I did this last year too, didn’t I? And I even told myself I wasn’t going to do it again. And then I did it…again. I promised to update more often, along with pictures and videos and all that fun stuff. Did I? No.

So why am I writing now? Well, earlier this month, I received an interesting email from WordPress. Were they going to tell me I’m wasting precious Internet space by not keeping up with my blog? Has someone complained about my lack of posts? Those aren’t things that should matter to them. It’s MY blog. I can type as frequently or as infrequently as I please.

This email, entitled “Your 2010 Year in Blogging” was a recap of what I HAD written while I was writing. Let me give you some of the cool facts they told me:

1. I had enough blog views to fill five Boeing 747-400 passenger jets.
2. The most common terms searched were: jacob frisbie hidas, alex hidas, budapest zoo, jacob hidas, and zoo Budapest.
3. The most comments I got on any blog entry was FIVE.
4. The busiest day of the year was January 6^th, with 36 views.
5. I was the #1 blogger for 2010.

Okay, so #5 is not true, but that’s okay. This year, though, I hope to write more entries about what’s going on with me in Hungary. I hope to fill six 747’s this year!

Let’s move on to the last couple months then. I have to say that I haven’t done as much traveling these last couple months compared to last year, but I have still had a great time here.

August: Came back to Hungary. Battled the heat, and survived!

September: Celebrated my birthday. My dad, sister, uncle, grandma, and that guy from that one trip, Nick, all came to visit! I met them at the Istrian Peninsula in Croatia for a weekend. Went to Pula, Rovinj, and some other places. Didn’t swim because it was too cold. Also had the chance to see where my grandma lived in Budapest before leaving to the US. Went to the birthplace of my dad. Saw where my grandma grew up in Debrecen. Relaxed in Lillafured, a beautiful area near Miskolc. Paul, my grandma’s cousin from New York, also came to visit. Fun times all around! Oh, and I went to Vienna and Melk with Nick earlier in the month. Sweet!

October:  Instead of being sick on Halloween, I was able to participate at the school Halloween party. I had to lead a song in front of all the 1-4 graders. Yikes, indeed! My buddy John from back home came out to visit. We, along with Jamie and fellow teachers John and Val, traveled through Czech Republic (Cesky Krumlov, Kutna Hora, and Prague) and Krakow, Poland for Fall Break. Two amazing countries, and Krakow stole all of our hearts! Looking forward to going back, hopefully sooner than later. Finally started taking Hungarian lessons — so far, so good.

November:  I don’t remember this month. Maybe it didn’t happen. Happy birthday, Morgan!

December: Started to get cold around this time. Snow, too. Christmas markets were a must, both in Budapest and a daytrip to Bratislava, Slovakia. It started to get cold, but that’s winter. Only got delayed one day going home for the break. Had a great time at home with family and friends. Enjoyed Mexican food, In-N-Out, and a bunch of other stuff, too!

January: This month just flew by! It’s probably going to start speeding up sooner than later! Already visited a couple museums, including the Aquincum, the Crime History museum (with the BEST tour guide in all of Europe, and possibly the world!), and the Electrotechnical museum! Gone to a new restaurant almost every week, which is refreshing, too! Oh yeah, and the WWII Hospital Bunker. What a trip that was — under the castle (next to the labyrinth) is a hospital that still is a functioning X-Ray machine (trust me, don’t use it), and was truly modern for its times.

So now what, eh? Well, um, how about a joke?

What did the monkey order at the coffee shop? A capuchin-o!

Here’s where I should insert some insightful reflection, but how about just some general thoughts instead? Yeah? Okay. I’ve really liked living in Hungary and being in Europe in general. It definitely has been an experience being here during the change in politics and the latest laws that have been all over the news (ahem, Media Law). It was great to be home, and there’s a lot that I miss and really appreciated taking advantage of while I was there for the break, but I was also happy to come back here. I really like my school, like my students, and am overall feeling pretty good.

I’ve also started running! I’m working on this plan. I just completed week 4. Let’s see how the next few weeks go, and if I survive! It’d be cool if I got as far as preparing for a marathon, but we’ll see. Robert is talking about participating in the Tough Mudder, but it looks pretty intense! We’ll see.

Now that February is right around the corner, I REALLY need to start thinking about the next steps in my life. It’s great that I’m 24 and have nothing tying me down, but I really need to kind of pick a direction and pursue it until something makes me go a different way. It’d be great to continue living in Europe, either in Hungary or elsewhere, but that all depends on what opportunities I find.

I’ll try and get some pictures up sooner than later, but here’s what I am working on accomplishing in the next couple months, with a couple wild cards thrown in at the bottom (in no particular order):

• Slovenia – Lake Bled, caves, Piran, Ljubjlana, and a horseburger, of course
• More cities in Hungary: Sopron, Pecs, Mohacs (Busojaras Festival!), and Koszeg are at the top of that list, but there’s plenty more to add
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Spring Break in Georgia with CETP-alum James R. Wouldn’t that be fun?
• Amsterdam
• Kosovo
• Bulgaria

I have to say I’m very satisfied with everything I’ve already gotten to do in this amazing part of the world. Here’s looking forward to doing even more in 2011!

To those who’ve perused every once in a while, thanks for reading. I don’t know if you actually enjoyed it, or just suffered for my sake, but thanks.