Trains and Hangovers

I awoke myself and my entire dorm room at 7am when I rolled over and puked into the bowl Steph had given me. I apologized as best I could to the people around me, I can imagine no one wants to wake up early to the sound of someone hurling into a bowl. However, it was no picnic for me either. I was no longer dizzy to the point of falling down, but I still had trouble walking because every time I sat up I felt nauseous. I hurried out of my dorm room, trying not to subject them to any more of this terrible show. I relocated myself to the bathroom, and continued there. This was a very strange sort of feeling, usually after I throw up I feel better, but now each time, the feeling only seemed to get worse. I finally got that famous headache I'd always heard about, although that didn't bother me nearly as much as my upset stomach. Still I took some belladonna my doctor had given me for migraines, which worked out better than aspirin anyway because it desolves on your tongue, and I didn't need to worry about throwing it back up.

The headache went away fairly quickly, but all morning I could stop throwing up. I puked so much that soon I had nothing left in me. I couldn't even keep water down. Every time I'd take a sip, 10 minutes later it came right back up. My face and hands were pale as a ghost, and I had dark circles under my eyes. My whole body shook wildly from a lack of nutrients. I was pathetic, curled up on the couch in the lounge shaking and throwing up into a bowl. All my hostelmates felt really guilty, and partly responsible for encouraging me to keep drinking. I told them it was my own fault, because I knowingly consented to it all. Still though, they all took care of me, and stayed by me. Carl went out and bought me some soup and a big 1.5 liter bottle of carbonated water. He said to keep sipping the water all day till my stomach's settled enough to keep down the soup. Steph and Logan (two of the staff who run the hostel) sat with me on the couch and we watched Scrubs. When my stomach was settled enough, Steph made me the soup, and a piece of bread, saying it'll help soak up the alcohol. When I was a little more stable, she made bannana bread. I had planned to travel to Austria that day, but as of now I was in no way fit to travel. I decided I should probably try to catch a night train to Vienna later, and just spend the day here on the couch. Logan offered to keep a bed open for me tonight just incase I didn't feel up to it by then. The whole day I spent sitting in the hostel watching movies and drinking carbonated water. However, it was good timing, because it rained most of the day today, and I was also able to finish uploading my pictures.

I did eventually start feeling a lot better once I was able to hold down solid foods. The color came back to my face, and the shivering stopped. My stomach still felt a little fragile all day, and for some reason when I eat, the back of my hard pallet gets really sore. However, I was relieved to be up walking around and eating little things. I checked online at the times for trains leaving Budapest to Vienna, and I found a train leaving at 21:30 getting in at 6:30, and if I missed that, there was another one an hour later.

When the time came to get going, I packed up my stuff, and said goodbye. Few people were in the hostel when I left, but those who were, I thanked and told them I'd probably be back sometime in the future. I caught the metro over to the train station I originally arrived at, but couldn't find any sort of departure schedule (and even if I had, I don't think I could read it). None of the information places seemed like they were open, and none of the train workers could understand me, or didn't know the train I was trying to catch. I walked along the platforms for about half an hour before I finally found an information booth that was open. I asked which platform is the train at 21:30 to Vienna coming in at. The lady looked puzzled (which is always the sign that something terrible's about to happen), and then said the last train to Vienna was at 20:45. I told her that can't be true, I looked online and saw a schedule for the trains leaving at 21:30 and another at 22:30. She told me to wait there a second and then disappeared into the back. When she came back, she had a printed schedule with the times I'd mentioned on it. She said, "this is the train you're looking for, but that train leaves from the other train station. You're in the wrong station." She said there's no way I'd make it to the 21:30, but if I hurried I might make the next one an hour later, then she showed me how to use the metro to get to the other station. At last, she handed me the schedule for the train and stops along the way. Apparently, it only takes about 3 hours to get to Vienna, but in trying to choose a night train, I chose one which changes trains 3 times making the trip take all night. During the first change of trains I have to wait in the train station from 23:45 to 4:45 (5 hours) because the trains don't run all night. In order to try to get out of paying for lodging for another night, I've accidently made my life more difficult by putting myself in a position where I won't be able to sleep because I'll be looking for my stop to change trains, and if I do sleep it'll have to be for 5 hours in a train station. I'm hoping though, that when I get to the first station to change trains, maybe I can get on a more direct route going right to Vienna rather than changing trains 2 more times. We'll see what happens. It's all part of the adventure.

I'm on the first train right now. I'll probably get into the first station within the next couple of minutes, so I'll get my baring and figure out my options. If I can find a train traveling this late that would be great, but if I have to sleep there till morning that may be what I have to do.
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