Getting Aquainted

In this post I thought I would describe the dorm I am living in a little, and some other helpful information.

I am living in a college dormitory with the 19 other students on the semester abroad, 3 of which are guys and the rest are girls. All of the students are from Calvin college except for one, a girl, who is from Dordt College in Iowa. We are all in one hall specifically for Calvin students located on the ground level of the dorm. There are 2 rooms that hold 4 girls each and these grils share a community kitchen, shower area, and restroom. Then there is a room for the 3 guys that has a kitchen, and bathroom inside it. At the end of the hall is an apartment type dorm that holds the remainding 8 girls, it is also where I live. This room has a kitchen, eating area, 3 bedrooms, a shower area, 2 separate toilets, and a living room area that is commonly used as the computer room because it is one of the only 2 places to get internet in our hall. I am in a 2 person room just off of the living room area, but unfortunatly my room doesn't have a door, so my roomie and i rigged up some sheets as a way to give us some privacy. While it doesn't cut out much light or sound, it helps in privacy. Our hall has 2 washing machines, for us all to share, but one wasn't working for a while, in fact, I don't know if it even works now. We don't have any dryers, so we have to let things air dry, which is pretty interesting. Many of my clothes are stiff or wrinkled and my towels are scratchy, but it is a small price to pay for an experience like this.

Our dorm also houses many Hungarian college students on the upper levels, but we usually do not have much contact with them, as we are pretty secluded from them, and they are not allowed in our hall unless invited. We do share our hall with a little old Hungarian woman, though. She doesn't speak any english, but overall seems to be pretty friendly.

Now for a little about my classes. I am taking 5 classes while I am in Budapest. Two classes are taught by my Calvin professor, professor Corwin Smidt. The classes are Politics of Hungary, and Culture of Central and Eastern Europe. I am taking an art history class with a hungarian professor, but it is not through a university. This class focuses on the Italian Renaissance. I am only taking one class through a Hungarian University at Karoli Gaspar. It is a literature class focusing on the Holocaust and people's reactions to it through literature. My final class was Survival Hungarian, but it has recently ended. That class was taught by a Hungarian professor too, but like the art history class, it was not taught through a university. All of my classes fall on Monday or Tuesday, which is so nice!

For my culture class, we are required to visit specific places as a group. These places include not only museums, and/or performances, but also different countries! We recently went to Romania (my next post will focus on this trip), and we are traveling to Poland, Ukraine, and Croatia. We can also travel to places of our own choosing too while we are here. Some girls and I have already booked a trip to Stockholm, Sweden!

Well that's it for now, let me know if you want more info on other things here. Missing you all!