Goodbye Europe & Hello USA

Thank you Europe for showing me so much this semester. I still have a lot to reflect on and know that upon returning to the states I will see how this program has truly shaped me. I will miss your historical buildings, your fabulous food, your cheap airline costs and the many cultures to experience. Budapest, I will definitely miss your low cost of living, your Hungarian wines, and the wide range of places to eat. Most importantly, I will miss the people that you have introduced me to, from those on my program to the Hungarians I have met. Those individuals are what made my semester enjoyable.

The one thing I am taking away from my academic studies this semester is the importance of using problem solving, games, and manipulatives and the importance of finding a balance between different student interactions within each of my future lessons. I am also taking away the experience of teaching English to refugees and hearing some of their experiences. Lastly, I am personally taking back more confidence than I arrived with. I can't fully explain from what this confidence was formed and how it will change me, but I know I will see a difference back in the states. I'm also looking forward to seeing what other changes have occurred in me this semester that I have not yet noticed.

One of the hardest parts of this semester was the language barrier. I had been told that many people speak English here and that I would be able to get by just fine with speaking English. While that was basically true, I felt bad requiring others to speak a language that they may not feel comfortable with. Hence, I avoiding speaking to people that I didn't know if they spoke English. There were many times though that I hated not being able to speak Hungarian and have a small conversation with someone. I did take a short language course, but it moved through things to fast for me to become comfortable actually using it. I really only used and understood numbers, greetings, some foods, "thank you", "sorry/excuse me", and "I don't speak Hungarian". So yes I could get by, but never did I feel comfortable with this. I will forever be grateful for speaking English, the language used upon travelers and I am looking forward to being able to speak English more freely in the states.

I am greatly looking forward to being back in the United States. I've been told that I will greatly miss this semester and I am sure aspects of it I will, but I am looking forward to going home more than I have heard others speak of. It has been an adventurous, challenging, and enriching semester. Despite the fun times I have had and the great people that I have met, I'm ready to be back home surrounded by my family, faith family, and CSB/SJU community. Goodbyes are hard though and I have had to do many this week. First I said goodbye to the three very thoughtful women that I taught English to. They gave me an enriching experience that I will never forget. Next I said goodbye to the ICFB group that were so welcoming to Olivia and I. ICFB welcomed Olivia and I with open arms and continued to remind how God has worked in my life. I will be praying for all them as they continue their studies and work, especially Bernie and Sion who gave birth to a beautiful new daughter on Thursday. Lastly I said goodbye to the many people who I meant on this program. Some of them I know I will see again, but others I will probably never see again. Olivia and I got shakes on Thursday at the same place that we got waffles at and started our strong friendship at in the beginning of the semester. Then Julia, Rose, Olivia, Steffi, Haley, and I hung out together at Rose, Olivia, & Steffi's place. It was a great evening to spend together one last time. I pray that everyone has safe travels home and I hope to keep in touch with many of the wonderful individuals that have touched my heart this semester. While these goodbyes are always tough, it is time for me to be back home.

Szia later Europe & Budapest. Hello Minnesota,

Ashley

 *Notice: Szia means bye in Hungarian but sounds like "see ya".

My Apartment & Weekly Recap

Nothing super exciting happened this week, so here are some highlights:

