Even though this blog was a bit of a
fluke, I feel the need to finish it off properly. My time here in
Budapest has taught me so much about myself and about the world. I
have learned that I take life far too seriously and that I need to
lighten up. I have reestablished my love for math, although I know
feel confidently that it is not something I would like to pursue a
career in. I love the puzzles of math, the quirky little problems
that take real creativity to figure out, not the proof based math
that makes up the majority of advanced mathematics. I have learned a
lot about how I can apply math to anthropology, and have focused on
what my real interest in upper level math is: set theory. I intend to
pursue other classes on this topic and attempt to find ways to apply
it to my real passion: anthropology. I have become so thankful for my
amazing friends and family back home. I miss them so much, especially
my boyfriend Dante. I cannot wait to be back to see you all again.
I have learned a lot about Hungary. It
is a poor country, with a sad history, but the people always seem to
make the best of things. They are hard working and caring people. I
am proud to call myself at least a little bit Hungarian (my grandma's
family is from Hungary). I am so happy that I visited this country,
because it again made me realize what else is out there in the rest
of the world that I know so little about. I didn't even know where
Hungary was before this (somewhere in Asia was what I thought), but
now I consider it like a second home. If I were offered the chance to
return, I would take it up (if I could bring at least one person from
home with me).
I have learned a lot about the rest of
the world. I have learned that the states are pretty well off in
terms of food, income, and poverty, but that it is so screwed up in
many other ways. Although politics are not that great in Hungary,
change is constantly being made to become a more established country
and make up for what happened in WWII (Hungary fought with Germany
and was horribly destroyed in the process). There are so many issues
in the states that we just accept as normal because we've grown
accustomed to them. The Connecticut shooting has been a grave
reminder that more needs to be done with respects to safety and
mental health. More also needs to be done with respects to pollution,
our negative effects on the rest of the world, our economy, and our
politics. It astounds me how many American products there are in
Budapest. Sometimes it feels like there are more American products
here than there are in America! Also, did you know that of almost
every (all but one) of the English speaking Hungarians I talked to
said that they wanted to get out of Hungary? You know where they
wanted to move to? Australia or London. NONE said to the United
States. It's a sad realization to me that even though the US has a
huge influence on the rest of the world, none of the people I talked
to saw it as a positive enough one to convince them to move there. We
do not have the positive reputation to the rest of the world that we
think we do. I think that has long since passed.
Overall, I am happy that I did this
program. I have grown in many ways, and I have learned a lot about
myself. I have met many great people, and grown to love a city that I
had previously known nothing about. Thank you for reading my blog,
and for making this trip possible. I will see you all soon, and I
wish you all a Merry Christmas!
Some things I will miss about Budapest:
the gyros (especially the white sauce and chicken gyros [even though
I eat them so often that I can barely stand them anymore]), the great
public transportation, the Danube (river), the ruin bars, the thermal
baths, my roommates, my friends, my professors, my set and mps
classes, being in a city, and many many other things.
Things I will not miss about Budapest:
my horribly uncomfortable mattress, power adapters, not having wifi
(I will never complain about Lawence's wifi again), the disgusting
sidewalks, and the many poor, sad faces I see begging on the streets
daily.
Things I do not look forward to about
the states: pennies (why in the world do we still use those?!),
clothes dryers (they are so wasteful and unnecessary!), the politics,
driving, and being so far away from everything (I'm gonna miss being
able to get literally anything I want in Budapest within 30 minutes).
Things I cannot wait for at home: my
boyfriend, my three great pitbulls, my family, my great friends, real
meat! (not the crappy stuff you get here), gluten free pizza, boston
creme donuts, hamburger helper, Taco Bell, wild cherry Pepsi, and
Lawrence. Wow... I just sounded like such an American. Well, I am
one, so I guess that's not too bad. Now, I'm just a much more
appreciative and mature American who is really going to miss her
second home, but is very excited to go back to her first.
Thanks for following,
Chela
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