Hungarian Efficiency and Train to Vienna

When I had my orientation at school last week I received a CEU student ID card and was told that I could get a discounted student transportation pass. I wasn't told those two things in the same sentence, but I assumed that the student ID could be used to buy the student transportation pass. I confidently went to the ticket counter at a metro station to buy the month pass, but was told that only Hungarian students get the discount. So I went to a different metro station's ticket counter, a little less confidently this time, and was told the same thing. I tried a third...no luck. I would have just bought the regular pass, but it was roughly 2.5x the cost of the student pass, so I went back to the school and asked about it. Apparently there is some special Hungarian student card (in addition to the regular ID) that only some students are eligible to get. The office that would know if you're eligible and can issue the card is only open from 1-4 every day. So I go there the next day (meanwhile I'm walking everywhere, which was probably good for me), and after telling the man at the desk that I was a law student, he said it was unlikely that I was eligible for the card, but he would check anyway. To his astonishment, I was inexplicably on the list to receive the Hungarian student card. However, I had to pay for the card (about $2) at the cash desk, which was only open from 9-1. So I go there the next day, wait in line for over 1/2 hour, pay my $2, then have to wait until the other office is open at 1 to go back and....blah, blah, blah. You get the idea... convenience is not as readily available here, but everyone seems to be okay with that and things eventually get done.

I decided to go to Vienna yesterday. I spent Fall semester 2000 in BYU's Vienna Study Abroad program and loved it. I didn't really have a plan, but I was excited about going back. While I was waiting in that long line at the the cash desk on Wednesday, I learned from a nice Turkish-German named Fahady in front of me in line that you get 60% off all rail tickets within Hungary with this special Hungarian student card that I was waiting in line to purchase, so if I'm going to Vienna, I should buy a discounted ticket to Sopron, a city near the Austria-Hungary border, then get another ticket from there. Deciding to follow his advice, I went to the train station Thursday morning, bought a ticket to Sopron, and made it there with no problem. There was 30 minutes from the time I arrived until the next train left for Vienna, so I promptly got into the ticket line, only to discover when I got to the front of the line that to buy "international" tickets I had to go out of the train station and into a separate international entrance and get in another line. So I find the other place and there was only one person in line and I still have 20 minutes until the train left. Well, that was before I waited while the ticket agent help this one woman for 35 minutes! I have no idea what was going on, but it wasn't happening very fast, and I was not happy about missing the train. Coming home today I decided I didn't care how much money I was saving, I wasn't going back through Sopron! See these locations on a map here.