Going home, soon..

Sorry for the lack of posting in last few weeks. Lot of different things have happened. We won the 5-a side-league with the great Spanish team, I was top scorer in the tournament and we had a good party after it.

Since that I have been mostly concentrating my brains to learn for the exams doing also couple presentations. Four days ago at Wednesday I finished my school. I mean the last exam and last homework and at Friday I already had the results from every course. Worst number 'good' equivalent to 4 or maybe something between 3 and 4 because here 1 is fail and 5 is the best grade you can get. So I thought I should make as short collage about the courses. What they were like and how they were conducted?

Combustion technology 5 credits
One lecture and one practise(basically just copying calculation examples in a slow pace). Calculations were lead by an assistant and he also kept couple of the lectures. His English skills just unfortunately were so bad and especially slow that it make them really boring. We had also one industrial visit to Weishaupt and it was also ruined by awful English skills. Moreover we had a lecture in Hungarian and this assistant transited it to us in his way.. Though the real lecturer in this course was good and also the course material(slides) pretty good and we get dropbox-links via email to download them. So in this way the course was okay and it might be for me also possible to substitute one course in my home University with this. We had two mid-term exams and two homeworks(calculation) we needed to do to complete this course.

Air Conditioning 4 credits
Sometimes good, sometimes repeating and boring lectures. Still mostly the lecturers were interested in the field and managed to transfer it to at least some students. The slides from lectures were available in the internet and we get 30 questions before first and 15 before second mid-term exam from which the questions in the exam were chosen. So we had two mid-terms and also one homework(calculation of a heat gain in a room).

Energetic processes and equipments 5 credits
Obligatory lectures, one obligatory visit to Pacs nuclear power plant and six laboratory practises. Lecturers change every week, some were good and some not. 70% of the grade came from those laboratory practices and rest 30% from exams. We had to send a report within a week after the laboratory. We had also 3 mid-term exams and at the last lecture, when we had 3rd mid term we had possibility to retake first and/or second mid-term. I had to write second because of my Iceland trip. This week there was also possibility to retake the the mid-terms if you had failed one of them.

Heat transfer 4 credits

One lecture and one obligatory calculation-seminar per week. Both were just copying

lecturers lecture notes. Theory at lectures and calculation examples at seminars. We had two quizzes and two mid-term exams of which we get our grade(if more than 40% of total points). 

Environmental management of energy 2 credits

Best lectures ever!!! Only problem was that our lecturer was absent couple times and substitutes weren't that good. We get extra points from quizzes that had weird irrelevant questions such as the names of planets of our solar system and the 7 ancient wonders of the world. After the semester we had short exam at our last lesson. 

Digital Pedagogy 2 credits

Interesting blended lectures about learning and teaching in quickly developing digital world. We had many interesting discussions at the class. We did one presentation, wrote one essay about the subject and at the final week a short 30 min test. 

Communication skills 2 credits

English course where the level was very low and it was even too easy course. We wrote CV, covering letter and had one presentation on chosen topic.

English for engineering 2 credits

A bit better course though the level wasn't still quite high. We learned some vocabulary and discussed around technical topics. We wrote one summary, one essay and had one presentation without any powerpoint or such aids. 

All in all, the courses and the education system was old school. Almost only lectures and not much own thinking. In addition cheating and co-working was really common in exams and assignments. It was a shock for a diligent Finnish student. 

The best part of Budapest for me was working public transportation, beautiful Danube at night and pubs. Also sport opportunities were good, such as football tournaments/leagues for students, outdoor parks for football or basketball and Margaret Island for running(thankfully near my flat :P).

Good bye and happy new year!

Ferénc Puskas Stadium

Danube

Good to be home

Football and a boat party

This friday was time to go to Hungary-Finland European Championship qualifying game. Atmosphere in the game was worth experiencing though the game wasn't good, not at all. Lucky goal for Hungary and just couple chances for Finland which was otherwise controlling the game. After the game I went to a boat party organised by Erasmus Gathering. All in all the Erasmus Gathering was a bit of a disappointment though this boat party and the club(Club Play) next day were pretty good.

Monday it was time for 5-a side football and we had an easy win against a team called Celtic Whites. Nothing special has happened, just an ordinary living here in Budapest. But I noticed I have accidentally taken one Master's course: Combustion technology thought it doesn't feel like it when thinking about the content we have learned there and the level of our lecturers English-skills...

Today we will play against a Brazilian team in the 5-a side football tournament and this will decide who will win it. Draw is enough for us and they need a win. Well see..

It had maximum capacity of around 25 000 people but the atmosphere was good. Groupama Arena

Full of Hungarians

The Parliament at night, though couple minutes later(12pm) they shut all the lights of so it was rubbish after that.

Club Play: best I have seen in Budapest this far

Coffee at the roof terrace of our University's newest building(2010)

ICELAND!!!

Well, the weekend before last one I had my sister visiting me and I showed some of Budapest to her. Obviously she liked it here, beautiful city, nice bars, restaurants and Danube. Tuesday I had an exam in Combustion technology so I couldn't just enjoy the life but after that it was the time for Iceland-trip to see my girlfriend, great shows and very sympathetic city and country.

I loved my time in there in Iceland, I met some great people, eat good food and enjoyed my time there! The Iceland Airwaves was a great festival, especially Friday and Saturday there was some great artists too. For example we saw FM Belfast, Ballet School, Klangkarusell and Hozier. There were every day from around 2pm till 19pm off-venue gigs and after that the bands started to play in bigger venues. About Reykjavik, it is small city, but has surprisingly many restaurants and cafes. Though it was quite cold there so we weren't able to walk so much around the city but I really liked the centre area with old wood houses. I will come back to Iceland with more time than this time!

