One Minute Stories

Three days until we land in the U.S., and we’re feeling the pressure! We’re excited to reunite with our friends and family, but as we won’t be back to Budapest again in the foreseeable future, we’ve been absorbing as much as we possibly can this week. This month been just enough time to grow accustomed to living here, and we want to hold on to as many details as we can. Every day, we notice new stores on the bus ride to school. By the stop at Blaha Lujza Ter, a stand sells chimney cakes for half as much as the store near the hotel. We’ve named three pigeons- Rudolph, Jerry, and Francine- and we find them every couple of days near the school. The young people here have hipster backpacks, the old women wear berets, all the dogs wear sweaters, and the tiny kids wear marshmallow-esque snowsuits. So much happens every single day, it’s all we can do to take it in.

Today was our last day traveling to school. We’ve gotten so accustomed to the routine of getting up, getting our breakfast, and then taking our preferred type of transportation to the classroom that it will be weird tomorrow to have a break in our schedule (and on a weekday too!). Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to use lots of that time studying for our final!

For our last day of class, we learned about Pythagorean Triples. For those of us that remember back to the days of right triangles, Pythagorean Triples can help us to find integers that work as side lengths for right triangles.

Then in the afternoon we were treated to a final guest lecture on Hungarian literature. Having been in Hungary for almost a full month now, we’ve gotten to learn and experience much about the Hungarian culture: from music to history and from art to politics. So today we got a glimpse into how it’s all tied together in the poems and stories of Hungary. Our guest lecturer was Arato Laszlo, an expert on Hungarian literature. Also, he had seemingly magical glasses that always fell back down to the bridge of his nose right when he needed to read us a passage. He read us poems and one minute stories in Hungarian and convinced us all that they sound much better untranslated, due to Hungarian’s distinct long and short vowels and how they work to create a unique stress pattern that is unlike anything you will find in English literature. As he quoted, “Hungarian is a soft cradle and a hard coffin.” He explained this meant that the language is so beautiful that it is easy to fall in love with and begin writing for it, and yet it is so beautiful that it cannot be faithfully translated, dooming any spread to other nations and languages.

Mattie and Kate H are clearly upset that this was our last day of number theory :(

With time running out, Jess’s quest for the best espresso in Budapest has intensified! Today, the next cafe on the docket was Kontakt Cafe, which is as yet the definite winner. The placard on the table read, “NO SUGAR/YES GOOD COFFEE.” Rich, intense espresso, clean modern decor, and a small, busy, yet quiet environment made for a lovely start to the morning. Tomorrow’s cafe will have a high bar to jump. No sugar. Yes good coffee!

For our lunch break, Mattie, Eva, Zareef, and Justin took one last trip to Bors GastroBár for baguette sandwiches. As always, the food was delicious and the employees were hilarious...especially the cup-flipping soup guy who photobombed our picture. Sam, Tess, Eric E, Eric S, Sarah, Kate A, Kate H, and Jess all decided to go back to The Box for donuts and bagel sandwiches since yesterday’s lunch was such a success. The favorite donut amongst the group has to be the caramel donut, although the apple cinnamon, oreo, and strawberry basil are tied for close second! (Sidenote: Professor Berliner and Eva both agree that nothing can ever compare to old-fashioned sour cream donuts from Greenbush Bakery in Madison)

Kate H, Eva and Mattie ventured back to the market in hopes of picking up some souvenirs (it’s okay, we don’t have pictures of those so the surprise is still present). The market is a huge building filled with all the essentials including paprika and presidential Russian nesting dolls.

For dinner, Jess, Will, Charles, Justin, Catherine, Aaron, and Eric S. went to dinner at Iguana, a Mexican restaurant! After feasting on chips, salsa, quesadillas and more while the Beastie Boys (yes, the Beastie Boys) played in the background, Catherine headed back to the hotel while the rest of us caught a trolley to the Budapest City Ice Arena. It was the perfect night for it- our last bit of unfettered fun before we begin serious study for the final on Saturday morning. We finished it off with a quick tour around the peaceful, picturesque Heroes’ Square.

Another group of us, including Adam, Nick, Eva, Mattie and Kate H, went to For Sale Pub for dinner. The walls were filled with notes written on the back of the placemats, which may or may not have been a slight fire hazard. This pub also had a giant basket of peanuts that counted for half of our dinner, and the shells could be tossed right on the ground (how nuts!).

Következő megálló? Spending the entire day tomorrow cramming for our final exam! Wish us luck. Jó éjszakát!

Mattie, Eva, Jess, and Kate H.