Budapest: Reunion Special!!!

Sziasztok!!!
Tonight’s blog is a reunion special! The gang got together tonight at the lovely Chapati in downtown Northfield! It was so nice to see Bruce and Jill, and all of our pals again!

Some of our favorite food included Nawabi Tikka, Lamb Masala, Mango Lassi, Aloo Gobi, Lamb Palak, and most importantly the Naan!!!!! 

I suppose you could say there were naan leftovers!!! 

We really miss Budapest and our Hungarian pals Emese, Anna and Viktor. We wish they were at our meal with us! 

It was so fun seeing everyone! Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

- Viszlat! 

-Carly :)

                                       Jo Esjzakat Budapestrol!

The time has flown by and  our time in Budapest has come to and end.  Yesterday the students completed the final exam in the morning and in the evening we traveled by subway and chartered bus to the Nosztalgia Etterem, a  traditional Hungarian restaurant on the outskirts of Budapest.  Accompanying us were Emese, whom you have heard lots about already and Viktor, Anna and Pali, three young Hungarians who have enriched our time here.  Emese's daughter Flora showed up as well.   We presented cards and a few small gifts to Emese and the young Hungarians  and then enjoyed a buffet style meal of traditional Hungarian cuisine.  The food was excellent and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Unfortunately, my phone has been uncooperative and I haven't been able to transmit the pictures from the event to my computer.   If by some miracle the pictures arrive to my computer I will post them on the blog.  Suffice it to say, that a good time was had by all followed by heartfelt and somewhat sorrowful goodbyes to Emese and the others. 

Today, the city seems a bit lonely with everyone taking off to either return to the USA or spend more time in Europe before the spring semester begins.

I feel very lucky to have had this group of students.  Really a fun bunch, positive and enthusiastic.  It was a lot of fun enjoying Budapest with them the past month!   Wishing safe travels for all of them! 

Minden jot!

Professor Hanson

The End is nigh...

Today started off with no morning class, however, we got together to do our group projects for our Hungarian classes. There were three options for final projects: Video, Poetry, and Singing.

The Video group made a short video of Budapest Highlights. The Poetry group all read various Hungarian poems. The Singing group, however, blew everyone away with a full choreographed performance with multiple solo sections of hungarian song. It was amazing. Some pictures of this below. 

Afterwards we had a short break before coming back and receiving a bag and a notebook. We then took multiple pictures of the group with our stenciled Street Art, however, sadly, we don’t have any of those pictures to show you yet. In preparation for the final taking place tomorrow, many of us split up into different study groups. As per usual, I found myself  at the parliament library studying with Audrey. I had a great time, however I suffered the tragic loss of my airpods :( Depicted below are a few final pictures of the late-night Budapest views! 

Most of us were studying with bruce today. He held two separate help sessions during the day where we could ask him questions while working through the review problems (shown below).

Wish us luck on the final tomorrow and look forward to us being back in America. From your favorite people in room 361, Aaron, Michael, and Eric

We are now spies...

Hello for the last time from room 753 (Abigail, Missy, Lauren, and Ella)

Today started off on a melancholy note as we headed to our last math class in Budapest. 😢 Since it was our last class, Bruce decided to mix things up a bit and teach us about cryptography. Who knew coding was so cool! Missy even won a Balaton bar for her efficiency in breaking codes!

We started with some basic codes, but then spiced things up using our knowledge of congruence. Since we are coding experts now, we thought we would put in our own code using the Caeser Cipher:  FRQJUDWXODWLRQV! Let us know in the comments if you figure it out. 

After our last worksheet of the class😢, we took a short break for lunch at various places then reconvened for a short walk to Emese's daughter's school. Since we arrived a bit early, we learned about the structure of schools (students stay at the same school for grades k-8 and call teachers Uncle or Aunt). We also had fun figuring out the games on the playground. 

Walking inside, we were amazed at the beauty of the school compared to our own elementary and middle schools. While the classrooms may be small, the building was gorgeous and even included a stained glass ceiling. We were also fascinated by expanding chalk boards. 

After viewing the classroom it was time to meet the students! We discussed where we were from, testing our own geographical knowledge of the United States, our favorite subjects, and why we were in Budapest. We finished up our time with them by teaching them the St. Olaf fight song (unfortunately the video won't upload to the blog, so you'll have to trust us 😀).

