Unfettered

Last Friday was the first time I was able to take advantage of my sparse Friday course load, by taking a trip to the Hungarian city of Pécs . This destination was suggested by Erica, our Hungarian teacher, and Kylee's house mom, as a good city to visit on the weekend. She was especially thrilled that we could go on Friday and Saturday since apparently there are only tourists out on Sunday, so by going on Friday we could see what the city is really like. The four of us ( Lydia , Kylee, Ranjan, and I) caught an early train out of Keleti pályaudvar the train station down the block from me. Despite the early fog things eventually cleared and I was able to get a feel for the Hungarian countryside. Flat and snow covered, though likely not for much longer. Once in Pecs we dropped our stuff at our hostel, spent half an hour learning how to unlock the door (with help from the kind painter there), and wandered in to the city center. We didn't have much of an itinerary so we mostly wande

Yesterday was by far one of the best Mondays I have ever had, especially considering school was in session. As I mentioned in an earlier post I only have Classical Algebra on Mondays, and it only lasts for another week and a half. I share this glorious happenstance with Ranjan, Lydia, and Kylee so naturally we needed to make the most of our free morning yesterday. We decided to go visit the Hungarian Parliament which is one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe. First however we opted to have brunch at a nearby crepe place. This was delicious!! They had a whole bunch of different varieties all at really good prices, so naturally I had to have 3. I started out with chestnut cream and apple walnut and finished off with a spinach crepe. Despite the fact that the spinach had been processed down to a green ooze it was still good, though nothing on the apple walnut my personal favorite. We're certainly going there again and I recommend you do to! (its right by the top of the Batthy

So due to the prompting of my BSM classmates (you know who you are) its time for another update. As most of you know I'm here to study math, so it makes sense for me to discuss my classes and their selection process. Since the first three weeks here are meant to be a shopping period I did the logical thing and went to as many classes as possible. During the first week I attended meetings of Advanced Abstract Algebra, Classical Algebra, Combinatorics 1 (A and B), Graph Theory, Number Theory 1A, Quantum Information and Quantum Computation, and Combinatorial and Computational aspects of Bioinformatics. Attending so many classes made it rather difficult to narrow things down, especially since they all sounded so interesting. Eventually I axed Quantum Information and Quantum Computation MAP as it is abbreviated since the professor didn't really engage me despite the interesting topic. Next to go was Advanced Abstract Algebra leaving me with my current math courses as follows: Classi

This has been the most boring blog ever, likely due to my lack of Internet access in my flat and compounded by my lack of free-time. The reason for this being Hungarian classes from 9 -4. In order to tide everyone over I will try to give a partial account of what I've been up to. Jan. 18 - Leave USA via SFO Jan. 19 - Arrive in Budapest after about 3 hours of sleep on planes, meet my room-mate Solomon, stay up till 9 in order to fend off Jet lag. Jan. 20 - 22 - Language classes with other BSMers Jan. 23 & 24 - Weekend! explore the city including city park and get to know other BSMers Jan 25-29 - More classes, occupied the afternoons with sledding, exploring, and going to blues club. Jan 30&31 - Weekend 2, explored Buda , went to a dinner party at a friends and a couple of Discos. Feb 1- present - Last week of language school, also went to the immigration office for a residence permit, the national museum, and the Opera. Hopefully I will be able to update more regularly, mor