• I did my first escape room and escaped with 25 minutes to spare! I think this one was bit to easy for 5 math majors (and the few hints given to us probably weren't needed), but we all still really enjoyed it!
• Sunday I enjoyed a lovely morning on the hills on the Buda side. I also stopped at a cafe for lunch and had a yummy, but strange peanut butter egg pepper sandwich (see picture to left).
• I attended my first salsa class through my program this week! Our program offers a few PE classes as part of our tuition, so I thought since I have time, I would take the salsa class. Boy was that a right choice. Even though it was just the basic steps, I highly enjoyed it and am looking forward for the next class :)
• I am going to be volunteering at a refugee program here in Budapest. This program is new-ish, so they are really allowing us BSM/BSME students to step in and do whatever sort-of programing we want to do. Maddie, a girl in my program, and I plan to start a math tutoring session on Mondays to help students with homework and to teach some fun math lessons. For those that didn't hear about it on the news, there was a large refugee crisis here last March where Hungary ended up closing their borders to refugees traveling through to other countries. I am learning a little bit about the crisis and the referendum that they are voting on in October in my Hungarian + culture class, an optional culture course offered by BSM/BSME. It is very interesting and very sad. Maybe I'll talk more about this later. Otherwise, those interested in knowing more should either a) google it or b) message me.
• I started visiting Hungarian schools on Wednesday. One thing that I learned that was surprise was that group work isn't typical in Hungarian classrooms. Group work is huge in the states, so I'm curious to know more on why they don't do as much of it here.
• This weekend is the chocolate/sweets festival, so Olivia and I plan to hit that up at some point. :)

Living Accommodations:

• Below are some pictures from  my apartment. These apartments were set up by the program and previous BSM/BSME students have lived here, so all the necessities were included.  I live with two other BSM students, Jane and Shuchi. Jane is from Australia, so we have been enjoying comparing things the different foods that we both grew up with, but the other has never heard of (like what is fairy bread?!) and other different cultural aspects of our lives. Shuchi is from India, but goes to Brown University, so she also brings in another perspective to our cultural conversations. Late last week, Jane, Shuchi, and I found ourselves in the kitchen discussing the differences between the culture on our college campuses. It was a very interesting conversation. It has been a nice experience living with these two so far. We also live in a really convenient location - we are a 10 minute walk to school at max and have public transit stops on both sides of us. 

My Kitchen

• Our kitchen is small, but since the three of us don't cook at the same time, it works. We wish we had a bigger fridge though, or at least a fridge with a larger freezer. We are just glad we have a small freezer to store some small items in, although there is sadly no room for ice cream. Also lighting the gas oven is quite scary and since we have no idea what the temperature is, we don't really use it.

My Bathroom

• Notice that there is no shower curtain in our bathroom. Our landlord said he was going to get us one, but he has yet to deliver it, so here the three of us are waiting and meanwhile are using towels to wipe up all the water on the floor after our showers. Also, the toilet isn't pictured because it is in a separate little room.

My Bedroom

• This is my bedroom. It is quite large, but very dark. Notice that my bed is on the floor. My two roommates have their beds slightly off the ground, but I don't for some unknown reason. My mattress is also not really a mattress but couch cushions or something, so it's not very comfortable. Also notice the drying rack, unfortunately  dryers are not really a thing in Hungary, but luckily these drying racks were provided for us!

That is all I got for you this week! I've been trying to find more things to do, because I have a lot more time on my hands then I am use to. It was also hard this week to see all the club emails about involvement (our annual club fair at CSB/SJU for students to learn about all the different clubs/organizations on campus) and not be able to be there. However, one good thing that came out of all the email was I sent a screenshot of one with a comment to my ex-co-RA, Hannah Kosel, and we ended up having a spontaneous short skype session. It was very nice - I had missed hearing all her beautiful insight on things. :)

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Szia,

Ashley Wilson

First Week of Class

Can't miss that first day of school picture!

I have officially finished the first week of class. I can tell that I am going to love some of my classes and others were not the type of class I was expecting from this program. First, the strange thing about my program is that the first two weeks are a 'shopping period'. This means that we are able to sit in on any classes that we want to in order to decide what classes we want to register for. Registration then happens Sept. 22. Since there are only four BSME courses offered and I have to pick three, I don't have that many to choose from, so this 'shopping period' is not as necessary for us as it is for BSM students, who have many classes to choose from.

Because I don't have a lot to choose from, I've decided I will be taking the following:
1. Practicum: We will visit various schools in Hungary in this course to observe the Hungarian way of teaching and discuss the difference between the American and Hungarian education system.

