Weekend Update

Today was a lazy day to say the least. I was perhaps recovering from last night- not because I had too much to drink, but because I got home late. I repeat... it was not crazy, just really late. We had an end-of-term house party/birthday party for Jeff last night and about 100 people showed up. Luckily it was a large apartment (and amazingly the cops did not show up), but still, it was tight quarters. We went dancing afterwards and all the sudden it was 3:30am and I was taking the night bus home. After 11:30pm I have to take the night bus home instead of the train, and it turns out that after 4am it's no longer the night bus but the MORNING bus, and the MORNING bus doesn't go all the way to my house, so I got dumped out in the middle of who knows where and changed buses last night/morning at 4:30am to finally make it to my house at 4:45am. And my crazy host dad was on the internet when I walked in. Yikes.

In other news, I was feeling a bit down today (perhaps from the late, but not crazy, night last night) and needed a pick-me-up. So I decided to go by myself to see the movie "The Holiday" (which Monika and I affectionately named "Hazi swap"- hazi meaning house in Hungarian, and swap in English because we don't know how to say it in Hungarian!). After standing in line for 15 minutes for the tickets the lady informed me they had dubbed over the English (WHY?!?!) and that the movie was in Hungarian. I was let down, to say the least. So I went instead and bought a pair of socks and a Christmas card for my host parents (which somehow came to $7...crazy) and went home. Very disappointing. So to summarize the productive things I did today: well, I worked for maybe an hour on my last assignment. That was about it.

Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow I am going to the market with my host mom to get a small suitcase for my trip (I guess I don't eed to bring 70lbs worth of crap in my monster suitcases for 3 weeks around Europe) and ... something else. How sad, I can't even remember, and it's the highlight of my day. Oh that and we're going to have a little family Christmas dinner since I am leaving on Monday.

I am posting a picture of my host parents finally so that everyone can see who I am living with. This picture was taken in October when my dad came to visit.

Book Recommendations

I love that I was able to read so many good books this semester... none of which were at all related to class. I think I already recommended "Anil's Ghost" by Michael Ondaatje, about a forensic anthropologist in Sri Lanka. I also just finished reading "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss, another amazing read. I will let Amazon tell you what it's about. But suffice to say it's also amazing. I will go to the library this afternoon to pick up some good books for Eurotrip 2006.

Speaking of Eurotrip 2006, I finally put together a tentative itinerary, which brings us from Paris to Budapest over the period of December 27 to January 6, with stops in Germany and Italy along the way. It will be intensive, yes, but what other way is there to do it? Ryan and I have a Eurail pass and a few set plans along the way (such as seeing a friend in Munich), a few tentative plans (perhaps staying with Hospitality Club-ber in Berlin and seeing a friend in Bologna) and a whole lot of adventure to fill in the gaps. I am counting on snow- these past few days it's gotten bitter cold here in Budapest, and yet no real snow yet. Should be fun :)

With all this focus on books and traveling you can probably guess that I'm done for the semester... almost. I have one more question to go on a take-home exam for Qualitative Methods and then I'm officially done. But for all intents and purposes I'm already considering myself retired until January 9 when the winter term starts.

Update on my thesis plans: I am meeting with my professor the first week in January to put together a solid plan. Although I was able to find data from the WHO (that was the easy part!), I have lots of reading to do between now and January to come up with my specific focus. My preliminary thought is to look at the global polio eradication program, comparing quantitative data on how many people vaccinated in a particular country with # of new polio cases reported. I have data for at least 30-50 countries, so I can then run a regression and see if there is a relation between vaccinations and polio outbreaks, and try and use this conclusion to talk about one of the current polio countries (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria) and the policies they are employing to eradicate polio. I think the data will show there is a relationship between vaccinations and # of new cases, and yet why isn't this relationship holding true for the countries that still have polio, where extremely large-scale eradication campaigns are currently underway? I will know a lot more about the policy implications when I actually run the regression, but until then it's nice to theorize about what COULD be the reason for the continued polio. I am thinking something about size, ruralness, etc. But we'll see.

Update on spring semester: I am very excited to be taking only 4 classes next semester, which are Comparative Political Institutions, Qualitative Methods, Microeconomics and Ethics. Shouldn't be too bad. Best part: I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and some Friday mornings. And the earliest I start is 11am. Very excited about that. Should give me plenty of time to work on my thesis.

And finally, an update on the job search process. I think I have decided that I want to go back to Latin America. I think. So I've been sending out some cover letters and resumes and keeping my fingers crossed that someone will come back with a "yes." Knowing that I want to move towards public health, I am looking at jobs involving public healthcare financing reform, decentralization of healthcare, etc. I was pleased to see a lot of this going on in Peru. So we'll see.
*Countdown to Eurotrip 2006: 3 days!
*To-do: finish take-home exam, buy small suitcase, charge batteries for camera and empty memory stick, buy small present for host parents, return books to library and check out more, and most importantly... end-of-term (and Jeff's birthday) cocktail tonight!

The Christmas Season

Here in Budapest Mikulas, the Hungarian version of Santa Claus, comes to visit December 5-6. My host parents left me a basket of goodies from Mikulas and a note saying "Kelsey! Itt volt a Mikulas!" (Kelsey! Mikulas was here!- my host dad is the artist responsible for the Santa you see), as well as a chocolate Santa in my shoe. The typical treats from Mikulas include chocolates, oranges, peanuts and gingerbread cookies.

Last weekend I went to two of Europe's famous Christmas markets. Our intention was to actually do some shopping but somehow we were distracted by the hot wine and these circular sweet bread thingies. We walked around for awhile in the cooooooooold and Monika and I bought nylons so I can finally wear my skirts. LOL.

*Update on the countdown to Eurotrip 2006: 10 days.
*To-do list: 2 exams, 1 take-home exam, finalize 2 papers. We're getting there :)

Great week in Budapest!

I will admit I had a bit of a rough week last week. We'll call it the week 9 blues. It was the 9th week of the semester, 4th until the end, and I had basically had it. After a run-in with one of my professors, too many bureaucratic Student Council meetings and having finished East of Eden with no next great read on the horizon, I was in the slumps. I may have been a little homesick since it was Thanksgiving as well, even though I don't really like Thanksgiving as discussed here last week. But it's the principle behind it. Anyway, this week I turned things around and am happy to report:

-I got blood work done and did not pass out. This is good because it's scary enough in the U.S., let alone here in Hungary.
-I read two good books this week- actually one was GREAT. I highly recommend "Anil's Ghost" by Michael Ondaatje (who also wrote "The English Patient"). I won't spoil any of the store but will link you to Amazon.com so you can read about it. It's beautiful.
-I did GREAT on my macro exam, finished a paper for policy and cranked out not one but TWO drafts (corruption and rural development). In the past month I have therefore written... somewhere around 55 pages. Feels so good!
-I cleaned my room! I know it's a small thing, but it feels good to have things clean. Actually my host mom did most of it yesterday while I was out at this great cocktail party (!) and I just went through all my school stuff today. So now it's really clean AND organized.
-We got our 2nd semester schedules. I will have class Tuesdays and Thursdays and an occassional Friday. I'm happy because it will give me plenty of time to work on...
-Thesis! I met with two professors about my ideas to study Rotary's PolioPlus program and they were very supportive. So I basically have my idea and some of my data already.

I think that's enough good things to happen in one week, no?

