Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Sachi Patel ('09)

Jam sessions complete with dancing, bracelet-making lessons from Dawn, story time about Hungarian history, and intermittant naps--all of this happened just on the bus ride from the hotel to our next stop, Hunedora Castle. One of the things I have most enjoyed about this trip is the other Scholars, since their diversity of talents and intelligence ensure that there is never a dull moment, even on a three-hour bus ride! It's safe to say that by the time we arrived at the castle, it had already felt like an entire day had gone by.

Once we reached the castle, our first priority was lunch, since Flinn and food are essentially interchangeable! Lunch consisted of sandwiches, chips, chocolate, and tons of fruit which excited us all since simple fruit (especially grapes!) has been a scarce commodity during this trip. After lunch, we played a game of soccer that turned into a game of keep-away. Despite miserably losing, I still had fun (since the mere act of playing a game on a castle wall can make you feel like a winner).

The actual tour of Hunedora Castle then ensued. Often I tend to fall into the illusion that the past could never live up to the world that we have created in the 20th century. The castle tour completely dispelled this illusion. Seeing the stolid and creative architecture of the castle that had been built in 1440 made me realize how brilliant the people who made it must have been to have created something so massive without modern tools.

Though the building was made without modern tools I could already see the effects of modern civilization on the building. The gift store was full of Hannah Montana perephanelia and other items that had no real relationship to the actual castle. The extent to which the castle had been modernized made me sad, since I suddenly became aware of how fragile the past is. If the modern century is already leaking into historical monuments, what will be this castle's fate in another hundred years?

Another short bus ride and we reached the hotel we were staying at for the night--Hotel Translyvania--which was located in Alba Iulia. The tour of Alba Iulia was probably one of my favorite parts of the day. This tour was full of visiting old Roman sites that had guards in dramatic costumes who guarded everything, including the grass. Every time one of us absentmindedly stepped on the grass or gravel, a whistle was blown at our entire group! One of the guards let us take pictures with him. When Hugh asked the guard to make the peace sign with him in a picture the guard, looking confused, pulled out his sword instead and let Hugh hold it during the picture; the 'peace' picture turned into a 'war' picture in less than a second!

During the tour we also saw a short exposition that highlighted the effects of car pollution on ancient limestone statues. For one of the first times I saw the tangible effects of our civilization on more ancient civilizations. The intricate statues had become dull and wore-out to the extent that it was not even clear what they had been in the first place. Statues and other things made out of limestone that had stood for hundreds of years had been ruined in half a century by us.

While the effects of us on beautiful buildings frightened me, another thing about the city frightened me as well. Alba Iulia had quite a few stray dogs that wandered around the city, and, since dogs top my list of fears, I was forced to put on a brave face and refrain myself from yelping every time I saw another dog.

After the tour we were given free time to eat dinner. I ate dinner at an Italian restaurant with some other Flinns. At the restaurant our verbal skills were put to a test as the waitress knew little, if any, English. Despite this, we managed to get the food we desired. Our day ended, as most days do, with a short gelato trip! Due to how common gelato shops in Hungary and Romania have been, many of us have become ice-cream addicts in the past few weeks! After the gelato fix we headed back to the hotel where we hung out and talked for a couple of hours before sleep got the best of us. The day, full of eye-opening events, fun moments, and gelato, had finally ended.

Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Laurel Gray ('09)

"The world was created in seven days.
We won our freedom in seven days.
They shot me on December seventeenth.
I am not sad.
I am happy."

With these words uttered by one man in a small chapel, we begin our journey through a museum of the Romanian Revolution. It begins in the courtyard, where a photograph displays the crowd of 150,000 people that stood in the square now dubbed "Victory Square" in December of 1989. The courtyard is open to multiple stories of balconies, where flowers and cactus ("special flowers for the special people who visit us)" grace the rusting iron pots hanging off the thin rail.

We wander up the stairs to the second story and enter a room with sheafs of newspaper clippings, papers, and magazines organized meticulously onto different shelves. The papers are organized by date and subject, the shelves upon which they rest are categorized by country. This holds all of the texts, materials, and reports of the Romanian Revolution during, before and after the seven days of December in 1989 when the Romanian people overthrew Nicolae Ceausescu.

