Turns out we don’t have access to the internet on the weekends, so I’m sitting here in my room typing this up and it’ll get posted sometime on Monday.
I’m thinking about taking 5 classes even though I can only transfer 4 over to Dartmouth. We have a couple of weeks before final registration so I have the time to visit a lot of different classes this week – I’ll see how hard the classes seem and try to figure out if I have the time for 5 or not. So far I’m taking Complex Analysis, Theory of Computing, Graph Theory, and a philosophy class. The three math/comp sci classes are supposed to be pretty intense, but maybe I can audit a number theory or topology class. The more exposure I have to different topics in math the easier it’ll be for me to decide later on what kind of grad school I want to attend and what I want to focus on.
So it’s been 5 days since I arrived here, I can hardly believe it. I don’t feel nearly as helpless and lost as I did on the first day. Besides, my roommate came back from Prague on Friday and I haven’t had to go everywhere by myself for the last two days. The apartment isn’t quite so lonely anymore.
On Friday she took me to the Buda side. We got out at the stop right by the Danube where we could see the Parliament building, then crossed over the chain bridge back to the Pest side, walked past the Basilica, and back to our apartment. It’s amazing that most tourist attractions and interesting parts of Budapest are pretty much within walking distance of each other.
The public transportation system isn’t quite as advanced as that of NYC, but it also doesn’t need to be – Budapest just isn’t such a huge city. Unlike in NYC, trains and busses in Budapest are always on time and run much more often. You won’t be left standing around for longer than 5 -7 minutes. During peak times the trains average 3.5 minutes or less. A single ride ticket is cheaper than, but not nearly as flexible as a single ride on the MTA. You can only travel in one direction on any one metro line or bus without transferring (there are only 3 metro lines). You have to pay extra for a ticket that allows you one transfer. (There are also cheaper tickets if you’re only traveling for 3 stops).
The annoying thing about the transportation is that if you don’t buy a weekly or monthly pass then you’re left buying single ride tickets at annoying machines each time you want to ride. There’s no such thing as a Metrocard – you can’t just keep a small plastic card on you with say, 10 or 15 rides on it. I heard you can buy booklets of 10-15 tickets – but that option isn’t available on the machines so you have to wait on line at the window. The tickets are little pieces of paper that you HAVE to keep on you after you enter the station. You have to keep track of which ticket you entered on and discard old tickets to make sure you don’t have 5 old tickets lying around in your pocket. Otherwise if you get stopped and asked for your ticket on your way out, you might get fined if you don’t find your most recent one – stamped with today’s date and validated on the line or bus that you’re riding.
It’s a PAIN IN THE ASS. Which is why I just bought a 30 day pass and moved on with my life (not cheap, even by NY standards, but soooo convenient. It’s half price for students, but I’m not officially a student here :( )
Moving on…
Thermal baths! Budapest is famous for them – they’re even supposed to have medicinal healing powers. My roomie Kristen and I went to the Szechenyi Baths in City Park yesterday – very cool. Lot’s of hot baths of various sizes and temperatures spread out over 5 or 6 rooms, plus sauna and a steam room. Apparently there was a large outside bath with chess boards as well that we somehow missed. It’ll definitely be something to look forward to during the cold November/December months.
This is getting way too long so I’ll stop for now. Once classes start (tomorrow) I’m sure I’ll have better things to do than talk about the transportation system in Budapest for 2 paragraphs, so enjoy the boring details while you can :)
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