More news from Budapest, Hungary

Another week gone by. I can't believe that it has already been 3 weeks since I have been here in Budapest. My time here seems to be flying by. I have a sneaking suspicion that August 21st will be here before I even know it. All the more reason to make the most of my time here.

Last weekend I met with the Moore gang.. Matt, Zack, Justin, Demetri and Nish along with some other colleagues from GM (Susanna, Donna, Melinda, Alex) and folks from Bristol Myers (colleagues of Nish, who is an internal auditor with Bristol Myers and was here in Budapest for an audit). It was a fun evening .. started off with dinner at Mandragoria Garden, which has the best food I have eaten in Budapest so far, then to Buena Vista, a restaurant and bar at the most happening address in town List Ferenc Ter (I must say though that Buena Vista was not that good besides it closes at midnight, beats me how a bar could close that early especially at that location. So after Buena Vista we went to Cha Cha Cha, a outdoor bar/club that had just reopened for the summer. The place was not that great (I don't care for Techno music music much) however the company was nice, and the weather great so it made for a fun and pleasant night.

On Sunday, I went sightseeing for my second time. The first time was in the Parliament area which was on the first weekend that I was here. This time I went to the Castle District. The best part of that place was the fantastic views of the city from across the river.. You could see the Chain Bridge, the Parliament the river cruise boats cruising along the Danube.. it was wonderful. (Photo 1: The Danube, the chain bridge and the Parliament in the background). The royal palace now houses a museum (Hungarian National Gallery). I did not go in as yet though I would like to. I will probably go with Spencer, my first visitor here in Budapest. Spencer is an awesome artist (actually you can see his work at his website http://www.spencerkimmel.com/) and it would be interesting to see the art work from a professional artist's perspective :) So Spencer, like it or not, I have already planned one day for you :)

The week as usual just flew by. This week, I attended two conference call meetings. One with GMEurope HQ to discuss the Umbrella brand campaign being planned for later this year. There were proposals from 4 competing agencies and HQ wanted feedback as to what we thought of these campaigns. The other meeting was more specific to the project I am working on - the Launch of the Astra Notchback in October. There is a big Dealer launch in October and this project involves the event management as well as working with the creatives department regarding print and media communications. Anna, is in charge of the ATL (above the line) communications and I have been helping her with her work for the last two weeks. She will be on a two week vacation and I am supposed to be taking over her role while she is away. Besides she is moving to Zurich in June and they still need to hire a replacement for her.. in the interim I fill those shoes. She has been a real awesome support person to me. Introducing me to Hungarian food (my local interpretor for lunch times as I have no idea whats on the menu and what is vegetarian). Also she introduced me to a gym where GM employees can workout and take fitness classes for free. Next week I plan to go visit a Bath with her and some of her friends. That should be fun. She also introduced me to someone at the office who likes Salsa dancing so now i know of places I can go to for Salsa and people who would like to go along as well. Nice! Ildiko is another person who I am working closely with. Both Ildiko and I are in charge of coordinating this 6 day event in October. It really sucks that I will be working on this project but I wont be around to actually see the fruits of this work as I will be back in the US by then. Ildiko did say that she will ask the big bosses if i could be flown in from the US for the event (It is in Turkey) but I know that would be a remote possibility.

On Wednesday night I met some of the "Internationals" from GM out for a drink. We met at the Buena Vista - yes again. Mile from Serbia, Anna from Serbia/Hungary, Luka from Italy, Zack from Croatia/Serbia, Matt from US and I from India/US.

This weekend was very laid back. No parties – just stayed at home. On Friday, I went to a yoga class at 8pm and got home by 9:30. Watched a movie and went to bed by 11:30pm. On Saturday morning I went for a run at Heroes square close to my apartment and then in the afternoon walked by the Danube and went to a Café and the later for Dinner. Evening, again watched another movie, a bollywood one (Dhoom 2) which was quite a lame movie.

Today, I was at home till 4pm.. then I met Mile for coffee. Though instead of Coffee, Mile suggested this place which served Sangria’s so of course I was happy with that. This was a restaurant called Pata Negro – I don’t know the name of the area it is at – but I think I know how to get there. It looked like a really nice area with tons of really awesome looking cafes and restaurants. Definitely an area I would like to go back to again. The Sangria was fantastic – and I am picky about my Sangria so I really mean it that this place was good. After Sangria’s we went to List Ferenc Ter to a place called Karma and met with other people and shared a Chocolate Fondue and wine. Really – if you like good food, great people, and nightlife, Budapest is the place to be. I am glad to spending my summer here.

