Greetings from Urbana! I returned home safely just under a day ago, and as much as I enjoyed my semester in Budapest it feels amazing to sleep in my own bed once again. My last week in Budapest was stressful but filled with many good and/or bittersweet things in addition to the tests that consumed the bulk of my attention. My current plan is to summarize those events here and then post photos separately afterwards, with one final reflection on my time abroad to follow in the next week or so.
I spent almost all of my time in the weekend before finals studying, dividing my work evenly between the two hardest classes (commutative algebra and functional analysis) and trying to work both individually and with others. These are probably the hardest math tests I've ever taken, and the functional analysis final in particular was brutal. I did take a couple of breaks in between study sessions for meals and such, and sometimes I traveled a bit to revisit some of my favorite sites in Budapest, like the Fisherman's Bastion and Buda Castle. I also found one or two opportunities to do Christmas shopping for my family, which let me see some of the larger markets again.
My final exams took place on Monday and Tuesday of this week, and they went okay! I was terrified going into them, so it was a huge relief to be done and see that I had survived. Immediately after my last final got out at 14:00 on Tuesday, my friend Grace arrived in Budapest to spend the day with me. We went to pick up some ingredients for dinner from the grocery store, and then I took her to see Heroes' Square. I actually had to go to an end-of-the-year BSME potluck from 16:00-19:00, so I recommended an art museum and a Christmas market to Grace and then went Buda-side for that. It was a small event, with just the BSME professors and about eight students, and we had a great time playing Salad Bowl (apparently also known as "Fish Bowl" and a bunch of other things) together. The Pósa Method professor also gave each of us a little note, which was super nice. After the potluck I rejoined Grace and we went to grab some food with Rowan and Caledonia, two of the BSM students I sing with sometimes. We spent most of the time complaining about the stress of finals, but it was a nice meeting and everyone seemed to enjoy getting to know each other a little. Grace and I went back to my apartment afterwards and made a second dinner together, combining various foodstuffs she had left over from Vienna with some good túró we had bought from the dairy store earlier. We spent the night eating, relaxing, and catching up with each other.
On Wednesday I took Grace to Fågel by Artizan, a really good oatmeal bar near the Parliament building, before seeing her off to Vienna one last time. I spent the rest of the daylight hours doing Christmas shopping for my families and attending one more folk singing lesson from Emese in the BSM building. It was all very quiet and peaceful, in contrast to the near-constant panic of the weekend. In the evening, things got more lively as I went out with my friend Tanmay--we hung out in his apartment for a while before going to a small party hosted by another BSM student and subsequently going to a ruin pub where about 30 BSM students were gathered. It was great to get to talk to so many of the people I've met this semester at once, although my introvert self got tired pretty quickly. I left around midnight and went back to Tanmay's apartment, where we stayed up until 4:00 talking and showing each other music. It was great!
Thursday was my last day in Budapest, and I started out by going to an art museum on Heroes' Square that I hadn't visited yet. It had a lot of great Hungarian art, including an exhibit that just consisted of the decorations of one of the huge rooms. I also saw a bunch of medieval Christian art, as well as some pretty landscapes and things. Afterwards I went back to the Vörösmarty Christmas market to finish my shopping to finish my shopping before taking the M3 (only metro line I hadn't taken yet this semester) to get lunch at Hari Kebab (a good restaurant across the street from BSM) one last time. From 15:00-18:00 we had a farewell party in the BSM building, where we received our final marks from the professors and had time to chat with them and our fellow students. I had a great time talking to all of the people I've gotten to know there, although it was strange to say goodbye without knowing when (if ever) we'll meet again. The math world is small, so with luck we'll run into each other at many conferences in the future. :)
The end of my time in Budapest flew past. I spent the evening packing up everything in my apartment and stayed up through the night, since I had to leave for the airport at 4:00 and didn't trust myself to wake up on time. I went for a 2:00 stroll to Heroe's Square, which was completely abandoned and shrouded in fog and beautiful. I made it to the airport without much trouble, and my flights all went without a hitch (in stark contrast to my bumpy ride to Europe back in September!) There were 5 BSM students on my first flight to London, which was a nice way to close out the semester. Customs were surprisingly easy to navigate, and I touched down in Champaign-Urbana around 19:30 local time. It's so good to be home! Between Monday morning and Friday night I only got about 12 hours of sleep total, so it was a huge relief to collapse in bed at the end of the week. All in all, it's been an amazing semester!
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