Carrying over from my last post from way back when, my Budapest life the past few months has been as uneventful as ever. I have been spending my spare time mostly going to bed at 9:30 pm, waking early enough to meditate (sometimes), exercise (sometimes), tidy myself up (for no one), eat a good breakfast (so bored of oatmeal!), catch an episode of millionaire matchmaker (reminding me of all my past relationship mistakes) or Real Housewives of Dallas (reminding me of all the things I don't want to become) before beginning the joyous task of hunching over a laptop for 7-9 hours straight while signs of tendonitis rear their head, a reminder to just "STOOOOP WORKING"!!! This has typically been followed by more horrific reality TV shows, reflections of wasted life (my own and those people on those shows) while I squander my youth numbed out in an evening reality-TV stupor. Lather rinse repeat. Super deads-ville. But I must say, besides questioning whether there is such a thing as too much alone-time, I have loved this intense process of solitary-ness and, to use a new trendy word from some book written by some guy who is probably some sort of 'life coach', "deep work".
The couple days I have taken off from work in the last couple months, however, have been spent on my newest fixation: the Kéktúra. This is the "blue tour" (translation) which is a hiking trail that goes around the circumference of Hungary. It's long and I don't have the time to spend five months or whatever it would take (and I don't want to walk and camp...not my scene) to do it all in one go so I have been exploring the parts of the trail closer to Budapest, through the Pilis "mountains", in the direction of the town of Visegrad. The Pilis mountains are kind of (I think) what the "Buda hills" are a part of; these are the hills on the Buda side of the city that boast the city's castle. Apparently they are the hills in which the old Hungarian kings would have their hunting parties.
The first little bit I embarked upon one rainy Satruday morning was a 10 km stretch from Budapest to a village called Pilisborosjenő.
First stop was Harmashatar-mountain, which generously provides a view of Budapest and the serpentine Danube languishing between Pest and Buda:
Onwards another kilometer or so, a grassy flat peak opens up, called Viragos Nyereg (flowery ridge):
A little bit further through some sweet sweet greenery, so very different and sooo life-giving compared with the inside of my apartment, containing reminders that there are other humans and other valuable creatures in the world I should probably look at sometimes:
After a few hours on the trail, I landed in my destination for the day, the village of Pilisborosjenő:
By the time I arrived I had basically decided I would buy myself a piece of Hungarian land when finished my PhD, with dreams of eventually erecting a yurt and a food forest through which my chickens and goats will run. Maybe sheep. They're cute. And probably bunnies. Good for stew.
I sniffed out the village pub and set myself up with a pint and a view:
Here, I met a local man,born and raised in the village. An IT guy, with impeccable English and who lived across the street from the pub, known in the village as "Hosszu" (long/tall), a creative nickname bestowed upon him because, yes, he is a tall man. We spent hours talking about Hungary, politics, history etc, having drinks, displacing the good fresh air in my lungs from the hike with cigarette smoke. It reminded me that I still have the capability to meet people IRL.
Jacked up to continue on with the next 15km-ish leg of the journey, from Pilisborosjenő to Dobogókő, I planned this for my next day off, and this time I had convinced a friend to join (not the horse, the person in the second photo):
Four kilometers or so later, catching a quick glimpse of Csobánka, nestled in the Pilis hills, a village seemingly safe from the outside world, referred to as the "Pearl of the Pilis" hills:
En route to the next village of Pillisszentkereszt, we stopped at some wooded sacred space to eat lunch and see a man in the woods about a horse. This space, referred to as "szentkút", might translate as something like saint's well/well of saints....
Passing briefly through the village of Pilisszentkereszt, we finally we arrived after what seemed like 6 kilometers of non-stop uphill, to Dobogókő, said to be the seat of one of the Earth's heart chakras:
Whatever it is, it's nice. And you can get gulyás and beer at the top, also good for my heart chakra.
With my spirits invigorated by these beautiful days out around green things and taking in fresh air, I was able to meet my first big deadline on September 20th, a submission of the first draft of my dissertation to my supervisors. This begins the beginning of the end of my PhD program, with the next five months basically an endless samsara-esque cycle of feedback, edits, and more feedback all leading up to a March defense (hopefully) followed by more feedback and more edits. How fun!
