Falling in love (with cycling)

I went for a little ride to the Buda-moutains. At the morning I had a little trouble 'cos my tires were little loose and when I tried to pump them my pump made everything just worse. So I went to the shop were I bought the bike and asked the guy there to pump them and he was kind and did it. (Bikebase). After this I started my trip and I really loved it. I mean cycling at the mountains, especially going uphill. It was harder than I thought but now I now it is something I wanna do more and try to get better. Below is a map where I draw to route as well as I remember, it might be a little different than the real route I took and a few pictures from the trip. The streets were quiet, altitude differences quite huge and the first part going uphill was pretty slow. Downhill part was really fast and also a bit scary though my breaks works perfectly but still you need to break almost all the time to not ride too fast. At the hills also the streets were in better condition than in the city and in addition I saw few nice homes there and a Porsche 911.

The route

Pretty cool view to the city between the trees

Steep and narrow street

Steep street again

Nice houses with an awesome view to the city

Back home and the bike

Next was the visit to the Parliament House. Of course we waited like an hour to get in(always in here!). We met at 3pm and get in the Parliament House at 4pm. The building was really nice and we  had there a guided tour for 30 minutes. We saw the session hall, a cigar hall where the Members of Parliament go between the sessions and which was rounded by statues of regular working hungarians(from early1900s or late 1800s) to remind representatives who they are really working for, the main entrance inside and the crawl hall(where we weren't allowed to take pictures).

Statue just in a corridor

The session hall

Cigar hall or just a break room, with the worker statues(really cool idea!)

Main entrance from inside

Roof of the main entrance

Parliament building outside, I know not a good picture
just from the place we were waiting. Better ones and some history of the place

Beginning to feel home

It's now been 30 days here in Budapest and I am really getting used to living here. It is first time I really live in a city and loving it! Everything is so near, for example this big shopping centre, gym, train station, metro, pubs and clubs. Do I miss anything from Finland? Well, not really. Maybe little bit the fresher air and the forests you can go for a run, but still the Margaret Island here is okay and the views just are magnificent so I am good right here. The only thing I really miss from Finland is the fresh fish. Of course it is obvious that here far in the mainland the fish isn't fresh anymore but this was something I just didn't think before. Maybe because in Finland I have just been so used to having fish desk in every grocery shop and buying something from them every week.

This week was just school, sports and recovering from the last weekends Kamikaze-trip. Thursday we went to register our football team to this 5 a side league and our first game will be on Monday 29.9. The organiser laughed and asked how it is possible that in a Spanish team there is also one Finnish guy :D I think the other teams are all just one nation teams or maybe there is some with a truly mix-nation teams so I kind of understand his question. But well, on monday he will see how it works ;) Though I am waiting for the games to start, still the best moment of next week will be when my girlfriend comes to visit me on Thursday. I am so happy she is coming :)

Yesterday I went to check out some pubs with three German guys. It was fun and we discovered quite  many places. We went for example to Szimpla kert(unfortunately didn't take myself any good pictures there, but i put a link to tripadvisor, really cool place there), Vittula(a cellar bar without anything fancy in it, but just some benches, cheap drinks, lots of texts and pictures on the walls and a nice, cosy atmosphere). Other places were not so special, sports bar where you can watch American football or a one where we played table football. Both of the places(and also Szimpla) were these bars in a courtyard, just like a tent over it. These bars have usually also many rooms with different music and atmosphere around the yard. This kind of pubs are really typical here in Budapest. Also the Morrison's 2, where many of the exchange students go on Mondays is a place like that.

A restaurant which was probably also a club, but we didn't wait to see what it would be later.