*Countdown until the end (of the semester/leave for London!): 16 days
*To do before the end: 2 exams, 1 take-home exam, 1 economics problem set, 1 presentation and finalizing 2 papers

Thanksgiving Hungarian Style

Being so wrapped up in school and Student Council and everything I nearly forgot it was Thanksgiving back home this week, since of course here in Hungary people do not celebrate this American holiday. On Thursday in between classes and meetings anotherAmbassadorial Scholar and I met for a quick bite, as she had asked to interview me about a paper she is writing about gender and job interviews. We happened to order turkey cutlets stuffed with some sort of cheese and what could have been either sun-dried tomatos, dried cherries, dried prunes or something similar. At that point we were not even thinking that it was Thanksgiving and that we should be eating turkey. In the middle of the meal Monika turned to me, realizing it was actually Thanksgiving day, and said, "oh! Happy Thanksgiving!" It was probably the only time in my life I'll get away with eating french fries as part of my Thanksgiving dinner!

I think "missing" Thanksgiving this year by being overseas (and not being upset that I missed it) helped me confirm that I never really liked the holiday to begin with- too much food! On a more serious note, however, despite missing Thanksgiving I did take the time to think about whatI am grateful for, and my thanks once again go out to Rotary for thiswonderful opportunity I've been given.

With three weeks to go in the semester things here are extremely busy and stressful. I have 4 papers, 4 tests and a presentation to get through before I am free until January 8. I talked to my brother last night about our trip (leaving from Paris on December 27 and arriving in Budapest before January 6, with stops in Italy and Germany and who knows where else in between). It will be such a nice break!

On Tuesday night I went to an amazing Bryan Adams concert. Did you know he is 47 and Canadian? He has something like 14 albums and is absolutely amazing. I don't know any other way to explain it. He is an acoustic set that brought people to tears. He is also very active in aid and charity work. Oh and he's short and not married!

The past two weeks I was very active with Rotary, as the other scholars and I went to two Rotary club meetings and a Rotaract meeting at what has to be the very coolest tea house in all of the world. The clubs were very happy to have us as guests and encouraged us to get involved in different upcoming projects, such as selling hot wine at Christmas time and teaching English to disadvantaged high school students in the spring. This tea house reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. You took off your shoes when you entered and then went through this maze which included narrow stairways lined with mirrors and tiny doors that required you crouch to enter through. After the mirrored stairs and tiny doors you reached the treehouse, an indoor treehouse with pillows all around. Reminded me of a sleepover! Inside the treehouse there was a little window they passed the tea through when it was ready. Very cool. I will definitely be going back there.

Terror House

The Terror House is Budapest's museum which, according to its brochure, "commemorates the victims of terror... reminding us of the dreadful acts of terrorist dictatorships." It is focused on what happened in Hungary under the Nazis and the Communists, and in that way served as a very vivid history lesson for me. The site of the museum is both the Hungarian National Socialist movement and the Hungarian communist's former headquarters. The basement of the building was used to torture and kill prisoners, and the museum has recreated the torture cells. It is an active museum in that you can walk in to the cells, touch the floor, the walls, the water in the bottom of the cell used as a torture technique, etc.

I knew what to expect and yet at the same time, I never expected what I saw. As you walk through the museum there are info sheets in both English and Hungarian in each room, giving you a thorough description of what is depicted in the room. Just to give you an idea about some of the events in Hungary's recent history and the what the museum showcases:

- 1944-1945: In March Hitler took over Hungary and deported nearly all the Jews living in rural areas to Auschwitz. Only a few months later, the pro-German fascist party the "Arrow Cross" took over, deporting 80,000 Jews and locking 70,000 more into a Budapest ghetto. This all took place is a matter of 3-4 months. During this time the Soviets invaded and basically took over the country.

Post WWII- After the war the Soviets officially handed the country over to the Hungarian Workers Party (formed by a merger of the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party), although Soviet troops remained in Hungary until June 19, 1991. Soon the new leader of Hungary turned the country on itself and imposed authoritarian rule. The State Security Authority (which occupied the building where the museum is located until 1956) created terror; the museum reports that "on command, its agents killed without hesitation, they committed burglaries, ruses, and torture to send their victims, based on false testimonies and confessions, to the gallows, to prison or to labour camps. A legion of informers, a shadow army, monitored and recorded the thinking of people at factor assembly lines, editorial offices, company offices, universities, churches, theatres. No areas of life were shielded from them. They were the tool by which the communists seized power, implemented and sustained their system of terror that deported, crippled or mistreated people, and which affected one in every three families." According to Wikipedia, an estimated 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned in the late 1940s/early 1950s.

- Summer 1951: The communist party begins an attack on Hungary's rural population, preparing "kulak" lists (public enemies) and torturing, arresting, convicting and killing thousands. At the same time the communist party was also forcing mass evacuations from many Hungarian cities. Persons were taken to "social camps," which were basically agricultural forced labor camps where many died.

- 1956: Stalin died in 1963; the Soviet Union's new leader, Nikita Khrushchev, revealed the crimes of the Stalinist era in February 1956. In October mostly peaceful demonstrations broke out in Debrecen and Budapest, led by the students. When the secret police opened fire the demonstrations turned into a revolution. Soviet tanks entered Budapest and at least 12 were killed, 170 wounded. A few days later the State Security Department was abolished and a new leader announced an end to the one party system, formation of a coalition government and a promise of free elections. Khrushchev became "concerned" about these developments and sent the Red Army into Hungary on November 4. Fighting took place all over the country but the Hungarian forces were quickly defeated. Nonetheless, 20,000 were killed. A Soviet-appointed leader took over and Soviet advisers took over the running of the country. The last Soviet advisers left Hungary in 1989.

The museum paints this picture beautifully, with a combination of video and television footage, audio tapes, paintings, photographs, documents, propaganda and memorabilia, as well as the hands-on torture cells.

For more information on the museum visit http://www.terrorhaza.hu/index3.html.

Halloween and SNOW!

We had some fun this weekend going to a Halloween party-Monika, Noah and I went as "gangrene"- the disease. It was play on words in that we all dressed in green- a "gang" (group) of "green." TheAmericans thought it was hilarious and of course the Hungarians didn't get it at all. They don't do Halloween here either so for the Hungarians that went to this party it was their first Halloween and they came as Red Riding Hood, Popeye, a zombie, a cat, etc. Lame compared to gangrene!

It has been VERY cold this week, especially in the morning and at night, and alas, the snow is here. Flurries, but still snow. I haven't seen snow this early in the year in a looooooooooooong time. As most of you know, it does not snow in Miami. Ever. That's one of the reasons I moved there. :)

The Day After

Today things are pretty much back to "normal," so to speak, after yesterday's events. In some parts of the city you could still smell the tear gas from yesterday, the barricades are still up, and riot police are everywhere. Nonetheless, people are going about their normal lives, waiting to see what happens next.

Yesterday's events are a hot topic of discussion, however, with police brutality at the forefront of the debate. Many people witnessed with their own eyes what they would call brutality- for example, attacks against peaceful men, women, children and elderly who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I saw on television police excessively beating down a man who appeared to unintentionally collide with passing riot police. The footage very clearly shows officers who passed him after he was already down and out kicking and beating him with rubber batons.

In addition to the news available from the major networks, I would encourage you to read these more personal accounts of yesterday's events:

http://www.pestiside.hu/archives/seeing_through_the_smoke_of_budapests_black_monday002831.php
http://riotsinhungary.blog.hu/

The first link in particular has fabulous pictures from throughout the city- what many have described as a war zone for a day. That is not an exaggeration.

Kelsey

Protests Continue in Budapest

You may have read/seen that today's national holiday in celebration of the anniversary of the 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union was marked by protests and a bit of violence. I AM SAFE. Knowing that things might get ugly, I stayed home all day and watched everything unfold on television. Where I am living is significantly outside the downtown area where the violence has been.

