Next Slide, Please!

Szia from Budapest!

Professor Berliner here, chiming in for the first time this month for what will be the final blog!

Of course this has two meanings, as we began our day with the final exam for the number theory course, and naturally the students loved every single second of it.

Seriously, though, I know the academic load stresses everyone out and it's really because they truly care!  I am so proud of all 24 students and the academic prowess they've showed this month.  Yes, there have been challenges for sure.  But each every person had moments where they truly shined and I very much believe that the experience would be lesser if any one of them had not been along for the ride with the rest of us.

After the exam ended and students took various-length breaks, we headed over to a cafe a couple blocks from the hotel.  There, we met up with Emese and our student guides for the cultural presentations.  I was so proud of how the Oles dove in to learning a little more about Hungarian culture, art, music, and much more!  

Here's a fun summary of the projects:

First up: Rosemary, Quinn, Aly, Mer, and Uvin talked about their fun day working with (mostly Ukranian) refugee children showing them the different wonders of science.  Their project involved fire, baking soda, vinegar, and other fun materials.  The kids HAD A BLAST!

Second, Shen and Signe talked about the Deaf and hard of hearing community in Hungary and how ASL and HSL (Hungarian Sign Language) are in some ways similar and in so many other ways different.  We even learned a few signs in HSL!!

Third, George, Sarah, Mario, and Siri talked about their experience with the Children's Railway.  Set in the Buda hills, the Children's railway is almost completely run by children ages 10-15.  It is tough to be selected to be one of the participants, but this is where our very own Hungarian friend Bence got his start!

Next, Cole and Stephanie talked about their time at the Light Art Museum.  There were so many cool things, including a demo that made us all feel as if we were walking right into a human eye and seeing how the individual pieces work.  Also, there were some neat pictures of how light pollution affects insect swarming and can cause them to lay their eggs in less-than-ideal locations.

After that, we were treated to the adventures of Harry, Andrew, and Peter.  They talked about the hidden mini statues that can be found all throughout Budapest.  Harry and Andrew decided that going for a nice long run was the way to go, and they planned their route so as to hit as many as possible.  Peter was not as down with this plan, so he made sure to take a LOT of fun selfies with the statues on a solo quest.

Next slide, please: Graham's turn!  Graham regaled us with a talk about his adventures in Buda.  He was dropped off at a somewhat random (chosen by Emese) location and given some tasks to complete.  He then navigated his way through Buda, using transport minimally and without internet, to find these various locales.  He also managed to make it back to the hotel in this fashion - what an adventure!  Bence, who was in charge of the computer, could not keep up with Graham's slides though.

Our penultimate presentation was given by Michael and Dylan.  I cannot believe how much music these two packed into 27 short days!  There were concerts at the Liszt Academy, the Opera House, in Vienna, and at a sports stadium.  Classical music, choirs singing Disney, and opera were all on the menu.  I can certainly say that math and music go very well together.

Last but not least, we heard from Grace, Will, Henry, and Travis (who I now and forever will call TPatty). I think this group had the hardest and least enjoyable project, since they were tasked with discovering the various places to drink liquids in Budapest.  We got to see some coffee shops, tea shops, and other places with liquids in them.  We got one-sip reactions to various drinks, including one that made Brandon start coughing when I gave him some.  But we are Oles so we don't discuss that here.  This group got official matching uniforms for their talk - how fun!

After the presentations, it was time for our final dinner together as a class.  We celebrated by going to Trofea, a local restaurant that has a massive buffet that includes all of the Hungarian delicacies we've come to enjoy this month, and more.  It was all-you-can-eat, which a few of our hungarier (pun intended) students thoroughly enjoyed.  It was also all-you-can-drink, so the students that had been complaining about the lack of free water and expensive soda had a lot more fun tonight.  But, the professor has a sweet tooth, so he certainly enjoyed this tiramisu:

The students surprised Brandon and I with lovely cards with personal notes written by each of them.  I can tell they each found something truly life-altering (in a positive way) about this experience even if there were struggles at times.  I'm going to miss everyone!  We also surprised Emese and our new student friends with some St. Olaf swag - they are now honorary Oles and I am pretty sure I heard them being taught Um Yah Yah.

Well with that, we all leave tomorrow.  I want to thank our hosts here in Budapest and the families and friends of the students back home.  We know you miss them but we are thankful for whatever part you had in sending them our way this month.  Brandon is off to Switzerland in the morning for a real vacation and an epic 30th birthday celebration, while I will return to Minneapolis to frantically prepare for the semester that begins one week from tomorrow.

Signing off from Budapest,

Prof. B aka Adam aka "baby girl" (although Quinn calls everyone that so it's not just me)