We are next led into a room where we watch documentaries of the revolution, and then a history on the life of Ceausescu. Like many leaders wreathed in overwhelming power and prestige, Ceausescu was adamant that the people of Romania worship him with a fervor closely resembling the people of China's praise for Mao, or the way in which the people of North Korea today venerate Kim Jong Il. Ceausescu egotism spread so far as to try to alter his own history. Staff was hired to create a new childhood history for Nicolae, one full of heroism and love for Romania and the Romanian people. All of the facts were fabricated, and yet the people still had to learn this history by heart in school, learning to repeat lies. Ceausescu's hobbies (mainly hunting) were celebrated in propaganda videos, and his perpetually youthful face covered huge banners across every city. He and his wife had so many palaces across the country that they were not able to live or even visit each ostentatious building.

Yet still, the United States government was supporting this leader, because Ceausescu portrayed himself as an anti-Soviet communist, a platform which he was rooted to long after the communist era of the Soviet Union ended and the relations of the Soviet Union with the rest of the world were once again relaxed. It is at this time in the presentation of the Romanian Revolution that I become annoyed and angry. I am frustrated, for while I highly value the education I received in high school, I did not learn much of the history, politics, and social upheavals of Central Europe. I was completely unaware of the immense power Ceausescu held over an entire nation, and I did not know of the vast destruction he wrecked over the Romanian countryside, nor of the social upheavals of his reign.

Yet this museum and the information it houses is only a small fraction of the knowledge and discussions we have all received on this trip. It has ceased to be a novelty when I learn of a piece of history I never knew, as it is blatantly obvious that my education, and the education many other youth in the United States probably receive, is biased and incomplete. We learn what others think is important (or even worse, we learn the information that is present on the AP exam), but this is dangerously ignorant. Instead, we cannot consider ourselves "experts" in any particular topic until we study it from multiple perspectives. These perspectives cannot come strictly from a textbook or from a professor in the United States education system, but rather from people of different cultures, nations, and backgrounds. "History is bunk" is something Henry Ford once declared, and in my opinion, this is undoubtedly true until every single perspective of an event is taken into account, and even then the event of the past can be skewed.

So when we walk into a museum dedicated to the Romanian Revolution, and one man is bent on collecting documentation from literally every single country and every major news source from said country, it is clear that this person is determined to create a complete picture of the seven days that defined his life and many of those around him. He does this so that the Revolution is never forgotten, and so that people around the world can be educated about seven days that won a country its freedom.

Again, this is a noble goal, and one to be respected. Yet I am not of this man's generation; I and the rest of the youth are the "new" generation. So when this man declares that the neo-communist party "protects killers. They are free. It is a shame" I am hesitant to give him my full attention and respect for his materials. Yes, I never lived through a communist era and I do not know of the full impact of Ceausescu because I never experienced it. However the attitude of revenge against the persons formerly in power seems to me inherently wrong as the cycle of mistrust and anger will simply begin again.

As one of my fellow classmates pointed out later, this is the exact attitude that defines the current youth in Romania. No one under the age of 20 has a full perspective of life under Ceausescu, and so it is possible for them (and us) to view Ceausescu's reign as "history," a thing of the past. But his legacy still remains throughout Romania. It is present in the attitudes of the people, it is obvious in the pervasive distrust of the government, and it is visible in the huge cement monstrosities that form the old housing projects and apartments. So while the current youth may not know of Ceausescu through experience, everyone is still affected by his past reign. The museum of the Romanian Revolution is another piece in this vast puzzle of events and opinions that has shaped and defined the Romanian people for decades.

Our time at the museum ends with a request to help find materials about the Romanian Revolution from sources in the United States. We gather for a group picture in the courtyard, sign all of our names in a guest book (proof for the museum's donors that people do indeed visit this place), and then file out the door onto the streets. After the past couple of hours, our journey through modern day Timisoara seems unusually bright.

Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Blake Thomson ('09)

The day began when I rolled over, grunted at the bright sunlight, and opened my eyes. I was more than slightly surprised to find myself in a genuine Mongolian Yurt next to a couple of groggy Hungarians. Soon after, I was listening to a lecture about competition in the international context given by a professor who had a stint at Stanford for her research. A few hours later I was watching two separate men with Ph.D.'s demonstrate how to manipulate lasers to perform different tasks at the microscopic level. Then I mailed a few postcards and ate gelato amidst a sea of people, hoping to escape the mercilessly hot sun's rays (by Hungarian standards, of course). Needless to say, it's been a good day. But let me explain...

