Sziastok!
That means “Hello!” in Hungarian…or at least the plural form of it as I hope my audience is greater than one. This will be the first of hopefully a series of posts describing my current study abroad opportunity in Budapest, Hungary. So let’s start at the beginning shall we?
Near winter quarter of my junior year I applied for this study abroad program in Budapest, Hungary that focused on interdisciplinary coursework in the Cognitive Sciences supplemented with an individual research-focused package. According to the program description:
The Budapest Semester in Cognitive Sciences (BSCS) is an undergraduate study abroad program for students from the U.S. and other countries aimed at broadening their understanding of cognitive science from an interdisciplinary perspective. Lecturers of the Program are distinguished experts with noteworthy international research and teaching experience...blah...blah...blah...
That means “Hello!” in Hungarian…or at least the plural form of it as I hope my audience is greater than one. This will be the first of hopefully a series of posts describing my current study abroad opportunity in Budapest, Hungary. So let’s start at the beginning shall we?
Near winter quarter of my junior year I applied for this study abroad program in Budapest, Hungary that focused on interdisciplinary coursework in the Cognitive Sciences supplemented with an individual research-focused package. According to the program description:
The Budapest Semester in Cognitive Sciences (BSCS) is an undergraduate study abroad program for students from the U.S. and other countries aimed at broadening their understanding of cognitive science from an interdisciplinary perspective. Lecturers of the Program are distinguished experts with noteworthy international research and teaching experience...blah...blah...blah...
Basically I will be taking a variety of courses ranging anywhere from Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, Computational
Neuroscience, & Biophysics courses. This is then complemented by Hungarian Language as well as Culture classes to enrich our experience for
total of 14 classes total. Topped off
with a partnering up with research faculty, I will be allowed to investigate a
particular area in the Cognitive Sciences that strikes my fancy. So now let’s get to the actual trip…
In an attempt to maintain relative order in my writing I’ll number my thoughts starting from last Friday to this Friday. (Week 1 of the program)
1) It all began at LAX airport. According to my plane ticket it would be a 22 hour flight total, with two layovers, one at JFK airport in New York, and the other in Warsaw, Poland. I had some trouble near the beginning as I didn’t have a visa to get into Hungary (I didn’t need one) and I guess it looked quite suspicious that I bought a one-way ticket to Hungary (I didn’t know the exact date I would be back). Apparently, people like coming into a country and staying there without government permission. Who knew? Sarcasm aside, it just took a little time and convincing on my part to be granted permission.
I guess the flight went as flights usually go, but my first hint that language would be a great obstacle came up on LOT Polish airlines going from Poland to Hungary. We were offered food during the flight, but since everyone spoke Hungarian the flight attendants catered to this trend. I was under the impression that I might have to pay for some foods during the flight, but I also knew some of the meals were free. The question was—were the words that were going to come out of the flight attendant’s mouth an offer of free food or an offer to buy something?
In an attempt to minimize any clumsy, fumbling, ‘I don’t know have a remote clue to what you are even saying!?’ - type of interaction, I just ended up slipping my American passport onto my lap with the “United States” part faced upward in order to signify I only spoke English. It worked. I was now in Hungary safe, satiated, and pocket still filled with unspent, pre-ordered forints (their form of currency).
2) I arrive in Hungary and briskly walk to the luggage pick-up knowing that my flight was late and the person sent to pick me up would be waiting for me with a sign holding up my name or the name of the program (a sight I’ve always wanted to experience being the recipient of).
Anyways, I wait for my luggage and after what seemed like forever, I began questioning whether it arrived at all. I went to the “baggage-inquiry” section of the airport and asked the lady who spoke broken English. She informed me that my luggage was lost somewhere in Poland right now, briefly handed me a few papers to sign, told me that I would have to wait ‘X’ amount of time, and smiled. Ugh. Totally not the way I wanted to start my experience.
Before filling out the papers I went around asking people if I could borrow a cell phone so that I could call my contact, but apparently I looked pretty suspicious carrying a phone of my own and trying to get people to understand that I wanted them to call the number I was pointing at on my phone in my hand (I didn’t have Hungarian service). Anyways, I called my contact and she assured me that a person would be waiting for me until I filled out my papers. So I went to sign the papers and saw some words printed in English at the bottom in tiny script, “These papers do NOT serve as an acknowledgment of fault on our part.” Jeez people, really?
After signing the papers, I went outside to the pick-up section and realized there was nobody ready to pick me up. I called my contact and she said the person left since I was taking too long. Strike #2 against this experience so far. However, knowing that you can achieve way more in life with a smile branded upon your face I stuck it through. It took some time, but I finally arrived at the dorms I was staying at with just my carry-on backpack.
