Another Year in Budapest

I can excitedly say that Bill and I are going to spend a second year in Budapest!  This past year has been absolutely amazing, and we have come to feel so comfortable and at home here.  Probably since October Bill and I tossed around the idea of staying another year, because right from the beginning we felt connected to Budapest.  When March rolled around we knew we would need to start moving forward with things if we wanted to stay or if we wanted to leave.  If we only listened to our gut, our decision would have been easy; Budapest.  I would get a sinking feeling in my stomach when we talked about leaving Budapest and sometimes my eyes would well up as I looked out at my favorite view of the city across the Danube and thought all of that could be gone next year.  We weren't ready for it to be gone; not yet.  But was it smart to take a leap of faith in a country where the political and economic climate seem to be worsening by the day, where jobs are scarce, and where salaries are extremely low? We had a lot to think about.

We made the decision to stay in Budapest before I had a job completely lined up.  Bill's school loved him and immediately offered him a job back.  It took me a little longer to get everything sorted out, but I am extremely happy with what I'll be doing next year.  I am renewing my Fulbright grant, but it will be more or less a new assignment.  I will still get to work at the Fulbright Educational Advising Center working with Hungarian students interested in studying in the U.S., but it will be just one day per week, rather than 2-3 days like this year.  The other four days I will be working with a study abroad program in Budapest called Aquincum Institute of Technology, which is specifically geared towards computer science undergraduates from elite universities in the U.S.  There I will get to do a lot of student-centered work (with current and prospective students), as well as working on developing policies, assessment, and new partnerships with U.S. universities to help grow and improve the program.  I started working with them this month and am really happy with how things are going.  Next year will be a good year.

Oh and one last thing.  Lucky for Bill and I, there was a small miscommunication with our landlord which has resulted in us needing to move out of our apartment for the month of July.  What was initially really frustrating has turned into a great excuse to go do some more traveling! We are packing up and leaving at the beginning of July to go traveling through the Balkans for a month!

Inching Its Way Up

Over the past couple of days there have been  massive amounts of flooding in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary.  Germany has gotten the worst of it, and had to evacuate thousands of people from their homes.  In Budapest, the Danube is at its highest point ever recorded, and water has spilled over onto the streets that border the lower banks.  Luckily there is a water retention wall that has kept the rest of Budapest dry, and the city has been vigilant about setting up sandbags in problematic areas.

On Saturday night Bill and I walked a couple miles along the Danube to check out the flooding, and chatted about how just the week before we were walking on the very path that was now under 15 feet of water.  What was even more surprising than the water levels were the amount of people lining the Danube.  I had never seen so many people along the Danube. Everyone was snapping photos and children were in wellies testing their courage by giving a quick stomp at the edge of the water and then running back to their mom and dad.  People are saying that the water levels should not continue to rise, so now we will wait and see just how long it takes for the water to get back to normal level.

A Sneak Peak

As I am a few weeks away from the end of my Fulbright grant, I realize that I have been awful about keeping people informed about what I've been doing and seeing here.  My goal for the next couple of months is to retroactively update everyone on what I've been doing this semester for Fulbright, and where I've been traveling, .  Below is just a quick preview of some trips I'll be writing about in the future....

Kalambaka, Greece

Mohacs, Hungary

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Sibenik, Croatia

European Court of Justice, Luxembourg

London, England

Prague, Czech Republic

Oxford, England

Venice, Italy

Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland

Pitlochry, Scotland

Nis, Serbia

Abisko National Park, Sweden

Brussels, Belgium

Granada, Spain

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Sintra, Portugal

Zaanse Schans, Netherlands

Bojnice, Slovakia

Home Sweet Home (Budapest, Hungary)

The most rewarding of days

Today was a good day.  A really, really good day.  Over spring break I received an email from a student I had been working with on a regular basis, requesting that we meet because he had some good and bad news (regarding college applications to the U.S.) that he would like to discuss with me.  I was giddy with excitement, hoping that his good news was that he was offered a scholarship to one of the schools he applied to.  Getting accepted was not going to be enough; the biggest challenge for Hungarian students wanting to study in the United States is financing their education.  International students are not eligible for any federal financial aid, and that is what is most commonly used to supplement domestic students (grants, loans, federal work study, and even most scholarships).  Salaries in Hungary are low, and we all know the sticker price of undergraduate education in the U.S. is astronomical.  His dream for the past four to five years has been to study in the United States.  He has gained my respect through his relentless determination and immense amount of preparation; and I feel lucky to have joined him in his quest for success.  There have been ups and downs, with rejections, wait-listings and moments of doubt (on his part, not mine).  I was ready to hear some good news for someone I know deserved it.

At half past noon I saw Bence standing in the doorway to my office, and my anticipation started to build.   I had  not felt so anxious and excited to hear about something since I was waiting to hear about my own application for Fulbright last year.  He pulled out three (big) envelopes from his backpack, which first made me think that it's nice that schools still send snail mail (because email takes a little wind outa the sails), and secondly I thought, this is good news!  He was being offered three full ride scholarships (tuition, room and board, and other related expenses) from three very good (and expensive) liberal arts colleges.  I was overwhelmed with happiness, and felt so proud and relieved that Bence would have the opportunity to pursue his dreams.  We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each, but I know that wherever he chooses to attend, he will absolutely love, because he is the type who will make the most of his college education, and not take a single thing for granted. 