Between the European and American tectonic plates

Breadsoup

From Blue lagoon

Blue lagoon

We found a polar bear!!!

Whale and grilled salmon

Double espresso, cookie and Hanna's sugar addict's daydream (latte) in a cosy bookshop/cafe 

View of Reykjavik from the pond 

Church

Lobster soup

Cell7, an Icelandic rapper whose English was perfect

HOZIER!!! The artist we waited most to see and it was worth it

Couple exams, Pacs and some football

This week started with a really tough day. First school from 8 to 12 and an exam at 16. So I just used the break to eat and revise for the exam. Exam was in Heat Transfer, it went quite well and then was time to go to play some football. We played agains Brazilians and the game was expected to be tough. It was, we were first losing it 0-2 but somehow we managed to come back. I scored our second goal and the winner from throw-in. Brazilians went mad, they were shouting to us, kicking us and shouting to the referee. Really childish. For example I was running in the midfield and one of them just kicked my feet and I almost fell-down. After the game they complained about the throw-ins, the pitch and the referee. We throw them sometimes by hand and sometimes kick by foot. Nowhere is a rule about it and the referees accept then so why not. Our captain made a good answer for the organisers and we'll see what happens. They will also meet on Friday. I am not saying the referee was the best and the intensity of the game was quite high so it wasn't an easy game to whistle. Well, both teams are trying to win this tournament, but I thing either of the teams really benefit from the referee. Nevertheless the tournament is for fun and I really don't understand how seriously they took it and how unfair they played in the end. Still there was also some nice guys who were trying to calm others and shake our hand congratulating us from the win. We are now in the lead, 12 points after 4 games and I have scored now 11 goals in 3 matches.

The field in Csörsz utca we have played all our games.

Then Tuesday was Pacs nuclear power plant visit. It was cool, they have two reactors in the same hall, so they were able to use partially the same equipment at both of the facilities. Totally they have installed 4x500 MWe. And all the plants are similar, they are actually pretty same than in Loviisa, Finland. Special for these plants is also that if the pressure or temperature in the hall increases, there is behind a wall(which will break when the pressure is too high(if I remember correctly)) cold water reserves as a some kind of a condenser. At Pacs there is a nuclear plant maintenance training centre, where is parts from planned, but never built nuclear power plants from East Germany. There is at least the reactor hall and the steam generator.

The training centre: first from the left is upper support plate, second from left is the bottom core of the reactor and on the right the upper or middle part of the core.

Reactor, where you can see inlet nozzles(big ones second from the top), in the upper part also outlet nozzles and the small ones emergency core cooling system nozzles.

A regular but quite huge valve

Me and low-pressure turbine!!

Today was the second exam, Air Conditioning. It went also quite well and after that I went to swim with one of my team mates. It was really good training there. Funny and disappointing is that when we went there, the guy at the desk who sold us the tickets didn't tell there was a water ball training going so we needed to wait it to end. Well luckily the training ended in 15 minutes so we didn't need to wait for a long but still quite weird...Also the price was higher than usually, but it is only for this week, because I think there is a holiday for those who are in elementary school in Hungary.

Best day of the 'Slovanian trip' The coast of SLO and Italia

First we left Ljubljana early and drove to Piran(little Venice) in Slovenian coast. It was really quiet, touristic and nice place. And not least, it was sunny day!

PIRAN

Main square

There is the land of my dreams: Italy

Found a girl, thought a really cold one :D

Piran

TRIESTE('The italian coffee capital')

We heard from a guy in Piran that the people in Trieste drink coffee till 9pm and after that alcohol. At least at Friday it seemed to be the case. There were some cafes/bars where people were drinking outside, even thought it was quite cold. We found our hostel/guesthouse from web, while sitting for a coffee in one cafe. It was near the railway-station and the centre.

Finally in Italy

Ice-cream outside in late October, I wouldn't believed!

At the top of Castello S.Giusto

The car of my dreams

I like the Italian style to serve snacks if you buy drinks

Saturday, the 4th day

We left Trieste before 10 am and drove back. It was a good trip. It is always a little exiting to see new places and we visited 5 different cities in just 3/4 days. 

First days of a little Slovenian trip

1st day
We started our trip, with one German and Turkish guy, Wednesday evening at 6pm. We rented a car(Opel Astra) from the Ariport and plan was to go first Zagreb and then Ljubljana. Well, we weren't able to go to the Croatia, because I forget my passport. So instead of Zagreb we went to first the first night to Maribor. It was wiry green, clean and nice small town in Easter Slovenia. After a little asking and searching we found a room with three beds.

Journey begins

Mexican food at Maribor

Maribor, Drava-river

Logo of Maribor FC:s ultras

2nd day: Celje and Ljubljana

We left Maribor quite early and started our journey to Ljubljana. On our way we stopped to small town Celje. It was quite nice place and we climbed to the hill nearby. 

Voglajna-river and the church

View to the city from the hill

Main street, yeah it was raining.

Then we went to Ljubljana, we made the reservation for this Hostel already when we were in Maribor so we first checked in to this place. And it was raining quite hard all day...

There were a lot of bookshops :)

Ljubljana from Castle-hill

Another from the Castle

Slovenian beer

Cool wall in one bar/restaurant