Down to Business: My Reasons for Being in Budapest

In my previous long-winded posts, I have neglected to discuss the reason I came to Budapest in the first place, school. In this post I will attempt to correct this, though I make no promises because I have a tendency to go off on tangents.

I would first like to start out by explaining my motives for choosing this program in comparison to those of my new classmates. When I began investigating the abroad programs Ripon had to offer I circled many different programs simply if their location sounded interesting. After circling way too many abroad programs, after all I can only be one place at any given time, I decided to narrow the field to those programs that would help me in one of my majors. I finally narrowed it down to Budapest for Math or St. Andrews, Scotland for Biology. Without too much investigation I rashly decided on Budapest with the rationale that Budapest is more exotic and there is less of a chance that I will visit later in life. Scotland is closer and is an English speaking country, not to mention the country of my ancestors, so I'll get there at some point.

So, my main motivations for coming to Budapest were cultural, not scholastic. When I began meeting people in my program I was absolutely floored by their excitement about math. Don't get me wrong, I love math, but not like many of my classmates. I remember one of my classmates being upset about the task of deciding between two classes because he wasn't able to take both. I definitely have not had that problem. It helps that I have taken the bare minimum of classes to be able to participate in this program, so I simply don't have the exposure to take a lot of the courses. For future BSMers who have similar motivations and exposure (or lack there of), don't fear! You are not alone. I have found a number of people who approach this program similarly to how I approach it.

This experience has assured me that I am a biologist at heart and that is where my future lies. My approach to my class schedule here is focusing on applied mathematics. I have taken theoretical math courses, and while they are interesting and are the most mind-bending classes I have ever taken, I'm just not that into theoretical math, at least not the theoretical math that I will never use. Theory relating to probability or statistics will prove far more useful in my chosen career path than the theory behind topological spaces. With all that in mind I decided to take Probability, Combinatorics, and Bioinformatics (it has bio in the name, so I just couldn't help myself).

Another consideration behind my class choices was giving myself a break. At Ripon I am busy every second of everyday, and usually don't have enough time to get everything done, despite nights with very few hours of sleep. I didn't want to be in class or studying all the time here. I wanted free time to explore my surroundings. You are only a college student in a foreign city once. Thus, I stuck to more introductory level courses and left the advanced courses to others, who would undoubtedly get much more enjoyment out of them than I would.

Like I mentioned before, I am not here just for math. I am here to learn all I can about a culture that has, until recently, been under my radar. To satisfy my curiosity in all things culture I have decided to take Introductory Hungarian (if nothing else I will learn a few useful phrases and how to somewhat pronounce words) and Hungarian Art and Culture. The latter is the course that I am most excited about. We've only had one class so far, but it is simply fascinating. In just one short meeting my eyes have been thrown open to the history that saturates everything from street signs to green spaces to people walking on the street. Words that were once a mystery of strangely arranged vowels and consonants are now taking shape into the historical figure they represent. I love it! I may be completely and utterly devoted to science and math, but I am also a closet history lover. The Hungarian language course is also allowing me to delve into the source of Hungary's pride and struggles, it's language. Hungarian (magyar) is the essence of the true Hungarian identity, a concept that has plagued the people of this country for hundreds of years. Magyar (pronounced mawdyar, but with a VERY soft d) is unlike any other language on earth. Because of its uniqueness, magyar is a source of pride and definition for the people of Hungary (Magyarorzag), but also alienates them from the rest of the world. In keeping true to my nerdish tendencies, I can't wait to do my reading homework for Hungarian Art and Culture.

Well that's probably enough for now. I'm off to go explore Budapest at night! Szia!