Dammit! I just wrote a long post and then it got deleted.

Packing up the office to go home for Christmas. Because Hungarian exam period is six weeks rather than two, I'll have plenty with which to keep myself busy while home. Until I leave on Sunday, thought, I'm planning on taking things pretty easy - just Christmas shopping and hot wine and this paper that I'm supposed to be working on but which hasn't been going anywhere.

Nice things recently: unexpected carollers arriving at my door! Fulbright Christmas party! Lots of tasty food!

And of course plenty to look forward to. Happy holidays!

1. I have my official student card! I am officially a student.

2. Here are some Hungarian proverbs. http://www.hungarotips.com/hungarian/proverb.html It is indicative I think that the first several are about how things never change.

I got caught by the BKV (Hungarian transportation authorities) on the tram this morning. I use a student pass (I am a student, after all) but this morning a guy acutally took a careful look at my pass, and then asked to see my ID, and then pointed out that my ID was expired... The usual fee is 6000 ft., to be paid on the spot, but he said I could get away with only paying 3000. Suffice to say that I did not receive a reciept.

I recognize that complaining about the GREs ammounts to beating a dead horse, but I want to do it just a little. In the book I'm (semi-) frantically reading eighteen hours before the exam, this is what they say abou tthe analytical writing section:

"You probably have a sense of hwat score you need to be accepted by the graduate school of your choice. If you're seeking admission to Harvard's Ph.D. program in history, you're clearly aiming for a 5.5 or 6 [out of 6]. If you're aimin gfor a graduate program in a field that favors number-crunching over essay-writing -- mathematics or electrical engineering, for instance -- you clearly don't need to aim so high."

I'm glad that my entire field is reduced to number crunching!

More Esztergom

It's hard to tell, but if you look carefully at the second photo you can see Tesco and Suzuki, the most shining accoutrements of the landscape.

Some of these are from a hike in Esztergom last Saturday and some are of my office. Because you are smart, I'll leave it to you to figure out which ones are which.

For BSMers

- Last night in the Hummus bar there was a table of four guys, average looking, definitely undergrads, definitely American, and not really radiating "social skills" or anything like that, so I said to myself, maybe this is my chance... And I was right! They were, in fact, BSMers! I figured I had to run into some of them sooner or later and I had gone three months without seeing any, so it was about time. Turns out two of them were Ed Dewey's roommates. Eep!

- Also, Marie, our language teacher from two years ago, goes to my Bikram yoga studio! I saw her in the changing room before my class. Yoga bridges devides of age, class and political systems.

- This isn't strictly for BSMers, but it's funny/enjoyable to be an American around ElTE for the following reasons:

1. Many people I have talked to were unaware that there were any foreign students at all (mainly because there weren't until this September), so they are excited to have that modicum of diversity.

2. Some students are interested in US universities and like talking to me as a result. We can also commiserate about the GRE, although everyone I know finished taking it before I started studying and could therefore appreciate its idiocy in full.

3. Professors assume (correctly) that the only reason an American would come to Hungary to do math would be that she is an alumna of BSM. (Peter Palfy, in his raspy, breathy voice: "You must be from BSM... Why else would someone from Penn-syl-vania come to Hungary?"

Basically every professor who taught there also teaches at ELTE, so the program is well-known. I think they think of the American students as their special pets or something. In fact, it is quite possible that next semester I will be studying Commutative Algebra with Jozsef Pelikan and p-groups with my buddy Peter Hermann (that's my stab at who would be teaching it, anyway). Hopefully Peter doesn't remember me x_0.

I think the professors think of BSMers like their special pets or something. While I was there they really seemed to like us, and everyone who hears that I was in BSM seems excited enough. On the one hand, compared to Hungarian students, many BSMers are mathematical five-year-olds... We just don't take as many math courses! On the other hand, Americans do quirky things like get enthusiastic about the material, attend class regularly and turn in homework. This must be a breath of fresh air for Hungarian professors.

PS: I am STILL a little bitter that Soulmate got a better grade in Algebra then I did -- I dragged that motherf*cker through three quarters of the course!

Small language victories...

...like correctly using the imperative in class! "Ne beszelj teli szájjal!" Don't speak with your mouth full!

I am worried/frustrated about my Hungarian progress of late... Or, that I feel I'm not making any. I went more or less all of November without a teacher, which is no longer the case, but I'm worried that this new guy won't let me speak enough. He seems like he talks over me when I try to say things, which is not helpful. Clearly he already speaks Hungarian; I'm the one who needs to practice! We'll see where this goes.

Well, I just lost two hours of my life that I'm not getting back any time soon, but on the plus side I now have tickets to New York for Christmas! If you are in the area, we should meet up. In case anyone needed confirmation that international travel is hair-raising, I literally watched the prices go up while I tried to book a ticket.

Otherwise, the semester is finishing up. Last week I thought I could get away with only one exam, but it turns out now I have more like six. (One of my professors asked me if I wanted an exam or not, and then decided that I should probably have some sort of evaluation). Hopefully I can get two out of the way before I leave, and then study some while I'm home. This is less than ideal, but preferable to frantically scrambling to study after I get back here.

Otherwise, I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but it really feels like Christmas!!! We have a poinsetta in the office.

Otherwise: I was following some blogs before but now I'm not? Does anyone else have this problem?