Szia from Anja and Jessie!
This morning was overcast and rainy. The weather seems to be pretty consistently cloudy with well appreciated breaks of sun. To make up for a gloomy morning, we all got to sleep in a little as class didn’t start until 10:30. Number Theory was its exhilarating self as usual. After a shorter class, we broke for lunch.
At 1:00, we reconvened for a speaker on Hungarian Culture and Literature, Laszlo Arato. We were all enlightened with a lot of information about Hungary. Laszlo spoke of the pessimistic attitude of Hungarians when they were asked how they were doing. Illustrating how a Hungarian might complain about her/his job, Laszlo said "my boss is a dragon" which, in my opinion, is a much more colorful and imaginative way of saying "my boss is the worst" like how most of us boring Americans would probably say. So kudos to Laszlo and his imagination. I think I will start comparing my boss to a dragon from now on.
We also learned Hungary has had an oppressive history being subordinated by the Tartars, Turks, Hapsberg Empire, Germans, and the Russians. During WWII, Hungary was occupied by the Nazi. Hungary was liberated from Nazi occupation from the Russians, but then Russia occupied Hungary. Along with pessimism, Mr. Arato said that complaining is a national habit. Reasoning behind the complaining is that if your country is always oppressed then you are not responsible for your way of life. Therefore, you can complain about what isn’t in your control. Laszlo Arato also discussed many Hungarian poets, writers, and books that he recommended. Many Hungarian poets were politically involved. In fact he said that poets often functioned more like politicians than politicians themselves. We learned a lot in about two hours, and Laszlo would have been pleased to continue filling our minds with Hungarian culture!
After the guest lecture we all headed our separate ways again. I (Anja) have been enjoying running along the Danube. There is a large sidewalk with space for runners, walkers, and a bike lane. Another nice running location is Margaret Island where there is a track around the island with a beautiful park in the center. There are quite beautiful views while running along the river, especially when the sun is shining!
An interesting find in Budapest was the restaurant, Napfenyes Etterem. It serves only vegetarian and vegan food which is nice break from the meat heavy Hungarian food, because who wouldn't want to get meat with a side of meat sprinkled with meaty meat bits every day?!
I (Jessie) learned an important lesson about laundry in other countries last night. In short, don't assume that you will just be able to figure it all out if the washer's hungarian symbols don't immediately make sense to you. Take this as a bad sign. Because you might end up washing all the clothes you brought with you on the trip where they get completely soaked afterwards, no thanks to the washer. And you might end up having to wring them all out in the shower that night, turning your entire room and staircase into a clothes line, with nothing left to wear for the next two days, no thanks to the dryer. You don't want this to happen to you. Never impulsively wash all your clothes one night in the hotel of a country you're not familiar with.
On a completely unrelated topic, I've paid a lot of attention to the european styles and fashion trends over here in Hungary. And I've learned a few things in this department as well.1) It's not cool to wear sweatpants in Hungary. People look at you like you messed up and thought it was pajama day when it's not or something. 2) it IS cool to be middle aged and rock some super bright red artificial looking red hair. We've seen all kinds of variations of this look here. Personally, I'm hoping this is a trend that makes it's way back to the U.S.
The class finished the day cranking out some more number theory in the dining hall, our favorite night time activity. And we will all see each other here again for breakfast tomorrow.
Szia!
This morning was overcast and rainy. The weather seems to be pretty consistently cloudy with well appreciated breaks of sun. To make up for a gloomy morning, we all got to sleep in a little as class didn’t start until 10:30. Number Theory was its exhilarating self as usual. After a shorter class, we broke for lunch.
At 1:00, we reconvened for a speaker on Hungarian Culture and Literature, Laszlo Arato. We were all enlightened with a lot of information about Hungary. Laszlo spoke of the pessimistic attitude of Hungarians when they were asked how they were doing. Illustrating how a Hungarian might complain about her/his job, Laszlo said "my boss is a dragon" which, in my opinion, is a much more colorful and imaginative way of saying "my boss is the worst" like how most of us boring Americans would probably say. So kudos to Laszlo and his imagination. I think I will start comparing my boss to a dragon from now on.
We also learned Hungary has had an oppressive history being subordinated by the Tartars, Turks, Hapsberg Empire, Germans, and the Russians. During WWII, Hungary was occupied by the Nazi. Hungary was liberated from Nazi occupation from the Russians, but then Russia occupied Hungary. Along with pessimism, Mr. Arato said that complaining is a national habit. Reasoning behind the complaining is that if your country is always oppressed then you are not responsible for your way of life. Therefore, you can complain about what isn’t in your control. Laszlo Arato also discussed many Hungarian poets, writers, and books that he recommended. Many Hungarian poets were politically involved. In fact he said that poets often functioned more like politicians than politicians themselves. We learned a lot in about two hours, and Laszlo would have been pleased to continue filling our minds with Hungarian culture!
After the guest lecture we all headed our separate ways again. I (Anja) have been enjoying running along the Danube. There is a large sidewalk with space for runners, walkers, and a bike lane. Another nice running location is Margaret Island where there is a track around the island with a beautiful park in the center. There are quite beautiful views while running along the river, especially when the sun is shining!
An interesting find in Budapest was the restaurant, Napfenyes Etterem. It serves only vegetarian and vegan food which is nice break from the meat heavy Hungarian food, because who wouldn't want to get meat with a side of meat sprinkled with meaty meat bits every day?!
I (Jessie) learned an important lesson about laundry in other countries last night. In short, don't assume that you will just be able to figure it all out if the washer's hungarian symbols don't immediately make sense to you. Take this as a bad sign. Because you might end up washing all the clothes you brought with you on the trip where they get completely soaked afterwards, no thanks to the washer. And you might end up having to wring them all out in the shower that night, turning your entire room and staircase into a clothes line, with nothing left to wear for the next two days, no thanks to the dryer. You don't want this to happen to you. Never impulsively wash all your clothes one night in the hotel of a country you're not familiar with.
On a completely unrelated topic, I've paid a lot of attention to the european styles and fashion trends over here in Hungary. And I've learned a few things in this department as well.1) It's not cool to wear sweatpants in Hungary. People look at you like you messed up and thought it was pajama day when it's not or something. 2) it IS cool to be middle aged and rock some super bright red artificial looking red hair. We've seen all kinds of variations of this look here. Personally, I'm hoping this is a trend that makes it's way back to the U.S.
The class finished the day cranking out some more number theory in the dining hall, our favorite night time activity. And we will all see each other here again for breakfast tomorrow.
Szia!
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