Klub Vittula and one of the walls

Next week I will have the first, no actually the first exam on Friday. Then I can tell more about the education and the quality of teaching and how difficult these exams are. This far I have been surprised and really wondering how do the people learn here. Only by reading themselves or what? The calculation 'practises' are really only a seminars where the teacher tells us the problem and then straight writes the answer to the blackboard. And most of the problems have been really simple. Last week there were few good lectures, for example Heat Transfer and Environmental Management of Energy, but at least two really ridiculously low points in teaching. First, at the Digital Pedagogy we use this Moodle system which is equal to my home University's system. The lecturer said that every week we need to read every week an article she will post there. She hasn't yet posted any article though its already 4. lesson coming and last lesson she told two who hasn't yet registered there to Moodle to do it(we were supposed to do this like two weeks ago!) and it took like 30 minutes for those to manage to do it. It was so ridiculous I was just reading the heat transfer course book all the time, but really! I don't think anyone learned anything from that. Rest of the lesson was okay, but the first half was just a waste of our time! Second low-point of the teaching was at Air Conditioining. We just went through wery simple equations and after it we calculated the heat losses for a room. The thing why it was awful was because we went so slowly and in the calculations the lecturer just stuck on to some uninterested and unimportant details and we used like 30 minutes just to calculate the dimensions of the room. Something every high school student could do also with the same standard with the instructions we were using. Well I hope it is going to change or at least the exams can't be really hard!

A nuclear reactor in our schools garden, how cool is that!

Sports day and Kamikaze trip

Wednesday 17.9 was a day off from school and there was organised different kind of sports for students. For example football, basketball and laser tag. There was also a new game which looked really fun: Teqball. I took part in this football tournament with some Spanish people and it was really fun. We played 5 against 5 in these small futsal-sized fields outside with a artificial grass surface. Unfortunately we were unlucky at our first playoff-game losing it at penalty shootout. Not next but the Monday after next the league will start with the Spanish guys and I am really excited about that.

Yesterday I went to Szeget, a city in the South of Hungary, for a Kamikaze trip meaning we went there at noon and came back at the first train in the morning. We did some sightseeing, went to wine festival to taste some Hungarian wines and after that to a club till the train left back. I liked the city and festival, but the sightseeing in 30-person group is not very fun and also the club wasn't anything special. Actually quite crap, music wasn't good and not the vibe either. Probably next time I will organise the trip myself either alone or with couple of friends so we can find either some hostel to stay or come back at the same day.

Teqball

Chuch and the wine festival

Rest of the courses and InterDinner

First about the last courses I have:

Air Conditioning 4 credits

The course seems okay, the professors speak quite good English and the subject is also interesting. This course is held on Wednesday, we have first 8:15-10 class about one topic of the course and after that (10:15-12) seminar about how to calculate things in AC, for example heat transfer. And at least in this subject all presentations will be uploaded to Internet. There will be two tests and one home work from which our grade will be evaluated.

The classroom for the seminars. Have you ever seen older?

Energy processes and equipment 5 credits

This is really nice course but there is one big drawback. It is held on Fridays at 12-17. Who chose that time?! We will have two or three trips to different kind of power plants, for example to the Paks nuclear power plant. We will have also laboratories, which includes some lab-reports and three mid-term tests. Unfortunately I will miss one of them while being in Island with my girlfriend. No way I would miss that! I hope I can somehow substitute that test and be able to get good grade from this course. Nevertheless it will be great course and at least I will be able to visit those power plants!

Actually, in this course the lectures are held in even older classroom than the one above. I will have to take a picture next week!

Thursday we baked cinnamon rolls(korvapuusteja) with Camilla(a girl from Åland) for International dinner this Friday. Everyone said that they taste good, wuhuu! The idea was that everyone brings something from their own country to the others to taste. It was really nice event, I think it was the best so far here in Budapest(maybe after playing football at the beach but anyway). We tasted food from different countries, for example South-Korean food and rise beer, French crepes, German and Hungarian sausages and Spanish Sangria. After that some countries performed a song or a dance on the stage. South-Koreans had The Gagnam Style, Germans some football-song and we had Poika Saunoo :D Also Hungarians and Spanish people performed there and I know that I have heard the Spanish song before though don't remember anymore what was it.