In an attempt to maintain relative order in my writing I’ll number my thoughts starting from last Friday to this Friday. (Week 1 of the program)
1) It all began at LAX airport. According to my plane ticket it would be a 22 hour flight total, with two layovers, one at JFK airport in New York, and the other in Warsaw, Poland. I had some trouble near the beginning as I didn’t have a visa to get into Hungary (I didn’t need one) and I guess it looked quite suspicious that I bought a one-way ticket to Hungary (I didn’t know the exact date I would be back). Apparently, people like coming into a country and staying there without government permission. Who knew? Sarcasm aside, it just took a little time and convincing on my part to be granted permission.
I guess the flight went as flights usually go, but my first hint that language would be a great obstacle came up on LOT Polish airlines going from Poland to Hungary. We were offered food during the flight, but since everyone spoke Hungarian the flight attendants catered to this trend. I was under the impression that I might have to pay for some foods during the flight, but I also knew some of the meals were free. The question was—were the words that were going to come out of the flight attendant’s mouth an offer of free food or an offer to buy something?
In an attempt to minimize any clumsy, fumbling, ‘I don’t know have a remote clue to what you are even saying!?’ - type of interaction, I just ended up slipping my American passport onto my lap with the “United States” part faced upward in order to signify I only spoke English. It worked. I was now in Hungary safe, satiated, and pocket still filled with unspent, pre-ordered forints (their form of currency).
2) I arrive in Hungary and briskly walk to the luggage pick-up knowing that my flight was late and the person sent to pick me up would be waiting for me with a sign holding up my name or the name of the program (a sight I’ve always wanted to experience being the recipient of).
Anyways, I wait for my luggage and after what seemed like forever, I began questioning whether it arrived at all. I went to the “baggage-inquiry” section of the airport and asked the lady who spoke broken English. She informed me that my luggage was lost somewhere in Poland right now, briefly handed me a few papers to sign, told me that I would have to wait ‘X’ amount of time, and smiled. Ugh. Totally not the way I wanted to start my experience.
Before filling out the papers I went around asking people if I could borrow a cell phone so that I could call my contact, but apparently I looked pretty suspicious carrying a phone of my own and trying to get people to understand that I wanted them to call the number I was pointing at on my phone in my hand (I didn’t have Hungarian service). Anyways, I called my contact and she assured me that a person would be waiting for me until I filled out my papers. So I went to sign the papers and saw some words printed in English at the bottom in tiny script, “These papers do NOT serve as an acknowledgment of fault on our part.” Jeez people, really?
After signing the papers, I went outside to the pick-up section and realized there was nobody ready to pick me up. I called my contact and she said the person left since I was taking too long. Strike #2 against this experience so far. However, knowing that you can achieve way more in life with a smile branded upon your face I stuck it through. It took some time, but I finally arrived at the dorms I was staying at with just my carry-on backpack.
3) Arriving at the dorms was an impressive sight (though it
was quite dark and I was really biased towards wanting to view things in a
positive light). The place I was staying
at really possessed that awesome castle-like, antique vibe to it near the entrance.
So I get to my room on the 3rd
floor after helping carry someone else’s heavy luggage up for them in a polite,
though secretly bitter act. I then
realize that I am locked out of my room until my roommate either answers the
door or shows up since after some strained communication between me and the
doorman, there apparently exists one and only one key…no backups. I figured I could break in since the locking
mechanism just looked like (and really is) just a sliding bolt behind a thin
metal plate…similar to bathroom stalls), but I didn’t. So wait I did.
After 45 minutes or so I give up and just start exploring the place. I finally settle into the room next door, since it was open, nobody was in it, there was an empty bed, and I was utterly exhausted. Basically at this moment I was in the “I-will-do-whatever-I-want-since-life-sucks-and-owes-me” mode. As I began to settle in the bed I hear someone near the door and realize my roommate is back. All is good. After some greetings and time passing, I promptly go to sleep…
After 45 minutes or so I give up and just start exploring the place. I finally settle into the room next door, since it was open, nobody was in it, there was an empty bed, and I was utterly exhausted. Basically at this moment I was in the “I-will-do-whatever-I-want-since-life-sucks-and-owes-me” mode. As I began to settle in the bed I hear someone near the door and realize my roommate is back. All is good. After some greetings and time passing, I promptly go to sleep…
4) ...and I wake up
around 3 a.m. with my stomach growling its signature primal roar. So I decide after much internal debate that I
would head out and find some dinner…or breakfast for that matter (Thanks
Anthony!). This was quite
successful.
5) The next day I briefly do some shopping before I head out with the rest of my 21 BSCS crewmates to the program director’s house for a garden dinner party with the program staff members. It is here where I finally get to meet everyone and the diverse backgrounds from which they come from. Quite exciting.
