Just as in birth, I was subjected to destiny when I received my exchange year placement, Kielce. It's a city that doesn't make the guidebooks very often, that I would probably not have visited on a trip to Poland. But it is a city that is beginning to feel like home. Which makes me wonder, what makes a city feel like home? I didn't chose Kielce, nor did I have a choice about growing up in Saint Paul, but both cities have captured my heart. They are part of my existence. But as I grow older and I have the choice of where I live, I am still trying to figure out how one chooses.

When I travel to other cities there are 3 catagories that I place the visited cities into -

Places I would live

Places I would visit again

Places I'm glad I saw once

I'm not sure when this habit of classifying cities started, but I have been doing it since I was young.

It's hard to describe my process - it's really based on gut feelings and personal preferences. For me, a livable city is one that has life, energy. It is a place that hums, where people seem happy, where they walk with purpose. A livable city supports it's citizens, rejoices in the arts, has culture, diversity and beauty. I'm partial to lots of green space. Ultimetly it comes down to feel, something I'm not sure can be explained.

With my 3 catagories in mind, this is where the cities I visited last week would lie:

Live: Budapest
Visit Again: Prague, Berlin
Glad I saw: Vienna, Potsdam and Dresden

I started off my Central European Capitals Trip early on the morning of October 9th. There were 7 exchangers, 4 from Brazil, 2 from Mexico and me, the lone American. We were accompanied by a wonderful Rotarian from Warsaw and his wife. All 9 of us stuffed ourselves into a 9 person van and as we left for our first stop, Częstochowa, I felt the excitement of beginning a new journey.

In order to make this post shorter than a novel, I'm not going to talk about every city. However, I will say that Częstochowa is an extremely important religious place for Poland. Thousands of pilgrims travel there every year. Because I only spent about 30 minutes there, I am planning on going back to visit.

About 14 hours after leaving Warsaw, I finally arrived in Budapest, Hungary. That night we ate at a 24-hour kebab place and went down to the Danube River to view the sights by night. Seeing the illuminated Buda Castle and St. Stephen's Cathedral was incredible. We strolled along the river's edge, taking photos and pinching ourselves to check that we were really in Budapest!

The next morning we started off our day by going to the Heroes' Square. There we saw a huge monument dedicated to the 7 Heroes of Hungarian history. Behind this square lies a lovely park, part of which we walked through. Inside this park lies a zoo, gardens and my favorite part, a beautiful castle. It was a castle from the picture books, though the moat had been drained in preperation for the winter. Still - with it's turrets and towers, it was amazing.

Next we saw the Opera House and some of downtown Budapest. We then went to Margaret's Island, an island named after the Hungarian St. Margaret. It was on this island, in the middle of the Danube, where in the 13th century St. Margaret lived and worked. The island is today a natural park, absolutely gorgeous. In many ways it reminded me of Harriet or Nicollet Island in the Twin Cities. Actually, I think that part of the reason I so liked Budapest was because of it's many similarities to the Twin Cities - the bountiful green space, the runners and families out enjoying the day, the beautiful tree-filled streets. And in fact, Budapest was originally two cities - Buda,up in the mountains and Pest, across the river on the flatter plain across the Danube river.





We finished our day by viewing the Budapest panorama from Gellert Hill, visiting the Buda Castle and the Fisherman's Bastion. Unfortunately, due to the number of places to see in one week, we were only able to spend one day in Budapest. Of course, placing it in my "would live" catagory means that I'll have to go back someday!

The next day we headed to Prague. On the way we stopped in Vienna, Austria. Our first stop was the Schönbrunn Palace. It was the summer palace for the imperial Austrian families, most notably the Hapsburg royal family. We took a tour of 44 rooms, which is only the first floor! The palace is extremely ornate and highly decorated. It is beautiful in the way that the 1700s style is - formal, but lovely. The Schönbrunn Palace is known for it's vast gardens and we walked through them, enjoying the flowers and the view from the Gloriette, a small palace at the top of the hill.



After a few hours there, we headed to the old city Vienna. Full of commercial stores (three H&Ms in 2 blocks!) and bustling with tourists, I did not find it particularly incredible. It would be a great place to go shopping, but it's not really where I would want to spend lots of time! However, as we wove our way through the streets we made it to a statue of Mozart. Mozart is pretty famous in Vienna, they even sell special chocolates named after him (they are very tasty!). We saw the Maria-Theresa Square and the building that houses the Spanish Riding school. I didn't have time to see a performance of the famous Lipizzaner stallions, so though Vienna wasn't my favorite city, I will have to go back and do that someday!

The next day started early, as everyone was excited to see the famously beautiful city of Prague. From our hotel near the center of Prague, we took took a tram across the Vltava River and up the hill to the Prague Castle. Prague Castle's hill is quite high and I'm so grateful that we were able to take the tram up! The Castle was incredible. It's the largest medieval castle in the world and it wasn't completely finished until the 1920s! We explored the area, wandering down the hill as we went.



On our way down I tasted the most delicious pastery. It is called Trdlo and is a traditional Czech pastery. Served warm, it's a hollow tube of cooked dough coated in honey and cinnamon sugar. So so yummy!

Our group wandered through the winding streets, enjoying the views of the river, the red-tiled buildings and the little shops along the way. Eventually we ended up in Prague's old town, across the river from Prague Castle. There I saw the famous Astronomical Clock and during free time wandered some more, souvenior shopping and enjoying the city. My friend and I ended up joining a free tour, which though it was finishing, was extremely interesting. Prague is one of Europe's most visited cities, mostly because it was spared a lot of damage during WWII, though it was occupied by the Nazis.

So why wasn't Prague on my 'would live' list? I guess because it felt so touristy. Being one of the most visited cities in Europe means that the city is absolutely stunning and has so much to see and do, but in terms of actual life? I can't really see that happening. The shops are full of souvenior stores and I heard more English than Czech. After being an exchange student for almost 3 months now, I really am learning to appreciate the traditional about the country. If I am going to live in a place I want it to keep its character.

The next day we left for Berlin. On the way we stopped for a short while at Potsdam and Dresden, both which are probably very nice, but I would need a lot more time to actually experience. When we finally reached Berlin that night, we ate at an extremely popular German sausage place, called Curry 36. The saussage was great, though I'm not exactly sure what I ate! After eating we walked to the Bradenburg Gate and took some pictures.

The next day I saw the remants of the Berlin Wall, toured an incredible history museum and saw Checkpoint Charlie. I wasn't expecting to really like Berlin, however something about it I found fascinating. It is probably all the history. There is so much to see and do. I mean, Berlin as a city is quite similar to all other large cities, but I felt an intersting connection to this city. I would love to go back and explore it some more.



I knew immediately when I crossed back into Poland, because we got stuck in a traffic jam. I swear, everything in Poland is under construction and it's impossible to not get stuck in traffic jams while traveling! However, coming back to Poland felt like coming home. The familiar sound of Polish over the radio, the traffic, the huge forrests, it's all becoming familiar. Even after traveling and seeing more of the world, I'm still not sure how one chooses where they want to live. But I do know that anywhere can become a home. Maybe the choice or place doesn't matter - just the effort you put into making that place home.