Maybe too much butter and cinnamon. Or is it even possible to put too much? ;D

In last couple of days I have been invited to play football next Wednesday at sports day to one team and then to another team, with spanish guys, to play futsal every Monday in some league. I am really waiting forward to both events! 

Freshmen camp and first days at the Uni

Freshmen camp

Day 1.

We went for a Freshmen camp to a nearby lake called Balaton. The trip started at 8.30 when we were supposed to be in front of our school. It was hard for me because the metro line 3 was cut two stations away the station I usually change to metro 4. Luckily they had done a replacement bus but of course it took at least 5 minutes more than I was prepared. I still got to the busses, and they left at 9.00. Our program was to first go to Tihany, wander around the small town. After that we ate a lunch at one restaurant with some wine tasting included. Lunch was good and wine okay except the last one, which smelled little like petrol. Surprisingly about half of us didn’t finish them…Then we went by a boat to smaller willige, where our camp was. It took about an one hour to for that boat to do that 10 kilometres on water. At the camp there was first a small dinner: pasta and chicken(but really not enough). In the evening we had again some party games and a party with dance floor etc. after that. 

View from Tihany

Another view, but little farer from a footpath on nearby hill

Little shop in Tihany

Restaurant we ate, good food unfortunately I don't remember the name of the place

Day 2.

Wake up call at 8.30 and a breakfast. After that we packed up our stuff and leaved for a beach nearby. At the beach we went first swimming and after that with a new german friend we decided to go and play football with some other guys. We played in a small futsal-sized field and the surface was sand. I surprised some spanish etc guys with my Finnish football skills and scoring many goals :D Then we went again swimming and then to a Balaton Bob-adventure park where was this one roller coast where you could yourself control the speed with breaks. Finally at 17.00 we were back at the University in Budapest and everyone was tired! Funny thing was that I ordered some extra food or coffee three times at the trip and every time just after that and before I get it, the group leaders were like: Let’s go! So I needed every time to finish them fast or leave at the restaurant

View from a lookout tower in an adventure park Balatoni Bob

A beach in Balatonakali

Another picture from the beach: from that slope we went to swimming

First days at school

Here is also this eduroam wifi than in my home University in Lappenranta but it really don’t work properly. I managed to get it working for like 5 minutes before my first lesson. After that it haven't worked. Not with my phone nor my laptop :( And I got message from my girlfriend that she has got my letter :P Now waiting for her response ;) Today I managed to get BME-wifi working so that was nice, and now I can really work also at the school if I for example have a break.

A little about the courses I have attended and what the first lessons were like:

Combustion technology 5 credits

First lesson was like a little recap of thermodynamics I have had already in Finland. First the teacher had huge problems getting his computer attached to this projector he was using to show us some powerpoint slides. Secondly he said that we can have those power points after the classes for our usb-sticks.. Why not to the internet or even email!? How ancient and hard is this!

Communication skills 2 credits

At first the teacher spoke hungarian for like 30 minutes with the hungarians to ask what state exams they have passed and took apart. Little weird.. Finally we get to the topics and started to speak in small groups. It seemed like an okay course. Lots of speaking in the lessons, one summary, one presentation and a small exam all held in the classes and before Christmas so no worries for me or other ERASMUS!

Digital pedagogy 2 credits

Hahhah, sounded interesting and the first lesson was okay.. But how good can this be when every other course I have had have been so ancient in methods of pedagogy :D This course requires us to participate on conversations in the classes, to write one summary of an article, one presentation and an essay on a topic we choose relating digital pedagogy. And also has one class test.

Heat transfer 4 credits

Heat transfer is probably teached in the oldest way I can imagine. The teacher just speaks while writing in to the blackboard and students just copies what he is writing. The same was on Monday at the first lesson and the same in the 'more practical' seminar. We just had different teacher this time.

Environmental management of Energy 2 credits
This is an awesome course! At least the first lesson was interesting. The professor speaks really good and quite fast English, he uses IT and both text and videos. Has interesting examples etc. I am really waiting forward to the next weeks class. Today he spoked about transportation, some about globalisation, smog and economic optimisation of transportation.

