Category: An American in Hungary
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Reflections (Part 1)
Whoa, word association: Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (boy did I read that a long time ago), “Reflections of My Life” (1969 song by Marmalade–I just looked it up–and there’s an earworm for ya). Anyway, there’s nothing like packing and saying good-byes to start one reflecting, in this case upon my Fulbright…
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Budapest & Prague
I recently returned from a trip to the Czech Republic, where I gave a research talk at Liberec Technical University. Zénó, my generous host for this trip, showed me around the area, including a trip to the wonderful glass and bead museum in Jablonec, where they still make beads sold all around the world. He…
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Happy Szilveszter!
That’s Happy New Year to you. I spent a frigid New Year’s Eve wandering the streets of downtown Budapest with my visiting pals Del and Jacky. It was COLD (in the teens)–a shock to the system after the moderate temperatures in Italy (more on that trip to come). Ever since I got here, Budapest has…
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Public Memory & Public Squares in Budapest
The squares (or tér) of Budapest are beautiful to stroll through but also provide the visitor with lessons in Hungarian history. What is most interesting about this history is not just that it has changed over time, but that this change is sometimes visible in the same square. Americans are currently debating whether to remove…
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Northumberland: Romans & Saxons, Floods & Community
I recently spent a weekend visiting friends in northwestern England. True to my travel weather karma, I managed to pick the weekend of the great floods. Nevertheless, I had a terrific visit with my friends, learned some history, and got to see community spirit in action. My friends live in Humshaugh (pop. c. 700), which…
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Post Office: in any language it spells
Frustration! I’ve been in Hungary four months now, and I was starting to feel like I knew what I was doing. But then I had to go to … the POST OFFICE! Today started out to be relaxing after weeks of travel and presentations and exams, etc. Then I had to run an errand to…
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Visiting Germany & Austria
I had a busy week the end of November. First a very quick trip back to Berlin to give a talk, then a trip to Innsbruck to visit friends, and then back to Germany to a conference at the University of Regensburg. Travel to and from Germany, as well as lovely hotels, courtesy of German…
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Heading to Germany again
I’m off to Germany again, to give a couple of talks this time. Last night I celebrated an early Thanksgiving with the folks in the American Studies department. It was a great Hungarian-American hybrid feast–marinated and roasted turkey thighs with bacon and kolbasz (I have mentioned that they like meat and fat here, right?), bread…
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Oktober 23 és November 1
It’s another foggy morning in Szeged. It’s been like this all week. Most days it burns off by late morning, but yesterday it never lifted. It was a bit spooky, like that Stephen King story where the fog moves toward the town, but there were no monstrous insects in this fog, thankfully! I find it…
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The Puszta: Hungary’s Wild Northeast
In early October we had a Fulbright trip to Debrecen, Hungary’s second largest city, which is in the northeast part of the country very close to the Romanian border. I took the train there, transferring in Cegléd, and met the other Fulbright folks who had come from Budapest. It was great to see everyone again!…
