We finished the language program this week. It was a good experience, but I’m glad it’s over. I was getting pretty burned out from so much class, and we were sort of reaching the point of diminishing returns anyway. To really learn more of the language I think I would have to go back and spend some more time with the fundamentals.

Adam (my roommate) got in on Monday. It’s been nice to have somebody around to talk to. We’ve done quite a bit of grocery shopping, and I think we now have a pretty well stocked kitchen. A lot of pasta, but I suppose that’s to be expected.

Over the last few days I’ve taken the opportunity to visit some places around the city. Yesterday I went with Adam and Saiying to one of the art museums. There was an exhibition on “Durer and his Contemporaries” that we wanted to see, and we took the opportunity to browse the rather extensive permanent collection. The Durer exhibition was really cool. It was a series of woodblock prints that were almost Dr. Suess like in their imaginativeness. There was one piece that consisted of over a hundred prints that depicted a fifty meter long parade. We spent quite some time examining it, but there were so many details I feel as though I could stare at it for hours.

Yesterday evening I was planning to stay around the appartment, but Adam suggested that we look for a cafe we could sit at and read. Partway through our search we ran into George and Jamie, who are here for a cognitive science program. We ended up hanging out with them for a while and discussing some of the differences between our respective programs. They are housed in a sort of dorm, which I suppose has advantages and disadvantages. They get internet access, but they don’t have a kitchen or washing machine. While I’d be willing to sacrifice quite a bit for internet access, I think I’m glad we are living in an appartment. It’s a little bit more independent, and I’ve learned a lot just by doing things like grocery shopping.

We have orientation this afternoon. We should finally get the official course schedule and get a chance to meet some of the professors. I’m actually really looking forward to starting classes on Monday. It will be really nice to have a regular routine and to be a student again.

(Note: I’m setting the time for this post for when I wrote it rather than when I’m posting it. I don’t have very regular access to the internet, so I’ve written some of this on my laptop and then transferred it.)

I’ve now been in Budapest for about a week, though it feels as if it has been much longer. Everyday has been packed with almost 8 hours of class along with the the constant challenges of learning a new city. It’s amazing how much you have to relearn in a foreign country: how to order at a restaraunt, how to pay, how to use the metro, etc. I suppose you’d have to figure out some of the same things in any big city ÐÊit certaintly took me a while to learn the Minneapolis transit system, but at least there I knew the language and the culture.

Speaking of which, the Hungarian language is like nothing I’ve seen before. There are very few cognates, and the grammer is significantly different from English or French. It uses endings instead of prepositions, which I gather is like German, but German speakers seem just as confused as I am, so who knows. I’m sure part of the trouble is trying to learn the basics of the language in two weeks. Everytime I start to understand something we move on to something else and I promptly forget it all. I’ve gotten a few helpful phrases comfortably down, but for every word I remember, ten more slip through the cracks.

There is also a big difference between learning the language in the classroom and using it on the street. Learning a language is supposed to be easiest when you’re immersed in it, but it’s still pretty terrifying to realize that what I’ve learned in five days of Hungarian class is literally the only way I have of communicating with a significant portion of the population. Case in point: I would really like to buy some fresh fruit since you never get it at restaruants. Unfortunately, to buy fruit here you have to ask for it, which of course requires Hungarian. I theoretically know how to say “I would like a kilogram of apples,” for instance, but I wouldn’t know how to answer any of the questions the shop keeper might ask in response. Instead I tend to end up with that deer in the headlights look and regress to grunts and gestures. Eventually my desire for fruit will overcome my hesitation, but for the moment I’m relying on a jar of canned peaches I bought at the szupermarket.

I still have yet to visit most of the sights that Budapest is known for. The castles, baths, and museums of the city are all supposed to be worth seeing, and I’m looking forward to the chance to play tourist. Once the language program is over we have a few days before starting the math, so that might be a good time to go sightseeing.