I haven't really been making the time to post here so I'll give a quick update.
School started. The classes are hard, and I'm taking 5 math classes, so I've spending 95% of my time doing math, eating, and occasionally sleeping.
I went to Bratislava for a weekend. It was nice, culturally, significantly different than Budapest, and a very pretty and surprisingly quiet town.
Last weekend I went to Oktoberfest in Munich.
Today, I'm going to visit Szeged, a town in Hungary, see a math colloquium, and return to Budapest in the morning.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Quick Update
So I've been a little (read: really) bad at updating this.
The problem is, there's too many great things going on.
Since I've been here, I've spent about 40 hours taking the intensive language course, which is, not too surprisingly quite intense. I've been able to learn a significant amount of Hungarian. When I say things, people usually (but not always) know what I mean, which is a decent step forward, given how hard the pronunciation is. I can usually understand what people want, through a combination of my limited vocabulary, lots of pointing. The Hungarians are always very impressed when a foreigner knows any of their language, as few know more than how to order a beer.
I've also been working on the whole living situation. We've now successfully cooked a few meals, but cooking is a lot harder here, since buying things for a meal requires going to a market, and everything has to be done from scractch, there are very few shortcuts. To make matters worse, many of the seasonings I'm used to having available at home are nearly impossible to find. However, the food is very cheap, and the quality of the goods at the market ranges from good to excellent.
Last weekend we visited Siófok, a medium sized town on Lake Balaton, which is the biggest lake in Hungary. It was extremely touristy, and everything was very expensive. I'm not quite sure why people from Budapest choose to vacation there, rather than some other part of the lake, and I'm sure I would have enjoyed it much more if we had gone someplace else on the lake.
Budapest is an absolutely amazing city. There is never a shortage of things to do, and I think that even if I never left the city the entire time I was here, I would never be truly bored.
The problem is, there's too many great things going on.
Since I've been here, I've spent about 40 hours taking the intensive language course, which is, not too surprisingly quite intense. I've been able to learn a significant amount of Hungarian. When I say things, people usually (but not always) know what I mean, which is a decent step forward, given how hard the pronunciation is. I can usually understand what people want, through a combination of my limited vocabulary, lots of pointing. The Hungarians are always very impressed when a foreigner knows any of their language, as few know more than how to order a beer.
I've also been working on the whole living situation. We've now successfully cooked a few meals, but cooking is a lot harder here, since buying things for a meal requires going to a market, and everything has to be done from scractch, there are very few shortcuts. To make matters worse, many of the seasonings I'm used to having available at home are nearly impossible to find. However, the food is very cheap, and the quality of the goods at the market ranges from good to excellent.
Last weekend we visited Siófok, a medium sized town on Lake Balaton, which is the biggest lake in Hungary. It was extremely touristy, and everything was very expensive. I'm not quite sure why people from Budapest choose to vacation there, rather than some other part of the lake, and I'm sure I would have enjoyed it much more if we had gone someplace else on the lake.
Budapest is an absolutely amazing city. There is never a shortage of things to do, and I think that even if I never left the city the entire time I was here, I would never be truly bored.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Grocery Shopping/Phone
We found a small grocery store about 1 block away, and bought a few things so we would have food to eat in the apartment. However, the prices for things are not quite what you would expect. Goods that have no connection to the US or another part of Europe tended to be extremely cheap, and American goods were fairly expensive.
All told, we only spent $7 so it's not like it broke the bank or anything.
The bread was by far the cheapest. It's sold in 1kg loaves, and costs about $0.50 before VAT.
Also, I got my phone working. It turns out that it came with no money on it, and, in order to fix that I had a nice conversation in Hungarian with a very frustrated gas station attendant (no, mol is not Hungarian for mall, but, is in fact, a chain of gas stations), who explained to me (using lots of writing and pointing) that I needed to type in some sort of number into a pin pad, and give him 5000HUF in cash (about $25), I left when I realized this wasn't going anywhere. Once I reached the apartment, I realized that the super-secret number he required was actually just my phone number, so I went to a different place (in order to no have to admit my stupidity) and got my phone charged up.
Chris, my third room mate, arrived late last night, and we went out together to find a SIM card for his phone (which didn't come with one), this involved a trip by subway to the biggest mall (it turns out we could have done this pretty much anywhere), where he bought a SIM card, and then we took the long way, in a tram along the river back to our apartment.
All told, we only spent $7 so it's not like it broke the bank or anything.
The bread was by far the cheapest. It's sold in 1kg loaves, and costs about $0.50 before VAT.
Also, I got my phone working. It turns out that it came with no money on it, and, in order to fix that I had a nice conversation in Hungarian with a very frustrated gas station attendant (no, mol is not Hungarian for mall, but, is in fact, a chain of gas stations), who explained to me (using lots of writing and pointing) that I needed to type in some sort of number into a pin pad, and give him 5000HUF in cash (about $25), I left when I realized this wasn't going anywhere. Once I reached the apartment, I realized that the super-secret number he required was actually just my phone number, so I went to a different place (in order to no have to admit my stupidity) and got my phone charged up.
