Lovely Buda… Lovely Pest... Budapest!

By Jurre Spruijt

The Stresstrip to Budapest started on Thursday the 16th in the evening, as we gathered at the Spiegel building on campus. After having waited for a bit, until everybody was present, our lovely two bus drivers from Brookhuis came rolling onto campus in their touring car. Everybody got in the bus and the tour had officially started!

The bus drive to Budapest felt faster than expected. We had breaks about every 3 hours, so we could go to the toilet and refill our water bottles or get some refreshments at the fuel station, while the bus drivers could change shifts. After driving the whole night, through Germany and Austria, we passed the borders of Hungary, now we could almost smell Budapest!

A few minutes after 13:00, we arrived at the Maverick Urban Lodge, what would be our hostel for the next few days. We could not go to our rooms directly; however, we did get the possibility to drop off our bags. Having done so, we started our lovely first walk through Budapest. On our way to the company visit, we already got a glimpse of what the city had to offer.

At IBM, we received a warm welcome. Unexpectedly, we were even welcomed by Dutch people! First, we received an introductory presentation about the company, that internationally sells business software solutions and services, followed by a tour to the office and some field-specific presentations. Unfortunately, they could not provide us with the strongly needed coffee, but we were offered the possibility to ask all our questions! I Personally, I even had the ‘honor’ of trying to explain what quantum computers are. After some other presentations, we concluded the company visit, went back to the hostel to quickly go to our rooms and freshen-up. At that time, our stomachs were rumbling, so with a small group, we immediately started our search for a nice place to dine. Luckily, we found one rather smoothly. As we were in Hungary, I had to order some traditional goulash, which tasted lovely! Our stomachs were satisfied again.

After dinner, we had a long stroll alongside the Donau, impressed by all the governmental buildings that were lit-up by many lights. While walking, we also found a beautiful place for our first game of ‘Klok-koppen’ for the weekend! We heard the ‘beer-bird’ a few more times, but decided to go to sleep in time, as we were all tired and wanted to be all well-rested for the next morning.

On Saturday, we woke up at 8:30 and went to a little bakery to have breakfast and coffee. We needed a good base after all, for our long-morning-walk (abbreviated: olawa). We had a nice but challenging walk up the ‘mountain’, during which Job led some of us off-track and I almost had to save Mika from gliding down the mountain. Nevertheless, it was awarded with an intriguing view over the city. However, we could not enjoy this view for very long, as we all were going to the House of Terror, a museum about the Communistic and Fascistic times in Hungary. After visiting the museum, we went to a small Indian restaurant. The food was really good, but for some people it was a bit too spicy. Tijn for example, changed his skin colour to red and started to sweat, or as he called it, guts, a lot. We spent the  afternoon walking and sightseeing. We ended the night in the city center visiting the streets with buzzing nightlife. Unfortunately, most of us began to feel the sleep deprivation again, so we decided to go back to the hostel.

On Sunday morning, Anne, Job, Ramon, and I got up (quite) early to get some nice breakfast again, after which we bought a surprisingly cheap day ticket for the public transport in Budapest. We spent our morning exploring parts of the city we hadn’t been to yet. After walking a bit near the Hero Square, we found a nice terrace and treated ourselves to a very good cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade.

After feeling all refreshed again, we went back to the city centre to meet the rest of the group, as they were finally all awake. After hunting for some well-deserved Kürtőskalács (Hungarian spit cake) we went to the well-known island of Sziget, mostly known for hosting the Sziget Festival each year. Even though around four to five-hundred thousand visitors come to the festival each year, on this particular Sunday, it was just as peaceful island. On the island we had some drinks (Mika surprised the waitress by chugging his 0,5L beer) and dinner, but we could not stay for too long, as we were joining the boat trip that was organised by the Stress Trip committee. While waiting for the boat to depart, the sky started to turn dark and when the boat eventually departed, it started to rain and even thunder! Luckily, we had a roof over our heads, so we could watch the intimidating natural scenes in comfort.

Due to the bad weather, we stayed in the hostel for a bit. However, we (especially Ramon) wanted to see more of the city. Because we had not been in tramline 49! So we took line 49 to the city centre, where we played a game and had some drinks. We did not make it too long of an evening, as the next morning our alarms would go really, really early…..

We had to be ready for the bus ar 5:30, so you will understand that not many of the trip's participants got a good night’s sleep. Luckily most of us were so tired that we could peacefully sleep during the busdrive back. Having been on the road for approximately 16 hours, we finally arrived at the Spiegel building oncampus and the trip officially came to an end.

In retrospect, we have a lovely weekend to look at, with amazing people and ofcourse a good organisation. ;)

Lastly, I want to say one last thing. Should you find yourself in Budapest (again); don’t forget to enjoy, you are in Budapest!