That being said, however, protestors reportedly threw rocks at police (though I saw on television the police throwing rocks at crowds), brought weapons to the protests (against an agreement the opposition party had made with police to keep weapons out) and stole a tank that was part of a display commemorating the anniversary of the revolution and used it to approach the riot police. In reponse the police used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and more against the protestors. Most of the public transporation is shut down because people are gathered in the streets, preventing buses and trams from passing. My host parents also said farmers are coming in from all around Hungary on tractors planning some sort of descent on the city. The American Embassy issued a warning for American citizens to stay out of the downtown area.

You can read about what is going on here on all the major news networks. Check out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6078052.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/23/hungary.clashes.reut/index.html
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-10-23T163102Z_01_L16093752_RTRUKOC_0_US-HUNGARY-UPRISING1.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-8

I am safe for the time being and will keep you posted as events unfold.

Vienna and Bratislava

Monika (another Rotary scholar) and I returned at 1am this morning from a whirlwind tour of Vienna, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia. Here are some of the highlights:

Vienna
We left Saturday morning on the 9:20am train from Budapest and arrived in Vienna at 12:30pm. We visited the Belvedere museum to see the Klimt exhibition, had lunch across the street from the museum at a Greek restaurant, and then went to meet our host. Monika had arranged through the Hospitality Club, a network of people who are willing to host travelers in their home for at least one night, for free, for us to stay with Franz, this 28 year old Austrian guy who had a fabulous flat near the center of town which he shared with 4 other people. He showed us around the center of town a bit and then we had dinner with some of his flatmates. The city is gorgeous- our guidebook called it the "Wedding Cake," which we finally understood after walking around a bit. I don't know any other way to describe it other than to simply say that it's just amazingly gorgeous.

Bratislava
We took a bus from Vienna to Bratislava on Sunday morning and arrived in Bratislava in time for lunch. We walked around the historic downtown a bit- small but extremely clean and beautiful. They have a lot of interesting, reasonably priced restaurants (Thai, Japanese, etc.) and many shops owned by locals which sell "made in Slovakia" goods, etc. Just very interesting. Outside of the downtown Bratislava is a bit scary- we got lost on our way to the train station and ended up on some path that was empty and not well lit. We ran into a German guy who proceeded to tell us we had passed the train station half a mile back... oops. The train station was a bit depressing- it was probably built in the 1960s or early 1970s and has never been remodeled. The lighting is poor and makes everyone standing in that lighting look a bit shady. That combined with the car (we think) backfiring in the background... scary. We left on the 8:50pm train and got in to Budapest at 11:30pm. Never thought I would admit that it was amazingly refreshing to hear Hungarian again after two days of German and Slovak.

Today is a national holiday to celebrate the revolution of 1956. There is always a large event at the Parliament and this year the event will go on, even though protesters remain camped out on the front lawn of the Parliament and have vowed to stage a very large protest. Should be interesting. I will probably stay home and recuperate from the weekend and get some homework done.

Rotary Takeover of the Student Council... and Other News from Budapest!

So I've mentioned before that there are 5 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars here in Budapest. Except for Aaron, who is in the Business School in a very different type of program and at another campus, the rest of us see each other every day... and we are very slowly taking over CEU, one Student Council seat at a time. The four of us at main campus got elected this week as Student Council reps for our respective departments. Noah and I, representing the Public Policy department, held our first meeting with all public policy students this week, and will begin tackling department- and university-wide issues this coming week.

Speaking of CEU, it's hard to believe we are already going into week 4 of classes and thinking about midterms and final papers! The biggest issue so far has been the quantity of reading- not that it's unmanageable, but when I arrive home exhausted from eight straight hours of classes and sit down to read, nine times out of ten I fall asleep. Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays we have eight straight hours of classes, so one issue we will be speaking to the department about is spreading the classroom instruction out more evenly.

In other news, Budapest's indian summer is definitely over. Sometime last week it turned from summer to late-fall here in about two days. In the mornings and evenings it is quite cold (people wear fall/light winter jackets and scarves), but luckily the daytime sun warms the air to about 65 degrees. Next week looks cold though- 50s during the day and 30s in the mornings and at night. Brr! You have to remember I have not lived through an entire cycle of seasons in five years! The apartment building where I am living has central heating, which was turned on last night for the first time. The building turns on the heat to a certain level (last night it was on low) and then each apartment controls whether they want high-low, normal-low or low-low, or no heat at all. I am not embarrassed to say that I am fully prepared to use my long underwear under my clothes and/or pajamas if necessary to survive this winter. :)

Looking ahead to the next few weeks, the other scholars and I are planning a trip to Vienna (probably next weekend) and then trying to coordinate a massive five-day trip to Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia in early November when we have a few days off from CEU. I am also meeting my family in London and Paris for Christmas and will travel with my brother for ten days or so afterwards- we are looking at venturing through Italy and Germany, then spending a few days in Budapest as well.

More news next week!

A Trip to Eger

Yesterday three friends and I visited Eger, Hungary, home to winery after winery after winery. The main point of our trip was- surprise, surprise- to visit these famous wineries, and we were not disappointed. A collection of nearly 50 wine cellars is called the "Valley of the Beautiful Women," arranged in numerical order on a cul-de-sac like street where you go from locale to locale sampling wine for 50-70 HUF a glass (approximately 0.25 USD). This time of year in Eger is very similiar to New England in that the weather is cool and crisp, but sunny, and the leaves change colors. It was wonderful to sit outside and enjoy our wine. We also joked that we will have to return to Eger for the food- not only was it delicious, but it was significantly cheaper than Budapest (where eating out is both expensive and less than tasty most times). We enjoyed one of the best meals we have had since arriving in Hungary.

Protests Continue

Every day this week I have walked by the Parliament on my way to class to monitor the protests against the Prime Minister. After admitting two weeks ago that he lied to the Hungarian people day, noon, and night about the state of the country's economy, people have been camped out (literally, as in sleeping in tents) on the front lawn of the Parliament. Except for the first two nights, protests have been peaceful.

Yesterday as the Parliament cast a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister, as many as 50,000 people turned out outside the Parliament. This was easily the largest demonstration yet. The police blocked off the streets immediately surrounding the Parliament and set up a screen two blocks from the Parliament so people could actually see what was going on. The peaceful demonstration was marked by live music and speeches. It was quite the experience to make my way through the thick crowds and the stream of red, white and green Hungarian flags all around. The local news also showed people holding clocks (I guess to indicate that it was time for the Prime Minister to go) but I personally did not see this.

For more information please check out the BBC and CNN stories at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5411022.stm and http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/06/hungary.vote.ap/index.html.

Weekend with my dad

I enjoyed a much-needed "treat" this weekend after my first week of classes- my dad came to visit for the weekend! He arrived Friday night at midnight and left Sunday at noon- he is in Italy on business and decided to come to Budapest for a quick visit.

We had a whirl-wind tour of Budapest, taking the city in from all angles- from the sea level perspective you get walking along the Danube River at Margaret Island, to the bird's eye view from the top of the Basilica and Citadella. We also went to Szentendre (a very old city along the Danube that caters to tourists- see picture of church from the 1700s!) for a few hours to do some shopping.

You can view pictures from the weekend here.

... And We're Off!

So I am happy to report that the fall semester has FINALLY started! The public policy program is a one-year master's program. Semesters are short- fall runs September 25 through December 15 (exams included), spring is approximately January 9 through end of March, and then we have three and a half months to write a thesis. It is a 40-credit program, with 34 credits divided between the fall and spring semesters, plus a 6-credit thesis. Of the 34 taught credits, 22 are mandatory and 12 are electives, and of the 12 electives, you can take 6 in a particular "stream" and they will give you a specialization in that area on your diploma.

