Science of Running: Goodbye, Budapest!

Last day at home. I am always a little sad, a little anxious on this day. I have done it so many times now but it's never easy. Perhaps a little easier when I stay for just a short time like I have this time: barely more than a week. I am glad I got to see almost everyone I wanted to see, including some long lost friends. One of these friends I thought I might never see again. With her and another friend from fencing, we used to be very close about 10 years ago: the three of us caused plenty of trouble for our coach and our parents. I have especially vivid memories from fencing camp: our first cigarette - we walked hours in a small Hungarian city to find a store that sold those skinny, long cigarettes like Virginia Slims which we thought were so classy and sexy - our first time being drunk, at a club called Padlás (Cellar), drinking Baileys, jumping into a fountain because we were hot, our first crushes on boys. Looking back, these were some really defining moments in my life.

Then I lost touch with one of these girls almost completely after I moved to the US. I regret not making any effort to keep in touch with her. She chose a very different path in life from me and our other friend: while we threw ourselves into our studies completely, she got into some trouble with drugs and has been traveling around the world for some time now. She was always the most rebellious of the three of us and I had to admit to myself that I had been judgemental towards her, and I am very sorry for that. Now I think I understand that we have to accept people the way they are and that there is no one right path to take. Everyone is very different and people need different experiences to find their place in the world. I don't know if she has found her place or whether I have found mine - perhaps it's a life-long journey that is not supposed to ever have an end - but she looked incredibly happy and at the end, I think that's most important. She's also just 24 and I am starting to think that we're not even supposed to know what we really want from life at this point in our lives.

Just a side-note: it's funny how things change. She got a nose-ring back when were in high school - she was about 15 - and I thought it was kind of a big deal, something I would never do. I needed 10 more years to get the guts to do it even though I probably always wanted to :)

Just to share some pictures: with family, drinking a really delicious coffee drink, my friends's incredibly cute and adorable babies (I just couldn't resist :)