Life without Internet

Prior to our arrival in Budapest, we were all asked whether we would like Internet in our flats. I'm quite sure everybody did, and we were told that more details would be available upon move-in. Once we had arrived, we met with the international student who was in charge of our Internet needs. While discussing the various options we had with, we were informed that because our flat was in a different district, it could be up to three weeks before we could have Internet installed. We thought this was alright, and agreed to wait for a call.

The catch about installing Internet here is that a minimum 5-month subscription is required; we're only here for 15 weeks, which means we're automatically paying for a month of service that we won't use. On top of that, we also have to pay for the land-line through which the modem can be installed, as well as the wireless router if we want WiFi. Stuff like this sure makes growing up a lot less glamorous! What's more, bills here are paid through the post office; students will receive their bill at their flat, and must physically go to the local Posta (where very few speak English) to pay. Compared to this, paying bills in the States is a cakewalk.

For the first five weeks or so, Sarah and I were lucky enough to be able to "borrow" Internet from an unsecured wireless network (measures were taken of course to secure my personal connection) and we continued to wait for the call about our own Internet installation. Towards the end of week 5, the call finally came, but there would still be a week or two delay because of scheduling an appointment for the installation itself. Ironically, that same week our luck finally ran out with the "borrowed" internet we had been using. As you can imagine, having Internet in the flat just didn't seem worth the hassle anymore. It would be a very expensive investment considering we're nearly halfway through the semester now, so we said "Thanks, but no thanks."

I really miss being able to talk to Mom and Dad on Skype, and also keeping in touch with friends from home. Most people aren't alive and functioning at 6am USA time when I'm on my lunch break at school. I joke that it's probably a good thing for me to be living the "simple life" as I've never not had Internet until now. The high-speed Internet access I enjoy at school and at home is something I really took for granted, but I've been surviving alright without it too; there's just fewer blog posts, as you may have noticed.