How that all breaks down for me then: instead of taking 17 credits each semester, I will take 19 this semester and 11 in spring, since I am getting 6 credits transfered from the public administration graduate courses I took last year at FIU. Therefore:

Fall- 19 credits
Required: Policy analysis (6)
Macroeconomics (3)
Qualitative methods (2)
Academic writing (not for credit- what a rip-off!)
Electives: Rural development (2)
Corruption (2)
Macroeconomics and public finance (4)
Low-intermediate Hungarian (not for credit)

Spring- 11 credits
Required: Microeconomics (3)
Quantitative methods (2)
Comparative political institutions (4)
Ethics and public policy (2)
Academic writing (0)
No electives

Now about the streams: in the public policy department your choices are fiscal decentralization, international public policy and media and telecommunications. My original thought was to do the international stream, since my interests are in the international arena, etc. etc. Upon closer look at the courses offered in each stream, however, I found I was more drawn to the fiscal decentralization stream, which is very heavy in economics. "Fiscal decentralization" is much more of a niche than "international public policy" and I think will be more useful to me in the long run (especially since my undergraduate degree is in international relations).

CEU is supposed to be modeled after a U.S. graduate institute, but there are many things they do quite differently here:
1. All classes are offered during the day. There are no night classes (after 5pm), which makes it really hard to take classes offered by other departments (political science, international relations, etc.) because they always overlap with the required courses from your own department, since there are only 8 hours per day during which classes are offered.
2. The schedule rotates, so this week I don't have classes on Thursday (or Friday, but I won't have class at all this semester on Friday, continuing my college career RECORD of never sitting in a classroom on a Friday. It's wonderful!), but next week I do have class on Thursday morning. This means you must always check your schedule to see what class you have and at what time.
3. Depending on how many credits the course is worth, you have class either once a week or twice a week, and the meetings are either single sessions (one hour forty minutes) or double sessions (three hours and forty minutes!).
4. They are not so big on exams here but very big on presentations- I already have two presentations scheduled for next week.
5. Textbooks are very expensive here (because many of the materials come from the U.S. and to have them shipped to Hungary costs an arm and a leg), so as a general rule they don't use them. They prefer readers, which are a compilation of articles from various sources. Most of the readers are 1-2 inches thick and cost 15-25 USD, which is very reasonable.
6. Several of my professors are a bit wild about powerpoint, and will send you the slides prior to class so that you can print them out and make notes right onto the slides. Most of the material they cover is actually on the slides, so for some students that is great (means you don't have to take notes) but for people like me who actually like to take notes, it can be a bit annoying to have all the material already printed in front of me.

All this talk about school... now it's time to get back to studying!

Rotaract Conference in Slovenia

I am back from an exciting weekend in Slovenia, where I was part of a Europe-wide Rotaract conference attended by 110 Rotaractors from 12 different countries. What is Rotaract? It's basically Rotary for people ages 18 to 30- a sort of "prep" for becoming Rotarians. From the Rotary International website, I quote: "Through the Rotaract program, young adults not only augment their knowledge and skills, but they also address the physical and social needs of their communities while promoting international understanding and peace through a framework of friendship and service."

Four Budapest Rotaractors traveled to Slovenia for the conference, and kindly invited me and another Ambassadorial Scholar to attend as well. We left Budapest at 5pm on Thursday afternoon, and arrived in Celje, Slovenia at 11pm that evening. From the time of our arrival to our departure from Celje on Sunday at noon, we had a jam-packed weekend full of tours of the capital city Ljubljana and the country's oldest brewery (Union), many shared meals and of course nights out on the town. I love to play dress-up so Saturday night's formal gala was a lot of fun (pictures to follow!).

Slovenia is a very interesting country. It is very beautiful, with rolling green hills and milder weather than Budapest since they are further south. Slovenia has a certain quaintness about it- the entire country is only slightly more than 2 million people (the size of the city of Budapest); the capital Lubjlana has a population of around 250,000 people and is Slovenia's largest city. The prices are slightly lower than in Hungary, and you can pay in both local currency and the Euro (though they haven't technically adopted the Euro yet, so you can't take Euros out at any ATM but they are accepted everywhere... weird).

You can view more pictures from Slovenia here.

As beautiful as Slovenia was, by the end of the trip I was ready to come back to Budapest. It felt good to come "home."

An update on the "protests": I finally went by the Parliament on Monday to see for myself what is going on. In the morning there were plenty of tents on the front lawn of the Parliament but only about 30-40 ppl standing around. By 7pm the crowd had definitely grown, and someone was speaking to the crowd using a microphone (don't ask me what he was saying though!), with around 150-200 gathered. The entrepreneurs have turned this into an opportunity and are selling Hungarian flags and hot food- they seemed to be doing a pretty good business. There were police everywhere, but it seems like now that the police know what is going on they are more than in control of the situation. The Prime Minister seems pretty adamant about staying on, but God forbid if someone should die in the violence, I am positive he will resign. But other than the first two nights of the protests, which were fairly "violent," the "protests" have been very controlled. Outside of the area of the Parliament and the square where the state-owned radio headquarters are located (which happens to be where the American Embassy is located as well!), the city is operating on a normal schedule and I can assure you that I am perfectly safe.

Clashes in Budapest

There is a huge political scandal brewing here in Budapest involving the newly re-elected Hungarian Prime Minister. A tape was leaked on which the PM says his socialist government told lies in order to win the election, and that hundreds of "tricks" were used to save the economy from total collapse. Apparently over the past few years the Hungarian government has massively overspent (I think without the knowledge and/or authorization of the Hungarian people) and is now dealing with a huge budget deficit, which will prevent them from introducing the Euro here in 2007 as originally planned, or in 2008, 2009, 2010 or 2011 as was the back-up plan. At the very earliest the Euro can be introduced in 2012, assuming Hungary complies with the financial provisions necessary. Prices are rising and economists are warning of tough financial times ahead.

Rumors are the PM himself leaked the tape in order to showcase the need for tough reforms in relation to the upcoming mayorial and other local government elections. Protestors have been at the Parliament for the past two days demanding the PM's resignation, however. My host father said protests like this have not happened in Hungary in over ten years, since the fall of communism in the early 1990s. Police used tear gas and water cannons last night against protestors, who looted the state-owned television and news offices. I was out last night with friends completely oblivious to what was happening, and my host mom breathed a huge sigh of relief when I arrived home safe. It was only when I saw the protests live on television and read the news this morning that I realized what was going on. Check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5358546.stm.

My university is only a few blocks from the Parliament and my host dad said police will be out today checking passports and IDs to keep people away from the area who shouldn't be there. Will keep you posted!

Crazy Europe Stories

You would think that some crazy things would have happened to me here in Hungary so far. When you don't speak the local language seemingly harmless events can easily turn in to fiascos- for example, you go into a store asking for lip gloss and they think you want diapers. Hand signals get involved and soon everyone is rolling on the floor laughing, having long given up on the lip gloss. When I was in Bolivia there were plenty of "crazy Bolivia stories," like when another Rotary Youth Exchange student and I got on the right bus to go home... but went in the wrong direction, and ended up at the foot of the mountain in this dirt parking lot and had no clue where we were or where we needed to go to get the heeeeeeeeeeeck out of there. Or there was the time some little kids tried to rob me in the market and when I felt a little hand in my pocket I spun around, ripping the pocket nearly completely off the pants, but money, cell phone, etc. still in tact. Or the time we got Chinese food in La Paz and found fingernails and other such "specimens" in the food. I could go on and on.

