Today's mail

Today I received my check from the Gilman Foundation! It's a fantastic scholarship... I was able to pay my dad back for my plane ticket and there is still more than enough money for books, room and board, and tuition for my language program. I'm really curious about the book situation in Budapest. I know we have to buy our books, but what will they be like? That's a whole new wrinkle.
I helped serve a party for Hormel executives this evening; my mom is friends with the hostess. Their chef grew up in Germany and now he's working in Austin doing Research and Development (or I can only assume that's what "R and D" means). He was really cool and so we bonded. He told me in his guttural accent, "It's your first time in Eastern Europe? Ha, you never come back." I hope he doesn't mean that I will meet my death over there :-) He told me I would love it and I would fit right in. He also said I have the perfect sense of humor for Europe: very blunt and political.
My mom and I were looking at hotels for when she and my sister come visit me. I have never seen such hotels in my life! Their most expensive hotels are about $150 per night, and those are the ones with the laundry service and spas and all that five-star hocus pocus. Even the three star hotels look amazing. There's one that's actually on a boat that's anchored in the river Duna (Danube).
The guy who created (if that's really the right word) Non-Euclidean Geometry is from Hungary. That's even more incentive to take a Geometry class. I've never worked directly with non-Euclidean spaces, but from what I hear they're pretty neat.
For Christmas my parents gave me a new digital camera. It's a small, pocket-sized camera, but it's actually a really awesome one. My old camera needed to be petted and praised, and maybe hit with a dull object several times before it deigned to take a picture. This one actually works!
My sister gave me a seven-piece luggage set. It's pretty blue and makes me feel a lot better about traveling. I was envisioning myself rather like Eva Perón in the movie Evita when she swings her hard suit case and sings about the benefits of living in Buenos Aires. These blue pieces of luggage (with wheels) are vastly superior to the suitcases and carpetbags of the Perón era.
I bought a new pair of shoes today. Well, they were actually the exact same style of shoes that I recently wore a hole through the sole. However, I figured that I didn't want to get two weeks into a brand new pair of shoes only to discover (in Hungary) that they are uncomfortable for walking. And in any case, I like them. They have pink stripes.
When I wake up tomorrow, it will be 15 days until I leave. Everytime I think about it I get butterflies in my stomach. Not the kind that precede dread, rather, the kind that make you clench your fists because your so excited. I just can't wait!

my classes (so far)

Well, I have my classes picked out... maybe. I want to take Number Theory, Combinatorics, Mathematical Logic, Topics in Geometry, and the Hungarian language class. Now I'm also thinking that I'd like to take Abstract Algebra II because I really like Rings and Field Theory. I'm also thinking about maybe taking a Complex Functions class. I don't want to take too many classes because I'd like to be able to actually get out and see Hungary. I'm going to start out by taking as many classes as possible and drop the ones that seem like they're not for me.

Gilman Scholarship

A couple of days ago I found out I was the recipient of a scholarship given by the Benjamin Gilman foundation together with the Department of State. It's $4200 to be used for studying abroad; however, when I applied I agreed that should I win, I would prepare a project that would educate the public on my experiences abroad. Thus, I have decided to use this blog for a duel purpose: making it easy for friends and family to see what I'm up to, but also to provide any one who's interested with the details of my trip. Therefore, I am going to begin today with an update as to how the preparations are proceeding.

I have booked a flight. I was lucky enough to find a guy from St. Olaf College to travel with, so we leave together on January 14th. With all the time traveling and date-line crossing, I don't really know how long the flight(s) will take. I do know that we arrive on the 15th, right around the same time we left on the 14th.

There has been an inane amount of paper work to complete throughout this process. First I had to get a passport, then I had to apply for a Visa (and the visa application was in Hungarian, so that made the process as easy as spreading frozen butter). There were mounds of paperwork to fill out for the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program, and even more hoops to jump in order to persuade Gustavus to let me go for a Semester. My advice: when you get a passport picture taken, get at least 5 or 6 copies made because there will always be ONE MORE form that needs a passport-sized photo.

More and more information arrives everyday. However, we recently received a list of all the participants in the BSM program and it's been really helpful to talk to them via the internet. Everyone is bouncing ideas off each other and just getting excited.

Maybe it's time to describe what exactly it is for which I'm abandoning my comfort zone. I'm attending the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program. It's an acclaimed program during which students are given the opportunity to study advanced mathematics under world-renowned Hungarian mathematicians. Along with math, I'm going to be taking a Hungarian language course because... well, my Hungarian language skills are lacking a bit.

That's enough information for now. Look for more posts regarding the latest news from my preparations!

The countdown

I'm leaving for Budapest in 66 days from today. This will be my blog for my duration abroad.