Our GCD is 1

Here is the view from outside our window at the Professor's Guest House that we are staying at.

Although a lot of native Hungarians may not envy Americans, they seem to be interested in American culture as evident by many American influences here. This afternoon, while at a local Italian restaurant for lunch, a local man approached me and started inquiring about my religion. Approximately 70% of Hungarians are Catholic, so I assumed he was hoping to find some commonality between us. I explained that I was Baptist and highlighted some similarities and differences between that and Catholicism. He only knew a little bit of English, but he seemed to understand everything that I was saying because I used a lot of hand gestures when explaining things like baptism, prayer, ect. At the end of the conversation, he said kӧszӧnӧm which means thank you in Hungarian. I responded with the same.

The language barrier issue here is getting better after just two days of language class. We know how to say small phrases like asking how much something costs, getting a waiter’s attention, saying that we don’t speak Hungarian, and greetings. Today, we also learned Hungarian numbers and reviewed the alphabet. Now it is a little less awkward going to restaurants, plus we found that many people know enough English for us to be able to sufficiently communicate. Transportation seems to be gettting easier and easier as the days go on. Not only do we know how to get to and from class easily, but we are starting to identify “hot spots” around the city to go shop, eat, and sightsee. In class today, our Hungarian teacher, Erika, gave us directions to several locations around the city that she suggested, like the thermal spas, ice rink, and places to see concerts. We are looking forward to learning more about the culture and seeing more of what Budapest has to offer.

Class in budapest is not all that different from a traditional class on campus in that it involves a commute that rivals that of a Hill-Kitt resident. Yet the tight knit aspect of the group allows for additional freedom in the classroom. Comments and questions normally reserved for whispers in the back row and office hours pop up in class. Today one of our fellow students, after a discussion of GCD or the greatest common divisor, stated that next time any of us decide to break up with our significant other we can say that it is because "our GCD is 1." This is just a geeky math way of saying that we have nothing in common.