We then went on our next adventure: street art! Since we had viewed street art last week, we decided to make our own. We started by cutting out stencils, then went wild with spray paint. While concentration was necessary for cutting, the actual painting was very fun and we were incredibly impressed by every single design. 

After street art, we headed off to dinner at our favorite Bistro where we had fantastic food and hot chocolate. Following which, we hit the books to continue studying for our final exam on Wednesday!

Our time in Budapest has been amazing! We've been so fortunate to have all these life changing experiences. As we finish this last blog, we sadden at the thought of soon leaving this beautiful city.

Sziasztok! 

Abigail, Ella, Missy, and Lauren 

The hills are alive (with the sound of music)!

Sziasztok!

The day began with a choir of angels. Or, more accurately, with a run up the hill to the Castle District. Let's start at the beginning.

We woke up to our alarm clocks around 8:30 a.m. and grabbed breakfast downstairs. One of our Hungarian friends, Anna, had told us a few days prior that she would be singing at the Sunday morning mass in Matthias Church. Of course, we had to go and support her!

Amy, Synneva, and Audrey left the hotel early in search of a bus that would take us to the church. Despite three weeks of public-transit experience, we couldn't find the right bus stop. We ended up riding the metro instead. When we got off the metro we realized that we only had fifteen minutes to make it to the top of the steep hill leading up to the Castle District. Nice.

Rolling up our sleeves and unzipping our winter coats, we hurried up the maze of streets and steps until we finally reached the hilltop. The view from the Fisherman's Bastion was incredible—the Danube stretches between the buildings on the Buda and Pest sides, dividing the two haves of the city, and in the distance we could see Parliament to the left and the tip of our hotel.

We entered the Matthias Church and sat in the pews near the back. The domed ceiling arched above us and the morning light streamed through the stained glass windows in brilliant blues and reds. It was beautiful. We learned earlier in the trip that many Hungarian rulers were crowned in this church, and we could see why.

Anna's choir sang beautifully. We especially liked their rendition of the Gloria. The mass was nice, except for the fact that none of us understand the priest's Hungarian or Latin so there was a bit of a language barrier. Go figure.

We gathered outside of the church after mass and headed with Emese and her family to explore caves in the Buda hills. We jumped on a bus and then a tram and then took a short walk to catch up with Haley's group. Before the cave tour started, we pet the cat sitting on one of the chairs in the main building.

The local guide spoke mainly in Hungarian to us during the tour, and Emese translated whatever he said into English for us. At the entrance of the cave, we were reminded not to feel or lick any of the rocks in the cave. Safety first!

We headed into the underground cave system. The tour guide told us that all of the rocks that looked wet were still developing and should not be disturbed. As we ventured deeper into the tunnels, we learned that the same thermal springs that heat the famous Budapest baths created these caves underneath the city.

The cave was spooky but very cool. We passed by an organ-shaped rock on the back of a turtle-shaped rock, we climbed up a ladder that slopped upward nearly at a 90 degree angle, and we stood in the caves in complete darkness for a minute. Also, we saw many hibernating bats along the way. Tiny and cute (at least, from a distance).

Fun fact: when the cave drips water on you, it is called a "cave kiss" and definitely means that good things are coming your way. After an hour and a half or so, we emerged from the caves into the sunlight.

Audrey headed out with a group of people to get lunch at a restaurant in the Jewish quarter, followed by a delicious crepe that she forgot to take a picture of. Amy, Synneva, and Haley joined Emese and others at a wonderful restaurant nearby for a fancy three-course meal starting with a soup and ending with a wonderful pancake, sponge cake, or cream desert. A delicious way to end our adventure in the Buda hills.

And, most importantly, in the restaurant there was a family sitting nearby with two enormous, floofy dogs and a small chihuahua that hopped around and barked and was adorable. We bonded with those dogs.

The three of us entered into a food coma and one of us nearly fell asleep on the bus ride back. We returned to the hotel exhausted but happy. Amy flopped on her bed and took her much-needed nap while the others used the time more productively.

We got back together for dinner and went to our favorite place for dinner—you guessed it: the Pad Thai Wok Bar. The mere 15 minute walk from our hotel AND the absolutely incredible food AND the low prices made this an excellent dinner decision. Not that we are counting or anything, but this might be our seventh time there. Enough said.

After dinner we finished our homework and, rejuvenated by pasta and naps, started studying for the upcoming final exam. We can do it! And, folks, before you go, we want to let you know that this is our final blog post for the trip. Thank you for reading along with us through our adventures (and misadventures) in Budapest!

