Just a Casual Trip to Parliament

Beautiful Parliament that I have taken dozens of photos of since I have been here just because of how beautiful it is and how amazing it looks!

The field experience for this week was one that I was very excited for because it was a trip to Parliament! First off, we have all been staring at this building for the past 3 months and for me the whole time I just imagined what amazing things could be inside and how cool it would be to get a tour of the place. This excitement was probably due to the fact that when I hear parliament I think of men in white wigs yelling at each other in British accents. Unfortunately this is not London, but I was still very intrigued by this enormous building that had become the background for almost all my pictures with its towers and guards and placement right next to the river. It was finally time to see what was inside and I was more than excited.

Blue carpet for the House of Nobles representing "blue blood"

Well first off, getting into Parliament is like going through airport security. I guess you know you’re in an important place when you see those machines that see what’s in your bag and you have to walk through a metal detector. After “security” we entered this hall and I knew I liked this place already. Our tour guide was absolutely fantastic and she explained to us the history of the building, what the statues were, and gave us some fun facts. One fact that I found very interesting and actually a little funny was that there used to be 2 houses in Parliament, the nobles and the commoners. The “lobby” of the commoner’s side had a red rug while the nobles had a blue one and our tour guide said it was because of the old “blue blood” saying. I thought this was funny because even in the United States I’ve heard this term used and I never knew it was used in other countries.

The Holy Crown was the next thing that caught my attention mainly because of how absolutely fascinating it was. This Crown was first used to crown St. Stephen and is about 1,000 years old. This blew my mind because nowhere in America can you find something that has been around for that long, which is just because our country is not that old. The crown was beautiful and after everything I have learned about it since I have been here, it was just so amazing to see the real thing.

The Holy Crown that is 1,000 years old and represents the Hungarian people and government

Parliament Session Hall

After we had the pleasure of seeing Parliament in action. The people in Parliament only work Mondays and Tuesdays and sometimes Wednesdays and we were lucky enough that that day there was a session going and we were able to watch. We didn’t have a clue what was being said but it was a very amazing experience to see government in action. What I found interesting was that some people were on their phones, making small talk, reading the newspaper and one man was even sleeping. I guess this could be because it was the third day and the speakers may have been the last ones the list but it was still interesting to see how uninteresting Parliament could be on some days. Despite how “slow” it was, I loved being able to see what a “session” in Parliament looked like.   

Overall Parliament was an amazing field experience and I am so happy we were able to go there. Not only was its beauty astounding with all the intricate details covering all the walls, every window and column built with meaning and exact precision, but it tied together everything I have learned since I have been here. It was really awesome to know what the tour guide was talking about and be able to recognize names and dates. This trip made me realize how much I have learned about Hungarian history and culture since I have been here and I am so happy this is the case!

This is such an AMAZING building!!!!