Probably what makes me happiest about this experience I had with Bence is that I really cannot take any credit for his success.  Although we met countless times and exchanged many emails, he was the one doing all the work, putting in countless hours of research, phone calls to schools, and revisions to essays.  I simply was someone to listen, to help him clarify the many thoughts and emotions that were going through his head during his journey.  I couldn't help but see a little bit of myself in him.  As a student I never went to an academic advisor or dean to have them give me information; I went to them so I could have someone listen to my ideas and plans that took a lot of hard work to develop; to make it clear to myself, that I was doing the right thing for me.

On Our Way to Fame

As months went by with no word from House Hunters International, we were beginning to think that we (and by we, I mean Bill) made too many 'inappropriate' jokes that made our footage unusable.  I guess we were wrong, and they were somehow able to put together something that would be seen as HGTV appropriate.  For those of you who have been asking if this would ever air (or even questioned whether we really did film for HHI), we finally got word about our airdate, so I figured I would share it with everyone.

Wednesday, March 6 at 10:30pm EST and 1:30am EST

Here is the blurb they have about it on their website.  Apparently the air date and time is subject to change, so if you tune in on Wednesday at 10:30pm and don't see our smiling faces, maybe they realized they shouldn't air our show, or they changed the time (likely the latter, but I wouldn't be entirely surprised by the former).

Bill and I haven't seen it yet, and likely won't be able to see it for another 3-4 weeks when they email us our DVD (I don't think it will be posted online yet).  Feel free to make fun of us immediately, so we can have weeks of wondering what they actually decided to use of our footage :)

The Year of the Christmas Market

Vaci Utca (the main shopping street) in Budapest

Budapest is all dressed up in lights and Christmas markets are everywhere!  I LOVE Christmas season, and Europe sure knows how to do Christmas right. Yesterday I even saw one of the trams that runs along the Danube completely covered in lights!  I felt compelled to chase after it, but figured that would become tiring and potentially dangerous, so I refrained.

For the past three years Bill and I have made sure to fit in a trip to the German Christkindlmarkt in Chicago. This year though, there is no need to put 'visit Christmas market' on the calendar, because you inevitably run into them and are immediately sucked in by the sparkling lights and smell of Christmas.  So far we have been to four different Christmas markets in Budapest, and all except the main one were merely because we couldn't help but stumbling upon them when going from point A to point B.  We have been to six other Christmas markets outside of Budapest (three in Vienna and three in Berlin), and once again, only two of those were really 'planned.'  Thanks to the many markets we have come across in the past few weeks, we have been able to cover nearly our entire (small) tree with unique handmade ornaments!

Christmas Market at Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna

Main Christmas Market in Vienna

Christmas Market in Berlin

Christmas Market at St. Istvan Cathedral in Budapest

Drinking forralt wine at the main Christmas Market in Budapest

The main Christmas market at Vorosmarty Ter in Budapest has been my favorite so far. There are many stalls with crafts, and plenty of food and forralt bor (mulled wine).  The quality of what is sold at this particular market is the best I've seen so far. You can tell everything is handmade and individually unique (which I cannot say is true of the main Vienna Christmas Market).  And the prices are actually really reasonable.  We have been able to get handmade ceramic ornaments for as little as 300 forint, which comes out to about $1.50.

Grades In, Semester Over

My office where I spent much of the semester meeting w/ students and grading papers

Yesterday and today were my last two classes of the semester.  Last night I finished reading and grading 15, 5-page papers (which took place over a 36 hour period), entered all of my final grades into the online system, and even had enough time to bake some delicious cookies to share with my students.  I can't believe how fast the semester went, and to be honest, how accomplished I feel at the end of it.  Before this semester I had never taught a full course; only guest lectured, conducted workshops, and guided discussions.  I almost surprised myself with how comfortable, confident and prepared I felt each week.  I never thought I was very good at improvising and deviating from the 'plan' (because we all know I love to plan), but to be honest, 'improvising' was probably what I did best this semester, and I didn't really have to think about it, it just kinda happened (I guess that's how you improvise....less thinking, more doing).

The two classes I taught were very different.  For my Language Development class I would spend about 1-2 hours per week to prepare, while my academic writing class I would spend about 1-2 hours to prepare, and then about 5-7 hours in addition, giving feedback on writing assignments. In Academic Writing I required 11 writing assignments (including a final research paper), one test, and then participation points. In Language Development I had no writing assignments (except writing a cover letter and resume), three tests which were an in-class 'meeting,' mock-interview, and a 'quick-preparation' presentation, and then participation points.  There was a higher percentage of top grades in the Language Development course than in Academic Writing, and to be honest, I'm pretty sure I was more liked in my Language Development course (surprise, surprise).

I think both groups of students learned and improved a lot though; but the rate at which they realize the value in what they learned I think will come at a very different pace.  The Language Development students are one semester away from graduation; many of them looking for jobs where they will be required to speak English, so the focus of the class was very useful to them, and they felt the practice will directly benefit them in the near future (the class focused on communication in professional environments).  The Academic Writing students are just finishing their first semester of their second year at university.  I know some appreciate now that I made them write every week and gave a lot of feedback and comments on their papers, while on the other hand I know some found this too be too much or thought I pointed out too many flaws in their writing.  I saw them all struggle, and from that struggle I saw continual improvement. This steady, incremental improvement that I saw not only in their writing, but in their research and ability to think and write critically, is what makes me confident that at some point, whether it be next semester, or next year, that they will see the value in this class, and be happy that I pushed them.

ELTE, the university I teach at