Budapest, Hungary
April 29th - May 11th

I think I have almost settled in here in Budapest. Almost, because I still have some cleaning to do in my apartment as well as buy groceries so that I am able to cook. And well, I do need internet service at the condo as well. Hopefully I should have all that sorted out by next week.

So more about my first week in Budapest - I arrived on Sunday, April 29th at around 7pm. I met with my colleagues, Matt Metzinger and Zlatko Custovic for Dinner. Matt and Zack are two other Moore school students who will be interning with GM here in Budapest. We had discussed earlier about sharing an apartment as it would be more economical plus it being a new country and not knowing anyone else, it would be nice to hang out with people we know. Matt and Zack had arrived on Thursday and looked at 4 apartments on Friday but all of them were quite expensive. One which seemed nice was for 1300 Euros.

I had looked at an apartment online for 850 Euros, which the guys went and saw on Saturday afternoon. The condo was not in good shape but the price was quite attractive. With the National holiday on Tuesday apparently everyplace was closed and we were not able to schedule any apartment visit until Wednesday. Since we had nothing else scheduled for Monday we decided to take another look at the 850 Euro Condo since the owners were willing to show it to us over the holidays. On Monday I saw the apartment. It was better than what I had expected (which is not saying much as I really expected it to be a hellhole). Still, it seemed livable albeit with compromises (only 1 bathroom instead of 2, no AC seemed to be the biggest concerns). Zack really wanted this apartment to save on cost, Matt liked the 1300 Euro apartment and I was torn. I really wanted to move in an apartment as soon as possible and before I started work, which did not give much option but to take this apartment. (A decision I now regret).

Only one bedroom was furnished, but the owners agreed to buy bed and closet for the other 2 rooms, a microwave, fridge and washing machine. All that stuff arrived on Wednesday. In the meanwhile, I moved in on Tuesday to the bedroom that was furnished.

Wednesday was my first day at work. We met with Dmitri first who is a Moore School alum and is currently working full time for GM, then we met with Chris Lacey the Executive Director for GM Central and Eastern Europe (C&EE). He then introduced us to each of our bosses. I am working in the Marketing department for the Opel brand. My assignment: Working with the Marketing team for the launch of the new Opel Astra Notchback (Sedan) – The Astra’s have been either wagons or hatchback models. GM is introducing a special Notchback version for C&EE markets where sedans are more popular. My team has a lot of young folks. It has been fun working with them.

Thursday and Friday we had an orientation meeting. This was for all employees hired within the last 2 months. It was interesting – we had presentations from managers of all individual departments talking about their areas and how it fits in within GM.

Friday night we were invited by Justin for dinner. (Justin is another Moore Alum – we have two alums currently working and one more joining in July). Matt and I went to Justin’s apartment and there we met Dmitri and Donna (Who is my boss – Marketing Manager for Opel C&EE). Had a glass of wine first and then headed to a restaurant close by. The food was awesome. After dinner we went to a bar called Oscar’s. Apparently that is an Expat favorite. It was a fun evening. After Oscar’s we went to Donna’s house. We had heard so much about this awesome condo and it really did live up to its reputation. It had a real funky architecture – the building looked like a castle. She had the penthouse condo with breathtaking view of the Parliament and the city. I got home really late that night. In fact I slept through most of Saturday – waking up at 2:30pm.

Sunday, Matt and I went to Margit Island. We plan to be work out buddies and this was our first day; a jog around the island in the middle of the Danube. The track was only appox. 5km. I was so out of shape I could not run too far and ended up walking most of the part. Hopefully by the end of summer I will be able to run around twice - Wishful thinking for now.

This week has been routine. I am at work by 8:30 or 9am and leave from the office around 6 or 7pm. It is a 50 minute commute each way, so on weekdays I pretty much just go to work and then come straight home. After dinner I typically go to the California Coffee house which has internet access so I can check my emails, pay bills etc. It will take another week at least before I have internet at home. That is a real bummer.

My plans for this weekend – since it promises to be a sunny and warm weekend with average temperature of 30C, I definitely wish to spend time outdoors, exploring the city. In the meanwhile tonight, I am going to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with Matt and Zack and later we will meet with the Moore alums for a drink. I hope I don’t wake up at 2:30 again tomorrow ;)