Yesterday we spent the day at a horse ranch in the city of Szeged, where we currently are staying. While there, we had the opportunity to ride horses and practice archery (not at the same time, unfortunately) with a small group of Hungarian students. At night we slept in yurts -- somewhat portable tents used by nomads when traveling, of which two styles were offered: Kazakstakstani (that doesn't sound correct...) or Mongolian, and I slept in the latter.

Depending on how well-versed you are on the topic of yurts (you never know with Flinn kids...), you may or may not know that yurts are not necessarily famous for keeping sunlight out. This fact facilitated our waking up on time for an early breakfast, however bitterly. After a day of riding horses, shooting arrows, and "collecting" firewood (read: walking into the forest and helplessly dangling from tree branches until they broke off), I would describe our smell collectively as "not up to the standards of civilized society." I'll leave it at that.

Anyways, we were all dying for showers and were told we would have about 45 minutes to shower when we got back to our hotel. There were technically showers at the horse ranch but... well, let's just say that we were justified in electing not to use them. So we rushed through our breakfast of meat, bread and yogurt in order to get on the bus as quickly as possible to ensure sufficient time for showering. Galen remarked that this might be our first breakfast of this trip with no salami or unidentifiable sausages present. I replied that this was almost true, with the caveat that vegetarians still needed to be wary of the cheese; it was "bacon flavored," with bits of meat in it. Close enough.

We arrived back at the hotel about a half hour later and parted ways with the Hungarian students, rushing inside to get dibs on the shower. After enjoying a quick shower, we set off to get to our first lecture. The Tisza River separates the area where our hotel lies and the main downtown district of Szeged, so it is about a half hour walk, and a fairly scenic one at that.

Our first speaker of the day, Márta Fülöp, discussed competition in the academic context from an international perspective. She had done research in Hungary, the United States, Japan, and Canada, among others. The results of her work were fascinating. As it turns out, Americans generally view competition in a more positive light than Hungarians do. We also care a heck of a lot more about competitive sports than they do (not everyone can have the Suns, Diamondbacks, Coyotes, and Cardinals to represent their state...). Even more interesting was the fact that Hungarians tend to see competition as a somewhat dangerous reality, one that often leads to immorality and resentment.

The presented research showed that Hungarians emphasize beating out others when competing, rather than improving themselves, while the Japanese focus on self-improvement in competition. Hungarians also associated winning with negative feelings as well; namely, fear (fear) of loser's envy. We all had a hunch that the somewhat recent governance by socialism had something to do with it. Going from a socialist society in which employment is near 100% and no one really needs to compete for anything directly to a free-market economy in which getting the edge on others makes all the difference certainly isn't an overnight process. And it isn't without ramifications.

One final note about competition, a bit of a fun piece of trivia: Hungarians use the English word for "loser," but have their own word for "winner." Ideas as to the implications of not having a word for being a loser until us Americans "enlightened" them? You're welcome, Hungary. With that and the Lady Gaga music they play everywhere, I'd say they really owe us one.

Anyway, after the talk we went out to lunch at the nearby Brnoi étterem (the Hungarian word for restaurant). Can anyone guess what we had for lunch? At the time of my writing this, only 2 blog entries have been posted, and neither of them have mentioned this fact, so I don't feel like I am beating the subject to death: we had fried chicken with french fries and rice. Fried chicken and some form of potato seems to be either the quintessential Hungarian treat or the only safe bet with a group of 17 American teenagers. Either way, the gelato:fried chicken ratio in our diet seems to be getting exponentially larger by the day. I'm not complaining.

After lunch we had our second round of talks, this time at Szeged's Biological Research Institute, with a lecture focusing on biophysics. It was all a little over my head, but the basic premise was that lasers can be used to create very small things with great accuracy. I think. To be honest, as far as I was concerned, about 95% of what they showed us in their laboratory demonstrations was magic.

One researcher wrote the word "hello" on an infinitely small scale on a glass slide. Another researcher fashioned a microscopic 3D object with a different laser. We also were shown a fluorescent light that turned on and off seemingly by magic when it passed into a machine which emitted some kind of gas. I felt like one of the awe-inspired villagers at the beginning of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude, when the procession of foreigners with seemingly magical inventions (like ice) comes through town. I couldn't understand what they were doing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Luckily, Derek happens to be interested in lasers and knows a lot about them (Flinn kids...) so there was no shortage of comprehensible questions, allowing the rest of us to avoid being put on the spot. All in all, a pretty solid set of lectures. And then free time ensued.