Here in Hungary, however, things are surprisingly tame. It's definitely Europe- toilets and sinks are in separate rooms and because apartments are small, sometimes the refrigerator is in the hallway instead of in the kitchen- but it does not feel as foreign to me as Bolivia did. Many of my "crazy Bolivia stories" were a result of sticking out like a sore thumb, a problem luckily I don't have here in Budapest. In fact, I am mistaken ALL THE TIME for a Hungarian. People stop and ask me directions on the street, and when I am with other Americans the Hungarians have turned to me (thinking I was Hungarian) to serve as the intermediary/interpreter. It's quite funny, actually.

My host parents have hosted ten foreign students over the years and have mastered the use of hand signals and getting messages across in Hungarian to people who don't speak Hungarian. They have great senses of humor and often make jokes- for example, suggesting I pour vodka down my throat when I was sick or calling chocolates "medicine" for this illness of another. We were filling out forms today which required full names, so we were talking about our middle names. My host mom's middle name is Magdalena or something like that, which my host dad translated as MacDonald. So when I had to guess what his middle name was, I said Burger King. I thought he was going to fall out of his chair he was laughing so hard. The moment was made that much more funny when my host mom was sitting there saying, "I don't get it, I don't get it" and we had to explain it to her... and then we all laughed again when she finally got it and almost fell out of her own chair. Good times.

In other news, another Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and I have been invited to attend an all-Europe Rotaract conference next weekend in Slovenia. We will be traveling with 3 Hungarians from one of the Budapest Rotaract clubs. The conference includes tours of the local area and discussions on Europe-wide Rotaract activities and events. We are excited because approximately one hundred and twenty Rotaracters from all over Europe are expected to attend.

On Monday I am meeting with the four other Ambassadorial Scholars from the U.S. who are also attending the Central European University. We will have our first official "Ambassadorial Scholars" meeting to discuss the possibility of a joint service project. Some ideas on the table are to collaborate with the Budapest City Rotaract Club on a area clean-up day or a project to sponsor Roma (gypsy) children to attend institutes of higher education. Roughly 10-15% of the Hungarian population is Roma and they are heavily discriminated against. The Budapest City Rotaract Club has already received a sizeable grant to undertake one aspect of the project and the club will be developing proposals to seek matching grants and additional funding.

That's it from here. I've included in this post a few pictures of my host cousins from last weekend, as well as a picture of a little park by Margaret Bridge. In the background you can see the Parliment. We have having lovely indian summer-like weather and it's been clear and beautiful this whole past week.

Hope to hear from you soon!

The Statue Park

Every Budapest tour guide and information aimed at tourists advertises Szoborpark (Statue Park in English), what Lonely Planet calls the "socialist Disneyland," a collection of three dozen busts, statues and plaques from the Communist era. I think most Americans from my generation have somewhat of a fascination with Communism. Our American History classes are dominated by this topic, which perhaps we can connect with better than the American Revolution of the late 18th century, for example, since we were alive to witness the end of the Cold War.

One of the first touristy things I did in Budapest, therefore, was visit the Statue Park, along with two American guys and a German. It is situated just outside the city, so you can either take a train and two buses or go by car. We opted to go by car. There are basically no signs to direct you, and even as you approach the park there is no sign or arrow to draw you in. Anyway, admission was 600 HUF per person (approximately 3 USD) and each statue has a plaque telling you what it is, though most give the description of "Communist-era statue" or something equally informative. You can also buy a book that describes the statues in more depth, which also tells you where they were located in Budapest, etc. There were very few tourists there and we were pretty disappointed overall- mostly because it's too small. The guy from Germany said they have regular parks in Germany which feature statues from the Communist era which are much larger and more exciting- and they're free.

My Hungarain host parents have not gone and will not go to see the Statue Park. A Hungarian friend told me that Communism ended so long ago that it was practically forgotten. It seems that most Hungarians have no desire to see the Statue Park, having seen so many of the statues every day of their lives during an era that is over. People say that Hungarians are typically fairly pessimistic but from what I have seen these past few weeks, they seem eager to move forward in this new era, to see improvements in the economy and their country.

First Week at CEU

I am pleased to report that I have survived my first week at CEU (Central European University). Naah, it wasn't that bad. We actually have two full weeks of "orientation" prior to the start of classes, so I really should say that I survived my first week of orientation at CEU. It's been an amazingly productive week; in the past four days time I have received my CEU identification card and temporary Hungarian student ID, received my CEU-issued medical insurance card, set up my CEU email account, taken the required computer proficiency courses and registered my address with the approriate Hungarian authorities.

A little about CEU: CEU is a U.S.-style graduate institution located in downtown Budapest. The university has only been around for the past 15 years or so, and the public policy program is two years old. The physical university is comprised of four connected buildings, one of which is more than 200 years old. There are dark, narrow, spiral staircases, underground passageways, terraces and gardens, and likely a few more surprises yet to be discovered. There are 29 students in the public policy program, the majority coming from the U.S. (1/4) and Romania (40% or so). There are a handful of students from Pakistan (1), Latvia (1), Bulgaria (1) and Georgia (1), and two students are Hungarian. It is a very interesting mix and undoubtedly will make for an interesting year.

Next week, after each professor from the public policy department presents his/her course (overview of the material, etc.) we will actually register for classes. Students are expected to take 17 credits in fall and winter semesters and complete their 6-credit thesis during the spring term. It seems to be an intense curriculum for such a short-time period (fall semester runs from end of September to mid-December, winter from 2nd week of January to end of March, and spring during April and May).

More news and photos this weekend!

K

New York Times Article on Budapest

Last weekend there was a very interesting (and surprisingly accurate) article in the New York Times about Budapest. The article was in the September 3, 2006 edition, Travel section and is entitled "Journeys: Budapest Is Stealing Some of Prague's Spotlight," by Rick Lymant. You can access the article online at http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/travel/03journey.html?ex=1158033600&en=ce883527502e8a36&ei=5070&emc=eta1.

Happy reading!

Becoming a Millionaire

You would think scoring a 98 out of 100 on my Hungarian final exam would be the highlight of my week. Don't let me fail to mention that carrying on a dialogue in class and actually having a real conversation in a restaurant in Budapest are two completely separate issues, of course.

Or perhaps at the top of my list would be going to the famous thermal baths at Szechenyi, cited by the Lonely Planet as the largest medicinal bath extant in Europe (my impressions: the buildings which house the baths are extremely old, and by that I mean that they are decaying).

I also got internet in my room this week- definitely a close runner-up to our winner. In order for my host dad to get up early in the morning, he goes to bed between 8 and 9pm. The internet is in his room... so... after 8 or so I was being cut off each night. You can imagine how disturbing this was to me :) No... but in all seriousness, with school starting just around the corner and lots of papers and whatnot to be written, I needed to get the internet in my room so I could get late-night work done. Very happy.

But no, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Drum-roll please.... the highlight of my week was... BECOMING A MILLIONAIRE! Yes, that is correct. My Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship is dispersed in two payments. Calm yourself down, my scholarship is NOT worth a million dollars. Keep reading! Miraculously, when I arrived in Budapest in August my host counselor had my first payment waiting for me, in the form of a check from the Rotary office in Zurich. Wonderful... except that no bank in this ENTIRE CITY (!) would cash it. Apparently checks are like... no good in Hungary. So I had to send the check back and have Rotary wire the money. I withdrew money from my U.S. bank account when I first arrived, in order to pay for my language school. I was hit with a hefty 10 USD ATM fee (!)- so I decided NOT to do that again and just wait for the wire. So for two weeks I lived on a small loan from my host parents. As of Friday, I was down to my last 1800 forints (about 9 U.S. dollars!). Trust me, desperate times. Anyway, so the point of this story is that the wire finally came through and as of this afternoon, my bank account showed a balance of more than 1,000,000 forints... which officially makes me a millionaire.

