Szia!

We staggered through our first full weekend here and apparently made it to the beginning of the second week of classes. Variety being the spice of life, our breakfast this morning surprised us with some exciting novelty — there were no spoons. We tried our best to glean some sustenance from the yogurt using only forks and knives, knowing that we needed to prepare for a long walking tour of Budapest. You may recall from the first blog post (a beautiful prose poem of sorts written by our colleagues and friends Aditya, Colin D., and Jonny) that this tour was postponed due to our guide, Andras, sustaining a back injury. It would seem that his back has recovered because he managed to walk us all to exhaustion through the early part of the day.

We met up in the classroom at 9:45 to cover a bit of Hungary's history—from the Budapast—before setting off.

Andras didn't realize that we only use yellow chalk for definitions. lol. The blunder was forgiven, but I think we all agree that it can never be forgotten. 

We learned that Hungarians came to this land in 1000, and that many empires have occupied the land since (including the Tatars, Turks, Austrians, Nazis, and Russians). Stepping outside, we rejoiced at the warm, sunny weather, reaching a neo-pagan ecstasy.

Hail Hanson, full of warmth. Blue skies are with you. Blessed art thou among weather warriors, and blessed is the fruit of your sunbeams. etc, etc, we all know the prayer.

On our tour, the history we had covered sprung to life before our eyes. For example, we noted the lack of Gothic architecture (destroyed by the Turks) and the fact that the bridges connecting Buda and Pest have been rebuilt since their destruction by the retreating Nazis.

We saw a lot of historical statues, and a few that were just for fun. This one foreshadowed the surprising number of children zooming through the streets of Budapest by scooter that we would see through the day.

The Parliament building, a masterful fusion of Baroque and Gothic architecture. Also pictured: rails of the public transit system, still mystifying some of us

A highlight of the trip was Andras' discussion of the statue of Imre Nagy, a leader of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a fight for freedom against the Soviets. Andras described Nagy's humanitarianism and heroism, and our class gathered around the memorial of our newfound idol.

We soon found ourselves in a large square at the head of one of Budapest's most beautiful streets. A memorial here served the dual purpose of recognizing the losses of World War I and of marking the millennium anniversary of Hungary. On one side, we saw the Museum of Fine Arts, and on the other side there was the Museum of Contemporary Arts. It was a beautiful taste of Hungarian architecture!

To pay our respects to the Unknown Soldier, Iris, Corey, Lily, and Colin D. stood in front of his tomb to take a touristy picture. Behind us the statues memorialize the tribal chiefs who first brought Hungarians to this land. Having been brought here by Delta Airlines, we felt even less distinguished.

At the end of the tour, we told Andras our köszönöms and settled into a pancake café, which served sweet and savory crêpe-like delicacies, treated by Professor Hanson. We then scurried over to the tram and made it to class just in time to learn some preliminary properties of the primes. Scintillating!

Some of us were more excited than others.

After class, Aditya and I (Corey) left for a fruit stand that we pass every day between the metro and McDaniel College. Amazingly, we managed to get lost twice before finding the right way. It was a worrisome shock to learn that we had no idea how to navigate the most fundamental of routes.

Hungarian Horror Story: Bewilderment in Budapest

Back at the hotel, I (Greg) took a nap, characteristically. I (Corey) took the wrong bus to a restaurant, characteristically. Later in the evening, we all reconvened informally in the breakfast room to finish up (start) tomorrow's homework. Tomorrow is our first day of math in both the mornings and afternoons, and though we may complain, in our heart of hearts we rejoice. Until then, we'll be sleeping soundly under fresh blankets!

csók (possibly "we kiss you goodbye" in Hungarian?),
Corey & Greg