Lasts

Szolnok. Last weekend I took one last train trip South East across the Great Hungarian Plain to Szolnok to visit Emily. In the past few weeks everything has been “the last,” there have been a lot of goodbyes. In Szolnok it was my last train trip, the last time I got stuck in the rain on a Sunday night at a train station not quite home (this time it was Hatvan.) The last time I would sit in a room drinking Soproni beer, eating Fornetti in the middle of a conversation going on in five different languages. The last time I would enjoy a paper plate stacked high with grilled meats, sausages and other Hungarian delights smothered with spicy mustard, the last time I would sleep in a dog pile of too many CETPers trying to spend the weekend in someone’s tiny apartment. It was my last time to sit under a bridge with my friends dangling our feet in one of Hungary’s dirtiest rivers and not caring because it was so hot outside. But the biggest and saddest last of them all was the weekend itself- the last of many spontaneous weekends with my new friends in a random Hungarian city. This weekend I had to say goodbye to Emily, who I have faith will always be there in her apartment in Szolnok when I need another dose of Magyarorszag and come back to visit. To Caley and Arlo- attached at the hip and always a good time- they renewed all of our attitudes when they arrived second semester and I’m sure that Caley will continue his antics with the newbies who will arrive in September. I did, however, get to hold off on my goodbye to Bridget since she is coming to Gyöngyös for a last chance look at the Northern Uplands. It was a great way to end things.

However, as has been the pattern lately, I have found a way to put off a few more lasts and goodbyes and will see a few more people for (yet another) last hoorah in Budapest this weekend.

Almost the end.