Language School... Beszelsz Magyarul?

So far in Hungary my daily life is consumed by trying to learn Hungarian. During the week a typical day goes as follows:

7:00 am- Wake up. Shower and get dressed. Have breakfast.
8:20am- Leave house to catch 8:32am commuter rail into city.
8:55am- Arrive at Margaret Bridge, walk to language school.
9:00am- Language school begins. We start with exercises to refresh our memories about what we supposedly learned the day before, and then go into new material. This picture shows my teacher (in the front with the beige sweater) and the other students. It came out a bit dark and blurry- I am hoping my camera did not get water damage at the fireworks.
10:30am- Break. We make coffee and tea in kitchen at language school and sit around and chat... in English, German, Spanish- basically, anything except Hungarian!
10:45- Break is over, and we are back into the heavy Hungarian. When our teacher asks us to make up sentences and we come up with things like "I do not speak Hungarian" and "Hungarian is hard," she makes us come up with even more sentences! It appears she believes in the principle of positive thinking... though I myself am not yet convinced.
12:15pm- We get our homework assignments for the next class and head out. Normally I will go into Budapest with one of the other students and get something to eat (we are on a mission to find the best CHEAP eatteries in Budapest!) and take care of whatever we have to take care of- getting our bank accounts straightened out, cell phone, post office, etc. This mainly involves a lot of walking around the city and trying our very best not to get lost (he he).
4-6:00pm- Jump on the commuter rail and head home. I found an English language library and use the hour daily on the train to get some great reading in.
4:30-6:30pm- Arrive home, have dinner, do my homework with my host father and "study" by trying to have an understandable conversation (in Hungarian) with my host parents. Check email, watch the news.
7:00pm- A Hungarian soap opera that my host dad loves comes on at 7pm, so we all sit and watch that. At this point I understand very very little (since it is in Hungarian) but I have managed to understand that it is about a hospital here in Budapest.
9:00- You would be amazed how totally exhausting it is to try and carry on for 12-14 hours straight in an unknown foreign language. By 9pm I am totally exhausted and usually lay down to watch TV, read, etc.

Two events this week are tied as the high points: first, I finally figured out how to work the window blinds. Sounds like a simple task but for some reason they really tripped me up. I somehow communicated to my host mom that I had no clue how to work them and she showed me. Definitely an accomplishment! More importantly, this week I had my first real conversation on the street ENTIRELY in Hungarian. I stopped a Hungarian on the street, asked directions and actually understood his response. I was so impressed with myself! A close runner-up for highlight of the week is the multiple times I was mistaken for a Hungarian. I went to the bank with a fellow American; he was trying to explain that his internet banking was not working but the lady did not understand him and she turned to me asking for clarification. Ha! As I was trying to get out "nem beszelek magarul" she figured out that I was not Hungarian.

The weather this past week was quite cold- people were wearing sweaters, jackets and an occassional scarf and they were selling hats and gloves on the street. This coming week is supposed to be warmer. The weather this weekend is beautiful so I will go tomorrow morning and walk around Margaret Island, a popular place to lounge, swim, walk and run, etc.

Commentary on Week #1

This first week has been full of surprises and adventures. My most honest feelings about Budapest? I LOVE IT! I was a bit homesick the first three days- not because I was not happy, but just from the shock of my move. Imagine 6pm on a Thursday being in Boston, master of the English language and the situation around me. A mere twelve hours later I am in an unfamiliar city, living with a new family, smack dab in the middle of a language I cannot even begin to understand. Not only is it extremely depressing to be in a situation where you cannot understand anything going on around you, but it is mentally taxing to try and understand and make the most basic conversation (for example, I am hungry, Can I have some water, I need to go to school now).

So how am I doing with the language, one week into this adventure? Surprisingly well, if I may say so myself. I arrived on a Friday and started intensive Hungarian language classes on Monday. We have class for 3 hours a day, and then I come home and talk with my host family for another 1-3 hours and also complete my homework. With five classes (15 hours of instruction) under my belt, I can somewhat follow conversations between my host parents- in other words, I can figure out the general topic of their conversation, but not all the details. I can also understand and respond to their basic questions- are you hungry, are you thirsty, how was school, do you have plans this afternoon, etc.

I remember back to my year abroad in Bolivia- I arrived in Cochabamba with more than a year of Spanish instruction under my belt, and yet could not understand nor communicate the simplest of concepts when I first arrived. The accent and vocabulary were so different from what I had studied, I think I was thrown for a loop. Surprisingly, in some ways my present situation of arriving with extremely basic knowledge has been more advantageous as far as my language learning progress is concerned.

There are 8 students in my Hungarian class- 4 Americans and 4 Germans. Everyone has studied a foreign language before- many are fluent in at least 2 languages- which makes things much easier. One of the Americans in my program is also a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and will be in my public policy program at the Central European University (CEU) as well. He is from Massachusetts and lived in Ecuador for a year so we have a lot in common. There is also a guy in our class from Dover, NH. When would you ever have guessed that I would admit that it is nice to be surrounded by fellow New Englanders!

I have gotten a lot of emails asking about Hungarian food. What is it like? Extremely varied. In my first week I have eaten everything from toast with Nutella to paprika chicken with the Hungarian equivalent of spaetzel (a kind of noodle dumpling). My host mom made an amazing garlic-eggplant spread that she served on toast with feta and cucumbers. I am convinced that the cucumber is the national vegetable, as they seem to serve it at every meal (yes, including breakfast). For some reason my host parents are concerned that I am going to fade away, so they are serving me insane quantities of food, which of course I am unable to eat. I know my mother is happy that they are taking care of me in that regard. All in all, no complaints about the food, though eating out (in a restaurant) is surprisingly expensive and you have to pay for condiments? They also will not give you free water in a restaurant. It is either carbonated or not and comes in a bottle. Also, for some reason the microwave continued to run this morning after I opened the door? Weird.

I have also gotten a number of emails asking for my address. I cannot comment on the Hungarian mail system, so if you do want to send me something it might be best to send a test piece of mail first, just to make sure I get it. The address is:

Erdős Kalman
Budapest 03
Kabar utca 11. 4. em 18 ajtó
1039
BUDAPEST HUNGARY
EUROPE

I also have a new cell phone number: 70 633 08 97. From the US: 011 36 70 633 08 97. Home phone number remains the same: 011 36 1 2453624.

Most importantly, I have posted some pictures on Shutterfly! You do NOT need to sign up for an account to view them. Just click on http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BcsWLVsxZsXFQ&notag=1.

I plan to lay low this weekend, maybe getting together with some friends tonight and trying out one of the international churches tomorrow. My host parents are away for the next 4 days so if anyone wants to meet on Skype or Messenger to chat this would be a great time.

Cheers!

PS I could not get the spellchecker to work, so I apologize for any spelling and typing mistakes. On a more positive note, I am doing much better with the keyboard and the y and z!

An Interesting Welcome To Budapest

One of the reasons I arrived in Budapest nearly a month before university classes begin was to attend the St. Stephen´s Day festivities- a street fair, air show and impressive fireworks which take place on August 20th.

I am pleased I was here for this year´s events, as it was quite a day. A Hungarian friend and I spent the day walking around the city, taking in the sights and enjoying the day along with 1 million Hungarians also in attendance. As you will see from the picture, I also took the opportunity to sample some Hungarian cuisine.


As you will read on CNN and BBC, minutes after the fireworks began a tropical storm/hurricane blew in and nearly killed all 1 million of us. People literally went running for their lives as rain, hail and broken glass whipped through the night.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5269642.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/21/storm.reut/index.html
PHOTOS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/5275376.stm

Here I am thinking I had left that crazy tropical weather in South Florida. Luckily my friend and I escaped relatively unharmed- soaking wet with a few minor scratches, but nothing more. Welcome to Budapest!