It is here that I also find out that my worry of having to give up my Pescetarian diet would be of little substance. Apparently, one of my roommates is vegetarian while the other is pescetarian (score!). The guy next to our room is also vegetarian, as is a girl down the hall. The program director was also aware of this (quite common) trend and made double of the main Hungarian traditional dish—one with meat, while the other without. Pretty considerate.
5) The next day I briefly do some shopping before I head out with the rest of my 21 BSCS crewmates to the program director’s house for a garden dinner party with the program staff members. It is here where I finally get to meet everyone and the diverse backgrounds from which they come from. Quite exciting.
It is here that I also find out that my worry of having to give up my Pescetarian diet would be of little substance. Apparently, one of my roommates is vegetarian while the other is pescetarian (score!). The guy next to our room is also vegetarian, as is a girl down the hall. The program director was also aware of this (quite common) trend and made double of the main Hungarian traditional dish—one with meat, while the other without. Pretty considerate.
6) So this is where
the world seems to get freakishly smaller than it looks. At the dinner party I happened to meet with
one of the computational neuroscience professors, Petér Érdi (who by the way
has an Erdös number of 3 for you math folks), and he expressed interest in
having me work with his former student, Zoltán Somogyvári (one of my future
professors over here). Zoltán happened to
be currently coming back from his work in the lab of György Buzsáki, who in
turn JUST SO HAPPENS to be the author of the book, Rhythms of the Brain, of which I read last quarter. This book was the main factor in me even
finding this opportunity to begin with. Dr.
Érdi also told me he knew Dr. Bazhenov, a computational neuroscientist of whom
I took Cellular Neuroscience with at my home school. Nice.
Here’s hoping for those social synaptic connections!
Petér Érdi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9ter_%C3%89rdi
György Buzsáki
http://tdlc.ucsd.edu/research/highlights/rh-buzsaki-2011.html
Petér Érdi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9ter_%C3%89rdi
György Buzsáki
http://tdlc.ucsd.edu/research/highlights/rh-buzsaki-2011.html
7) Talking about
coincidences, I just so happened to bring along that impossibly dense &
difficult book, Gödel, Escher, Bach,
by Douglas Hofstadter (my bible) that I was reading at the same time as Rhythms of the Brain (which itself was
quite difficult to get through as it reads like a textbook). Already, I have had a few of my classmates
comment on the book saying they knew of its “grandeur”. A few of them even admitted their attempts at
reading the book (keyword: attempt), while others mentioned reading his other
work. This is great considering barely anybody
I know has even heard of the book, and those who have, have admitted they have
given up a long time ago.
What is also quite coincidental is having my Professor mention the book in class today (which perked me up quite a bit) as a comparison to reading the works of German philosophers such as Heidegger. These authors seem to take pride in writing witty, wordy, and utterly convoluted syntactical structures of thought…much of which I must admit I partake in.
I have even heard that this was the number one favorite book of my AP computer science teacher, Mr. Cog (of which I learned via his website just a few months ago)…which just creates a greater mountain out of a mole hill to climb since that class was a definite killer as I remember it. No matter what, whenever I find someone who knows of GEB by Hofstadter, their “respect status” in my mind just jumps up a ton. For those of you reading this right now:
Read the darn book. Or at the very least, try to.
Anyways, this is reminding me that this blog post is already quite long as it is. I have a ton of thoughts I want to share with you that still need to travel down the motor neuron stalks of my hands, but pre-frontal cortical inhibition states that I should pace myself and continue another time. I guess I’ll have to talk about the culture shock experience as well as my excursions this week in my next post.
I have to pack for my weekend camping trip tomorrow so I’ll leave you right here.
Viszonlátásra!
What is also quite coincidental is having my Professor mention the book in class today (which perked me up quite a bit) as a comparison to reading the works of German philosophers such as Heidegger. These authors seem to take pride in writing witty, wordy, and utterly convoluted syntactical structures of thought…much of which I must admit I partake in.
I have even heard that this was the number one favorite book of my AP computer science teacher, Mr. Cog (of which I learned via his website just a few months ago)…which just creates a greater mountain out of a mole hill to climb since that class was a definite killer as I remember it. No matter what, whenever I find someone who knows of GEB by Hofstadter, their “respect status” in my mind just jumps up a ton. For those of you reading this right now:
Read the darn book. Or at the very least, try to.
Anyways, this is reminding me that this blog post is already quite long as it is. I have a ton of thoughts I want to share with you that still need to travel down the motor neuron stalks of my hands, but pre-frontal cortical inhibition states that I should pace myself and continue another time. I guess I’ll have to talk about the culture shock experience as well as my excursions this week in my next post.
I have to pack for my weekend camping trip tomorrow so I’ll leave you right here.
Viszonlátásra!
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