Romeo es Julia

On Friday I saw the ballet Romeo and Juliet. Since it was put on by the Hungarian National Ballet (and being that I am in Hungary) the translation of the title is Romeo es Julia, (probably plus some accent marks and umlauts that make it incomprehensible.) It was really fantastic. I decided to splurge on tickets, spending around 15 dollars, rather than my usual 2 dollars. The 2 dollar tickets are perfect for philharmonic concerts and such because they are labeled "restricted viewing". Now, this is a stretch, because last time I saw a concert I was only able to see the large string basses, and anyone who took high school orchestra realizes that these instruments are not placed anywhere near the center of the stage. Thus, by restricted view, they generally mean, "approximately 5% of the stage can be easily seen". Another downside of the 2 dollar tickets is that you are not allowed to use the main doors. You are directed to a side entrance and ushered up what seems like thousands of concrete stairs before being forced to check your coat and pointed a seat that is at an elevation approximate to that of Mount Olympus. In any case, being that I love Romeo and Juliet, I thought 15 dollars was a cheap price to pay. What I didn't realize, is that with this mere sum, you were considered a real person, allowed to use the main door. Instead of the bleak concrete steps, you walked on a plush red velvet carpet up to the second level. The stairs looked rather what Cinderella's castle may be like on the inside, with chandeliers and murals on the ceilings, and intricate carvings decorating every point on the wall. At the second level you could enter a side room and buy a huge selection of delicacies, from pastries to good wines, all at very decent prices. As I wandered around with my Coca Cola Light, (even while I was mingling with the sophisticated, it can't be denied that I still prefer a good soft drink to any wine) I found myself on a grand balcony over looking Andrassy, one of the main streets in Budapest. I thought that this balcony was only for decoration. I guess not. When it came time to find my seats (I had really no idea where they were being that the ticket was in Hungarian and my directional knowledge is limited to 'right' and 'left') imagine my surprise when I was ushered through velvet walls to a box! There are three tiers of boxed seats in the opera house. I was on the top tier of them, directly in the middle. The compartment was decorated with mirrors and had red velvet chairs. The usher took my jacket and hung it on the wall for me and offered me a program. I was the first person to arrive in the box, and I suddenly felt very self-conscious about my apparel. I was wearing a casual-yet-pretty linen skirt and a nice top: clothing that would have been borderline overly formal for the nosebleed seats. However, when 6 people joined me in the box, and all of them were wearing tuxes or ball gowns, my fears were realized. I buried myself in my program to escape any questions, when I realized the program was entirely in Hungarian! Ah, I would be inconspicuous if I just continued "reading" the program, thus avoiding any conversation as well as not making it obvious that I was an American. I began to think of myself as a sophisticated Hungarian student whose very rich Hungarian parents sent to the ballet for the evening. However, a gentleman, noticing my interest in the Hungarian program, leaned over and started jabbering away in a language that sounded like something from Star Wars. Alas! My Hungarian cover was dissolving! What to do? I smiled and replied, "Igen," the Hungarian word for "yes." The man looked at me like I was crazy. Who knows what he initially asked that the reply could not have been affirmative. Maybe he asked what my name was, or what I thought of ballet, but in any case, I failed at my Hungarian alias, and the tuxedoed man ignored me. Whew. But anyway, the ballet was beautiful, the music beautiful, and although it was over 3 hours long with two intermissions, it felt like I blinked my eyes and it was done.

I have a second midterm in my Number Theory class on Thursday. I still am lost with the concept of arithmetic functions. It's not that I don't understand them, I just am incapable of figuring out how they might be important to my life. I told my teacher I didn't like them, and he said, "me neither, they are boring." At least I have affirmation that they suck. However, I LOVE the concept of Quadratic Residues. The proof of why the product of two primitive roots isn't a primitive root can be done in 3 lines using quadratic residues, and is just sooo pretty. However, I still will be spending the better part of my next three days studying.

In Combinatorics we're studying Graph Theory. I like it a lot. It's so applicable to every day life, and usually problems can be solved by contradiction: my favorite technique. Sometimes it's tricky figuring out precisely what the question is asking, but in general, it is WAY better than sampling combinatorial problems. Ick.

In Elementary Problem solving I have two different teachers, and so get exposed to SO much material. In my Monday class we're studying vectors. However, we don't translate these vectors into matrices, or use any linear algebra, rather, we're studying their properties in terms of strict geometry. I like it. On Wednesday we're doing a unit on game theory. I don't really like game theory, just because I find it so bland. It's problems like, "If we have a chessboard, and one rook on the chessboard, and we want to move it to the lower left corner, what should be the strategy so that we can always win against our opponent." A) I hate chessboard problems because I feel like it is a bastardization of my beloved chess, and B) seriously, who cares? But, still, I'm learning a lot.

In my History of Math class we will be traveling to the village of Szeged in rural Hungary where a lot of authentic Hungarian culture is preserved. I guess there's a university there that's really well renowned, and at which my teacher is a professor. We'll be visiting that college, as well as must-see Hungarian relics. I'm very excited!

In Hungarian, we are preparing for a bit of a scavenger hunt. My teacher will give us directions (in Hungarian) as to where he will be waiting for us, and apparently it will require us to take a lot of public transportation to find, therefore it's a bit of a test of our knowledge on Hungarian streets and methods of transportation. When we find him, we get to sit and drink tea and eat pastries and hang out in the Buda Hills for a while. It will be very nice.

That is my update on my life. I come back to America in a little over a month, and while I'm very reluctant to leave this place that I adore, I'm very excited to see my family and friends, and be in an English speaking environment.