2. Concept Building through Games and Manipulatives: In this course we discuss how to build math concepts in our classrooms based on games and activities. The thing that I highly enjoy about this class is that we also discuss how we would expect our students to answer and how we, as the teacher, would respond to these answers. It is a very interesting course and I'm starting to note some of the differences between the Hungarian and American way of teaching. For example, in Hungary, there is a larger focus on letting students figure out the solution on there own and guiding them in a way that doesn't let them know if they are right or not. Hence the teacher asks a lot of questions and seems to give less positive reinforcement.

3. Problem Solving in Secondary School Mathematics: This course is deceiving because most of math problems are problems I would never be able to use in a middle school or high school math classroom. I'm a little frustrated with this course because there tends to be a larger focus on the math than on the education. I came here to learn about math education, not just more math. The other course offered through BSME is also very similar to this class. After sitting in on both this one and the other one, I realized the format for each class seems the same. This also provides frustration because I don't understand why they are basically offering two of the same classes.

4. Introduction to Hungarian Culture: This course we will discuss Hungarian culture with a focus on history, politics, literature and art. During the first class, we took time to get to know each other and the cultures we each come from. I have feeling this course is going to be very interesting and highly enjoyable.

5. Then because I can for no additional cost, I am also taking a salsa dance class and possibly doing an internship at a local refugee program. I am attending an informational session on Monday about the internship and I am excited to learn more about their program.

Taking these courses also allows me to have Fridays off, which will be great for the occasional weekend travel plans.

Besides the start of classes, this week has been crazy busy. On Monday, we had our welcome party and academic orientation. We got to meet the professors and the other two BSME students who didn't take the language course. They had these delicious peanut butter brownies, which was surprising, because peanut butter is not a common food in Budapest (and most of Europe I believe).

The school also offered two events for students: a boat cruise Wednesday evening and pizza and games on Thursday. Both were fun and had good food, especially the boat cruise. Through these events I realized how grateful I am for taking the language course, because it gave me the chance to meet many people in BSM and BSME. On the boat cruise, a group of us decided to do an Escape Room Saturday evening and I am so excited. There are a ton here in Budapest and I have been wanting to do one (in general, not necessarily one in Budapest) for some time now. I can't express how anxious I am for tomorrow evening. Additionally, some of us also bought tickets to Les Miserable in October. Tickets were only $5, so although I won't be able to understand what they are saying, the experience is definitely worth it at that price. I also made plans with Molly and Meghan, my two best friends from CSB/SJU, to meet up in Berlin in November. Prior to all of our study abroad trips (Molly is in Ireland & Meghan is in France) we didn't know if there was going to be a weekend that the three of us could meet up somewhere, but when Molly texted us the date of one of the only weekends that she doesn't have a trip with her program, Meghan and I quickly agreed that that was the weekend to go somewhere. We decided on Berlin because it was the cheapest for all of us. I have booked my plane tickets and we are now figuring out where we are going to stay. This weekend trip is going to be so much fun.

So as you can see there are a lot of fun adventures ahead. I will continue to try to update the blog weekly, but can't make any promises as classes pick up.

Szia,
Ashley

Getting Settled

I hung up some pictures today in my room to make it feel a little more like home.

Yesterday Jane, one of my roommates, and I did some cleaning of the apartment. While cleaning, we found a really cool record player, but it doesn't work. I also finally had some time to unpack since my parents left early in the morning. Saying goodbye was tough, but I know we will FaceTime plenty.

Today Jane and I adventured out to the Central Market. It is basically a building by the river with a big farmer's market. I bought some sort-of apple strudel pastry on our way out; it was very tasty. We then took a small detour by the river on our way home.

Tonight, some of the individuals in my program might grab dinner together. Then tomorrow my language course begins. I'm really looking forward to this course, because it would be nice to know some Hungarian. Currently I know a few words and am able to get by without knowing anything, but it would be nice to know a few more.

I plan to post pictures from the first weekend in Budapest within the next couple of days as well as an update on the language course and my apartment.

