Magicians, Buda Buddies, and Kings

Szia!

Today as we woke up, we looked outside with the hopes of seeing clear skies and were somewhat disappointed when instead we saw only hints of blue and several clouds. Needless to say, the weather was actually quite beautiful as the day went on with a high of 46°F.  

So it was, with the sun finally making its appearance at 7:28am (which would be 12:30am CTT in case you were wondering) and everyone out of the door by 9:15, another day for scholarship and exploration was at hand.  

Class began at 10:00am as usual, but what came next was unexpected. As the lecture began, Professor Hanson or shall we say the “The Man of Many Tricks” informed us that he was not actually the magician that he had led us all to believe he was at the end of class the day before. You may be quite confused at this point as to what all the fuss is about so allow us to enlighten you.   

At the close of lecture yesterday, Professor Hanson whom we will no longer refer to as "The Man of Many Tricks” had the class pick 2 numbers 1 through 9 to add them together, and then he told us to multiply that number by another number 1 through 9 until we had a 7 digit number. He then told us to tell him any six of the seven numbers and he could use his psychic abilities to tell us the remaining number. Several of us did this, and he was in fact able to tell us the remaining number! Although we were impressed, our math instincts made us skeptical of his abilities. With class at its end and our minds left wondering, we were forced to believe our professor was truly a magician!

So as class began today,  that belief was short lived as Professor Hanson revealed to us that he was not in fact a magician but instead just able to do simple divisibility processes…

Soon we were over the news and all accepted the fact that Hanson was just a professor in Budapest trying to get by.

On the bright side of things, the mood was surely lifted when Hanson taught the class these divisibility tricks. We would list these tricks as they aren’t very difficult but instead we will allow your gifted loved ones to return and share them with you rather than spoil the fun that is sure to come from them (so don’t forget to ask them about it)!

After class many of us grabbed a bite to eat at the school cafeteria or nearby before heading to the Hungarian Parliament for our next exciting activity. We took the subway four stops to Kossuth Lajos tér, got off, took the escalator up to the exit and stopped to do a Buda Buddy check. JORDAN lost his buddy, Christian (in Gossip Girl voice). Professor Hanson went back down to see if he could find our fellow lost, bewildered, forsaken classmate who had by then found his way back to the group unharmed. (We forgive you, Jordan).

We finally made it to the doors of the Parliament where our tour began. We all went through security and gathered around our first stop of the tour, which was a model of the Parliament made out of hundreds of thousands of matches. It was made by a family who worked on it for three years.

Next we went up a set of 96 stairs, which we were informed was significant because it represents the nations millenium. At the top of the staircase, our tour guide gave us a little information about the architecture of the building. We found out that a lot of the building was destroyed during the Second World War. However, the hand painted stained glass windows were preserved in the basement of the Parliament between bags of sand. Before the windows were taken out they were numbered, and after the war, they were restored to their original place based on their numbers. The tour continued into the Dome Hall where sadly, we weren’t allowed to take photos. Inside the double roofed Dome of 96m was a glass case containing the crown worn by every king of Hungary. Guards stood on both sides as we were allowed to explore the dome. Thereafter, we continued to other areas of the parliament until we made it inside the Chamber where the tour concluded.  

After leaving the Parliament, escorted by guards, we all went our separate ways either back to our studies of number theory or to explore the beautiful streets of Budapest.

Szia!

Randie E. & Mariah D.