More trips, more friends, more fun

Hello all!

Further trips, adventures and experiences are left to be described. Unfortunately the photos can’t bring back the atmosphere fully, but I hope You will enjoy watching them.

On one day our RAs brought us on a 2 hour journey to Niagara Falls, one of the World’s greatest waterfalls. Accurately it’s a combination of three stunning waterfalls. Niagara river separates New York state from Ontario, Canada. We were walking on the US side of the river, enjoyed the view, hiked in the forests and some students went on a boat trip on the river, in the valley. Everyone knows the Canadian part of Niagara falls is more beautiful than the US. part, but we all were satisfied of what we’d seen, and none of us dreamt about ever reaching Niagara falls. This was the biggest surprise of the three weeks. The panorama from the high viewpoints was scaring but amazing! Niagara falls is frequented by a lot of tourists, but it’s a huge territory, so You won’t notice that it’s horribly crowded.

The next adventure was a boat trip on Erie Canal. This is one of the oldest canal in North-America, used for transportation between Buffalo to Albany from Hudson river to Erie Lake. The length of this river is more than 500 km. On the boat-trip we experienced how locks on a river work. A lock is a mechanism, which follows the sealevel, and helps boats combating different heights. So, we entered a gate by boat. Then the gate closed behind us, and water started to flow in the area. Soon, the level of water and by this our boat as well started to rise, and reached a higher altitude. A lock works just like an elevator. After the process the other gate (in front of us) opened, and we could continue our journey on a different height. This works backwards too.

On another day we visited Rochester farmer’s market. This is an authentic market where 100% bio products are available, but also bakery products, eggs and home-made sweets, noodles, juices and dairy-products are sold. This market resonates with the healthy, delicious, fit words. Also vodka and other alcoholic beverages were home-made, bio and eco-friendly.

Cornhill festival was also a great experience. It was held in Rochester on a sunny weekend. It's an ideal programme for the entire family, but for youngsters and students as well. Food stands, burgers, fries and roasted fruits, ice-creams on one hand, live music performances, competitions, work-shops and fairs on the other. People sat in the grass, chilled in hammocks, everything was nice, but at a moment it happened what I never expected in my life. By walking on the alleys and staring at the boutiques and stands, I've suddenly seen something very familiar.

Photos with traditional Transylvanian folk singers, folk motives, traditional clothes and pictures of musicians. I personally knew this violin player from the picture, because when I was a child and went to summer camps at Kalotaszeg and Méra, I saw and heard this man playing live folk music. This made my day! At the next moment I was already crying, because I got emotional. I hugged the Hungarian photographer and talked a lot with him. He has been several times in Romania and Hungary and he's a folk cultivator. It was a very true moment, life is worth living because of these experiences. I traveled more than 7000 km to then find myself surrounded by motives which remind me of my home.

I spent a lot of time at this man's stand, and read his compilations and watched the pictures. I also spoke with his son, who could speak Hungarian crystal-clear. They travel to Hungary and Transylvania every year.

Rochester has a big Hungarian community, a lot of Hungarians migrated in this region of North-America after the revolution in 1956.

P. s. : Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I’m not a professional photographer.

Thanks for reading, Dóra

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