First Day of Classes!

Jó napot from Room 453! Your blog today is brought to you by Anders, Ethan, Josh, and Tim. Our third full day here of our interim marked the start of our Hungarian and Number Theory learning adventures. After our usual hotel breakfast, we moved up to one of the conference rooms to start learning the Hungarian language, taught by Emese. We learned formal and informal pleasantries, as well as how to pronounce most of the letters (there are A LOT)! Once we were done learning Hungarian for the day, it was time to bus over and see our classroom for the first time, but not before getting lunch first. Anders went to a small ramen shop, while the rest of us went along to a cafe. 

Pictured is Tim with his hot chocolate, which was delicious! Shortly thereafter, we moved back to our classroom, in the building below, where our first lesson of number theory began.

 Prof. Hanson taught us about the Division Algorithm and linear combinations, which can be used to find divisibility and common factors. We were then free to go explore the city! Josh decided to go along with another group and visit a chocolate shop near Parliament. The remainder of our room took a metro under the Danube River to the center of Buda to explore the city. We walked through a park near the metro station, before heading up one of Buda's many hills, which turned out to be the back of the castle. Luckily, we made it to the top just in time to catch the sunset.

From here, we walked back down to the river in front of Parliament before catching the tram and bus back to our hotel. By the time we got back, it was time for dinner with the whole room back together at a pizza shop just a couple blocks away from us. Finally, we returned to complete our first homework assignment, a milestone for this month.

Student Bios:

Anders Bergsten: Class of '22 from Carlisle, PA. Majoring in math and chemistry, concentrating in environmental studies. He is a member of the St. Olaf Tennis Team, and enjoys biking and skiing.

Ethan Bruha: Class of '22 from Lincoln, NE. Majoring in math, concentrating in stats/data science. He is also a member of the St. Olaf Tennis Team, and enjoys traveling and spending time outdoors.

Josh Kugel: Class of '22 from Woodbury, MN. Majoring in math and economics with an emphasis in finance, concentrating in stats/data science. He's a member of the frisbee team at St. Olaf, and enjoys cards and hiking.

Tim Roback: Class of '22 from Northfield, MN. Majoring in math and computer science, concentrating in stats/data science. He's yet another member on this trip who's a part of the St. Olaf Tennis Team, and enjoys hiking and board games.