English for engineers 2 credits
The lecturer in this class seems to be funny guy and at least good at english. He makes funny of everybody so I liked the class. This is quite similar to this Communication skills that the requirements of this course includes also summary, class discussion, essay and a presentation.


I like what this semester seems to be like. I have never liked writing an essay or summary or doing a presentation, but I am sure they will help me to improve myself. So I am actually quite excited about those three non-technical courses I have! What I am not is impressed of those technical courses.. I will have also two more but if they are like these two I have, they are probably quite easy and held in a extremely boring way. And they might cause little problems you miss too many of the lessons or seminars. And the laboratories are mandatory.

Food
Just tested 'the better' student restaurant. There you can decide from 2 or 3 different main dishes or take a pizza. The meal costs 720 HUF so it is less than 2,3 and you get a salad, soup and the main course(though not very big portions but theres enough for most of the people). There is also some Chinese restaurants and other restaurants close to the school(less than 5 minutes walk) and bakeries. I think in Budapest every second or third block has its own Bakery. Very nice though, I usually buy all my breads from a bakery on the same block my flat is. Later I will tell more about food!

Meal in a students restaurant

Transportation
Like google-maps estimated before, my flat is approximately 30 minutes from the University. In the mornings around 8 and afternoons around 16 metros come every third or second minute and are always almost full. But you can always get in. They work really well. In the weekends they go about every fifth or sixth minute when there is less people using them.

First week in Budapest and some notices

Some notes about cultural differences and the ways things are organised here.

1. Here is lots of waiting. Waiting in lines to get some papers or ESN-card or to register to the University. Nothing starts at the time even though they might say 'Be accurate, don't be late!'. For example yesterday we had this Get to known party in a bar called Mad World, which was actually in the same building with Student dormitory where lives many Mechanical engineers from BME. The party should start at 18:30 but we waited 30 minutes for them to get the place ready. Also at first day I was send from one line to another and then to another when all I wanted was just this ESN-card they were selling there. I understood it was because all of those 15 people who were selling them only one was allowed to sell just the ESN-card without hungarian sim-card! I don't understand why they has to make it so hard. Also they didn't tell at first which line is which and there wasn't any sign too. Why do the easy way when you can make it hard?

2. Food is cheap, and so are the drinks.

3. Cycling is easy beside the river in the centre area, but the cycling roads stop if you want to go out of the centre. Also some of the roads in the city are in quite bad condition. There are some big holes and bumps.

Roman amphitheatre I saw when I was cycling (Buda-side)

4. Every day there are people outside having fun and somewhere is a party.

5. The German people are probably most similar to Finns and its easy to speak with most of them.

6. Some of the people, like groups of German, French and maybe also Finns like to stick together and speak their own language. Some do it also when in company of other nations, which I think is a little rude. I don't understand them, I think this time abroad is good time to learn foreign languages and make international friends.

7. The weather is warm and the air is were moist here. It feels like the moisture ratio is almost 100% all the time. Like every time I walk the stairs to my flat in third floor I sweat so much I need to change my clothes immediately.

8. The University is very old but beautiful also. There is a church-like library, big corridors and parliament-building like main hall!

Main hall in BME

9. Public transport works very well. Every tram and metro comes like every 5 minutes so you don't need to check their schedules. Also the metro/tram-lines extends well to the centre area where I live and where everything happens. There is four lines and the line four is really new build just opened earlier this year. The others are older and I need to use line three and four to go to the school.

Stairs to the he.. to the metro line 3

What next?
Tomorrow will be a tour to Budapest where ESN-mentors take us to look the most famous and beautiful places in Budapest. I will also probably go to play basketball with some new German friends if we have time for that. At the weekend there will be a freshmen camp to a lake Balaton to eat Hungarian food and to taste wine. There will be probably also possibility to go sunbathing and swimming if the weather is fine!