House Hunters International

Bill being interviewed and filmed after viewing one of the apartments

How did this happen, you might ask?  Well, it all stemmed from morbid curiosity and complete naiveté.  In April, after finding out that I received the Fulbright grant to Hungary, I began thinking about what the best approach to finding an apartment would be.  I started looking at listings online and then quickly thought, why don't we have HGTV find us an apartment?  Bill and I both enjoyed watching House Hunters International, so I thought I would just throw an email out explaining our story and upcoming move, and assumed we would get nothing back.

About two months later, after forgetting I had ever emailed HHI and having just secured an apartment, I got an email back saying they wanted us on the show.  I thought we blew our chance since we had just put down a deposit on an apartment, but it turns out that I didn't really know how the show worked. HHI actually won't really consider you for the show unless you already have your apartment or home lined up. So in the midst of our craze of packing and saying goodbye, we filmed the one-day Chicago 'backstory' just three days before we flew to Budapest.

This past weekend we finished off our filming with four long days in Budapest.  I'll be honest in saying that going into this weekend we both had a little more dread than we did excitement; but coming out of the experience we only have great things to say.  We could not have asked for a better crew.  Our director, camera guy, and sound guy were all from the UK and had the best sense of humor.  I'm pretty sure over 50% of our footage and sound is unusable for the mere fact that it was practically all witty jokes and inappropriate humor.  During the four days of filming, we viewed three different apartments (including the one we have been living in the past month) and we were filmed exploring various parts of Budapest.  After the show actually airs in the United States I'll give some more of the behind the scenes secrets of the show.

With everything said and done (well the filming at least, my mind might change after I see it air), I'm very glad we did this.  I really knew nothing about the film industry prior to filming and I feel like I've learned so much from the crew and have such a new perspective on film and television.  I think the show itself will serve as a nice tribute to our time here and Budapest and will be something fun to share with friends and family at home.  And best of all I feel like we made some friends during the process as well.

Out for drinks after a long weekend of filming