Free time began with a beeline to our (by "our" I literally mean all of us) favorite gelato spot for a scoop. Or three, depending on who you ask. Among the most popular flavors are the Ferrero Rocher, the vanilla, the karmell, and the very mysterious mint named "after eight." I think I can speak for all of us when I say that I'm not used to my mint gelato having menthol in it; we all reveled in the oddity, and I'd call that an excellent bonding opportunity if I ever saw one.

I then parted ways with the group, namely Michael by this point, and headed to the 24/7 internet cafe. Upon entering I found that I was not alone, as I was greeted by Ben, Sachi and Allison, and Galen soon stepped in as well. Although the Hungarian keyboards have the "z" and "y" keys switched, as well as hidden apostrophe and exclamation point keys, I nonetheless started my blog entry with a sense of adventure. After typing "verz" and "reallz," along with a "civiliyed," I got Ben to tell me how to change the keyboard to American-style so I could stop abusing the backspace key. I wimped out.

After catching up on email I headed back out to the gelato spot, called A Capella, which by now is our main meeting point. After milling around and eating yet another scoop of gelato, we decided to go out to dinner at a fish restaurant mentioned in our Lonely Planet guide. Michael, Emma, Nesima, Derek, Catherine and I all tried the fish, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Tisza River is filled with good eats.

We then headed out to meet up with other Flinns and Hungarian students at a nightclub, but seeing as it was about 11:30 P.M. and we have to be up at 7 tomorrow, we decided to head back instead. I gotta say, I don't regret that decision.

The opportunity to sleep in a bed in a hotel becomes pretty attractive after waking up to a roof made of felt and walls made of sticks (you read up yurts, didn't you?). So I suppose it'd be pretty responsible of me to go to bed early tonight and get a good night's rest. But I think I hear my fellow Flinns down the hall, and the laughter is so inviting, and it's not really so very late, and everyone is heading in different directions in the next few days and months and years, and after all, we're only here once... right?

Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Katherine Cai ('09)

Today was our first official day in Szeged, and the travel toward the Eastern border of Hungary definitely brought a nice (and warmer) change in weather. We met a guide for a sightseeing tour of Szeged. It is a beautiful small town with a rich history. Destroyed by a periodic flooding problem, the city at one point had 17,000 people left homeless. However, the people of Szeged take a lot of pride in their ability to rebuild most of the city in only four years.

We walked around the quaint walkways to look at the beautiful new architecture of city hall, the library, the church, and the main squares. We also had the opportunity to see some of the original houses that had survived the flood, identifiable only by the very low windows, which had originally been a part of the second floor of the house. After the beautiful tour of the sunny city, everyone ran to the gelato shop on Karasz Street. We all enjoyed a little break, and the most popular gelato flavor was by far the Ferrero Rocher.

Afterward, we took a bus ride to the Opusztaszer historical memorial park. We learned how to make paper and we saw the progression of life in Hungary over the years. We looked at some traditional Asian tents from Kazakhstan and Mongolia - a sneak peek into our living conditions for the night! We stopped for a small sandwich and fruit picnic before visiting the Feszty panorama. This painting is 15 meters high and 120 meters long, and depicts the historical legend of the Hungarian tribes arriving in the Carpathian Basin from the East. The size of the panorama itself left everyone in awe and the grandeur was only exemplified further by the landscape around the painting that highlighted the details of the multiple contributing artists and made the painting seem three-dimensional.

We met up with our contact from Szeged, Panka, and some other Hungarian students from the area. We all drove to the Jurtatabor Horse Ranch, where we were going camping in the traditional Asian tents that night. We all had the opportunity to ride horses and do archery. Michael (Young) and Kata even joined us for the activities! We even found out that we have some superb archers among our group!

We headed back for dinner, and after the Hungarian students surprised us with a juggling act involving seven balls and sock poi. We all tried out juggling and sock poi but we no no match for those guys. We also got a pretty intense soccer game going until it got dark, and then the Hungarian students surprised us again by putting on a fire show using the sock poi! Matt pulled out his violin, and we all enjoyed music and some singing. Some people headed out to take a walk in the dark of the night and explore the ranch and others did some stargazing. We ended the evening by singing a bunch of Disney songs as the bonfire died down and then we retired from the cold of the nights and the pestering mosquitoes to our tents.