Arrived!

After more than a YEAR of planning, I am finally in Budapest. I arrived Friday August 18th at noon local time, and my Rotary host counselor was at the airport to meet me and take me to the home of my host family. Emi and Kalman are wonderful, and having hosted 9 students prior to my arrival, they are experts in ˝sign language,˝ translation, charades, etc. We went out to the market this morning and will go explore Budapest this afternoon.

There are many things about Hungary that make me feel right at home, either because they remind me of the US or Bolivia. Having all modern conveniences of course reminds me of the US; figuring out how to use them reminds me of my struggles in Bolivia. Having a market right around the corner from my house reminds me of Bolivia; the prices, however, are closer to those in the US. Seeing T-Mobile signs everywhere remind me of the US; not having a CLUE what they say reminds me of my early days in Bolivia. Bridges to cross the street remind me of Bolivia; seeing people actually use the bridges and not run across the highway in front of speeding cars reminds me of the US.

My biggest problem so far? They use a different keyboard, which includes some new characters (léttérs wíth accents, főr éxámplé). To fit those characters in some letters are displaced, most notably the y, which is where the z should be, and vice versa. So if mz tzping becomes a bit sillz, this darn kezboard is to blame. I cant seem to find the apostrophe either... so I maz forego punctuation as a whole for the time being.

Thanks to everyone for all your encouraging emails. Keep them coming! I will try and post on this blog at a minimum once a week, and will be uploading some pictures shortly as well.

All Systems A Go

The first piece of good news is that carry-on restrictions have been revised over the past few days. In London they've gone from a strict no carry-on policy to a policy that allows for a tiny carry-on (the size as a small laptop bag), as long as it contains no cosmetics, liquids, etc. Just my luck that I am transiting London.

Second item of good news: my flight hasn't been cancelled. No explanation needed there.

Deep down I am trying to deny that these restrictions have forced me to be more sensible in my packing, which is definitely a good thing. As much as I love my fake fur coat, I probably can get along without it. Same goes for my red blanket with the 3 bears on it that I never used as a child but have taken a strong liking to in recent years. (WARNING: the red blanket may still manage to find its way into one of my suitcases though!) I did manage to sneak in 7 pairs of shoes and 5 purses, cut from about 10 pairs of shoes and 10 purses. I probably packed an excess of jackets and sweaters but seeing as how I am always cold, that seemed like a smarter choice than 5 pairs of flip flops. A tough choice, but a smarter one.

My flight leaves tonight at 6pm from Logan Intl. Airport in Boston, and by noontime tomorrow (Budapest time, 6am on the east coast of the U.S.) I will be in Hungary. My Rotary host counselor will be picking me up from the airport and taking me to my host family's home. I will be seeing my Hungarian friend Tamas this weekend, and I hope to meet up with Aaron Varner (another Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from the U.S.) on Sunday. Noah (from Massachusetts) and I start the same language training program on Monday, and we are also in the same program of study at the Central European University.

Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes for a safe journey. Next update will be from Budapest!

The Packing Phase

You're probably asking yourself, "how does one pack for an entire YEAR?" If you're like me, you take 2 large suitcases on a 2-week trip. But clothing for an entire year?! That's a full 4 seasons to pack for. You can't blame a girl for needing (note word choice: NEEDing vs. WANTing) ten pairs of shoes- spread over 4 seasons, that's only 2.5 pairs per season, which is by all reasonable standards totally ridiculous. A true sacrifice, if you ask me.

Standard baggage allowance on international flights is 2 bags, 70 pounds each. So what was my packing plan? I have the BIGGEST bags you can find and I planned to stuff them to the brim (by "to the brim" I mean the bags will be SO full that you have to sit on them to close them... you get the picture). Then I put all my toiletries, laptop, medicines, change of clothes, etc. in my carry-on (a small suitcase, also stuffed to the brim). Plus of course every girl needs a large purse with a book, 2 bottles of water, a snack, passport, wallet, camera, cell phone w/ charger, lip gloss, aspirin, neck pillow, sweater, perfume and perhaps some chewing gum. Between the 2 large checked bags, 1 small suitcase as a carry-on, and large purse one can probably get by. (Though I have considered paying for a 3rd or 4th bag or sending them ahead as cargo... but I could probably get by with the 2 massive suitcases, 1 small suitcase carry-on and large purse.)

So how does one do it when authorities limit passengers transiting the UK (I'm flying British Airways Boston to London to Budapest) to NO carry-on? I mean none. Like, passport and wallet in hand and that's about it. My entire packing strategy is thrown off. Everything that was to go into the small carry-on suitcase and large purse must now fit into the 2 checked bags. I'd say it's pretty much impossible.

On the plus side, however, my visa and passport finally arrived.

Countdown to Budapest

The countdown to Budapest is about to reach single digits (10 days and counting as of right now!). Am I ready? Of course not. I have a huge pile of some (not all) things I would like to take, and will soon be faced with the challenge of how to cram those things into two suitcases. Can I do it? Probably not. When I went to Bolivia as a Rotary Exchange Student in 2000, my mom suggested I mail 2 boxes with extra things in them to Bolivia. The cost? A mere $364.59. So somehow I managed to survive without the 2 boxes. I expect I will face a similar situation this time around.

My biggest concern right now? Getting everything done before leaving. The to-do list seems to continue to grow, despite me spending all waking moments trying to widdle it down. Every time I turn around I think of something else that needs to be done. Going away for a year isn't like going for a few weeks. Banks and credit card companies need to be notified that I will be using my cards overseas and health and car insurance needs to be canceled. I have to buy 3 of anything I'm picky about (shampoo, deodorant, mascra, foundation, face cream, contacts, vitamins, etc.) to get me through until re-enforcements arrive in December (when my family comes to visit).

What won't get done? You would think learning Hungarian would be important at this point, but somehow it has taken a back-burner to these other tasks. Will I regret that decision when I am staring at my host parents and cannot even say "where is the bathroom?" Most likely. I guess that's where the adventure in all this comes in.

Keep those fingers crossed that my passport (with the appropriate visa) will arrive back from the Hungarian Consulate today. They promised me they would send them out today.

More later!

Host Family

Just to bring you up to date: I have secured a host family. An American girl who studied in Budapest a few years ago recommended Emi and Kalman to me. They are an older couple who live in a small Soviet-era apartment in the northwest corner of the city. According to Kristin they are impeccably clean, the food is the best you'll find in Budapest, and they will look after me (vs. being in a "boarding house" where they are just interested in the $$). Between the two of them (they have 2 grown and married daughters who live nearby) they don't speak a word of English but that will be good (hopefully!) for my language learning.

The phone number at their apartment is 061 2453624. I will also be getting a cell phone, and will post the number when I have it. I'll also post pictures of the apartment and my host parents after I arrive.

Countdown to Budapast: 23 days!

World Cup Fever

This has nothing to do with my Ambassadorial Scholarship but is very cool nonetheless. The City of Boston hosted a World Cup "party" and showed the final game on a big screen TV set up in City Hall Plaza. It was terribly hot but we had a great time nonetheless. I was interviewed by New England Cable News and appeared on the 6pm news that night (check out http://www.boston.com/news/necn/ and search for "World Cup Fans are Frenzied in Boston"; I show up about 2/3 of the way through the video story). Here are some pictures from the event.