Until next time,
Amy, Synneva, Haley, & Audrey

Water, Water, and More Water!

Happy Saturday from the crew here in 453! We decided to make the most of our last Saturday here in Budapest by doing a lot today. Anders and Ethan started the morning off with the classic hotel breakfast, while Tim and Josh hit up one of the local cafes. After their breakfast, Josh and Tim met up with friends to visit the Széchenyi Baths, which were a calming relief on a chilly day.

Meanwhile, Anders and Ethan were busy finding souvenirs at the giant market hall we visited on our first weekend here, as well as looking for a printer in the hotel for the special surprise of the day. We found almost everything we wanted to purchase, and on our trek back to the hotel to drop everything off, we stumbled across another little shop full of printed art pieces depicting Budapest from a local artist on magnets and postcards. It was a great find for sure!

After dropping our souvenirs back off in the hotel, we headed off for a late lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Gringos Amigos, with our friends. After learning our lesson from the first visit, we all got delicious burrito enchiladas, which were very filling and set us up for the rest of the day.

Across the city, the Tim and Josh's crew were busy meeting up with some locals they had connections with. They got to learn even more about the Hungarian language, as well as get more acquainted with the city of Budapest. Overall, it was a great experience for them.

From their meeting, Tim and Josh decided to go do what Anders and Ethan had done earlier in the day, buy souvenirs. Meanwhile, we had made our way into the northern parts of the city to Duna Arena for the final day of the European Women's Water Polo Championships! 

Our tickets were for the whole championship day session, and we arrived midway through the 5th place game to give us enough time to get acquainted with the rules for the most important match of the day: Hungary's bronze medal game against The Netherlands.

The atmosphere at this game was amazing and full of energy, which was what we expected when we first heard of Hungary's prowess in the sport. The Hungarians got out to a quick lead, and the arena was going off. However, The Netherlands took advantage of fouls and got to a point where they were up 8-5, striking nerves into the crowd, us included. Amazingly, in the second half, Hungary was able to put together another string of goals to regain the lead. The video below shows their last goal, which all but secured the bronze for Hungary! (It doesn't do the crowd justice for how loud it got)

Still hyped from Hungary's win, we stayed for the final match between Spain and Russia, before seeing the award ceremony for the whole tournament. It was truly interesting to see the importance of water polo to such a small nation like Hungary. 

While Anders and Co. were at water polo, the rest of our crew was busy searching for dinner, which they got at a scrumptious burger joint. It was then time to visit a board game bar. Unfortunately, it proved to be too crowded for this Saturday night, so that will have to come at a later date. We all finished our night with a nice trip back to the hotel along the river to get some much needed rest. 

It's been a pleasure bringing you our adventures from Budapest and beyond for this month, so for the last time from 453, thanks for riding along!

Final Friday in Budapest :,(

Happy Friday!! Meredith, Hannah, and Emma from room 661 are back!

We started the morning off a little earlier than usual with a very engaging presentation on the Hungarian refugee crisis of 2015 by Anna, a woman at McDaniel College who works closely with St. Olaf's study abroad programs in Budapest! She described the political climate in Hungary and what it was like to live in Budapest during the 2015 refugee crisis. While her talk was very interesting to listen to, it was also heartbreaking to hear everything the refugees had to go through because of the Hungarian government. However, Anna also told us stories about how helpful and kind many of the Hungarian citizens were during the crisis. Overall, it was a very moving presentation. 

After Anna's talk we had a short break before doing, you guessed it, MORE MATH!! Today we learned about pythagorean triples (PT) and primitive pythagorean triples (PPT). Trust us when we say it was very hard–our proof of the primitive pythagorean triple theorem (PPTT) covered TWO full notebook pages. Don't worry, Prof Hanson made sure to give us an extra hard worksheet to accompany the lesson :) 

Here is Michael showcasing how we feel about Number Theory (sorry Bruce, it's just really hard math). This complex math left us starving, so after a quick lunch break we returned to the classroom to watch a movie in Hungarian. The movie was called The Witness (A Tanú in Hungarian) and it was a satire about communism in Hungary. 

After the movie we went back to the hotel and worked on the homework before going out to dinner to our favorite restaurant, Pasta e Basta. 

Now we're back in the hotel, ready to settle in for a night of snacks and movies! We can't wait for our final weekend in our new favorite city, but we're sad to be leaving so soon :(