Today was another day of learning, but I think it is really significant because it was a day full of those few lifetime experiences and opportunities. Visiting the Keszthely Castle and playing hide and seek in the dark was something that I knew I would never be able to do again. But just today I was able to do archery and experience raw nature with the old-style tents and our "outhouse," which was really just a glorified hole in the ground.

This trip has undeniably already taught us so much about the history, language, culture, and status of Hungary, but it has also fostered those once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunities that just give you the goosebumps. Tonight I saw my first shooting star as I lay out in the grass under the starry clear sky of Hungary with some of my closest friends, and I believe that aspect of the trip really speaks for itself.

Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Ben Sanchez ('09)

Boldog születésnapot! As a child, I hated having a summer birthday since it meant I never could celebrate with my peers at school. The advantage, though, was having the privilege of celebrating my nineteenth birthday in Hungary. (The opening is Hungarian for Happy Birthday, if you hadn't already guessed).

The day began as most seem to begin: an extension of the night before. I had returned with part of the group to a place called Szimpla in the central part of Budapest. Szimpla is essentially a huge courtyard with has been converted into a social gathering. I really enjoyed Szimpla because it reminded me of a place that used to exist in Phoenix called The Monastery.

In fact, I have repeatedly been surprised at how many times I've been reminded of home in a place halfway around the world. I'm not saying I miss home, but there just seem to be a lot of things that people like and enjoy all around the world regardless of place and culture. Anyways, after spending a while at Szimpla, I continued with about half the group to a dance club on the banks of the Danube to continue the celebration. When the sun started to peek over the horizon we decided it was time we return to the hotel to get a couple hours of sleep before the next days activities.

Most days two hours of sleep leads to a rough morning. Luckily, we visited the Széchenyi Medicinal Thermal baths today. The Széchenyi baths were in the city park just north of our hotel and we met as a group at the entrance at nine. We first had a presentation from Ádám Ruszinkó, who worked with the Hungarian Office of Tourism and specialized in thermal-bath tourism. He described the prevalence of baths across the country and the culture associated with them. I was surprised at how integrated into their culture thermal baths are. There is a widespread belief in Hungary that thermal bathing is a major contributor to overall health and as such, many of the bath's services can be charged to an insurance company or prescribed by a medical doctor.

After the discussion on baths, we received a tour of the building and saw three large pools as well as 35 different thermal baths that had varying temperatures and mineral contents. We quickly moved to the baths when our tour ended. We tried pretty much all of the saunas and mineral baths as well as all of the pools in our two hours at the baths. It was extremely relaxing after a very late night. The baths were quite busy with mostly Hungarians, which reinforced what Mr. Ruszinkó had told us about how culturally important the baths were.

We began our journey to the last town we would visit in Hungary before Romania after a great morning. While the baths were relaxing, I was still really tired and slept the entire trip from Budapest to Szeged. We arrived in Szeged just before 6 pm and met our guide Panka. She gave us an informal tour of the city as we walked to the restaurant for our group dinner. Szeged, like Budapest, is a city on a river (but it sits on the Tisza rather the Danube). The city has a history of being flooded by a river and we could tell why: as we crossed the bridge over the river we saw that the rain from the last few days had caused the river to flood over a street that ran next to the river. The city has built defenses, so no actual buildings are damaged, but it was still interesting to see just the top few inches of a traffic sign.

We had dinner near the main pedestrian area of the city and the chaperones kindly surprised me with a cake at the end of dinner. While I was surprised by the cake, I was even more surprised that the entire group had at some point in the day learned how to sing Happy Birthday in Hungarian. I barely have time to sleep, but they have time to learn a song in Hungarian.

All in all, it was a great birthday. I didn't spend it with my family or at home, but I enjoyed every minute of and have enjoyed the opportunity to spend it with my Scholars class, whom I seem to get closer with every day.

Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Jennifer Chen ('09)

This has been a summer of many firsts. This was my first trip to Europe, my first time traveling with so many students my age, my first experience in homestay, my first time consuming gelato on a bi-hourly basis, and my first time seriously contemplating the minority issues surrounding other countries.

Today was reflection day on the bus ride back from Balaton to Budapest. As a class we were asked for our opinions regarding the latest visit to the Roma village. For an ethnic group that is shrouded in suspicion by the locals, they were extremely welcoming of our class. I found it amazing how quickly they accepted our hodgepodge group of students into their family. As the discussion continued, we hit a roadblock when trying to identify or characterize both the Roma and Hungarian people. While it is clear that the two ethnic groups are segregated, the solution is not as apparent. Who was right? Who was wrong? Where does the root of the problem lie, and what can we as people do to improve the situation?

