The Begining of Math, and Beyond

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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:
  • Classical Algebra
  • Combinatorics 1
  • Number Theory 1
  • Graph Theory
  • Bioinformatics
I have yet to settle on a combinatorics section, but they are at the same time so that will not effect the distribution of my classes. This is a good thing since once Classical Algebra finishes up in a couple weeks I will have no classes on Monday and only one class from 8-10 on Friday! European travel here I come!!

Naturally I have not only been going to class so I will attempt to fill you in on the major events that have transpired since last update. The largest of which being my trip to Vienna last weekend, which I could easily fill an additional blog post. Luckily other BSM bloggers have detailed the trip so I will merely post a couple of my favorite pictures for your enjoyment.

This is one of the beautiful buildings that abound in Vienna, in fact there are so many that I don't remember which particular one this is.


This is us on the second day taking a quick stroll around the grounds of Schönbrunn Palace despite the frigid weather


And this last one is upper Belvedere Palace home to a pretty cool art museum with one of the oddest exhibits I have heard of in my, albeit limited, experience with art galleries. The exhibit to which I refer is housed in the large ballroom of the palace and consists of a sign in at least four languages instructing you to yell as loud as possible. If you follow instructions and achieve sufficient volume the chandeliers in the room flicker and a creepy heavy breathing emanates from hidden speakers. Now I don't know about you, but I find it somewhat hard to enjoy priceless artwork while being constantly startled by something out of the Spooky Sounds for Halloween CD. Sadly for us the sign explaining the exhibit was only in German so we may never know what was going on.

At the risk of boring my readership with such a long post I'm going to provide a cursory update of my activities this weekend, just to keep the blog current. On Friday a group of us met in city park to play some American football in the snow. Despite my lack of skill in most organized sports I had an awesome time and was an integral member of the winning team. After that we headed over to Joe and Neil's place for a delicious home-cooked meal provided by Lydia. On Saturday afternoon I toured the Budapest Labyrinth which was much more hokey than I expected (see Greg's reaction). In the evening I attended a wine and cheese party hosted by Sarah and Christy which was a good chance to get to know some of the people who did not attend language school including some returning BSMers. Today was mostly a homework day though I did go on a field trip to the Holocaust Memorial Center as part of my Holocaust and Memory class.

That's it for this weekend, who knows what this week will bring!

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