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars Seminar

I spent June 23-25 at beautiful Rollins College in Orlando for the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars Seminar, which was attended by approximately 25 outgoing scholars. What an amazing group of people! It was an action-packed weekend full of information and stories. There were many former scholars in attendance as well, and hearing their stories and adventures provided the perfect amount of intimidation and motivation. And the excitement level... through the roof! If you thought I was excited about Budapest before, just imagine now. There are four Rotary scholars from the US who will be going to Budapest, and one was at the Rollins seminar. We have been emailing back and forth these past weeks, but it was great to meet him in person. And thus the countdown begins... seven weeks and I will be leaving for Budapest!

Speaking Engagements

Part of my role as an "Ambassador" for Rotary includes pre-departure presentations to Rotarians in my sponsor district, district 6990, about my scholarship. I will be visiting the following clubs to talk about my award:

South Miami- May 16th
Miami Granada- May 17th
Key Biscayne- May 19th
Miami Dadeland-Pinecrest- May 22nd
Weston Bonaventure- May 23rd
Surfside Bal Harbour- May 25th



Before I depart, I will complete a total of 12 presentations to local Rotary groups. I have business cards to hand out (see below) and banners to collect- 4-6 banners from each club I visit, to exchange with clubs in my host district in Hungary and surrounding countries.

CEU Acceptance Letter

Good news! My much-anticipated and long-awaited acceptance letter from the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest came via email on April 26th. The university received more than 3000 applications from students in over 100 countries for a very limited number of spots (there are less than 50 students in the entire public policy program, for example!). They also awarded me a "partial" scholarship which will cover full tuition, room and board and health insurance, valued at approximately $15,000 USD. Yipee! I also got an application in to the Hungarian Ministry of Education for a scholarship to cover language training for 3-4 weeks in August-September before classes start.

Bringing You Up To Date...

FEBRUARY - MARCH 2006
I spent these two LONG months playing the waiting game- waiting to hear from CEU. I passed the first phase of the application process with CEU, but have to wait until after April 15th for the final admissions decision. During these months I attended the Hungarian church regularly.

APRIL 2006
Two major events: the district orientation and acceptance from CEU. The district orientation was held on a Saturday morning and was the first opportunity we had to meet the other scholars. There are a total of 3 scholars from District 6990 for the 2006-2007 school year, but only one other scholar was at the orientation. The current and incoming District 6990 Chairs for Foundation Grants/Scholarship were present and provided invaluable information for us as we prepare for the upcoming year. That's actually where I got the idea for this blog! My to-do list in preparation for my year abroad is growing, and will probably grow even more after the June "Zone" orientation, but I'm excited!

More about my CEU acceptance in my next post!

How This Rotary Adventure Began

You are probably asking yourself, how (and why) does one become a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar? And why Hungary? Let me recap for you the journey so far...

2000-2001
I was a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in Cochabamba, Bolivia, sponsored by the Rotary Club of York, Maine. I can easily say this was the best experience of my life, for so many reasons. From the minute I stepped foot in the Rotary Club of York, I felt welcomed. My year in Bolivia changed my life completely. Not only did I come back fluent in Spanish, I came back with a second home in Cochabamba that I will treasure all my life. I believe this year abroad had a lot to do with my choice of majors in college (international relations, minor in economics, certificate in Latin American studies) and my personal and professional development ever since.

MAY 2004
I first heard about Rotary's Ambassadorial Scholarship program at an event for Truman Scholars in Liberty, Missouri. Of course at this point I knew all about Rotary from my Youth Exchange days, and was thrilled to see they had additional opportunities. I tucked away the idea in the back of my brain.

SPRING 2005
One afternoon as I casually pondered what to do with the rest of my life, going through all those ideas tucked away in the back of my brain, I once again came across the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship program. At this point I was working at the U.S. Department of State's Office of Foreign Missions in Coral Gables, Florida. Not only was I feeling less than stimulated at work, I was anxious to start my master's degree (just need to find the right program!) and definitely itching to go overseas again. I contacted the Rotary Club of Coral Gables to find out more about the scholarship. From the first moment I made contact with this club I felt welcomed. They invited me to a club meeting so I can get more information, and I was taken back to the first time I attended a York, Maine Rotary Club meeting. Of course it was a different club in a city 1500 miles south, but the people were just as friendly and just as welcoming. The club interviewed me and agreed to sponsor me. I used my best google skills to seek out the top public policy programs abroad and finally settle on five potential study institutions and countries. My list: Hong Kong, the UK, Hungary and Singapore (in no particular order, except that Hong Kong was my #1 choice. I also started preparing for the district interview, which was in august, where the district committee would decide if they wanted to recommend to Rotary International that they sponsor me.

AUGUST 2005
District interview: I had done my homework, and had interviewed so many times before you'd think I wouldn't be nervous, but the committee had ALSO done their homework, and it showed. Most of the questions were somehow related to my #1 choice study institution and country, the University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong. I was asked questions like, "How do you feel about the U.S. policy towards Hong Kong, China and Taiwan?" "What do you plan to do to act as a Rotary Ambassador?" and "What do you plan to do with a degree in public policy?" They interviewed eight candidates that day for three spots. I was told I would hear in late August or early September.

SEPTEMBER 2005
I finally received the long-awaited letter from Rotary District 6990 confirming that they passed my name to Rotary International for confirmation and final selection of study institution and country.

DECEMBER 2005
I received a letter from Rotary International confirming that I have been approved for study in Ho... BUDAPEST, HUNGARY?! Budapest was my 3rd choice, and I had been told that ALMOST everyone got their 1st choice, and everyone else got their 2nd. Hmm. Even though I had been mentally preparing for Hong Kong for the past FOUR months (!), I was pleased with the selection. I had to ditch my Chinese tapes and start trying to find someone who spoke Hungarian to tutor me. Great news- who would have thought there'd be a Hungarian-American church and social club right here in Miami?! I contact the pastor and she was excited to meet me. I made a plan with her to visit the church one Sunday in January and she says we can discuss the language then. I also started working on my application to the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, since my scholarship was contingent on my acceptance at CEU.

JANUARY 2006
I visited the Hungarian church for the first time and immediately met someone to be my tutor- his name is Tamas; he's about my age, from the Budapest area and is staying with a host family in Coral Gables for a few months to learn English. It is the ideal situation for both of us- he will teach me Hungarian, I will help him with his English. We started right away and for the next two months met once or twice a week, at his host family's home in Coral Gables or at the church on Sundays. Here is a picture of Tamas and I at the church. In January I also completed my application to CEU and sent it off.

Budapest, Hungary, Here I Come!

Welcome to the "Kelsey in Budapest" blog, my venue for sharing with you my experiences as a 2006-2007 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Budapest, Hungary.

What is an "Ambassadorial Scholar," you ask? According to the Rotary International website, Ambassadorial Scholars "further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries" serving as "ambassadors of goodwill to the people of the host country." Some objectives of the Ambassadorial Scholar program are:
-increasing awareness and respect for cultural differences
-instilling in scholars the Rotary ideal of "Service Above Self" through active participation
in Rotary service projects
-developing leaders who can address the humanitarian needs of the world

The Ambassadorial Scholar program also includes an academic component. I have been assigned to study at the Central European University in Budapest, pending acceptance into their Master of Public Policy program.

This adventure would not be possible were it not for the support I am receiving from the Coral Gables Rotary Club in particular, and for the confidence from Rotary District 6990 and Rotary International, who have awarded me this opportunity.

I will use this blog to share with you my adventures during these upcoming months of preparation, during my year in Budapest, and upon my return. I will also be creating an email distribution list to share adventures during my year abroad. If you'd like to receive email updates please leave a comment or email me at kvaughan@gmail.com asking to be included.

Kelsey Vaughan
Ambassadorial Scholar 2006-2007
District 6990, Rotary International