NordBEC
If you want to see some livestreaming from the event, follow this link
http://www.livestream.com/nordbec2010
And here is the official site, there you can read more about it
http://www.nordbec.com/
Cultural Exchange in Veszprém 2010
This is the story of how BESTies from Lund invaded the country of Pálinka.
- and how they survived.
Arrival
We arrived in Budapest on a Sunday afternoon and after some comfused trips with the Public transport we mamaged to reach the Budapest train station where two nice girls met with us to join on the trip Veszprem.
We are not really sure why Jan and Jimmy got Love [louvae], but the rest of us believe it had something to do with the fact that it was Saint Valentine's Day and the stewardesses were giving it out to all the romantic couples on the plane...
Chillin' in da metro from the airport.
After arriving to the hotel, which was outstanding for being BEST standard, we met up with the rest of our Polish and Hungarian friends. We did some introduction games before we headed to the local pub where we stayed until, well…no one knows exactly…
At the hotel having an introduction and playing some welcome games.
- straight-cross?
- No, it's straight-straight!
Friendly Polish-Hungarian foosball cooperation.
Day 1 - Start of the CE
The following day was the first planned day so after the breakfast we had the official opening where we received welcome packs containing some useful stuff like a shot glass, some maps and brochures about Veszprem and a very nice pillow! We also got a presentation about Hungary including a language lesson with some useful phrases which later came very in handy, like micsoda fenek means 'One beer, please!' - a very useful phrase!
This snowgirl awaited us outside our house in the morning.
I wonder who made her...
While walking around in the sunshine solving the tasks we saw most of the central parts of Veszprem, a really beautiful city I must say!
You can almost see Sweden from this hill.
A beautiful day for sightseeing.
Old town of Veszprém
Snowball fight on the streets.
In the evening we had a 'Hungarian night' where we got to try different traditional Hungarian dishes, very delicious! We then continued with a Hungarian dancing lesson learning some basic dance steps by a professional dancer. Even though it was a basic lesson I’m not sure if our teacher was so impressed all the time by our attempts to follow his movements – in any way, we had loads of fun!
Barney presenting his "homemade" hungarian cookies.
Playing Twist to warm up for the dancinglesson.
Day 2 - Museum & International Evening
We were guided from the very beginning of the roman empire, followed by the middle ages when the first Magyars settled in the region, and later forming of the the Austro-Hungarian Empire and how it lead to Hungary today.
Maria is enchanted by a suit from the 20's
After the museum we had some free time so we did some last minute shopping for International Evening in a supermarket. However the security guy in the store was not so happy about us taking pictures inside and were threatening to call the police if we didn’t delete the images, which we of course did...
During the rest of our stay in the store the security guy was following every step we took and it was pretty funny to see his head sticking out from the shelves here and there in the store observing us.
This image is forbidden acording to Spar, so dont look at it!
In the afternoon we had some language lessons and presentations about Sweden & Poland and since Balaji is from south Asia we even got a presentation about his home country, India!
Swedish table.
Unfortunately due to some problems with the logistics the kaviar and sill was left in the hotel. However after comming back to sweden we were told from the organaizers it tasted good :)
Jovic(s) is singing for us while the rest of the organizers seem a bit embarrassed :)
Balaji offering the camera-man some refreshments.
Too much for Love tonight.
Day 3 - Ice Skating & Pub crawling
The next day (Wednesday) it was time for another visit, this time a bit outside Veszprem to the famous Herend Porcelain Manufactory which has been active since the mid-19th century manufacturing hand painted porcelain.
When we arrived we were served coffee while we got an introduction from the production manager, I must say that the coffee tasted better when drinking from a 200 euro cup instead of the usual paper mug at school.
It's all about the details!
The price of this horse had more digits than my phone number. No impulse purchase this time...
The only thing you had to watch out for was the walls and the crazy kids.
On the schedule for the evening it said Pub crawling, we were divided into teams and just as the city rally we got a list of tasks to complete during the night. It was truly L-E-G-E-N-D-A-R-Y and we did a lot of cool, crazy, stupid and funny things while walking between the pubs.
Maria taking the easy way down.
When the ground is moving, you better hold on to something.
Radio is setting an example.
As we remember, no animals were harmed during the pub-crawl.
Only a few plants, lamppost and paintings.
Day 3 - Csopak trip
This day we had to get up really early since we had a full day at the Lake Balaton, the biggest lake in central Europe. After spending some time on the bus we arrived to the village Csopak at the lakes’ north shore.A Hungarian gentleman welcomed us to his home where they would prepare a whole pig for us.
As the Hungarian tradition goes we had to drink a shot of pálinka before they would start preparing the pig. It surely woke us up considering we didn’t have had breakfast yet.
On the other hand we have a reason to come back in the summer when the lake is full of German tourists :)
It's Jesus, he is walking on the water!
As winemaster emeritus Jimmy is making sure the wines are in safe hands.
Or is that a moon?
Grapevine according to the organizers. We trust them.
Like a big family!
Day 4 - Cooking lesson & Film character party
The Friday was our last day in Veszprem, even if there wasn’t anything planed in the morning we didn’t complain since we were quite exhausted after a week full of activities and no sleep. The "just a beer" the nigth before lasted untill 7 in the morning.
In the afternoon we had a Hungarian cooking lesson, it was Langos on the menu and turned out pretty good – it almost looked like langos actually.
Not really sure what is happening on this picture but Roberto is grating the cheese...
...while Love is preparing the Langos.
And here is the result!
Zorro & the Joker. Or is it the opposite?
Flying main organizer.
Walker texas ranger is carrying some diesel for his jeep outside... or is it wine?
5 engineers trying to fix the sound system...they gave up after an hour.
Day 4 - Budapest day
A nice hostel awaited us and we did some sightseeing around in Budapest. Some went to a thermal while me, Roberto, Balaji and Jimmy felt a bit more cultural minded and did some sightseeing from trams and tried some of the pubs of Budapest.
A great ending of a great week!
After a hard week full of activities, this looks like heaven.
Ordinary turists in the Metro
The owner of this pub offered to to change jacket with Jimmy for some strange reason.
Jan only took a "small" burger this time
Maria is stydying the architecture in Budapest
/Patrik