This last fall I lived in Budapest for four months. “Studying abroad” was a nice way to ease into dropping out of my university for a year to bum around Europe. So I spent these four months in Hungary learning about horticultural science and Hungarian language, and I also picked up a few things about the drinking in this fine land.

Unlike many of the surrounding countries, Hungary is more of …

Growing up with Polish immigrant grandparents, I had a lot of ideas what I would encounter when I actually had a chance to visit “the motherland.” Prominent themes featured in these fantasies were food, alcohol, and babushkas. When I finally visited Warsaw over Christmas, I was not disappointed in any of these departments. It would take a small novel to describe all of my experiences, so I’ll start with something …