wanderlust.: Back to Budapest.

Budapest. I have been avoiding writing this because of the enormity of the topic. Budapest is the softest place in my heart. In the summers of 2006 and 2007 I spent weeks there teaching children's english camps and I was changed in every way. I met people who became a part of who I am, and learned who I am and who I want to be. Those two summers began the adventure I am continuing now. It is difficult to put into words what happened those summers, but I know I was deeply changed, I became something new.

During my first trip to Budapest in 2006 I met a beautiful girl named Edina. We quickly became close friends and shared a few weeks of incredible healing and restoration that created a strong bond. Saying goodbye to her at the end was tearful and heartbreaking. The next summer was just as wonderful and even more difficult to say goodbye.

In the years since, I have thought of Budapest, my time there, and Edina so very often. The memories are ingrained in my heart and I am who I am now because of these trips. When I was given the opportunity to live in Germany, the first thing I did after I immediately said yes was google maps how far to Budapest from Germany. It took me longer to get there than I expected, but I made it back.

Over thanksgiving I took a train from Nurnberg-Budapest. The train ride was long but not too bad. I arrived into Budapest to Edina and her new husband Andras singing and playing the guitar for me, and my heart was home. Over the three days I got to spend there I became re-aquatinted with the city and spent some precious time with my sweet friend catching up on the past 6 years of our lives -including her marriage to Andras- who gets the thumbs up from me. I got to watch Edina and Andras lead worship at their baptist youth group church on the Saturday night before I returned "home" to Germany. The trip was refreshing and awakening for me, and there were no tearful goodbyes this time around because I will be back in Budapest in a month with my brother over Christmas!