I can see clearly now

On Wednesday four of us accompanied Charles to pick up his scooter, which had been truck delivered to Hungary, and we took the opportunity to visit a nearby town, Győr – I must say, not the greatest place I’ve ever seen; the town was quite small and it seemed fairly dead in the commercial centre. Furthermore we hadn’t really thought about the currency (Hungary uses the Forint) and so finding a place to drink was a bit of an adventure in itself. We eventually found a place which accepted Euros – an outdoor café (of all places in freezing weather!).

The next day, we met up with a large group of other Erasmus students to go ice skating in front of the Rathaus. After dishing out €10 for entry and skate hire we hit the ice. The rink was fantastic; a network of narrow, sweeping channels connecting two large skating areas.

Later that night, a couple of flats in our halls threw open their doors for pre-drinks before going to Prater Dome. It was pretty packed and I met so many people that I remember absolutely none of their names! Unfortunately some killjoy must have reported a disturbance, because the police came knocking. It was hilarious watching the Americans instinctively panic though – a far cry from the lairy British mentality towards the authorities! After the party broke up I found myself in a lift full of American girls – quite amusingly my handshake with one had me pulled out of the lift and towards their room, where we drank a bit more and then headed to the night club. Located in the middle of a funfair, getting to Prater Dome at night, was like a scene out of a horror movie. Needless to say, my suggestion to split up and find the club was rejected!

On Friday we (the French and I) went to the Kunsthalle in the Museum Quarter, where we saw some very peculiar contemporary art installations, one of which - an audio track - I can only assume was a pioneering new form of torture. We then visited the Leopold Museum to see yet more deranged art. On a brighter note, the snow here is practically all melted now, and the weather is getting a lot more tolerable!