St. Olaf Budapest Interim 2018: Math Magic and Szentendre

Szia!

We started off the day with a quick breakfast at our hotel before taking the bus to our 9:30 AM class. After a little over a week, we are becoming quite the pros at using the public transport system here in Budapest and arrived with time to spare. Today’s topic was divisibility and how our world is set up with the base of 10. Berliner started the day off with some math magic that counted as the joke for the day. (We later also did our minimum of one proof for the day). Using our new knowledge on modular arithmetic and bases, we came up with ways of seeing if certain numbers are divisible and proved it.

Walking into school

Berliner very excited about proofs!

A number of us went back to Nagyi Palacsintázója for lunch. The pancakes were just as good, and many of us branched out to try new flavors and combinations.

Pancakes!

After lunch, we reconvened at the train station to head to Szentendre, a sleepy little town on the Danube north of Budapest. The train ride was about 40 minutes. It was a change of pace from the hustle and bustle of Budapest! We got to see more of the countryside. We stopped in a Mikrocsodák Muzema (a micro-art museum) and saw an assortment of different tiny pieces of art. It was fascinating that art that small existed and that people had the patience to make it. Our next stop was the Kovács Margit Ceramic Museum where we viewed a large collection of Margit Kovács’s works. Skylar’s favorite part was the part of the museum where you could not only look at the pieces, but also feel them, which she had restrained herself from doing for the whole exhibition.

Small, golden Coca-Cola bottle

Indented steps

Szentendre

At the ceramics museum (photo credits to Karina)

Woman cutting a loaf.

One group had a slight mishap on the way back. We got off a stop or two early, but our mastery of the public transportation system saved the day!

Another group stuck with Berliner since he had assured us that there was a really good bakery not too far from the train, only a short detour away. On the walk to the train, we exchanged puns and funny jokes. Daubner Cukrászda was full of people and had many beautiful sweet treats to offer. The amount of people filling the bakery despite its less popular location told us that it had good treats to offer. Everything was in Hungarian, and the workers spoke Hungarian as well. This gave us a great opportunity to put the Hungarian we have learned to good use. Skylar ended up with two pieces of a chocolatey cake, and Jordan ended up with a sweet milk cake.