Colton in the Caucuses : Fall and Winter

Highlights of Fall included a Halloween party, a Thanksgiving get together at the beach, and most of all, my mom’s visit! As usual, Mom was ridiculously popular. We celebrated my birthday, and she got to meet all 3 host families I have had. It was excellent, and a memory both of us will cherish. Certainly a highlight of my service.

At the end of August, I took an out of country trip to Budapest, Prague, Bratislava, and Vienna with my buddy Ryan. I got to meet up with my grandparents in Budapest, another highlight of my service. They aren’t exactly big world travelers, but they did a pretty good job, I’m glad they came and Budapest is an incredible city. I had a surf and turf dinner at the 5 star Marriot in Budapest among other excellent meals that Grandma and Grandpa treated me to.

At my NGO we also opened “Rvas+1” the café that my organization has wanted to open for several years. The opening was very successful although over the winter we have struggled to get consistent guests. We will see, hopefully things turn up as spring comes and we plan more events.

New Years came and went, with mostly just a lot of feasting and parties. Crazy to know I will return home in 2016. I went snowboarding for the first time ever and pretty much spent the entire day on my butt. It was awesome but I am glad I am still young because some of my crashes were pretty violent. No injuries though. I stayed on the easiest slope all day, going up and down it. I certainly made good progress but the next day I was incredibly sore. Crazy that I return to America this year!