Travel tips for study abroad students: Budapest

I have to be completely honest the #1 reason why I chose to travel to Budapest was because the plane ticket on Ryan Air was ridiculously cheap. I had zero knowledge about the city prior to going to Budapest but once I had the chance to explore the city I was extremely glad I had the opportunity to visit this Eastern European city.

Budapest

• The hostel we stayed at was Marco Polo (Nyár utca 6). It wasn't the swankiest place but for the price it was pretty good. My friends and I decided to book a room for ourselves so that we wouldn't have to share a room with strangers and we could have our own shower. The location of this hostel was perfect in my opinion. You had two grocery stores nearby and Vaci Utca was not too far away. The only place where you can get wifi is on the lobby which is quite small. There's also a kitchen in this hostel which is small but it gets the job done. One thing I don't recommend at all is the breakfast, DO NOT EVEN GO THERE! Its cheap but the food was pretty gross and the milk was warm. Not good at all, there are better places around the hostel that offer better food.
• 1 euro is about 300 Hungarian forints (297.51 at the moment) so expect everything to have a "high" price tag.
• Unlike Denmark and Sweden, not all Hungarians speak English and if they do its not perfect. You can most definitely get around with speaking English but don't ask complicated questions, the more basic you keep them the better.
• Budapest itself is pretty small so its perfect for walking. The only time we used their metro (which is quite sketchy and old) was to get to and from the airport. We were there for 3 days and we got to see all their landmarks and even shop around. Yes, we were tired by the end of the day but it was great just being to walk around exploring the city.
• Public restrooms are not free.
• If you like shopping then I recommend you to go to Vaci Utca, that street has plenty of stores and restaurants. 
• I highly recommend eating at Cyrano (Kristóf tér 7) near Vaci Utca. We stumbled upon that restaurant one morning when we were starving. The place looks like it would cost a fortune to eat, the decor is modern and clean and if I could make a guess I'd say this restaurant is pretty new. One we saw the prices we decided to go in and eat breakfast there. I had the Hungarian scrambled eggs (which looked more like an omelet) which were delicious. I highly recommend this place. Great food and service for less than 10 euros.

If you have an iPhone, iPod touch, or Android download the foursquare app because it will become your best friend during your trip. I didn't have 3G while I was there but it works just fine with wifi, so take advantage of foursquare and look up restaurants and other places to check out. Yelp on the other hand does not work in Hungary. If you're studying abroad I'd highly recommend you to check out Budapest for an affordable trip filled with great architecture and sights.