floor and ate our pasta, all while the unease in my stomach grew knowing I would be departing soon.

I called a cab to get me to the train station, as I was going to be late because I spent so long saying my goodbyes. Minion, Sweats, Scott, Fables, Led, Minion again, Ryan, Clover, Dregs, Minion again, and everyone else all gave me the biggest and best hugs. I cried so hard walking away I think it echoed up the stairwell. I’m tearing up writing this and my stomach hurts. I love Budapest, but more importantly I love Carpe Noctem Vitae and all the people I’ve met there who made both my stays here so memorable.

Hugs and love to everyone at Vitae.

S

Location: Berlin, Germany

*** Over to Berlin

Meag: After all the excitement of the past days, I decided to take it slow today. A cup of coffee and a delicious croissant from a bakery was all I could get up to this morning. Afterwards, I walked aimlessly around the city and I decided that running from sight to sight is vastly overrated. Wandering the streets of Berlin in the warm November can be just as rewarding.

I met up with Tobi and we walked straight down Unter den Linden, starting at Brandenburg Gate up to Alexanderplatz. With the help of Tobi’s historical knowledge of Berlin, I could identify the contrasting architecture of the former Allied sectors versus the former Soviet sector. While in western Berlin architecture appears to be rather modern, former German Democratic Republic buildings are bleak blocks of cement. Apparently, the divide between east and west is architectural, cultural and political as well. Tobi told me that the Berlin provincial elections that took place in September this year illustrate how the occupying powers shaped their respective sectors. In the eastern parts the left-wing party tends to win, while on the other side Merkel’s CDU comes out on top. Although the wall and with it the division was taken down in 1989, I find it shocking that the differences are still so alive. After this extensive history lesson, we got an early dinner at the burger place that we had visited last time.

Budapest takes a lot out of you and I was still feeling it so I decided to call it a day and went home. We made plans to meet up in the centre tomorrow, hopefully learning more about this great city. Although it’s only been one day, I’m already missing Sav a lot.

M