These were all very heavy issues that seemed much too complex to fully comprehend, at least for me. I mean, if there has not been a solution in all these years, who are we to prescribe a course of action within our first week in Hungary? Nevertheless, Ravi summed it up quite simply noting that people must recognize each other as people, not as a member of one political party, cultural background, or religious affiliation. Rather than point out the differences, people must find the common ground they walk upon in order to take a step towards a better future, and each person is essentially linked by this sense of humanity. It was a beautiful thought, really.

After the bus reflections, we arrived at the Bartok house for a tour, lecture, and concert. The tour encompassed all aspects of Bartok's life and exhibited his most arbitrary possessions (i.e. his cigarette stub and insect collection). The lecturer was wonderfully energetic as he danced and sang throughout his presentation. Following his presentation was a concert comprised of Bartok's pieces. The contemporary music was quite an experience where the piano was more rhythmic and percussive than traditional piano pieces. While the music was interesting, it was a little too modern for my tastes.

Later that night we went out as a class to celebrate Ben's 19th birthday. (I'll save that story for him to tell, though.) Then again, I don't think that Ben's the only one who's grown. I think that we've all grown a lot as a class through out this trip.

Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Galen Lamphere-Englund ('09)

A welcome sight greets our eyes this morning: the clouds have lifted, and the sun has decided to peek out around the edges of the grey sky. We peer, bleary with shortened sleep, and find that we are smiling.

Last night was spent in the Keszthely Castle, otherwise called the Festetics Palace. It is a massive building filled with beauty and lore, with a 100,000-volume library of rare works amassed by its former occupants. At the invitation of our hosts, we gained the use of the third-floor "smoking lounge" at night. Unlike the rest of the hardwood-paneled, ornate palace, the smoking room had been renovated in a bizarrely retro '70s style. Several of us spent the night playing cards and chasing one another around the guest wing in the former residence of Hungarian Counts. Perhaps their spirits appreciated our young company.

Today we leave the fantastic Palace for a journey through the Balaton national park. Winding roads and a few wrong turns, resulting in strange detours through quaint residences with sprawling gardens, eventually lead us into the green hills above the lake. Our white tour bus stops outside an preserved historic farm, nestled alongside homesteads and a steepled church.

Past the split rail fence and whitewashed houses, we are greeted by several rangers who proceed to lead us around past the "Hungarian Grey Cattle," which look identical to American longhorns, and deadly-adorable baby farm animals. Later, after sojourning on to several other villages, we are again led through meadows to beautiful rolling hills littered with "healing stones" and birdbath-sized reflecting pools.

The small white homes sprinkled amongst the hills opposite us and the new growth forest remind us that everything here has felt humanity's touch for many years. Reminders that civilization is thousands of years old in Hungary are everywhere, even in the seeming rural country. Yet, in spite of the human aspect, the sweeping vistas of Lake Balaton from the top of an ancient volcanic basalt hill seem to put all of our collectively small existences back into perspective.

After bidding farewell to the National Park, we found ourselves in a lakeside research arm of Hungary's University system. Our lecturer informed us about the limnological research which they have conducted in the extremely shallow, 3 meters at most, Lake Balaton over the past century.

After leaving the rather well-decorated research building, we found some quiet solitude on the lakeshore among the beautifully landscaped grounds. Soon after, we ventured up the hill to Tihany, perched on a picture perfect hill between lakes, crested by a grandiose Abbey. Wandering around the woods surrounding the town stirred up memories of similar places in the United States, places with the same plants and flowers, but lacking the thatched roofs and whitewashed walls of the villas in Tinany. Our lodging for the evening was in just such a house: two stories, with beautifully thatched roofs and curved windows overlooking a green courtyard.

Yet, as I lay down to sleep, I find that my thoughts are still dwelling on the Roma village visit several days ago. The captivating beauty of the people, richly happy despite their material poverty; the stunning kindness with which they greeted us; the smiles on each Roma child who ran alongside our inner youth. The pride of the houses, each one spotless and with dazzling flowers, and the flavorful feast prepared for our visit. The nationalist agenda pursued against these amazing people seems so foolish, yet it is a pattern used time and time against, across borders and time. The same stereotypes and prejudices have been used in the US against the Irish, the Chinese, and, today, the Hispanic immigrants. Why such othering persists is confounding.

