This has been the wildest Monday night I've ever had.

11:22 pm CET

I thought today was going to be boring beyond belief; class with Érdi all morning, Hungarian test afterwards, groceries, sleep--the usual.

Damn, was I wrong.

Following class early this afternoon, we found out that Dr. Batsell (the head of the psychology department at K) is here for a few days. He was my professor last year and he's fantastic; very smart and very funny. He was giving a short lecture on the benefits of a liberal arts education to some of the Eötvös Loránd University faculty, and we BSCS (Budapest Semester in Cognitive Science) students decided to take advantage of the chance and get our language class cancelled (therefore postponing our test till Wednesday).

After the lecture, Dion, Dan, Patrick, Ada, Carrie, Tristan, Yoana, and I met Dr. Batsell (he said we could call him Bob, but I thought it felt really weird calling him by his first name) at the cognitive science office so he could ask our opinion of the program thus far and take us out for drinks. From the University, we took a tram into Pest, trying to find the bar we went to with our professors on our second night here. Instead we found a café that had the same name, but we were in no mood for coffee. We decided to keep walking, and we ended up on this street with a bunch of restaurants, so we chose one, sat outside, and ordered some drinks. I got a raspberry piña colada, followed by some incredibly sweet semi-alcoholic raspberry lemonade. Both were quite good, but perhaps a bit sweet for my tastes. Ada and Yoana got this cocktail called a "Screaming Orgasm," so more than our fair share of naughty jokes arose from that.

Our conversation weaved in and out between talking shop and telling alcohol induced hilarious stories, so we were all in good moods by the time the sun set. We got rather hungry after a while, but we didn't want to stay at the not-so-cheap restaurant at which we were drinking. We had to escort Dr. Batsell back to his hotel, anyway, so we decided to go to this little pizza parlour near the place he was staying. We took a tram back to Buda, and from there walked up this huge hill to the Castle District (it's gorgeous, by the way. I most definitely will go back to take some photos) where his hotel was.

The pizza place was nice (although a bit on the expensive side; it actually might have been more economical if we had just stayed at the restaurant we had been at previously) and the restaurant next door had a few men playing folk music, so there was an atmosphere about the area that made us all feel comfortable. After some good food, good wine, and lots of good conversation, we bade Dr. Batsell a fond farewell. The seven of us (Yoana had left long before we returned to Buda) made the long descent down Castle Hill, trying to find our way along the pitch black path. The views from the Hill were magnificent; the buildings and bridges were lit up and glowing against the dark of night, and I wished so badly that I had my camera at that moment to capture it all. It made me realise how few times I have actually seen the city at night; the city's grandeur takes on an entirely different form at night, and I found it particularly mesmerising.

Once we somehow managed to make our way down the barely lit path, we waited for a tram to take us back along the river to Móricz Zsigmond körtér. When we finally got back to the room, we were exhausted, but happy. Now for a much-needed rest... I hope.