Szia,
Ashley

The Adventure Begins

Hello friends and family,

I write to you from my flight from Paris to Dublin. We had no issues with our flight from Minneapolis to Paris and were able to get to the gate for our connecting flight with plenty of time to spare. I slept a max of 45 minutes on our 7.5 hour flight, so we will see how long my energy will last today. I'm feeling pretty good right now though. :)

Before I continue, let me begin my introducing what my intentions of this blog are:

For those that have not heard, I will be spending this upcoming Fall semester in Budapest with Budapest Semesters in Mathematics Education(BSME). This program is what we consider an "external" program at CSB/SJU since it is not one of the many semester-long study abroad programs that CSB/SJU offers. So why did I choose to forgo one of the many programs my school offers and the opportunity to travel with other Bennies and Johnnies? Well, I first had no intention of studying abroad when I entered into college, but when over 50% of students study abroad at CSB/SJU, it becomes something that almost everyone starts to think about during the first year, myself included. As I looked into the various CSB/SJU programs and searched the internet about studying abroad, I some how came across BSME. At first, I thought an external program would have been outrageously more expensive than a CSB/SJU program, but when the program got brought to my attention again the fall of my sophomore year, I knew I had to at least compare the costs. After doing so, I realized the cost would be about the same, and I eventually came to the conclusion that BSME was the best fit for what I was looking for in a study abroad program.

BSME is a program for Americans and Canadians that are studying (or interested in) math education. As a math major and secondary education minor, being able to continue this education abroad was very appealing and the main reason why I picked the program. While in Budapest, I will be studying the Hungarian way of teaching math in addition to the culture and mathematic history of Hungary. Throughout the semester, I will have the opportunity to observe many classes and even teach a few lessons. I am thrilled to see how much this semester will affect my future teaching. While Budapest is a city that I probably couldn't put on the map two years ago, I have heard incredible things about the city and have received lots of advice and suggestions from previous BSME participants. I am really looking forward to what the semester holds in this beautiful city.

I have started this blog in order for those back home and for those also studying abroad to hear about how the semester is going. I also plan to use this blog as a way to reflect on my semester and keep a journal of the thoughts I am having while abroad. I do not know how often I will post updates, because I do not know how busy my semester will be. I plan to post the link again on Facebook when I have big posts or you can subscribe via email on the left side. I know that I will probably post more at the beginning of the semester as I get settled in my apartment and start my classes - both I currently know little about.

So back to current plans:

The family [brother, parents, & grandparents] left yesterday evening, Friday, Aug. 5, for our week vacation in Ireland. We will be road tripping through a good portion of the country until Friday, Aug. 12. At that point, Jacob will head home for soccer tryouts and my parents and grandparents will fly to Budapest with me. They will spend the weekend in Budapest in order to help me get settled and to do some sight seeing before heading back to the states early Monday morning.  I start a three week Hungarian course (since I know basically none) on Wednesday, Aug. 17 with those in my program and a similar program, Budapest Semesters in Mathematics, before my semester starts Sept. 5. Besides my plan to fly back on Dec. 18 and do some traveling in Europe throughout the semester, I don't have much more information about my semester to share with you at this point.

Currently, I am super excited for our trip in Ireland. I know it will be an incredible start to my semester abroad and a great way to spend time with the family until we see each other again in 4 months. However, I am a bit nervous for my semester in Budapest. I have faith that God brought BSME to my attention for a reason and that He has great things in store, but I am nervous about not knowing anyone nor a lot of details of what is ahead. One of my favorite songs to listen to/pray with is "Wherever You Are" by Jon Guerra; it is a great reminder that even though I am across the Atlantic for these next four months without anyone I currently know, He will always be with me.

While I don't know how much I will be able to post this next week in Ireland, I hope to share a few things on Instagram throughout the trip and then put together a video of the entire trip afterwards. I plan to post a link on the blog once it is completed.

Please pray for safe travels this week and that our family is patient with each other as we embark on this adventure together.

Szia,

Ashley