Last-week Madness

The last week before leaving was a real bughouse, I’ve never in my life thought moving out for 5 months could be like this. Of course I was wise of the fact that packing in all the clothing and my personal little kitchen wouldn’t be a daydream but still.

The whole torture started last Thursday when I had to go back to Pécs (and walk everywhere from the central bus station because poor Erasmus-student ain’t gonna pay no shit for a bus ticket, I have legs after all) and get my transcript of records of the second semester (or why it sucks to go on Erasmus right after our freshman year); and there I  was literally hiding from someone I hated; but, lucky me, I didn’t have to play I liked him or deal with his shit, as soon as I sighted him (luckily just once) I did a 180° turn and went back on the stairs; or why it’s cool that the school is a labyrinth and I know how to figure it out.

As soon as I went to a lecture of English Literature and Culture II (‘cause why not if I’m there?), met (almost) everyone I wanted, and hugged everyone, then heard that the head of the English Literature and Culture institution used to study and teach in Ostrava (! hello there, anyways, professor), I realised I was hungry (being half past three already it isn’t surprising at all I believe) and had a gyros next to the school where a lovely Arabic man in his 50s sells divine food for the poor and starving students; and when I told him I was going to go there next time in February he went like “Will I only see you then again? Have a nice journey!”. Adorable, isn’t he? Filling my rumbling stomach with the gyros made with love I was walking back to the… shopping mall next to the bus station to spend all the cash I had with myself, to be honest I didn’t really want to exchange money… and I needed a pair of new boots anyways… also, I could find a knitted oversized “Inca gold” coloured sweater I’ve been looking for since March, or something similar, I guess (together with a long maroon t-shirt, because I liked it), and the little visit to Claire’s for fox-earrings and fox-necklace magically made 20k HUF disappear from my wallet. What might have happened with the money, I wonder…

The next important stop of my imaginary journey to being ready was on Monday, when I had my nails done and my hair cut. I’m still crying every time I comb my hair, had like 10-15 cm violently separated from my mane… but at least now it looks healthy and fresh. On Tuesday dad and his wife took me buying a suitcase; have I mentioned that I had no suitable suitcase I could pack my things into? It turned out a while ago that dad wouldn’t be able to take me by car so I had to rely on dear MÁV and the railway system of Europe to be able to get to Ostrava. Luckily, the Varsovia Express from Budapest to Moscow goes through Ostrava (did you even have a clue that a Budapest-Moscow railway still existed?) so I didn’t have to change lines in a country I barely know, and I don’t even speak the language at all. Wednesday consisted of starting to pack in my clothes in my newly-bought suitcase and everything else into the one my father’s family lent me. On Thursday we dyed my hair with mom (hers as well, because we had half of the burgundy-red hair dye left and she has very short hair now), and I started saying goodbye for everyone, especially my grandparents living 2 streets away from us.

Friday was a real rollercoaster, my best friend and I decided to have a last food coma together, so we had some gyros (I tell you, if gyros would be the only existing fast-food I wouldn’t cry) and then we (finally) bought her a bunny she’d wanted for a long while. His name is Berci, he’s 3 months old and he is a very well-mannered dwarf rabbit. On the bus home we tried to talk as much as possible, that was the last time I saw her until Christmas and the last 24 hours I could talk in Hungarian with someone in real life, as the train left the station today only the conductor talked in Hugarian with me face to face.

I tried to go to bed as early as possible, I had to get up at 4:20 as to get ready for the 150 km road trip to Budapest with dad as to catch the 8:22 train. During the night, I woke up at least five times and I had several nightmares about dad arriving for me late, after 7 (that was actually true, he came later than we agreed but still we arrived to the station half an hour earlier than supposed so it wasn’t such a big problem. I couldn’t have even slept longer, I woke up around 4 anyways and had to make myself some breakfast I could have on the train. Once it ran through my mind that I could still pay back the scholarship I got and return to Pécs (Nela told me this was more or less normal so I didn’t have to worry about it) but I had a self-talk that I didn’t go through this whole procedure since February to quit in the finish. I don’t actually know why this thought slid into my mind, but I’ve been so stressed lately (and monthly hormonal changes happened to attack me right this week) that I was literally crying 3 nights in my bed since Monday.

But, as every bad, even this ended yet. The weather became awful by the morning and we were lucky it didn’t rain when the train left so dad didn’t get soaking wet while going back to the car. And, surprise, surprise, there was toilet paper and soap on the train. I wasn’t this lucky with phone service and Wi-Fi though, no more working internet from the Hungarian-Slovakian border and no text message sending from the Slovakian-Czech border, only phone calls. Until Bratislava I was the only one in the cabin, there a lady and her dog, Gia got onto the train and I could pet the little cutie pie. Also, a man got into our cabin who turned out to be Japanese, and when this old gentleman helped me getting my luggage down from the train I thanked him in Japanese.

Then we got here in Ostrava. Nela was waiting for me at the train station so we could make it here to the dorms (which turned out to be an 8-floors-high building built in social realist style 400 meters behind the “World’s End”-sign) and pack my things in the room. But of course it wasn’t that easy, first of all we didn’t find where we were supposed to go and almost got lost near the tram stop. And, you know, guys, I didn’t in my wildest dreams think that there would be no ATM near a dormitory… so of course I didn’t have enough cash with myself as to pay the 3000 CZK deposit and needed to find an ATM in the city centre, luckily Nela came with me so I dint have to deal with this problem alone. We ran through this quarter of the city we were at and frantically tried to find a place where, first of all, we could buy public transport tickets, because the closest ATM was two tram stops away from us. But we figured it out that we could buy online tickets by phone so as I couldn’t send text messages any more she bought me a ticket – so now I owe her a coffee.

By the help of supernatural forces we got back to the dorms in time and we could finish paperwork, only being interrupted once. A guy who you could even smell was drunk decided to slap my butt as he passed near me so I ran after him and kicked into his ass. Then Nela translated he apologized so he got away with that now. And finally I could come up to the room and meet my new roommate. Her name is Marysia, she’s Polish and she studies Czech Culture, doing her master degree this semester, and it turned out that we already have something in common (apart from the fact that both of us many allergies): we both study the language that brought us here together because we couldn’t study Scandinavian Studies somewhere.