But of equal universal appeal was the Roma boys' use of Capoiera. In the green grass, the energetic kids demonstrated perfect martial arts moves like Jengas, Banderas, and Ouefechadas. The Brazillian dance martial art, once used by repressed slaves, has found another home: in the movements of another repressed people, kindred spirits only separated by time and space. Reminders of universal humanity are everywhere.

Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Emma Kleiner ('09)

We all woke up to the now typical rainy day in Pecs, Hungary. Around 8 AM, there was a fleeting hopeful moment of sunshine, but that dream was quickly and effectively squashed by more rain. Our day centered around transporting ourselves from Pecs to Lake Balaton, but first we spent the morning and early afternoon in Pecs.

Breakfast was more lively than usual, as Nesima brought down her Mad Gab game, and we all gathered around a table to play. It must have been quite amusing for other foreign visitors to see a whole group of American teenagers trying to figure out silly phrases in English.

Then, after moving all our luggage downstairs, we proceeded to the main square in Pecs. Our mission there was to split into teams and create a scavenger hunt which we would then switch with another group.

Despite the chilly conditions, it was great to walk around Pecs one last time. My group even made it to a huge underground shopping mall, which was a cool experience!

After the scavenger hunt, we met at a Croatian restaurant, Afium. Most of us had eaten there previously, so it was familiar territory.

Following lunch, we departed on our bus to Lake Balaton. The most popular bus activity by far was sleeping, but some more adventurous Flinns entertained themselves by taking picures or even chatting with each other. The lush plants, rolling hills, and tall trees along the road made it a gorgeous drive. We arrived at Lake Balaton around 5 PM and had no trouble settling in at our beautiful hotel that also happened to be a castle.

After quickly depositing our suitcases, we were whisked off to dinner complete with a regional dessert specialty, which, due to the language barrier, we still do not know the name of. Our walk back to the castle was replete with general merrymaking and jokes, just like all Flinn together time.

Upon our arrival back at the castle we were given a tour by very nice and entertaining guides dressed in 18th century period clothing. The tour was fantastic, as it gave us the opportunity to learn more about the time period and the way in which the castle has been preserved. We saw the women's waiting room (vanity themed with a lot of mirrors) and the men's waiting room (hunting themed with a horse motif), but my favorite room by far was the library. Its dramatic high ceilings and ornamental woodwork proved to be the perfect houe for two floors of books. At the end of the tour we saw a special performance--a traditional European instrument, the hurdygurdy, was played for us. Then, we were all treated to a mini concert by Matt on the fiddle and Derek on the piano.

The night proved to be young, as many Flinns ventured into the chilly town after the tour, while others stayed and explored the castle.

Overall it was a terrific day with an especially fun evening. Hope everyone is doing well back in the U.S. and that you're enjoying our blog!

Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Ravi Ram ('09)

It was a Wednesday morning and had rained all of Tuesday (remember the Flinn application?) I sat outside my room thinking about the events of the previous day, trying yet again to understand how all of us could have done so much in so short a period of time. After an early morning run in the rain on Monday morning and clambering into bed late that night, the chances of a repeat performance on Tuesday morning stood at an encouraging 0%.

The rain and bleary skies, however, remained to greet me yet again on Tuesday, June 1st. Breakfast was the usual – eggs, bread, cheese, fruit, juice, hot chocolate – along with some philosophical banter between Derek and Galen and a discussion of Hugh and Katherine’s personality test results. Not even the brightest personality in our group was thrilled at the prospect of another cold, rainy day, but the morning gloom would soon be dispelled even if the clouds were not.

Agenda Item #1: The Gandhi School, a high school specially for ethnic Roma children of Hungary. We had to create a presentation of sorts for the boys and girls at the school, and as is so typical for the Flinn Class of 2009, we decided to do something with music and dance. The result: a brief history of Arizona’s universities and higher education system followed by a rendition of UA’s Bear Down fight song. Just like at the Roma village, shouts of “nice!” and “yes!” in broken English greeted us. Even better, we taught the students the song and then sang it again with all of them.

