Settling In

I’ve been back behind the Iron Curtain for about a week and a half now on my third expedition to Europe. My overall reaction to being back is difficult to define and rather polarized. It’s mixed with extreme happiness and comfort for being back with Michael, now my fiancé :), and loneliness for being back in a city in which I don’t feel very connected.
Besides Mike, who is always my biggest draw in coming overseas, I came back to accept a position as Assistant Editor of Business Hungary magazine, an English publication affiliated with the American Chamber of Commerce. After working at a daily newspaper for 11 months, I was eager to get back into magazines, especially with a leadership position that would be hard to attain in the U.S. Like my previous employment with the magazine, I’ll write a few in-depth features a month, but now I will also attend the editorial meetings and be a copy editor. It will be a good new challenge, which I think I will enjoy when it gets busier, but at the moment I am at my wits end from working alone all day and having newsroom withdrawal. My company does have an office, but the magazine’s staff only meets there once a month to do the editing, so there’s no real place there for me to work. So, like the other staff members, I can work from home, which is glamorous for about a day. Then, I am dying for co-reporters to hash things out with or at least take the occasional coffee break with. My frustration is also exacerbated with the fact that I am starting from scratch again in my market after having a developed beat in Colorado and struggling to find fluent English speakers as sources.
In addition to the Business Hungary work, I will also write for Where Budapest, a travel publication again, and I’m trying to get a music correspondent gig that would be fantastic if I landed it. This doesn’t remedy my working alone problem, but at least it’ll be some more creative and lucrative projects.
I started the position on the Monday after I came back, so I really haven’t had much down time to re-explore the city since I have three stories due this week. However, on Thursday, I will be going to Zagreb, Croatia with Mike, so I have a new city to learn. Mike is now splitting his time between Euro-Phoenix’s Hungarian and Croatian office, so when I can, I’ll travel with him. He thinks I’ll really like Zagreb, since it’s much smaller than Budapest, the people are really friendly and you can see the foothills from there :) I plan on taking language lessons there, which I’m really excited for, so I don’t feel like a mute anymore.
With Mike’s new work arrangement and my work meetings, I am worried that our schedules won’t pair up all that often, leaving us again in different countries, but at least it’ll be closer than the Hungary-American situation we were doing before. It’s about a six-hour train ride from Budapest to Zagreb.
Mike has been on a business trip in Macedonia since Sunday, but luckily he comes back on Wednesday – not soon enough. When he’s not here, I really miss my Colorado entourage. It’s been a rude awakening to have your best friends within a 50-mile radius to not having them within the continent. I’m happy I only have to go another six weeks without them until I come home for Christmas! A fortunate thing is I do have a roommate now – Vincent, a very sweet French guy who works with Michael. On my next blog, I’ll include some photos of my apartment and neighborhood.
And for all of you wondering, no I haven’t done any wedding planning since I’ve arrived, and I probably won’t until Mike has time to do it with me – it’s no fun doing it alone. However, Mike did make us a great Web site – check it out at www.MarisaMike.com.