Margot's Travel Blog

When I am home in Fair Haven or in Baltimore at school, I walk or drive my car to get anywhere I need. Something that has been completely new to me is taking public transportation every single day. Budapest is a great size city where you can walk wherever you want to depend on your preference. My experience with any kind of public transpiration is typically stressful and hectic as they are super unreliable. In recent years, public transportation near me in the New Jersey/New York area has become not as efficient and more dangerous than it used to be. However, in Budapest, I have had nothing but great experiences with the tram, metro, and bus. My commute to school daily consists of taking a metro and walking a little bit. Each day I appreciate and notice more of my surroundings as it has become my daily commute. I have only used public transportation for vacations or going on small trips. On the metro's themselves, there are people of all ages. There are children around the age of 8...

I officially arrived in Budapest, Hungary on February 12th. We landed at the airport and drove to Dean's College Hotel, where I will be living til June. Dean's College Hotel is a very white modern building from the outside. When you walk inside it is very modern as well and the logo of the hotel is navy and yellow so majority of the lobby is that color. The hotel hosts international students but also functions as a regular hotel with many guests. In the center of the hotel there is a courtyard-type area surrounded by other buildings. My first impression was the differences in architecture from the United States. The buildings look like castles with 5-10 stories high of beautiful window frames and naturally colored walls. The colors of the buildings are Earth tones such as beige, yellow, and grey. The larger more historic buildings with more meanings tend to have dome shapes on the tips of them. A lot of the roofs tend to have more dark brown or maroon-like coloring. The structu...

     In many ways, I find it much easier to relate to Trudi than to find differences between us. I feel personality wise Trudi is someone that I admire how down Earth and genuine she is. From a physical standpoint, Trudi has a light skin African American woman. She has a gray buzz cut and tiny square glasses. I am white, with long light brown wavy hair and large square clear glasses. When I look at Trudi, sure we have physical differences but thinking about nonphysical differences has been a little bit of a challenge.      I have worked at an upscale farm-to-table restaurant named Semolina for the past five years. I began this job as a busser, where I would bring food to tables, polish silverware, and re-set tables. I had little interaction dealing with issues that customers may have had. Fast forward a year, and I switched into more of a hostess role. This meant that I was to take calls, resolve any issues that custo...

     Trudi Williams is one of the most beloved people I know in my small town. Visitors might only see her as a local barista, but she is so much more than that. Trudi grew up in Fair Haven and has lived in the same house since she was a kid. She spends five out of the seven days a week working at Booskerdoo.  Trudi is the first one to open up the store at 5:30 am. For many, that's far too early to rise, but Trudi takes pride in getting up to open the shop. She enjoys the quiet time and greeting the early morning customers.      She has worked at this location for over 20 years and rides a bicycle or walks to work each day. In my article,  Fair Haven Familiar Face , I write about how she began her career as a barista at the Java Stop, which later became the very popular Booskerdoo Coffee that exists there today. The owners of the coffee shops love having Trudi as a barista, not just because of her work ethic but because she makes the daily ritual ...