Franny's Hungary!: Szeged

Friday, October 31, 2008

Fall Break 2008: Szeged, Hungary (Oct. 18-20)

As if living in Europe was not adventure enough, Jon and I took a fabulous vacation during our fall break from school. In two weeks, we visited over twenty different cities, primarily in Romania, but also Hungary and Austria. The whole trip was an incredible experience and it began with a weekend in Szeged.

I snapped a few pictures around Jon's neighborhood...

Then it was pumpkin carving time!
This was the first time I ever carved a pumpkin...

... and then ate him.

Not only did we roast the seeds, but as soon as we took a picture of it, we cut it up, baked it, and then Jon made a great pumpkin soup.
(I helped make the gnocchi.)

For dessert we tried to make caramel apples.

Technically they were a failure because the end result was a hard, toffee-like candy coating, but with butter, sugar and apples, can you really fail? A bit hard on the teeth, but still quite tasty.

Our last stop in Szeged before we headed to the train station was the post office to mail our absentee ballots. This was actually my second time voting for president from abroad. In 2004, I was living in Salzburg during the general election. It is an interesting experience to watch the election take place from another country. This time around I had my own computer with internet, which made staying informed much easier. I must say that I was pretty homesick when I saw footage of the Obama rally in Chicago. I sure would have loved to have been there in person for such a historic event!