Better still, our planned performance inspired an impromptu session including a team break dance by Derek and a Roma high-schooler named Sándor, a guitar-accompanied song performed by two guys and two girls from the school, and finally a Flinn Class of ’09 version of Down by Jay Sean, led by Hugh on guitar, and Katherine, Nesima, and me singing. Music apart, the disadvantaged gypsy children had once again been the source of joy and laughter just like at the Roma village, and the bright, intelligent faces of the high schoolers provided hope that some day these people would be able to overcome their plight.

Later in the day, we had the opportunity to visit a number of museums in Pécs, all with years of culture from the Turks, Habsburgs, and all the other people and civilizations that have called Hungary home. The quality and diversity of artifacts and architecture in each exhibit was striking purely for beauty, but to me it emphasized something more, too, that tied together all of our experiences thus far.

To me, it was a symbol, a message, an idea that despite our differences – our ethnicities, families, economic status, education, etc. – we are all human beings, all bright, passionate people living on the same Earth. We often discuss the world’s problems as if we are all so far apart, as if unity and agreement are foreign concepts that rarely, if ever, are achieved. Some argue that the Roma people should be integrated into Hungarian schools and companies to help them rise as a people, while others argue for the necessity of a separately education Roma elite first. We debate alternatively that the Roma are oppressed and in need of help, or that we are forcing our Western values upon them.

If anything, interaction with the Roma people has taught me that we all share common goals, we all believe in family values, in community, in liberty, in achievement, whether we live in the poorest slum or the most beautiful mansion. As Michael said after visiting the Roma village, everyone speaks the language of fun. I know when I was 5 or 6, I would’ve run yelling and screaming to play catch and piggyback races too. The faces of the Roma kids are the smiling intelligent faces we all share as children, the hope of a peaceful world we all share as human beings.

At night I sat engaged in one of my favorite activities: a good, old-fashioned heart-to-heart conversation with Lauren. Finally, I had a chance to reflect with someone about the myriad of experiences we had all already had since leaving Arizona for central Europe. I realized that if this trip has taught me anything, it is that the awareness of this unity, these values, these common goals must come first if we are to ever truly solve the problems of the world. In my opinion, it is this understanding that will shape the future. But on a lighter note – this trip is the best thing ever.

Flinn Scholars

Each summer the Flinn Scholars Program takes an entire class of Scholars to Budapest, Hungary, and neighboring Romania for a three-week seminar on the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Here’s a day-by-day account.

Nesima Aberra ('09)

Today was a great immersion for the group into the city of Pecs--a rainy immersion, I should say. It's been raining hard through out the day and we have had to grab our jackets, rain boots, and umbrellas as we traipse around the city from place to place in our busy schedule.

In the morning, we went to the American Corner, which is a center that highlights American culture and values around the world. We learned about the different programs the Corner puts on in Pecs and other Hungarian cities to teach about American culture, like Native American Week, Thanksgiving Quilt workshops, and African American Week. It was fascinating to see how American culture is perceived and celebrated through the lens of Europeans, and Hungarians specifically.

Then, we learned about Pecs's activities in preparation for its title as European Cultural Capital of 2010, a title it shares with Istanbul and Essen. Pecs has developed several projects in its bid to highlight the culture and innovation of the so-called "borderless" city, like the Pecs Conference and Concert Center, the South Transdanubian Regional Library and Knowledge Center, and the Zsolnay Cultural Center.

Afterwards, we listened to a lecture about Hungarian politics, which is very interesting, considering the current issues the country is going through, dealing with the effects of its recent elections and the rise of the extreme-right party. The political culture in Hungary is full of distrust and suspicion, no doubt from the socialist and communist regimes the country has experienced. There is a lot of corruption and still marginalization of minorities that the government has to deal with. The professor who gave the talk had some optimism for the future but also some skepticism.

For lunch we headed over to a very nice restaurant called Traffik, followed by a couple hours of free time. It was still pouring rain but we all managed to find something to occupy our time in the eventful city. I walked through some shops for souvenirs and visited the two surviving mosques, symbols of the old Turkish occupation, although one of them has been now turned into a Catholic church, interestingly.

The group returned to the American Corner to watch Sunshine, a Hungarian film made by a famous Hungarian director. The movie was an epic drama chronicling the lives of a Hungarian Jewish family through the Habzburg, fascist, and communist eras. It brought up many themes of redemption, identity, assimilation versus integration, and political oppression.

Overall, we had a very educational and eye-opening day in Pecs and I feel like I am getting a better understanding and appreciation of the culture and history.