For now, I have just arrived in Croatia, on my 35th birthday, as a little treat for my efforts. The plan is to take some time to reflect for the next couple weeks. Reflect on what the next year has in store, reflect on some good old fashioned pieces of fictitious literature, reflect on the connection we humans of today have with those of the past as I traipse through Dubrovnik's old city streets which make this very tangible, reflect on how our lifespans are but a speck of human history, and infinitesimally small in the history of the universe. I like being reminded of this because it's easy to sometimes be pulled into the thought pattern of taking life too seriously. Neil DeGrasse Tyson reminds me that the universe is collapsing or expanding or something terrifying like that, BBC documentaries remind me that in 300 million years Earth will have become just like Venus, a firey hell of a place, AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE SOLAR FLARES! SHEESH! Therefore not getting the job I applied for or having a manuscript rejected is, uuummmm, shall we say, not things worth ruining my day.
And when I arrive back in Budapest, I will embrace the beginning of the hellish cycle of feedback, editing, feedback, editing, feedback, editing etc. and intersperse this with a couple more legs of the blue tour and a thermos of hot wine to keep me fresh and human.
The couple days I have taken off from work in the last couple months, however, have been spent on my newest fixation: the Kéktúra. This is the "blue tour" (translation) which is a hiking trail that goes around the circumference of Hungary. It's long and I don't have the time to spend five months or whatever it would take (and I don't want to walk and camp...not my scene) to do it all in one go so I have been exploring the parts of the trail closer to Budapest, through the Pilis "mountains", in the direction of the town of Visegrad. The Pilis mountains are kind of (I think) what the "Buda hills" are a part of; these are the hills on the Buda side of the city that boast the city's castle. Apparently they are the hills in which the old Hungarian kings would have their hunting parties.
The first little bit I embarked upon one rainy Satruday morning was a 10 km stretch from Budapest to a village called Pilisborosjenő.
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| Szep völgy, my starting point from Budapest... follow the blue markers! |
First stop was Harmashatar-mountain, which generously provides a view of Budapest and the serpentine Danube languishing between Pest and Buda:
 |
| View of Budapest from Harmashatar hill. |
Onwards another kilometer or so, a grassy flat peak opens up, called Viragos Nyereg (flowery ridge):
A little bit further through some sweet sweet greenery, so very different and sooo life-giving compared with the inside of my apartment, containing reminders that there are other humans and other valuable creatures in the world I should probably look at sometimes:
 |
| Outside of Pilisborosjenő, and signs of other human life |
By the time I arrived I had basically decided I would buy myself a piece of Hungarian land when finished my PhD, with dreams of eventually erecting a yurt and a food forest through which my chickens and goats will run. Maybe sheep. They're cute. And probably bunnies. Good for stew.
I sniffed out the village pub and set myself up with a pint and a view:
Jacked up to continue on with the next 15km-ish leg of the journey, from Pilisborosjenő to Dobogókő, I planned this for my next day off, and this time I had convinced a friend to join (not the horse, the person in the second photo):
 |
| Leaving Pilisborosjenő towards the village of Csobánka |
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| My very hearty Polish friend, Urszula, with me in a corn field on the Kektura. |
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| Teve-Szikla, en route to Csobánka |
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| The village of Csobánka |
En route to the next village of Pillisszentkereszt, we stopped at some wooded sacred space to eat lunch and see a man in the woods about a horse. This space, referred to as "szentkút", might translate as something like saint's well/well of saints....
 |
| Pilisszentkereszt szentkút |
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| Keep following the blue trail towards Pilisszenkereszt! |
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| The view from Dobogókő |
With my spirits invigorated by these beautiful days out around green things and taking in fresh air, I was able to meet my first big deadline on September 20th, a submission of the first draft of my dissertation to my supervisors. This begins the beginning of the end of my PhD program, with the next five months basically an endless samsara-esque cycle of feedback, edits, and more feedback all leading up to a March defense (hopefully) followed by more feedback and more edits. How fun!
For now, I have just arrived in Croatia, on my 35th birthday, as a little treat for my efforts. The plan is to take some time to reflect for the next couple weeks. Reflect on what the next year has in store, reflect on some good old fashioned pieces of fictitious literature, reflect on the connection we humans of today have with those of the past as I traipse through Dubrovnik's old city streets which make this very tangible, reflect on how our lifespans are but a speck of human history, and infinitesimally small in the history of the universe. I like being reminded of this because it's easy to sometimes be pulled into the thought pattern of taking life too seriously. Neil DeGrasse Tyson reminds me that the universe is collapsing or expanding or something terrifying like that, BBC documentaries remind me that in 300 million years Earth will have become just like Venus, a firey hell of a place, AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE SOLAR FLARES! SHEESH! Therefore not getting the job I applied for or having a manuscript rejected is, uuummmm, shall we say, not things worth ruining my day.
And when I arrive back in Budapest, I will embrace the beginning of the hellish cycle of feedback, editing, feedback, editing, feedback, editing etc. and intersperse this with a couple more legs of the blue tour and a thermos of hot wine to keep me fresh and human.