Chris, my third room mate, arrived late last night, and we went out together to find a SIM card for his phone (which didn't come with one), this involved a trip by subway to the biggest mall (it turns out we could have done this pretty much anywhere), where he bought a SIM card, and then we took the long way, in a tram along the river back to our apartment.
Friday, August 13, 2010
I'm here
Travel today went very smoothly. I tried to sleep on the plane this morning (it felt very early), but the little German (I think) girl next to me would not have it. Every time I closed my eyes she tapped me on the shoulder so I could look at somethings she found interesting.
There was no immigration (and no one even looked at my Hungarian Visa) and customs consisted of walking through a doorway labeled "I have nothing to Declare". On the other side of the line, there were two people from the program holding up a sign, waiting for us. It turned out that Mike and I are rooming together, and a younger Hungarian student brought us, by taxi, to our apartment. The apartment is a little strange, but that's for another post. We're supposed to have a third roommate, and he's supposed to get here at 2pm today. However, given that it's already 6pm, we have no idea when he's actually going to show up.
After eating lunch at a small gyro stand I decided to lie down "just to see if my bed was comfortable", however, about an hour later, I woke up to the sound of Hungarian. Being slightly groggy from my jet-lag induced nap, I attempted to communicate with this woman. However, all I got out of it was my own set of keys (Mike and I had been sharing), and the knowledge that there was something she needed to tell me, and it may or may not be important, but it seems like it is phone related, though I could be mistaken and she could have been talking about something else entirely.
Well, I'm off to meet up with some others in the program, I'll post pictures of the apartment eventually.
There was no immigration (and no one even looked at my Hungarian Visa) and customs consisted of walking through a doorway labeled "I have nothing to Declare". On the other side of the line, there were two people from the program holding up a sign, waiting for us. It turned out that Mike and I are rooming together, and a younger Hungarian student brought us, by taxi, to our apartment. The apartment is a little strange, but that's for another post. We're supposed to have a third roommate, and he's supposed to get here at 2pm today. However, given that it's already 6pm, we have no idea when he's actually going to show up.
After eating lunch at a small gyro stand I decided to lie down "just to see if my bed was comfortable", however, about an hour later, I woke up to the sound of Hungarian. Being slightly groggy from my jet-lag induced nap, I attempted to communicate with this woman. However, all I got out of it was my own set of keys (Mike and I had been sharing), and the knowledge that there was something she needed to tell me, and it may or may not be important, but it seems like it is phone related, though I could be mistaken and she could have been talking about something else entirely.
Well, I'm off to meet up with some others in the program, I'll post pictures of the apartment eventually.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Travel is Easier in Europe
To get from the center of New York City, to JFK, the major international airport, it takes more than one train, and would probably take an hour. To get from the Airport to the City Center of Geneva earlier this morning, the train was free, direct, (one way, $3.50 the other way) and only took about 10 minutes. We didn't have to wait at all for a train in either direction. No city in the US that I've ever been to has transportation like that.
However, it's not just that the rail system is vastly superior. We walked up to a counter to ask how much it would cost to change to an earlier flight. In the states, the answer was $200. For the same exact question, about the same exact flight, in Geneva, the answer was that all you needed to do was ask a ticketing agent and they'd do it for free. Why can't things be like that here?
However, it's not just that the rail system is vastly superior. We walked up to a counter to ask how much it would cost to change to an earlier flight. In the states, the answer was $200. For the same exact question, about the same exact flight, in Geneva, the answer was that all you needed to do was ask a ticketing agent and they'd do it for free. Why can't things be like that here?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Day Arrives
Today is August 11th, so that means that technically, later today, I leave for Budapest.
That's a little unreal. I've been thinking about going to this program since sometime in the fall of last year, but no matter how much dreaming I've done I still don't feel prepared. It's one thing to read about a place online, and learn a little about it, but I have a feeling that it will be a completely different experience when I'm actually standing there in about 48 hours.
I'll take a total of 4 flights to get there. Of course, the first leg will be with my dad, from Glens Falls to JFK. From there I'll take a red eye to Geneva, have a short layover, take the very short flight to Zurich, spend the night there, and leave early in the morning for Budapest. Then, ideally, someone will be holding up a sign reading "Budapest Semesters in Mathematics", and they will bring me to my apartment.
For some reason, I'm less than 100% confident that all of this will go smoothly. Anyways, I'll let you know how everything worked out the next time I get Internet access (whenever that is).
That's a little unreal. I've been thinking about going to this program since sometime in the fall of last year, but no matter how much dreaming I've done I still don't feel prepared. It's one thing to read about a place online, and learn a little about it, but I have a feeling that it will be a completely different experience when I'm actually standing there in about 48 hours.
I'll take a total of 4 flights to get there. Of course, the first leg will be with my dad, from Glens Falls to JFK. From there I'll take a red eye to Geneva, have a short layover, take the very short flight to Zurich, spend the night there, and leave early in the morning for Budapest. Then, ideally, someone will be holding up a sign reading "Budapest Semesters in Mathematics", and they will bring me to my apartment.
For some reason, I'm less than 100% confident that all of this will go smoothly. Anyways, I'll let you know how everything worked out the next time I get Internet access (whenever that is).
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